I just started TRT about a week ago. I’m a fairly young guy at 24 and unfortunately I’ve had low T since 2018. Not sure why but been on every single anti depressants on the book at this point. Low libido and energy. It took me a very long time to discover this alternative form of medicine and after a year of thinking about it. I’ve finally decided to pull the trigger. (Just as a reference labs consistently showed T in the 100sng/dL with the lowest at 6ng/dL) I’m not sure if all the anti depressants I used when I was in my early teens caused it. But none the less I’ve heard for a lot of guys this was the underlying cause. It took me a while to find a doctor who would give it to me. But because I came back so low they started me on 200mg Of testosterone cypionate a week with 2x a week injections, 1mg of anastrozole .5mg 2x a week, and HCG 600iu a week in 2x a week shots.
My first shot I just took the test. My second shot I decided to take the HCG and AI: needless to say I’m not sure if it was the AI or the HCG but I didn’t like how I felt the next day. (Lots of anxiety). I know it’s probably way too early for the test to do anything since I’m on week one lol. But my body didn’t seem to like to like the HCG.
I’ve decided since I don’t really care about nut size and don’t want to over complicate things. I’m just gonna drop the HCG and AI and see how it goes from there. Also, seems like for the most part I can add these meds down the line if I want to have kids and for the most part no one had issues conceiving on trt anyways. My question is how many of you all are on 200mg a week with no AI? I would rather take as least stuff as possible to see what is causing issues and not play a guessing game. Thanks!!
If you read through the posts, and the Credentials sticky, you would say that almost none of us are on an AI, and most don’t bother with HCG either. And it is never a good idea to introduce more than one change at a time, because as you have discovered, then you don’t know which change caused what.
I took about .5mg. It’s been 2 days since I took the AI. I feel pretty exhausted now, and at random times get spurts of anxiety. I’m just gonna stick with the test and go from there
Wise decision young sir. I’m a strong advocate of solo T as the most anybody ever needs. If you decide to have kids some day you may want to temporarily change what you’re taking but for now keep it simple.
For me personally through my trt doc I started at .5mg anastrazole and 200iu hcg with 140mg test e 2x a week and adjusted the anastrazole to .25mg after a few rounds of bloodwork. Only reason I use the hcg is because I want kids eventually so I also check sperm count from time to time and so far so good. 1mg is way to much, it varies from person to person but .5 was too much for me at almost 300mg test e a week
200 mg of test cyp sounds like a really big starting dose to me!!!
1 mg of anastrozole sounds like waaay to much to me!!!
I don’t agree with not using HCG though…I’ve been told by some top Doc’s that the whole body, particularly the brain has receptors for lutenizng hormone and its not just about keeping nut size…I know that I feel better with HCG then without it.
I will tell you that you don’t need a whole lot of HCG and in my case do best when I inject it daily in small doses…larger doses every 3 day’s spikes my E2
I inject 60 IU every morning…I fill up a weeks worth of 1/4 inch, 31 ga insulin syringes…keep them in the fridge and when I get up in the morning…grab one…quick stick and done…so start low on HCG…wait a week…if nut size is not right…raise the dose slightly…then wait and see another week.
HCG as a rule brings your nuts back up to size pretty quick.
If it were me I would have started with a lot smaller dose of cypionate twice a week…maybe 75 mg twice a week…NO anastrozole till you do blood work and know you actually have an E2 problem and need it!..and you might not!
At any rate 1 mg is almost certainly waaay to much!
Texas Tornado says:
Start at a lower dose of T…small dose of HCG…wait 60 days…do a complete blood panel including SHBG and sensitive E2 test for males
Titrate dose up based on blood work till you find a spot you feel good…
Be patient! It takes time to get dialed in and starting too high a dose of all these things right off the bat is a prescription for problems…
Hmmm ok. Good recommendation and thanks. For now I’m just gonna stick with test only at my dose now, and assess bloodwork 8 weeks in once i have my checkup to see how I’m doing
Just take your 200mg of testostorne and give it 2-3 months. I would expect symptoms like water retention, itchy or sensitive nipples, up and downlibido and mood until the body is used to the new levels of hormones.
These symptoms go away and it’s just part of the process. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to modify dose due to these symptoms. People will say estrogen is too high. Your dose is too high. The truth is these symptoms are expected and will go away with time. You are on a good dose if you stick with 200mg a week.
If you can do more frequent dosing you will probably have a better chance of success and will need to make less changes in the long run.
In the meantime eat right, sleep right, stick with fitness and it will all come together in the near future.
Blood work wont do much, but tell you your dose is working and what levels you achieve with your dose. In 8-12 weeks ask yourself “how do i feel”. If not so great use labs to make adjustments and track. Lab ranges are lower than they were 5 years ago. You might be 25 and your lab says above range, but 5 years ago you would be in range and at the top of that range. Hope that helps in explaining why labs don’t matter as much and are a bad way to do TRT.
The best way to do TRT is go off symptom resolution. You might need more in 3 months. Maybe you need less. I can tell you that most guys feel good around 20 to 30 free t. Few need to be above 30 and even more rare are the guys who need more. Then you have another group who say they feel good below 20, but i don’t think they had the patience to let the body stabilize 20+ and were quick to make changes due to temporary symptoms i described in my previous post.
Just because 200 is high for you does not mean its high for him. I can take 300 and i feel fine. i can take 200 and i feel fine. no difference, but the benefits. Please dont do that to new people. he has no clue what he will absorb and how much it will convert.
I hate to hear these stories. Generally, I think anti depressants are over prescribed and while the side effects are numerous, I wonder if the underlying cause of your depression was low testosterone.
That’s probably a higher dose among those on the internet. In the other world, almost all take 200mg once a week without an AI. I don’t have an issue with the 200mg dose. There is a start low and titrate upward gradually mindset, but you are so low I wouldn’t waste my time. I think it is wise to hold off on the hCG as well. You can add it when the time comes.
Good luck, you’re too young to be putting up with this low of a testosterone level, not that it is OK for anyone. At least a guy in his 50s had a good run into his 40s.
I’ve only been lurking on this site for the past 3 weeks or so and it’s a very common refrain. SSRIs right out of the gate, myself included, with no further discussion of any more complex problems. Doctors are unwilling to initially search for endocrine problems, especially in socialized medicine, and will throw SSRI’s at you and get you the fuck out the door. I’m not saying correcting hormones will make all the difference to someone struggling with mental illness, but there certainly is a mental health component.