It seemed like curious timing when a lot of guys on the forum started going against AI use…probably just a coincidence.
And we made a change to “his” protocol about AI. And targeting 22 e2 is bad.
I do wish him the best though. He put in ALOT of time trying to help us guys and that is appreciated. Trt is constantly evolving and we need to adapt and appreciate other ways/better ways of doing things. Esp if based on patient experience.
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New labs with some numbers on the rise. Meeting with the endo on Friday. @physioLojik What is your take on the high iron, bilirubin, and AST?
7/25/18
HCT - 42.7 (40.6 - 51%
ALT - 49 (17 - 63)
AST - 51 (15 - 41) H
Albumin - 4.3 (3.5 - 4.8)
Bilirubin - 1.3 (.3 - 1.2) H
Iron - 229 (45 - 182) H
Iron Bind Cap - 372.5 (261 - 478)
Ferritin - 144.3 (23.9 - 336)
Estradiol - 71 (<20-40) H
Prolactin - 8.09 (2.64 - 13.13)
Testosterone - 637.89 (175 - 781)
edit: I just realized I was food fasted but I did have black coffee all morning before the test. I wonder/hope that threw it off.
Hey bro.
As soon as I got on TRT my Bili went up. It follows my HGB/HCT. Not sure if that helps.
Its been above 1.0 lately for me, but I have no symptoms.
I just looked at ur labs from 5/23 and the change is pretty insignificant. Billy was 1.2 now 1.3. Same with other items.
The only thing I could see as an issue is the e2.
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I think this shows that the DIM and CalD are probably not doing much. May stop those at this point.
The iron is my main concern.
Iron is def high. Any history of hemochromatosis
Not that I know of. I am banking on the fact that I wasn’t fully fasted for the draw. I was without food for 18 hours but I had had ample amounts of black coffee for hours leading up to the draw.
Just back from my new Endo appt. First thing he asks when I get into his exams room is how I am feeling. YES! Love that. He asked a lot of questions about lifestyle and such so I filled him in. Big diff from the last Endo who asked nothing like that. Then he asked if I ever wanted to come off and I said not sure why I would want to and he didn’t argue. He said everything looks good and we will just move forward with monitoring the next 6 months (1 more lab and visit) and then move to once a year. He said to keep an eye on the snoring/apnea because T can make it worse. Also said I should start getting a yearly DRE now that I am on test. Not sure how valid that is.
Overall a decent visit as he wasn’t boisterous and didn’t want to change anything because I told him what a positive difference it has made in my life. Wife is happy that I have a specialist looking over it too. Overall a win as far as Im concerned.
He did say one thing a little off. I told him that I was on an E3.5D schedule injecting half the 7 day dose each time. He said Id be better off injecting once a week as twice a week might put my T too high. 
Huh?
Sounds good.
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Glad you had a good first experience with the new endo. Apart from his last statement about injecting once per week, sounds good. Over the years I’ve seen good and bad docs. When you get a bad one it really piles on the stress which is the last thing we all need.
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I forgot to mention one odd thing the doctor did, and I forgot to ask him about. He had me put my arms out straight in front of me and he balanced a sheet of paper across my hands. He then asked me to squat down and up keeping my arms in front of me. Was he checking balance? Tremors? Anyone have any clue?
Following this thread now. Interesting to find someone on the forum in MA too going a different route, doing the same thing.
I went to a urologist to find I had low T and am now on TRT. Sounds like we started around the same time too, I started on 11/10/17.
Thanks for sharing.
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Yeah…right about that time. Still dialing it in.
Log update.
I have increased my test dosage to the 150-160mg area per week to see how I feel. I seem to feel a bit better. Part of the issue here is that I felt so bad for so long I am not sure what feeling good actually feels like. Does that make sense? So I wanted to push this a little bit and I am happy with feeling a bit better. However I did reintroduce anastrozole @ .65mg at each of my two injection times two weeks ago. So its unclear which has had the greater effect of general feelings.
I do need to add that after the introduction of the AI there have been a few physical changes. (TMI Warning) First of all my testicles have dropped down noticeably. Before reintroducing the AI there were generally pulled up close to my body unless I was in warm enough state that I was sweating and even then they didnt hang that low. Second, my ejaculate volume has at least quadrupled and velocity has returned. When I was off the AI and my estradiol was high (65-71) there was very little ejaculate and zero velocity. What’s going on with this @physioLojik? I’ve been having a hard time finding a trusted source for tamoxifen. The RC place Ive used in the past has switched to only bitcoin and I have found it challenging procuring that while trying to keep my debit card out of the picture. Just seems sketchy. Anyway can I expect these welcome changes to be the same with tamoxifen or is this only going to happen using the AI?
I know that the current thinking here, and from a lot of the leading TRT docs, is that AIs are bad (Mmmmkay) but given my sides and the apparent fix by reintroducing anastrozole is it fair to say that I do indeed need to control my estradiol?
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@physioLojik Glad to hear of your successful move and continued happiness. You seem like you and your fam truly deserve it. Wishing you well on the new practice as well. ALSO glad to hear you are sticking around these forums. 8lbs? Your weight fluctuations are nuts man.
If you have a chance in the next couple of weeks could you take a look @ my protocol change and its apparent effects above?
I totally get how that feels! I’m in the same boat. Felt shite for so many years thats been the norm for me, so not sure what feeling good is like. I thought I would feel amazing when starting TRT but actually felt worse. Dialling in does take time and I think I am making progress, finally… I really should update my TRT log.
So you think having lower e2 helps? Reason I ask is that I things have gotten much worse for me with higher e2. It was bad with low e2 but seems even worse now. Its like my balls have dried up like a couple of old dried prunes.
I have some decent sources in the EU which I am using now. Payment can be via WU, Direct wire or Bitcoin. Let me know if you want the details. Don’t want to break any forum rules though so need to make sure it Okay to share first.
It does seem that the AI has helped me. I can’t argue with physiologik’s philosophy on them. All I can say is that T dose being equal I feel way better with lower E2 from the AI. Libido is through the roof, balls hang, and ejac is WAY better. All that suffers when my E2 is around 70.
I actually have a good place but Bitcoin is proving difficult to acquire with a credit card and since the RC stuff is kind of behind my wife’s back I can’t use bank account means. I will figure it out eventually. Im still waiting to hear from physiologik if I can expect the same benefits from tamoxifen as I have gotten from anastrozole.