Anxiety Spike 30 Minutes after Test Prop Injection?

Pharma / TRT
1

Hello All! :slight_smile:

Been a long time fan of this site, and a long time lurker.

A little background on stats, training history and goals to give you a better picture:

Age: 31
Height: 5"11 (181cm)
Weight: 183lbs
Bf % estimate: 9 ish?
Been training with weights consistently since I have been 16, only forced hiatus I experienced was 10 months off (at 18 years of age) due to a broken arm.

Diet has been very on point for several years now (after going through the whole bulk to over 100kg phase regardless of bf :`P ) thanks to, in no small part, the information on this site.

I have been a natural trainee for the entirety of this duration, only supplements have been protein + creatine (which I no longer use as I don’t really notice much benefit, and I’m not a fan of the subcutaneous water retention), and more recently (over the past year or so) fish oil, magnesium and zinc.

I’ve played with the idea of going the chemical assistance route several times over the years, but I never followed through. More recently though (as my progress has over the past several years stalled), I have not seen any appreciable changes in my physique for many years; I just get a little larger, a little stronger and up to about 11% max bf, and then get a little leaner, a little weaker and down to about 7-8% bf. At the age of 30 turning 31, I decided after months of research (including all shapes and sizes of cycles, compounds, and basic endocrine functions) to take the safest most inspiring route, and after reading alot of Bill Roberts’ articles on several sites and forums (I believe I read everything he wrote on MesoRx? whether I retained it or not is another story :`P ), I came across the 2-week on/4-week off protocol in his articles and on several forums. I won’t go into all the reasons why that suits my goals/desires/preferences, but suffice to say, with my extremely limited experience on the topic, I felt confident that this was the path that felt right; it would allow me to test the waters with low sides, slower but steady progress (keeping me under the proverbial radar), lack of crash post-cycle, and several other benefits that made sense.

Fast forward a few months, and I had the following gear and ancillaries at the ready from a most reputable online source:

Test Prop - 10ml vial (100mg/ml)
Oral Turinabol - 100 tabs (10mg each)
Arimidex - 10 or 20 tabs (1mg each) (and a pill cutter ofc)
Clomiphene Citrate - 20 tabs (50mg each)

I believe I erred on the conservative side dosage-wise with this mini cycle;

Test Prop @ 100mg EOD 2 weeks (last shot on day 11)
Oral Tbol @ 40mg ED 2 weeks
Arimidex Just in case (despite low test dose)
Clomid 50mg a day for weeks 2 and 3 (beginning on day 15)

Followed by another 2 weeks of recovery and making sure levels were back to normal (with blood tests)

Also I should mention that I did a blood test for total testosterone a few days prior to day 1, with a result of 6.71 ng/mol. I didn’t test for anything else, as I am on a bit of a budget, and believed at the time that it would suffice.

Now, this cycle remained in-theory and never quite came to pass for the following reason, which is why I created this thread:

Day 1 of my cycle, excited, everything with injection ran smoothly. 30 minutes after the first test prop injection of 100mg, I noticed I started getting an anxious feeling which came on very suddenly accompanied by an increased heart rate (I would say about 25 bpm above my normal resting rate), increase in breathing depth etc. I did my best to stay calm, and waited… for about 15 minutes before going straight to google and researching “Test prop - anxiety causes” etc. :`P I came to understand that it might have been an estrogen spike as a result of the sudden increase of test in my body, so I decided to take (I believe it was 0.25mg) of arimidex to hopefully alleviate the symptoms. As the anxiety faded a little after a few hours, I believed it safe to go with just 20mg of oral tbol, as I didn’t want to deviate from my cycle plan. In retrospect, not a wise decision, because the anxiety continued… it was cyclical in nature, moments where it would increase, and I would feel miserable, disoriented from my surroundings, with a mild sense of dread, as if something bad was going to happen, and then moments where it subsided somewhat. My sleep that night was interrupted and shallow as well. I will say this though, one of the positives that set in within 2 hours was a huge spike in libido (which helped keep me a little distracted from the anxiety I was experiencing). By day 2 I noticed the anxiety was still there, still hoping that it would fade and not wanting to deviate from the plan, I took another 20mg of oral tbol. And there ended my stint in the realm of performance enhancement. Basically, the anxiety persisted long after the test prop dissipated from my system; it took about 9 days from day 1 to return back to feeling normal. I haven’t done anything of the sort since.

