I made a video to share my honest experience and thoughts on TRT. What I discovered through personal trial & error, research, and diligent blood work.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Stick to intra muscular injections - It’s actually, super easy once you get the hang of it. Creams, pellets, and all that shit is just sub optimal. If you’re going to do TRT you might as well do it in the most optimal way
About 2x a week is most optimal - initially, I started at once a week and then experimented with dividing the injection by 7 and doing daily (bad idea). Ultimately, I settled on doing .4ml once every three days. This keeps my levels optimal all the time, without creating big spikes and drops,
Only use Estrogen blockers if you really need to - Estrogen blockers are way harder on your health then the Testerone. And unfortunately, some doctors prescribe them way too freely. You don’t want your estrogen levels to be extremely low (unless you are trying to get brittle bones), you want them to be just within range. I recommend you try doing testerone just by itself for a month or two and then test your estrogen, to determine if you really need a blocker. Personally, I don’t need one since despite high testerone levels, my body keeps estrogen within check
Use HCG to minimize/remove some of the side effects. An issue with TRT is that it causes your body to stop your body from producing testerone on its own, which could cause your balls to shrink. This effect, can be minimized/counter acted with HCG injections (your functional medicine doctor should be well versed). And In case you’re wondering for some reason, my balls are just fine. And, I don’t have any other side effects either
I can see starving African children in more heart wrenching videos that are less self-serving. Why would I want to watch an albino one whine about his experience?
I know a ton of guys on the transscrotal cream getting higher free T levels than anything they were ever able to get with injections. However, I also know a ton doing better with injections. You’re saying one is better than the other which would be false. Everyone will have their own preference if they tried both and have done both properly.
2x a week is better than once a week but I know a ton of guys (myself included) that do significantly better with more frequent injections. Some requiring daily shots. I, along with others, most definitely get big ups and downs doing twice weekly injections. Some do fine on it.
To state one method is more optimal than the others is also false.
I don’t see the need for anyone to use an estrogen blocker. A proper protocol will usually eliminate any issue. This, in my opinion, is 100% false.
HCG to minimize or remove side effects? HCG causes side effects in men more often than not. Who cares if you have a touch of atrophy? If you have suppressed levels of T they are probably already atrophied to begin with. HCG should be used for fertility only. Sorry, but this is also false.
I swear by daily injections, twice weekly produced too many ups and downs and didn’t get the full effect at twice the levels I get on my daily protocol.
I know a guy who never felt good on injections and he tried every protocol conceivable, T cream was a game changer for him.
Although I’m also on 200mg split twice weekly IM injections and don’t feel great on sub q, I can’t tolerate hcg, as much as I want to and I don’t touch AI anymore.
I feel you should have started your “key takeaways” by saying. “What worked for me…” It’s misleading to tell a whole interweb of men that this is the only way to do it and leave them feeling miserable because they figure this is the only protocol.
You seem like a novice. I hope this helps. Keep in mind you are commenting on your limited experience and on what you have read.
True, most use injections. However, that does not really mean anything unless we consider the specific reasoning behind it. There are reasons, as I mentioned pro and con, for the various methods of delivery. Injections are the cheapest and 100% absorbed. Convenient, unless injecting multiple times weekly. Most patient choose this if given a choice.
No, the vast majority of guys on TRT inject once weekly. Almost all going through their PCP, urologist, or endocrinologist inject once every other week. Most gym guys using underground sourcing are injecting 200mg once a week. If 300mg per cc/mL, they’d be taking 300mg. They inject a full cc. These guys know nothing about free testosterone, E2, SHBG or cypionate half lives. Yet they are happy. Most TRT clinics use 150-200mg once weekly protocols.
Go ahead, disagree, however your reference to functional doctors would belie this comment. What if your E2 is 70 and you feel great? What if it is 40 and you feel great? Functional doctors will concern themselves with function, not numbers. If it is about a number, what about a guy with 450 total test? He is within range right? But he feels like crap. Could he benefit from test? If we are managing E2 based solely off a number, what about test?
From a health perspective, why does this matter? What does it hurt? Testicular atrophy on TRT is purely cosmetic and hCG for this reason is a personal choice base entirely in appearance. Well, maybe that and whatever else your partner is doing with them.
Good luck on your continued journey. It’s great that you have found what works for you.
Estrogen cannot be quantified via a lab test. Estrogen is parcine. meaning its in the muscles and tissues where its created and that cannot be tested in blood tests. Meaning you take an ai and you might have 35 estrogen, but your heart has 5 and brain has 2 and sexual organ has 10. the 35 is not indicative of how much each body part from brain tissue to heart and bones have. this is why you dont F with estrogen friends. its scary to think what happens if you do this for too long.
