I was hoping he meant 1mg divided into .25mg doses, but 4mg a week is…
So new protocol is Test 100 per week…HCG 250 iu 2x per week. Anstrizole same for 2 weeks then reduce. Retest blood work in 6 to 8 weeks. I will keep posted here if I start feeling better.
I am pretty sure that is making me feel up and down with being sick. Here are all the sides according to rxlist and I made bold all the sides I have had constantly every week.
- constipation,
- diarrhea,
- nausea,
- vomiting,
- upset stomach,
- loss of appetite,
- body aches and pains - literally feel like I have the flu half of the week (back pain, bone pain, joint pain or stiffness),
- breast swelling/tenderness/pain,
- headache - constant headaches as of late,
- dry mouth,
- scratchy or sore throat(https://www.rxlist.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40399),
- increased cough,
- dizziness,
- trouble sleeping (insomnia),
- tiredness,
- weakness,
- flushing and sweating ([hot flashes]I have never had hot flashes in my life until starting this and I will wake up dripping with sweat(https://www.rxlist.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7322)/hot flushes),
- vaginal bleeding,
- hair thinning,
- weight changes,
- depression,
- mood changes,
- problems with your fingers while gripping, or
- numbness, tingling, cold feeling, or weakness in your hand or wrist.
Suggestions on what I should attempt here? I totally stop taking it (but then afraid my estrogen will skyrocket even more as it was 34 a few weeks ago (this is week #2 on a lower test dose). Or should I literally only take 1 anstrozole a week for now and divide that into 2 doses the day after each injection? Or should I find a different estrogen blocker and if so any recommendations?
Well I had no suggestions but I will update in case anyone has the same issues so they can refer to this.
I only took one 1mg anastrozole last week and I divided that up into 2 days. My skin got EXTREMELY greasy by the end of the week and I started to break out in acne. I did not have the sick feeling though like I had every other week so I am pretty sure that was the contributing factor.
This week is my 3rd week of my lower T and HCG doses. Took my T shot this morning (I divide my shots into 2x per week) and this evening took 1/2 of a anastrozole. I will take 1/2 tomorrow eve as well as my skin has been getting worse all week and I have a ton of water retention.
I am wondering if anastrozole just does not get the job done for me? And wondering if I should switch to exemestane.
Honestly I keep thinking to myself this is such a pain trying to figure out to the point of wanting to say f it and give up. But then I remember how I felt previous to this and do not want to go back there ever. But the hair loss is also really bothering me. It has been 6 months now trying to figure this out. Very very upsetting.
Figure I would update after giving anastrozole a week off and then starting again. The week off was to figure out if that was making me feel sick (see previous update).
.5 fri
.5 sat
.5 sun
MONDAY started to get that sick feeling again like I had the flu so took .25
Tues felt fine took .5
Wed. 0
Thur (today) 0
Total for the week 2.25 down from 4 per week.
My acne cleared up after getting it from a week off, I am no longer greasy feeling, no more water retention. Going to stick with this for now unless anyone has a better suggestion.
You’ve got a lot of moving parts going on here. I have no AI experience (although I’ve been prescribed one), but I know from reading that you were on a seriously high dose.
So are you staying off the anastrozole now that things seem stable? I know how you feel about giving up, it’s been a tough ride for me as well. But I also know I’m never coming off of TRT again, withdrawal is hell.
I got my blood work back so figured I would give an update with numbers and everything. Since last post I have not dropped Anastrozole any more. I tried and I could tell my estrogen levels would bounce up too high. I would get very greasy skin, acne within a few days, bloat, etc. I am still having erectile issues. And I am still having bad depression issues. I talk to the Dr. next week. I am pretty sure from what everyone said here that the anastrozole is causing my hair thinning and depression. But what do I do? If I don’t take estrogen shoots up. It is like a lose lose situation. Is there something else I could take?
So now to what I have been taking. 100 test 2x per week split into 2 doses inter muscular. Anaastrozol .5 mg 6x per week. (3 mg total down from 4) HCG 25 units x per week.
