Arimidex Advice?

Started the following 19 Jun:
140mg T split into two shots per week
800 hcg split into two shots per week
0.2mg HGH daily
Also 30 mg desiccated thyroid

-Noticed initial improvements to energy, strength, mood, motivation to socialize. Erections were improving from satisfactory for sex and masturbation to good.
-Around 13 July noticed hard enlarged itchy nipples and significant irritability. Doctor ordered adex at 0.5mg 3x per week to knock levels down.
-Noticed over one week mood/mojo improved further, lost 3lb of water, and erections were terrific.
-Doctor ordered continued use of 0.5mg adex 2x weekly. He guaranteed me being low e2 was less likely than high and 0.5 2x weekly would be good.
-Now, another week later, morning wood is gone. Erection quality during masturbation is back to pre-TRT. I may even be slightly depressed. Tired, haven’t gone out in a few nights.

I’ve taken a total of 3mg of adex in two weeks. Is this enough to crash e2 from nipple symptoms to too low?

Where should I go from here? I though about stopping adex and seeing how long it takes to get nipple sensitivity. Also noting whether I cross a line again where my erection quality improves. IE intentionally see-sawing back and forth to get some more info.

Run labs immediately? Last I spoke to Dr. he mentioned we would run labs at 3 month mark. However at the time things were good, now I feel not so good. I was a little concerned with his 1mg/week suggestion given my protocol should be relatively easy on e2. Unfortunately the sensitive test is not available in Canada.

You need to decrease the AI by half. Being tired is low E2, constant yawning.

That’s a pretty large dose of AI especially at 3 times per week. I ageee with above cut it back and only take on injection days.

It was only 3x 0.5mg per week the first week. Doctor said 2x 0.5mg thereafter. However his standard protocol is 2x 0.5mg with 200mg T in one injection and 2000! iu hcg in one injection, weekly. That would be waaaay more estrogenic than my protocol. I told him I am splitting injections and taking less.

Nonetheless, I do also believe 1mg weekly to be too high in the long run. I have a very busy 6 weeks upcoming and cannot afford to crash.

Do I need to worry whether 0.25mg twice weekly is possibly too much? Or will I be able to notice in time whether that dosage needs adjustment. My labs are in about 6 weeks.

Honestly kind of hard to give you advice. Yes for sure 3 mg can crash E. Seems this all started when u started taking the AI.

I’d either cut way back on the AI or stop taking it for 7 days or so. If your itchy nipples come back you know your E is back up. From that point can decide to:

1- start AI again but much much lower dosing. Try .25mg once per week.
2-lower your total T dose. 60/60 instead of 70/70? (I’d try this route first)
3-split the 140 into 4 doses : eod shots (this is what I do personally now after lots of experimenting)

Btw are you on sub Q or IM injections?

Either way I’d kick the AI until you experience a positive change moving toward how you felt before starting it.

Whatever you do, do not take any more Arimidex. There are ways to do TRT without needing to take an aromatase inhibitor at all and they have nasty side effects.

Further, 3 mg in a single week is a massive dose, most protocols call for 1 mg per week in divided doses, so you have taken 3x the recommended dose for TRT. You should refrain from taking ANY more Arimidex for as long as you can, and other AI’s carry similar risk.

DIM and other compounds can help to increase E2 metabolism if needed but that should be enough for reasonable dose TRT.

I have taken too much Arimidex and gotten burned, and now when E2 goes up, I experience classic LOW E2 symptoms despite high estradiol levels on tests, worse than ever before – joint and muscle pain, bad ED, and even symptoms of carpal tunnel. ZERO energy and pump, and I am incredibly flat as well. I do not respond nearly as well to TRT as I used to either due to repeatedly crashed E2.

Arimidex is literally poison and is used for chemotherapy in women, who complain of hair loss, constant pain, fatigue, and even permanent changes to memory and cognition (brain fog). Avoid it like the plague.

I think I agree with you. Tomorrow I will ask for a T/E2 lab but if the doctor resists I am going to switch to a 3 weekly injection protocol and cut the dose a little. I also plan to cut the arimidex completely and monitor my nipples/erections/etc.

I use a 12mm insulin pin in the vastus lateralis and ventroglute. That is shallow IM in both places by a couple mm - I can feel the needle entering the muscle.

That is the most condemnatory post I have ever read on arimidex!

I tend to agree that if I can achieve my goal without arimidex, that is ideal. I am more conservative than my doctor in that respect. However, the dose is the poison, and females take 7-14x as much as a typical TRT dose of 0.5-1mg weekly. PS that was 3mg in the first two weeks. I would tend to agree it makes sense to front load a dose somewhat to halt the stimulation of any breast tissue early. However, if I can achieve what I want without it that would be great.