T Nation

HCG & Sex Drive? Personal Experiences? I Have Soft Erections

T Replacement
#1

Started out with Very Low T for being 27.

I have EVERY low T symptom EXCEPT low sex drive.

Sex drive has always been through the roof. Like, a pubescent teen. I’m a legit sex addict.

Now I am about 3 weeks into taking JUST TRT and my erections are softer and more difficult to achieve. I’m still very turned on by women so it’s not low libido. My question is…

Has anybody experienced harder erections once introducing HCG?

Labs Below If That’s Important To Anyone:

Free T 73.2 pg/ml Range: 46-224

Total T 486 ng/dl Range: 250-1100

Ambumin, serum 4.4 g/dl Range: 3.6-5.1

Bio Available T 147.3 ng/dl Range: 110-575

SHBG 29 nmo/L Range: 10-50

PSA .57 ng/ml Range: 0.0-4.0

DHEA-Sulfate 144.4 ug/dL Range: 138.5-475.2 01

TSH 0.987 uIU/mL Range: 0.450-4.500 01

LH 11.0 H mIU/mL Range: 1.7-8.6 01

Estradiol, Sensitive 17.4 pg/mL Range: 8.0-35.0

Estradiol 53.9 pg/ml Range: No Range Given

#2

It’s totally normal, it’s likely your natural production of test is shut down which happens after your pituitary gland sees plenty test circulating in the blood. It could take months before everything returns to normal. TSH is near perfect! I’m 7 month in and erections improving all the time.

No AI, no HCG. I’m one of those who can have 800-1000 ng/dL and not need an AI.

#3

Not exactly answering your question but I’m in the same boat. 4 weeks in and I went from great libido pre-TRT to basically full ED now. I’m confident things will be fine once my protocol is dialed in, but it’s fucking terrible right now.

#4

Are you doing HCG?

#5

So couldn’t introducing HCG bring my natural levels of T back up and whatever else was happening in my balls to make my libido so high?

#6

yes, also on hCG.

#7

Are those lab results AFTER starting trt or before?

#8

Thanks for asking, I should have been more clear.

These labs are before TRT.

Also should have mentioned I am doing 50mg enanthate every 3 Days.

#9

Damn James that sucks to hear man I hope you get it situated. I also hope I don’t have the same experience.

Even with my pretty estrogenic body I’ve always been able to have good sex because of decent size, strong libido, and strong erections.

Very nervous about losing these qualities in this journey.

Maybe we will get some responses that will help the both of us.

Praying that KSman chimes in.

1 Like
#10

As long as your SHBG stays above the mid 20’s, E3.5D will be fine. There was a guy who had SHBG is the lower 20’s and he found injecting EOD to be better for him.

#11

If a few weeks of zero libido are the worst thing that happens to me in the overall process of getting a long term HRT regimen dialed, and eventually things are back to normal (or better), I’d consider that a very acceptable trade off. But god damn does it suck right now.

#12

Can you get current labs? Your e2 may be high now. I’d get your basic numbers dialed in before adding another variable. If you have high e2 and you add hcg, it will either make your e higher via a potential increase in T, which will make you feel worse or possibly no change at all. The third option is it could make you feel better, but you saying your libido is good with soft erections indicates your e2 may be elevated. What’s most likely is your e2 is high. You’re blind to your current status at this point in time. All that said, at your age, you should definitely be on hcg or nolvadex if you don’t feel well on hcg, but I’m guessing your problem could be resolved with an aromatase inhibitor. Again though, it’s better to confirm via labs. If it’s high and your Dr won’t prescribe you something like anastrozole, google research chemicals anastrazole.

#13

OP has primary hypogonadism. High LH and low T is the definition. hCG will not do anything to raise T levels. However T+hCG will prevent testicular atrophy [shrinking]. Fertility may be in doubt or fragile.

With TRT E2 may be now elevated and affecting libido. Get tested soon. Labs should also involve AST/ALT.

DHEA low for age and probably related to testes not working properly and decreased testicular pregnenolone production leading to reduced pregnenolone–>DHEA in the adrenal glands. Suggest 25mg/day DHEA per day and test DHEA-S later.

You should have doc examine testes to see if any vascular abnormalities exist, often surgically correctable. Sometimes there can be problems after using 5-alpha reductace inhibitors used to combat hair loss.

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Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

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#14

Thank you for the response, I have never done temperatures to check thyroid function. Will read thyroid sticky when I get home and get proper thermometer tomorrow.

As for the potential vascular issue. I have done a lot of research over the last two days on vercocele (no time for spellcheck)

I am almost 100% sure I have that in my left Teste. Right Teste is smooth and I can’t even feel anything connecting it to body besides very thin “veins”

Left has enlarged veins or arteries connecting it for sure.

Is my high LH responsible for my high sex drive pre-trt? That being said, would the HCG although not bringing up my test levels, raise my erection function?

Also I will get another e2 test ASAP… I included my lab numbers here. Do you recommend paying attention to e sensitive or the other one? Total I guess?

As you can see, one indicates HIGH and the other indicates the low end of normal.

Again, all labs are pre-trt

Will look into DHEA supplementation in the morning as well.

#15

Thanks you for your help.

#16

Since our systems are in a state of flux and constantly trying to be in balance, is it possible his LH was high in response to his lowish T levels? If another test had been taken is it possible the upswing could have been caught, ie higher T with lower LH or is it more of the degree/severity with how high his LH?

#17

@KSman when you say

“You should have doc examine testes to see if any vascular abnormalities exist, often surgically correctable”

Does that mean if I have bilateral varicose veins Grade 2 on my right and Grade 3 on my left. That despite’s if I get on TRT I am still going to have troubles feeling better because of my varicose veins

#18

TRT can fix the hormones, the vascular problems may be uncomfortable or have fertility implications [do not know].

Exactly. If LH is high and T is low, that defines primary hypgonadism. The testes are not delivering.

#19

What I intended to ask is, isn’t it possible that in a healthy male, the normal response to a low T state would be a spike in LH to get the testes firing or is this spike too high as far as ranges go, indicating a failure in the testes doing their job?

#20

ok that makes sense. Then I’m gonna assume that regardless of my varicose veins on both sides I should still respond well to TRT.

I had a fertility test done and it came out normal