Also on day 2, I did a blood test for estradiol, and the result was 25.55pg/mL

This experience happened several months ago, and ever since then, I have been doing my best to find out what could have caused this experience; as far as I knew, I thought being on test would introduce a feeling of well-being, not anxiety. Without knowing more about this, as much as I would like to give this protocol a go as I believe in it’s merits, I don’t feel safe to continue, and I’m hoping that someone can chime in. I even considered going just the oral Tbol route for a 2 weeker, as I rationalized that being suppressed for 2 weeks wouldn’t be a big deal and recovery would be quite swift. The only thing I experienced from what I believe was the Tbol was an insane appetite (woke up in the middle of the night shaking until I stuffed cheese and peanut butter in my face, as they were the closest things that my shaking hands could reach).

Apologies for the long post, I just wanted to be thorough and not leave important details out. Criticism is definitely welcome (and most probably locked and loaded! :`D ), thanks in advance!

2

I would consider that the reaction is possibly and most probably primarily psychosomatic. It could be partly a slight increase in heart rate from a mild immune response, which is normal.

2 Likes
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First off, thanks for the reply, I didn’t consider that it could be an immune response… I did consider perhaps an allergic reaction to something… however it did feel a little more complex at the time, it wasn’t just mild tachycardia… it was that pervading sense of anxiety where try as I did, I couldn’t feel at peace for most of those 9 days. I’m usually a very calm and centered person, so this was definitely uncharacteristic. I could have stuck it out, but it would have been a miserable experience, besides I wanted to be certain I was not ignoring something important. Maybe others who have experienced the same sort of things can advise me further.

4

Something else I thought I should mention; I’ve read in another forum that exogenous testosterone can suppress cortisol production to suboptimal levels, and the adrenals as a result compensate by pumping up the production of adrenaline, which would make sense because that’s exactly what the anxiety felt like; a constant mild shot of adrenaline. If there is indeed substance to this (I wouldn’t know any better at this stage, I always thought lower cortisol would mean less adrenaline production), how would one go about balancing this? Presumably balancing cortisol through exogenous means, i.e. hydrocortisone? … and if I’m waaay off base, please do point me in the right direction :`D

5

I’m wondering if what you really felt was anxiety or aggression… I say that because I know what a panic attack is and what being anxious can feel like. After I dose 25mg test prop, I don’t feel anxious, but there certainly is an immediate feeling there as you may be experiencing. I channel it into a nice workout session, though.

6

Definitely anxiety… I was able to train, but I wasn’t feeling excited, aggressive or even assertive. Especially after a few days of that, I felt exhausted from the relentless anxiety (and I’m not a person who suffered from anxiety attacks previously or anything of the sort). It just felt like a low dose adrenaline shot… constantly… for several days on end before slowly dissipating. Understandably, if I don’t get this figured out, I’m not going with the injectable test base route, I’m pretty sure after everything I have read, you’re supposed to feel the opposite on test.

7

Why not try out a longer ester to see if it changes? I don’t get the immediate rush off of E as I do with P. Might be something to tinker with.

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I thought about it, but test e has a longer half-life, so if anything goes in any way similar to what I experienced, I may be in that unfavorable state for a longer time… besides, at the moment, I’m very much interested in using the 2 week on/4 week off short cycle protocol, and test e would not be a suitable compound for that endeavor. I still have the test p and turinabol… perhaps a 2 week cycle with tbol alone? I wouldn’t have test as a base, but then again tbol is regarded as being less suppressive than other compounds, and it’s only 2 weeks (perhaps I could even stretch it out to 18 days without taking the pituitary into a deeper state of inhibition). Rebound in theory should be quite swift… If I managed to keep 2-3 lbs from such a cycle I’d be thrilled. Thoughts? (and thanks for your comments btw, much appreciated)

9

Haven’t run any oral compounds besides trestolone, halodrol, and primobolan.

