KSman, Need Advice. Dr Says to Stop T

Went to Endo today for questions unrelated to TRT…basically for any new opinions on my low cortisol problem.

He wants me to stop the T, the Hcg and all other things (DHEA, etc.) and do some labs in six weeks such as

ACTH test, since I’ve never had that done, and testing for LH, FSH and what not, since I never had that tested either prior to family doc starting T five years ago. Possibly MRI to follow depending on results.

Obviously, I am freaking out.

I do think I need the ACTH test, as I am still super fatigued and Cortef, Prednisone and Medrol don’t really help much, they just turn me into a zombie and make me feel dumb.

and of course, being an endo, he want to know WHY I have low T, since no one ever bothered to test for why before I was started on T.

I guess I can see his point, as I’ve never done testing for those things, but being 5 years out and stopping cold turkey (even though I am on only 80mg of Test a week now, and 250iu Hcg, NO AI) still freaks me out and am pretty nervous about stopping everything.

Is this a good idea…stopping the T and Hcg to do real baseline labs that should have been done 5 years ago? Or is it probably a waste of time?

wow… Does he have any method for you to come off or does he just expect you to come off cold turkey?

Cold Turkey…no surprise from what I’ve heard of Endos.

As bad as I already feel (never really felt good on HRT…not more that 2-3 days over 5 years!) can’t imagine feeling worse, and I’m sure going cold turkey is going to do that.

Perhaps continuing Hcg for a few weeks after stopping Test Cyp C.T., then tapering from there will ease the pain???

Hope KSMan has answers…

I don’t think hcg is the answer. it acts like lh but is not lh… you need you’re lh and fsh to begin working… this would require a low dose SERM and tapering off the SERM but with serms E2 in the testies can become a problem and an AI can’t fix that… Can you get your hands on clomid or nolvadex? You can’t over due the SERM as you don’t want lh or fsh to high as the receptors may become desensitized… I’ll let ksman give you dosing proticol but try to see if you can get a serm cause you will need it

Just bumping this in the off chance it was missed.

I am only asking this due to the fact that TRT hasn’t been very successful, and even the last year with our doctor hasn’t really improved much either.

Should I just go for the ACTH test only, because I am having and have had this low cortisol problem not really fixed by meds?

Or, should I stop the HRT protocol all together, as unfortunately those test were never done before my genius family doctor put me on Test 5 years ago?

Basically, is there a chance that any results on LH, FSH, Prolactin (all never tested before starting) would dictate different treatment than I am already doing???

Or am I going to go through hell for the next 6 weeks for nothing??? (even though I wonder how much worse can it get really, cause I’ve never been GOOD)