Hi All,
It has been a while since I have posted. I have a few questions for the experts regarding TRT usage. I have been having an extremely hard time dialing in E2 since I am an over responder to anastrozole. My e2 can crash and I will have joint pain/feel terrible or it will get too high if I hold off on usage for a week or so and I will get extreme brain fog, irritability, lack of concentration. I am very successful and do my best to be focused all day, but I have a general feeling of “being off” and having an inability to concentrate and feel “all there” quite often. I am in the process of eliminating sugar, gluten and dairy to see if it is an inflammatory response going to my brain. I suspect that it is something hormonal and I am desperate to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. I gave up caffeine for a month and that didn’t help as all. I would love to hear insight on possible hormonal imbalances that can cause this. I go in and out of a fog frequently during the day. It is not a blood sugar issue.
Second question: I have the option to switch to aromasin. Should I give this a go. Are anastrozole over responders frequently aromasin over responders as well?
Additionally, I wanted to know if arimidex (anastrozole) has joint pain side effects from the medication (or is it purely from lowering e2 as I suspect). It seems even when my e2 is in the 20-30 range, for a few days after I take a pill, my elbows, knees and feet kill me.
Age: 30
Waist: 33 inches
Weight: 215 lbs
Body and Facial Hair: Lots
Where I carry fat and how it’s changed: I am very lean and carry little fat
Health Conditions/Symptoms: I used to have High BP on 200mg of cyp a week and cured that completely by lowering the dose, lowering caffeine intake.
RX and OTC Drugs: None
Diet: Extremely healthy. High Carb, Moderate Fats, High Protein: An average day would be 500-600g carbs (oats, rice, fruits), 300 protein, 100-120 fats. I juice vegetables, eat a ton of vegetables, eat lean ground turkey, ground beef, chicken, eggs as protein source. Zero artificial sweeteners anymore (trying to cure my fog).
Training: Extremely intense (4-5 day intense weights), 3-4 days cardio.
Testes Ache?: Never
Morning Wood: Never but wood and libido are always extremely strong and high. If I wake in the middle of the night I have wood but never when I wake up in the am
Symptoms: Extreme brain fog off and on. I will go from feeling clear headed to hardly being able to concentrate and feeling “in my own head” like I have a cloud around me. I don’t suffer from depression or anything so this is very frustrating.
Temp: I will do an all day test today
This is my hormone history:
Been on varying doses of TRT (test cypionate for 7 years now)
Current protocol:
170mg test cyp (2 injections per week of 85mg)
Anastrozole: .10mg 2x a week totaling 20mg
I am done having kids so I don’t use HCG anymore since it was harder to manage E2 on it anyways.
Current blood work 3 days after injection:
Vitamin D: 50 (30-100 ng/ml)
Aldosterone: 10 ng/dl
Aldo/PRA Ratio 5.3 (.9-28.9)
TOTAL TESTOSTERONE: 896 (250-1100 ng/dl)
FREE TESTOSTERONE: 173 (35-155 pg/ml)
DHT: 39 (16-79 ng/dL)
Estrodial: 34 (I recognize this isn’t an optimal number and this was after a week of not taking an AI because I had joint pain from over responding)
Progesterone .8 (.2-1.4)
TSH (1.5 (.450-4.50)
Basic Metabolic Panel:
Sodium 139 (135-146)
Potassium 4.8 (3.5-5.3)
BUN: 27 (7-25)
BUN Creatinine Ratio: 19.9 (6-22)
Creatinine: 1.36 (.60-1.35)
Calcium: 9.5 (8.6-10.3)
Cholesterol 178 (125-200)
Cortisol 13.3 (4-22)
DHEA Sulfate 187 (85-690 mcg/DL
I just requested another test when I felt at my foggiest and terrible and also requested thyroid function, mercury levels, and uric acid added to the test.
Any ideas or suggestions of what type of deficiency or imbalance can contribute to the fog?
Thank You All and I look forward to hearing some feedback.