I’ve posted here numerous times over the last two years. I was on TRT then messed around with bodybuilding doses (around 750mg enanthate a week for around 3 weeks and one, 100mg shot of deca). From that point onwards (April 2020) I lost my sex drive, put on a lot of fat on my thighs and hips, and had severely atrophied and painful testicles. I tried several PCTs with clomid, nolva, incorporating HCG. No luck. All the symptoms of deca dick plus the above. Well, I’ve just had my thighs and flanks lipod, had gyno surgery, and started 500ug of HCG three times a week. It’s been two weeks and I’m good as new. Balls back to full size, firm and hanging low not painful and shriveled up. Sex drive back. Emotions back. Morning erections back. Life back (it had been gone since the start of the pandemic - total suicidal nightmare). So my question is… should I stay on the HCG at this dose for life? Or a certain period of time? I know I can come off and see…but it’s only been two weeks and I’ve seen guidance that suggests six weeks. I’d like to go back on 100mg enanthate a week, eventually, and this time I’m going to take HCG with the TRT. I’m wondering how long to give it before going back on enanthate. Does HCG ‘fix’ anything or are all benefits lost when you stop taking it?
Probably. When you stop, the signal to your balls will also stop. You’d need to run a PCT to get the pituitary back up again and it sounds like your last one didn’t work that well.
I’ve run a few actually…and my bloods all indicated that they’d worked but with normal bloods I had atrophy, pain, no libido etc. Felt like I was going mad because endos and doctors and TRT docs were all saying - you’re in range. And this has fixed it.
Is HCG suppressive? I’m thinking…is it a tolerable way of just giving my axis a chance to recover fully without another PCT? Although I dunno why I’m asking that because my bloods say I’m recovered (pre HCG bloods)
To the HP part of the HPTa, yes. It keeps the balls running. Have you tried running preg/DHEA together? Maybe that should somewhat simulate was HCG is doing without the shutdown?
Edit: most PCT protocols I see suggest 2-3 weeks of HCG use to “prime” the balls then an actual SERM to signal the pituitary to start making LH & FSH again.
What about if I just go back on TRT now from this starting point? Fully functional on HCG and use HCG as maintenance to prevent more atrophy?
You’re already on trt, bud. Instead of using exogenous testosterone you’re using another drug to artificially stimulate your body to make testosterone. For all intents and purposes that’s trt.
Yeah that’s true. I’m wondering if I could go on enanthate from this jumping off point? And if so how long I should give it on the HCG? It’s been two weeks on HCG; two weeks feeling like a normal human being after almost two years of feeling hypogonadal even with normal bloods.
I see no reason to change what you’re doing. You feel good, so why the desire to potentially fuck that up?
I feel now how I felt before I was on TRT. Which wasn’t great…but adequate
I’d like to get the benefits of TRT injections for all the reasons people use it - physical and mental.
What was your old trt protocol and how did you feel on it?
Around 125mg enanthate per week. I felt great - alert, confident, no low mood, better digestion, less anxiety carried in my larynx, more energy etc.
Without the HCG I’m in normal range but right down at the bottom end - and feel rock bottom.
I mean…this whole situation I was in two weeks ago, pre-HCG…normal but low-end bloods…small soft painful balls and feeling hypogonadal and just like death…where do I go from there? Can a PCT work but not work very well? I’d done 3 of them. I have 42 20mg nolvadex tablets left. I could do a FOURTH PCT of 40/40/20/20 but is there even any point? I mean, Swoops said about HCG ‘priming’ your balls and I do feel more ‘primed’ than at any point in the last two hellish years…so what do I do to 1) sustain it 2) get myself feeling above adequate.
No reason to feel like shit if you know trt makes you feel better. I don’t know why your multiple pct attempts failed, but that happens. It’s the biggest risk when starting steroids and nobody thinks it can happen to them. But sometimes it does. If trt and HCG make you feel better than you should do that.
Can a PCT work but only get you barely in range? I don’t have the numbers but I remember for total test the range was 8-29 and I was 12 but felt like I was 2. Can repeated PCTs get you higher up that scale? My baseline was around 17 so it seems I didn’t recover very well - but every doctor told me I was fine which added to my feeling crazy.
If it’s just a case of give it time (that’s what trt doc said) then is this time on HCG allowing my balls to continue to recover? Or will it pause that recovery? I just couldn’t ‘give it more time’. I’d probably not have made it.
Your pct “worked” in that it got your system up and running again. But of course the goal is always to get you back or close to baseline, and it has not happened for you. So on paper your doctor is right, you’re normal. But normal is merely a range on paper and isn’t necessarily applicable to your actual experience.
As far as HCG and recovery, it’s a complicated picture. You are technically suppressing your natural testosterone production by using HCG. But if you’re feeling good then go with it for now.
Okay, thanks. I’m guessing that means a fourth PCT is pointless.
I found clinical guidelines online that recommended 500ui 3 times a week for 3 weeks then 500ui twice a week for 3 weeks. It’s not a regimen I’ve ever seen on this forum. But I’m tentatively considering doing the 6 weeks and then maybe have a shot a reintroducing my 125mg pw of enanthate 
If you’re going to start trt again then there’s no reason to wait. You can continue the HCG concurrently with the test. I would recommend 250iu eod as that’s the most optimal way to use it. The half-life is short so eod seems to work really well without causing overwhelming aromatization. It’s the protocol I’ve used for years now and I have never suffered any pain or atrophy down there.
Ok. Thanks. I’ll update in due course 
Yeah I definitely don’t want aromatisation again. I just had gyno surgery three weeks ago.