I am 31 years old male who takes 80 mg of Methadone daily. After listening to Joe Rogan talk about TRT I decided to have my Test levels checked to see if the medication may be affecting be hormonally due to low energy and depression. My total TEST was 129 and I was started on 200 mg on Test weekly as of yesterday. The shot is mainly Test Cypionate with a little instant release mixed in as well. I am 186 lbs and 6 ft tall. I am just curious how long I can expect it to take before I see physical gains. The doc said about week three. Just curious if anyone has any experience with Test Cypionate or any advice that may be helpful.
Totally dependent on your lifting and nutrition. I had both in check when I first started TRT on the same dose but enanthate. I gains 10 lbs in the first month, and probably 5 lbs in month two. Then the muscle gains plateaued and I focused on staying strong but getting leaner. It’s no magic pill but will help tremendously when you eat right and lift hard.
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Your T dosage may be excessive as there aren’t many here on that much Test, I hope your other biomarkers were looked at before proceeding with this protocol! If SHBG is lower, this protocol will show results in 3 weeks alright, but none that will be pleasant.
Would like to see pre-TRT labs including Free T, estrogen and most important SHBG. Thyroid labs would be nice as well, TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3.
Your doctor is a bit unrealistic in his expectations and is worrying to me. I fully expect your estrogen to be sky high in the coming weeks, then we shall see how your doctor deals with these symptoms. You will likely need to seek competent care somewhere else. Most of the members here had to do exactly just that as few doctors worldwide are skilled enough to be able to do TRT well.
Onset of effects of testosterone treatment and time span until maximum effects are achieved
Effects on sexual interest appear after 3 weeks plateauing at 6 weeks, with no further increments expected beyond. Changes in erections/ejaculations may require up to 6 months. Effects on quality of life manifest within 3–4 weeks, but maximum benefits take longer. Effects on depressive mood become detectable after 3–6 weeks with a maximum after 18–30 weeks. Effects on erythropoiesis are evident at 3 months, peaking at 9–12 months. Prostate-specific antigen and volume rise, marginally, plateauing at 12 months; further increase should be related to aging rather than therapy.
Effects on lipids appear after 4 weeks, maximal after 6–12 months. Insulin sensitivity may improve within few days, but effects on glycemic control become evident only after 3–12 months. Changes in fat mass, lean body mass, and muscle strength occur within 12–16 weeks, stabilize at 6–12 months, but can marginally continue over years. Effects on inflammation occur within 3–12 weeks. Effects on bone are detectable already after 6 months while continuing at least for 3 years.
The time-course of the spectrum of effects of testosterone shows considerable variation, probably related to pharmacodynamics of the testosterone preparation. Genomic and non-genomic effects, androgen receptor polymorphism and intracellular steroid metabolism further contribute to such diversity.
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Awesome, I started lifting at the beginning of the year so I am hoping that helps to jump start the whole process. I am also beginning the intermittent fasting on a 12 hour window. Cutting out sugar and carbs is going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done but if I can figure out how to make tasty food without sugar and carbs I should be good. Thanks again.
Hey man, you sure are knowledgeable and I admire your willingness to take time to help everyone. Even experienced anyone like me? I don’t have labs to attach right this moment, but here are the broad brush strokes. 250mg test weekly. Split it up into two doses. SHGB is on the lower end of normal. HCT high end of normal. Peak test levels at about 850. Even when I’ve blasted up to 400 mg my total test just cracked 1000. I don’t have the free or bio available test numbers in front of me, but they were at the same ratio being on the top end of normal or maybe just above. BP is good, cholesterol is good. Everyone else I’ve heard of needs such a smaller dose. Only weird thing I’ve had was that unless I run anastrozole .5mg 12 hrs after each shot I show gyno symptoms. I feel like I’m simply not that sensitive to it. My starting levels pre try we’re 200ish. Oh yeah and e2,has been between 22 and 52 on all labs over the last year
Not systemlord but what do your TSH numbers look like? What about vit D?
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I’ll dig through email and find labs later today
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Not saying the answers are there but obv we need to get a wider snapshot of whats up.
These are labs from last year, but it’s what I can find. All my labs have been almost identical except for cholesterol. I was doing keto when these were taken and when I switched off to Whole Foods and low fat it dropped to around 180. This was on 200mg test e and 1mg anastrozole split into two weekly doses.
Gyno aside have you talked to you doc about your amylase and CK values? TSH isnt awful. I dont see vitamin D. What gyno issues do you get if you dont take anastrozole?
Low SHBG men typically don’t do well on large infrequent doses, yours is 17 and we have members here who most of which has problems on even twice weekly dosing, myself included. These men do much better on EOD and daily dosing, I hear of more positive experiences on daily protocols on here when daily protocols are attempted and other forums as well.
A lot of the private hormone doctors are doing daily protocols themselves as well, some of them even have higher SHBG.
I did, don’t remember much about it but he wasn’t concerned at all. I just get a small lump behind my right nipple and they are a little tender. I feel great overall just see the frequent statment that 200mg is too much and here I am taking 250. I did 3x per week for a while but it seemed the same to me and I ran out of syringes faster lol. Thanks guys
Currently Im on 210mg and no AI. I inject EOD though. This is also superphysiologic for me as I can hit 700 TT on 50mg a week.
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Yeah only time I’ve ever seen over 1000 was peak levels on 400mg. Was 1018
Im just saying its not TOO much. Treat your symptoms and not the numbers.
Thanks man. That’s what I’ve been doing was simply curious if more knowledgeable guys could see anything obvious.
Jack is your Test from a UGL or pharmacy. I just ask to question its potency. Are you getting 100mg/ml or 200mg/ml.
Everything you have posted here would be completely normal if your dose was 1/2
In other words if your 250 was really 125 well most guys with low SHGB would hit about 800 and if your 400 dose was really 200 then a TT of 1000 would be normal for most guys.
Just something to think about or look into.
It’s from a pharmacy. I’m one of the lucky ones. Insurance covers everything and I pay a whopping $15 monthly 
Can’t beat that price.
pharmacy sell both 100mg/ml or 200mg/ml strength. Does your bottle say 200mg/ml?