My schedule looks like this: Friday 50 test .5 mg anastrozol, Saturday .5mg anastrozole, Monday 50 test .5mg anstrozole, Tuesday .5 mg anastrozole Wednesday 25 units .5 mg anastrozole HCG, Thursday 25 units HCG .5 mg anastrozole.
My bloodwork from previous write ups is above. Here is the current:
Insulin 3.3 range 2.6-24.9 pg/ml
PSA .59 range 0-4.0 ng/ml
Free T4 1.16 range .9-1.7 ng/dl
T4 6.6 range 5.1-14.1 ug/dl
T3 80 range 80-200 ng/dl
TSH 4.180 range .27-4.2
Free T3 2.6 range 2.3-4.2 pg/ml
Estradiol 22
DHEA Sulfate 239 range 106-464 mcg/dl
Test 1384 range 250-1100 ng/dl
Test Bioavalable 354.3 range 110-575 ng/dl
SHGB 49 range 10-50 nmol/l
Test Free 165.3 range 46-224 pg/ml
Albumin 4.7 range 3.6-5.1 g/dl
So if anyone has any suggestions to my above issues I am all ears. Not sure how to control estrogen without a AI. If I switch to a different AI will I have the same sides or possibly no? I tend to get the worst sides of a lot of things unfortunately.
You need to go get the trt bible by jay cambell it will tell you what to do.
I would not take anastrazole. It takes weeks or more to let that Testasterone stabalize and thus e2 to stabalize. Smaller dosages more often. You take too much ai my man. Stop doing that to yourself.
I would take less per week. Instead of 200 why don’t you try 160 weekly split over 3 shots? Maybe 2 a week…: your taking so much T … at this point if I was in your shoes I would drop my dosage, totally let go of the AI and start microdosig.
The whole point behind microdosing is to control e2.
Also you don’t wait a week for ai to clear your system. Give it 2 weeks.
Otherwise take ai very low dosages to ween off. .125 day after shot and that’s all. Not this .5 junk. My doc prescribed me .6 total per week with 200mg. But I don’t take any and I don’t take 200mg. It’s the highest most docs will prescribe .
I am not taking 200. I am taking 100 split into 2x a week. The way I wrote it was confusing…my apologies there. And I did totally drop the AI for a week and depression was level 10 on a scale of 1-5. Not a good place to be in.
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I guess what i meant was, if you still have issues you can always lower the dose per week. if your at 100 x 2, then try 90 x 2. We need to find what our body likes and stick to it. I believe after a long time being on TRT we can increase dosages without as many side effects… i think… but for us newbies we really gotta try to find that dose that suits us. i am still trying to reach that and just sharing my knowledge.
What is considered a “good” range for Free T? I had a total of 1965 and a Free T of 414.6.
Sorry @highpull I realize Im responding to a post of yours from Nov 2018.
Yeah that is a good idea. And this entire process can be confusing. When you really dive deep into things. I will read @ksman posts and get totally lost. He is extremely knowledgeable but sometimes it can get confusing.
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No problem, yeah, those are pretty high, assuming labs were drawn at trough. What dosage got you to these levels? If it was necessary to get you feeling good I’d be fine with these levels, but would want to see overall labs, E2, lipids, etc.
As for a “good” range, I’d like to see free test at 150 at least.
what’s the conversion on that. For lab Corp ranges. Big numbers woot
Quest
TESTOSTERONE, FREE 218.1 35.0-155.0 pg/mL
It was a midway reading between a 3.5 day protocol so not trough. The protocol was 90mg E3.5D and I was taking .75mg anastrozole with each shot. E2 was 54. And yes I was searching for a dose that had me feeling good.
SHBG 27
Guessing you were around 1500/300 at trough. Surprised E2 was 54.
How did that work for you?
Loved it, felt great, gym was going great but I don’t want to take the AI anymore. I brought my dose down through December and January for doc appts. Now I am trying an EOD protocol with my dose back up again.
Do you see any issue with have the free T so high? I am used to seeing guys with a total T of 1500 and a free T of like 40 or 50. What does it mean? What does it affect?
Lab ranges? Was free test a direct or calculated measurement?