Halo, to the best of my knowledge, is a PH that converts to oral turnibol. It was my first cycle, and against the advice given to me here to run it with a test base (because the legalities of syringes), I did it anyway.

I felt amazing the first week, but I that quickly changed by about the third. Had it not been getting TRT, I dunno how it would’ve been; I can only guess it’d be terrible and even worse during PCT. I definitely won’t run an oral only without test again – as if I could due to hypogonadism anyway.

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sorry to hear about the hypogonadism… I hope you feel well and balanced on your current trt protocol. Just out of curiousity, and if you don’t mind sharing ofc, how many mgs per week are you currently on?

I don’t know about the tbol… I’ve read countless posts of people doing those cycles for a few weeks without the typical suppression symptoms (unlike anavar, where most people would report feeling lethargic and sluggish with low libido), and for 2 weeks… I don’t know, doesn’t seem severe, although everyone reacts differently to various compounds. Perhaps I’ll make another thread and ask this as a separate question… the silly thing is, I have no fear of needles whatsoever, and I’m not trying to avoid using needles i.e., my 2 weeker would no doubt be better, with more total mgs of androgens running through my system and especially with the added synergistic effect of test/tbol… it’s just not a viable route unless I figure out what is causing the anxiety… and I can’t just grit my teeth and go through with it either, it affects sleep quality, training motivation and mood, can’t imagine feeling like that willingly for 2 or 3 weeks.

11

Did you have some psychological problems? I don’t see this coming from this drugs and doses. If it was right after the injection, it could be, just like when you break some vein and some of the steroid goes through… this’d cause some immediate alterations, blood pressure goes down and heartbeat goes up to compensate and sometimes, you can feel some of the taste of the oil… this is a very bad situation… but you said 30 minutes after, so it’s not… I think it’s your mind. One trick I do use sometimes, when I feel sick of injections, maybe some fear of doing it again and again (almost 4 years injectins EOD man, it sucks sometimes), I watch some injections videos, youtubers doing it in front of cam, hahah… I feel better and sometimes it encourages me

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I didn’t have any psychological or fear issues associated with pinning… not more than the average person who never did it would have. The anxiety began about 45 minutes after, once I was getting on with the rest of my day… I wasn’t sitting and focusing on it, so I doubt it’s a purely psychological issue. Yeah, youtube is certainly helpful in that regard. :stuck_out_tongue:

13

I would try test cyp. I’ve always used that and never had any issues and I can be a little anxious with or without supps. One thing to note is, you haven’t used any gear for 30 years and now you just took your first pin. There will be some nerves involved. I probably would not have gone online and looked it up as that usually makes it worse. Hahah

The only time you should almost immediately feel anxious, increase breathing or nauseas is if you clip a vein or it some how gets I tiny bit into your blood when you pull pin out. But you would know instantly, and it would be painful lol.

Best of luck in the future, and don’t give up

14

Thanks for the encouraging words… I’m sure I will figure it out eventually… until then, I will be doing my best to use alternatives that allow me to cycle without any major negative sides.

15

I know this Is an older post but i too have the same response to exogenous testosterone. I have read and heard the same things as well. It’s probably in your head. E2, E2, E2! There is some evidence of men who have an extreme dopaminergic response to Test and it makes them go crazy with anxiety and fear etc. And i have yet to learn how to combat this. It’s horrible and makes me even more depressed. I have low t so mine even at low dose. 100mg a week did it to me. Wish there was a quick fix or easy answer. Everyone is different how they respond to drugs. Some people take Benadryl and pass out. Others it causes anxiety and restlessness. Hope you found an answer or someone will.