New to HRT - Prescribed HCG Monotherapy

Labs:
Estradol - 17 (10-30)
Free T - 8.89 (15-25)
Total T - 426 (600-1000)
SHBG - 32 (30-135)
DHEA-S - 118 (350-500)
PSA - .29 (<4)
LH - 4.1 (<9)
FSH - 11.7 (<10)
DHT - 325 (<700)

48 years old male, been in the gym for 33 years. Clean diet, 8/10, will still have a burger or pizza on the weekend. Lose muscle mass and strength after just a few days off. I work very hard just to maintain what I have and can’t make gains no matter what I do. increased belly fat, just looking and feeling old. Also have a mild case of gyno.
Dr. prescribed HCG @ 700 iu - 2x per week. I haven’t started anything yet because I’m not seeing too many positive outcomes with just HCG.
Just looking for some advice from real world users. Either confirmation this is okay let me know what I can go back to the Dr. with. thank you

Add the reference ranges to your test results.

HCG mono at 48 y/o? IMO, at that age, HCG is going to be not the best route. It will probably bring you up a bit, but it isn’t likely to be as profound as test would be.

I did HCG mono at about 30 y/o. My TT was about 400, and HCG brought me to about 550 ng/dL. I felt a bit more energy, and libido went up.

updated

Based on those lab ranges you’re really low.
The adding the units to the ranges and the test results might help clarify exactly where your at.
But if you really are well below the ranges I’m not sure HCG mono will help, it might get you up into range, but I’m not sure if you’ll get to feeling good. It might just be this Dr’s process, try the hcg before going full trt, that way he can say we’ll we tried everything we could. Clomid monotherapy is another possibility before going to t injections. But if after a few months things aren’t getting better you may time to go to a trt clinic or a doc that specializes in hrt. Not just an endo or urologist, though you may find a unicorn, you probably won’t fare much better with those.

You’ll probably have to pay out of pocket for the trt. I’d figure on average expect to be about 150/month, can vary depending on total services, location, etc.

The trt clinics/docs won’t care that you’re on hcg monotherapy just talk to them like you are to us here, they listen better and are usually more concerned with symtoms than ranges and making a happy customer. I don’t see any downside to starting the hcg monotherapy, some guys don’t seem to agree with it, but that doesn’t mean you will/won’t.

Your FSH is high which may indicate that your testicles are not working very well. Are they small? Soft? If it is testicular failure hCG stimulation won’t be effective, and for that matter taking straight FSH won’t help either.

You can certainly try hCG and see what happens, however it won’t be a long term solution. You might ask your doctor what his/her thought process is and why hCG instead of testosterone. Some find that hCG increases estradiol more than TRT does and unless it significantly increases testosterone as well you may feel worse.

My guess, at this point anyway, is that you’ll end up on testosterone eventually, but sometimes you have to go through a process to get there.

1 Like

Yep, most tend to try everything but TRT. Its like making out but eventually you’re going to wanna put your dick in the mashed potatoes.

3 month update
Labs:
Estradol - 17 (10-30) 18
Free T - 8.89 (15-25) 12.44
Total T - 426 (600-1000) 570
SHBG - 32 (30-135) 32

I feel zero different, no sides but no benefits either. Dr. doesn’t want to prescribe test because that shuts everything down and he thinks I’m too young to go that extreme. I’m 48 and am done having kids…

Your doctor is an idiot and it’s not his/her choice, it’s yours. You tried it their way, now it’s time to push to try it the right way.

Your doctor is an idiot and it’s not his/her choice, it’s yours. You tried it their way, now it’s time to push to try it the right way.

1 Like

thanks, I know everyone is different but where can I expect my total and free ranges to be with test?

Wherever they need to be, it is 100% dose dependent.

I would shoot for doubling those numbers though.

Not wishing to derail the thread but just stumbled up on it and I wanna ask a simple question:

how come the total T lab ranges for a 48 year old man are 600-1000, and I get a range of 100-700 when I’m 28 years old? Is there something I’m missing? Is the difference just dependant on the lab? No wonder people go with a level of 300 and they don’t wanna treat em cause “they are in range”. I myself got a level of 500 give or take and I fall within range of my labs but according to op’s ranges I’m hypogonadal.

This thread links to some info on how lab ranges are determined, etc. Read through the link towards the end. That doesn’t explain all of a difference that large but that’s part of it.

1 Like

8 weeks on 100mg HCG and 100mg Test and I’m getting gyno… going in for bloodwork on Monday but I don’t trust my Dr. Right now I’m taking test on Saturday morning and HCG Tuesday evening per dr orders. Nothing else to cause hormone changes. I want to know what specifically to ask for, dose included, to both stop and hopefully reverse the issue. Thanks to everyone.

Ok describe your gyno, but Ive come to the conclusion a pic or your chest with a white fitted tshirt is best. So post a pic of your clothed gyno because most men dont know what that is

lol, it’s the real deal. I’m a solid A cup.

Nonsense. Pics or you’re now a officially trolling. Gyno has the appearance of pubescent nipples.