Maintaining Fertility On/After TRT

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

I will be turning 38 soon and have always planned to have children. I have been having symptoms of low T for awhile now I guess but the brain fog and not getting turned on like I should and now a half hard member are getting to me. I had a full panel done at quest and my total T was about 425. Everything within range except high DHEA sulfate and slightly high FSH which they say can signal the testes are not working as good as they could. I am bad out of shape and went back to the gym for awhile and lost some weight but still have a ways to go.

Since reading that high FSH might mean poor gonad performance I started worrying about fertility. I never considered that TRT may shut me down permanently and that It may come to pass that I can’t start making sperm again. I have had my consult and waiting on the pharmacy for my TRT meds to try to feel normal again but now I’m worried that every thing I always worked for (a family) might slip away if I take my meds to try to feel better. I have Test C and HCG prescribed.

I am at work and don’t have time to write more and will upload labs later. Any experience or knowledge about test c supplement alone 200mg or less/wk killing sperm prodution for good?

2

From what I’ve seen discussed here, and online interviews with doctors, nearly everyone can start taking hcg and maintain fertility. A few may need fsh also and maybe stopping the trt for a bit, the ones that are left may not have been fertile to begin with, it’s often unknown.

There are stories of guys taking a lot more than trt for 20 years and becoming father’s just getting off the drugs and restarting things.

If you take hcg along with your test you will probably remain fertile the whole time, though some guys don’t like it, but then again some do.

If you’re worried, get a fertility test done now, before you start to establish a baseline and if you want, store some off, in case of emergency.

Not a doc, not med advice. :slight_smile:

3

Pertinent labs below

IGF 1, LC/MS 107 NORMAL 53-331 ng/mL

DHEA LC/MS/MS UNCONJUGATED 716
NORMAL 147-1760 ng/dL

(SHBG) 32 NORMAL 10-50 nmol/L

T3, FREE 3.5 NORMAL 2.3-4.2 pg/mL

Testosterone, Free (Dialysis) and Total, MS
TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL, MS 426 NORMAL 250-1100 ng/dL

TESTOSTERONE, FREE 93.3 NORMAL 35.0-155.0 pg/mL

CORTISOL, TOTAL 11.1 NORMAL mcg/dL

DHEA SULFATE 554 HIGH 106-464 mcg/dL

ESTRADIOL, REBASELINE
ESTRADIOL 30 NORMAL < OR = 39 pg/mL

FSH 9.1 HIGH 1.6-8.0 mIU/mL

LH 5.7 NORMAL 1.5-9.3 mIU/mL

T4 FREE, (FT4)
T4, FREE 1.2 NORMAL 0.8-1.8 ng/dL

TSH
TSH 2.17 NORMAL 0.40-4.50 mIU/L

QuestAssureD™ 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (D2, D3), LC/MS/MS
VITAMIN D, 25-OH, TOTAL 22 LOW 30-100 ng/mL

And bad cholesterol about 10% on high side

4

Sounds like good advice. Along my line of thinking as well. However I just read 3 posts in a row about guys my age 38ish coming off a cycle and can’t restart. Has anyone ever done that? Had a sperm count? Banked it? Any idea on turnaround times or prices? The more posts i read of people feeling better have me really wanting to get started but I am worried as well.

5

When people on here talk about restarting they nearly always mean getting their test levels back up, rarely does anyone mention fertility. Several guys on here have been on trt, decided to have a kid and started hCG after years without it and within a few months, got the job done then stopped the hcg.

Some think a “restart” will get their natural test levels back up to a normal range, this almost never happens, usually the best to hope for is what it was before starting or slightly lower.

I understand wanting to start feeling well, still working on that myself, but having kids wasn’t something i was wanting for me so I never worried about it.

Since that is something you want, I’d at least ask your doc for a fertility test, with that high FSH you might be struggling already, perhaps not. I’m sorry I don’t know the costs of storage, I’d guess it’s not cheap, with most likely a collection fee and probably annual storage costs. The fertility test though shouldn’t be too much.

I think in your case knowing where you’re at will be worth the extra week or two, for the peice of mind. Talking to a fertility doc though, someone who specializes in that wouldn’t hurt. They’ll probably recommend not starting trt as that’s something they sre as complicating things later on.

Some of the others on here can post their experiences having kids on trt, to perhaps give you some reassurance.

6

There’s a guy over at ExcelMale who fathered a child at age 51, after being on continuously since age 24 without HCG. He reduced his dosage (but remained on), added some HCG and HMG, and within a couple of months, his sperm levels were well-within range. I have never seen anyone become permanently infertile because of TRT or anabolic steroids.

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