Off TRT. 2 Months Later, Can't Control E

I went off trt at the beginning of February because I am a high converter and the estrogen was too much to control. I felt ok for the first month and the second month I felt great. Now I can’t control it and have been taking 1mg anastrozole every day. My feet hurt and I feel so weighed down. I’m going for blood tests next week but wanted to see if I could get some answers here about why this is so hard to get under control. I’m 38, typically athletic but can’t seem to drag my ass out to do anything right now. TIA

You have stopped TRT and are taking 1mg/day anastrozole and feel like shit.

That result is very predicable and you are feeling the effects of very low E2. With high range TT and FT, 1mg/week anastrozole is sufficient. A few anastrozole over-responders require 1/4th mg per week.

Stop taking anastrozole, it will take 7 days to wash out. Restart TRT or take 1/2mg anastrozole per week in divided doses. Do not make short term changes to anastrozole based on how you feel. It take 7 days for blood concentrations of anastrozole to steady out after a dose change and for E2 levels to mostly respond.

TRT:

  • self inject T cyp/eth 50mg twice a week, SC not IM, with #29 1/2" 0.5ml insulin syringes.
  • 0.5mg anastrozole at time of injections.
  • 250iu hCG SC EOD to preserver testes - same syringes or #31 5/16" 0.3-0.5ml

Low E2 can make you feel terrible, kills libido and makes joints ache. Can also mess up your blood lipid profile.

When on TRT, just how were you trying to control E2?
Please post all available lab work with ranges from that time.

Also see last paragraph in this post to see how you can eval your overall thyroid function.

Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman

  • advice for new guys
  • things that damage your hormones
  • protocol for injections
  • finding a TRT doc

Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

I wondered if it was too low. I had low E when I was on trt but it gave me clicking/popping joints and sleepy eyes. I have neither of those at the moment. I was taking anastrozole to control E while on and now that I’m off the same thing. I stopped taking it 2 days ago to see if there is any change and will wait the week you recommended. I will not be going back on trt because I very rarely found it beneficial. As I said, blood work next week and have an appointment scheduled with a specialist that I’ve seen before. I’m in Canada and protocol is not the same so HCG is impossible to get through script here, not to mention doctors who don’t have their head up their ass. Thanks for your help. I’ll update once I get the blood work results.

People in Canada do get hCG Rx, but you have to pay for it. Things vary by province and things seem better in the western provinces. As always, the limits are mostly doctor created. All of the Common Wealth Countries have the same issues in their health care systems. Some doctors are also work outside of the systems.

Your problems on TRT: Describe your protocol please.

I was doing 50mg enanthate injections twice weekly. I was taking anastrozole when I felt I needed to. I basically monitored it by how I was feeling and weight gain. I am a professional fighter and work out alot (not weight lifting). So I knew when I was gaining weight it was water retention and not muscle. When I finally went off the trt and took anastrozole I lost 16 lbs within a week. Around that time I felt better than I ever did on trt. It’s really been a frustrating experience since I started the trt in April 2016.

With at much T, most would do well with 0.5mg anastrozole at time of injections. That will get most near the target of E2=28pg/ml - 80 pmol/L

If/when you do TRT again, you should be able to get good results and feel great.