Hey guys, I’ll try to make this quick.
In my mid-20’s i was going through some stressful life situations, working full time while going to school, training hard eating like crap and abusing caffeine to no end which basically led to adrenal fatigue and low testosterone.
At 27 I decided to get things back on track using adaptogens, lowering my caffeine intke and eating paleo style. Things rebounded well but I noticed lack of drive/motivation.
Got my testosterone checked and it was low. I am in canada and the reference scale we use shows a normal range from 20-29 for males in their 20’s. I scored a 22. My estrogen was a high normal, almost topping out but I can’t remember the exact number.
My GP was no help so I went to a naturopath and through a prescription of an anti-estrogen combo of DIM, Calcium d-glucarate, green tea extract and curcumin. In about a month my estrogen was about mid range in normal and my testosterone shot up to 27. Not bad and I felt great. However, after stopping, my numbers went back to what they were before. Not sure why.
Then I got into the police academy and didn’t have time or money to see naturopath but did was i could in terms of supplements and diet to keep estrogen low.
While in the academy I got a serious shoulder injury/pec strain which led to chronic pain for months even with treatment until I got some dry needling done. While doing use of force training I would bruise like a peach compared to everyone else. I had done physical sports in the past and never had this issue and some of the other recruits seemed concerned.
Went to my doctor and my estrogen was mid range normal but my testosterone was down to 17.9! However, by this time I am now 30 years old and still fall within the normal range so my doctor refused to do anything.
Over the following months I came across anabolichealth.com and the writer talked about progesterone helping low T. I thought I would give it a shot. First month I didn’t see much but on the second month I started to sleep better, feel more motivated, recover well, gain more vascularity.
Now according to the writer, progesterone can antagonize estrogen and reduces the conversion of T to DHT. That sparked my interest because my hair started thinning rapidly around this point making the first person ever on both sides of my family to go bald.
Now in terms of body comp, I have decent muscularity but easily gain bodyfat with too much drinking and an off/high carb diet. I carry fat on my hips, upper back and chest which is consistent with biosignatures high estrogen/carb intolerance.
So i figure if I use progesterone for too long and my T tops up then I’m at risk of a spill over into E.
So here is what I am thinking:
Use progesterone cream along with arimistane to stop the aromitase enzyme from converting T to E. This should help with the T to E ratio. Should I add dhea into the mix as well as both progesterone and DHEA help to increase T?
I would much appreciate thoughts, opinions and experiences of others who have dealt with something similar.
Oh and one more thing, I used the inbody bio-electrical impedance to measure body-fat as I was having a hard time losing weight at first. Now I know you have to be consistent with these so I always did it low on water, no food first thing in the morning. First month of progesterone I was stuck at a bf% of 17.5 but my muscle mass went up a kilo. Then the second month where I started feeling better, I went up another kilo of muscle, dropped to 16% bodyfat and lost one pound of bodyweight.
Stats: 5’10, 172lbs, Bench 1rm 235 (post shoulder injury), Squat 1rm 275 (ass to grass) and deadlift 1rm 365.
Thanks in advance!