T Nation

Bloodwork After 10 Weeks of Daily Injections - 200mg/Week

T Replacement
#1

T-E2-SHBG
T-E2-SHBG1210×638 28.3 KB

My previous protocol was 200mg cypionate per week split into 2 doses of 100mg. I didn’t take an AI and no HCG. I did blood work in the morning and my next injection was later that night. My numbers were…

Total Testosterone - 1266
Free Testosterone - 303
E2- 115
No SHBG tested.

Now, after 10 weeks of daily injections at 200mg cypionate per week, I got some new blood work(attached). I did not take an AI and no HCG during this time. Seems like the daily injections get a little more bang for the buck while keeping E2 a little lower. I will say that libido seems better on daily injections.

Total T - 1353
Free T - 379
E2 -77
SHBG - 17

Thoughts?

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Blood work came back - IGF-1 looks low @ 88
#2

Cannot argue with what is working. Generally, the idea behind daily injections is partly because you can take less per week, as levels stay more mid range throughout the week. Not as high as the day after the weekly injection, not as low at day seven post injection. If you had labs done at one or two days post weekly injection (200mg) you’d be over 2000 total. Interesting that E2 came down that much.

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#3

I’m not sure why E2 came down that much either. I think the lower E2 has helped my libido. When my E2 was at 115 my libido was definitely not that strong. Everything else felt pretty good though.

I was on pellets previously and 6 weeks after I’d get pellets put in, my total T would be 1400 - 1500 with E2 at 40-50 and I felt amazing!! It was the best I’d ever felt on TRT (by far!). I’d still be on pellets if they didn’t fall out occasionally. I think the pellets give you that slow drip of T all day every day that keeps your E2 low.

Having said that, I think I might try a tiny bit of aromasin each week that the doc prescribed me to see if I can get E2 closer to that 40-50 number and see if it makes me feel even better.

#4

How are you feeling so far? I’m on the exact same protocol, only two weeks behind you.

#5

I’d say I’m feeling pretty good. I’d give it an 8 out of 10. I’m always looking for a way to feel even better so I’ll try a little aromasin(exemestane) and see if that helps any. If not, It’s all good, I’ll just stay where I’m at. Daily injections are definitely better for me personally so far. I’m always trying to get to where I used to be with pellets. It was an amazing ride!!

#6

What type of injections are you doing with the daily protocol? IM or SubQ? Where?

#7

I’m doing IM with a 29 gauge insulin syringe. I inject in my thigh or in my shoulder daily. I switch it up randomly. It’s literally a super small needle and I hardly feel it. Its also a small amount of T every day so it’s super quick. I pre load 7 syringes on Sunday and it takes me less than a minute each morning to inject

#8

Cool, yeah I’ve been doing shoulder 3x a week, 30g insulin needle, so pretty similar. I’m thinking about trying daily.

#9

How many weeks did it take before you felt the better change after going to dailies?

#10

I think after 2 or 3 weeks I started noticing the libido coming back a bit more. All in all I felt pretty good with either protocol. I just wanted the good libido I was missing so I went to daily injections to test it out. I’d say it definitely makes the libido a bit better.

#11

I bought needles before I get the protocol from my provider, just in case I won’t be able to find em. I have a box of 29 1/2" 1ml/1cc is that the same as your 29’s ? The brand is Easytouch

Any by the way, I’ve been trying to find guy’s who had their issues with t inj and resolved them and you are yet another who improved by switching to daily or EOD injection frequency. I’m almost to the point where I believe it should be the first thing to do in an attempt to solve libido or whatever.

#12

yes, those are the same needles I use.

You may be right. The daily injections do seem to help a lot of people with libido. I really think it has to do with getting that continuous small dose similar to the way you naturally get a daily dose from your testes if you weren’t on TRT. I just think the really high E2 from the weekly or twice weekly injections made my libido suffer.

My next experiment is to drop the dose to 175mg a week for 8 weeks and see if that helps libido…probably by lowering E2 even more.

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#13

Just read a random post from a guy on the propecia board that blames improvement on his trt to switching to a lower weekly dose, divided up equally.

#14

I do see a trend of more frequent injections and I see a lot of people lowering their dose to help feel better. I still think it’s the smaller injections which keep the E2 lower…which leads to better libido.

I keep referring to it, but when I was on pellets it was the best I’ve ever felt. Total T at 1400-1600 with E2 at 40-50. It’s that slow release of T from the pellets dissolving 24 hours a day that keeps the E2 in check.

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#15

Monitor any joint or back pain when e2 lowers more. I know when the e2 sensitive test I was 20 that was at 100 mg a week got back pain. Now my e2 is 30 feel better. I gather it’s the e2 going up but who knows maybe it was the additional t I injected 120

#16

I’ve had that joint pain you’re referring to when I was taking exemestane twice a week (1 pill split in half 25mg). I quite the AI for a week and it went away. Now I’m off the AI totally and feel better.

I also had the joint pain when I used to be on the T pellets when the pellets were running out. The joint pain was always a sign that it was time to go get more pellets. I didn’t know at the time that it was the estrogen that made my joints feel so good. I remember getting bloodwork when my pellets had run out and my E2 was 25…everything hurt. I just thought my T levels were dropping back then and didn’t correlate it to E2.

E2 in the 70’s right now and no body aches and pains. I’ll try 175mg split into daily shots for a while and get blood work in a few months to see what that looks like.

#17

Are you guys maintaining test levels above 1,000+ng or are you dialing it back down to under 1,000ng over time?

#18

I think you’re looking at it the wrong way, if you’re looking at total testosterone as your guideline. IMO, we need to look at the lowest dose that relieves our symptoms. For one guy, a total T of 500 might work. For another, he may need a total T of 1200, with a higher free t level as well.

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#19

“Are you guys maintaining test levels above 1,000+ng or are you dialing it back down to under 1,000ng over time?”

My levels have been between 1200 - 1350 for years. I haven’t really dialed anything back.

#20

I am hovering around 1300-1500 with a somewhat high SHBG… but feeling great. I have no negative sides at these levels… minus a pretty awesome body recomp over the first year on TRT and a renewed enjoyment of life.

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