Hello folks! Am I ever thankful I found this website! Just wish I would have found it a few years before…would have saved me a bunch of time and cash. “Better late than never” my Pop used to say. Anyhow, here’s a breakdown for you all…I am 6’4", 230 lbs. 30 years old (just turned 30, by the way). I started this whole trip because I was telling a dude I work with how crappy I was feeling. I was super lethargic, apathetic, I had a horrible memory, and did not want to do diddily shit at my job due to a kind of fogginess in my head (sorry, kind of hard to describe). I used to weigh 335, but I was able to lose 105lbs eating low carb.
He suggested I go to this clinic where they prescribe some bioidentical cream (testosterone/chrysin compounded) rubbed onto the inner thigh once daily when my test level was at 140 (should’ve been at about 700-900). That did not work at all, so I went to my primary care doc, who put me on androgel. Unfortunately, I had to take so much of it, I was bathing in it, which was ridiculous. Additionally, after being on it consecutively for 7 months, my level got to 367. The bad part is is that he felt this level was “perfect.”
Then, my insurance changed, and the gel was going to become a ridiculous amount of money every month so my primary care doc gave me a 200mg injection of Test Cypionate, to be repeated every 3 weeks!!! Anyhow, I knew, just from my cursory research, that this was not right. Luckily, I work with two other gentlemen who go to a doc who is “in tuned” to the entire TRT process. This guy is legit! After his first session with me, he ordered a gallon of blood, to be tested for everything. After not having any test for 2 weeks, my level came back at 367 (yes, again). The following are the first set of labs:
Ranges
- LH <.2 1.7-8.6 (mIU/mL)
- FSH <.2 1.5-12.4 (mIU/mL)
- DHEA 187.8 160-449 (ug/dL)
- Test Serum 367 348-1197 (ng/dL)
- TSH 5.820 .450-4.5 (uIU/mL)
- Estradiol 22.6 7.6-42.6 (pg/mL)
- PSA .2 0.0-4.0 (ng/mL)
- IGF - 1 244 117-329 (ng/mL)
- Vitamin D 13.9 30-100 (ng/mL)
- Test Free 6.4 9.3-26.5 (pg/mL)
- Progesterone .5 .2-1.4 (ng/mL)
- Triiodothyronine, Free, Serum 3.1 2.0-4.4 (pg/mL)
- Cortisol (AM) 24.0 6.2-19.4 (ug/dL)
Upon return to his office, he said, “your testosterone level is in the toilet.” Music to my ears because he said it should be 800-900 at my age. He said it is currently in the “100 year-old man’s range.” The following regimen is what he placed me on eight weeks ago (I had bloods done at 6 and will update those changes following):
*Arimidex 1x weekly - estrogen blocker (.25mg per week)
*100mg Test Cyp IM injection 1x weekly (will probably go to 200 after first set of labs in 6 weeks)
*Armour Thyroid 30mg every morning (first two weeks then switch to 60mg every morning)
*.25mL HcG subcutaneous injection on day’s 6-7 every week
*15mg’s micronized Progesterone every night before bed
*12.5mg Iodoral daily
*150mg Zinc daily
*50mg DHEA every morning
*10,000 IU’s Vitamin D3 every morning
*An entire boatload of Vitamin C (daily, seriously, about 4 grams daily)
*500mg of any OPC I can get (these are primarily antioxidants- Resveratrol, Noni, Acai, etc…)
After being on this regimen for 6 weeks, I had bloods taken again. I really messed them up, though, because I had the blood taken 8 days after my last Test injection. Doc chided me, said I should have gotten it taken 4 days after last injection. Regardless, Test was actually LESS than what it originally was at 307. I did, however, do my HcG injections 2 days prior to my bloods, and the injections had no impact on neither my LH or FSH, they remained undetectable. Doc said the few years I did of Androgel/Creams without HcG probably slaughtered my pituitary and thus, it may not work anymore. I can’t find the updated results, but when I get them, I will update this OP.
Long story short, he bumped me up to 160mgs of Test Cypionate/weekly, broken down into 2x 80mg doses Monday mornings and Thursday evenings. He took the HcG out of the picture. He did ask me if I was certain I did not want anymore children, which I told him we were done with that.
I have always been relatively weak for a “big guy.” I don’t think my Test levels ever reached a peak where they were at 700-900. I have never really felt strong, not real confident in myself, etc…that is all changing now. I have recently started lifting weights for what is truly the first time. I have done it before with absolutely no success. My muscles would always fatigue immediately after a set or two. I would always get frustrated over this and I would quit. I have never been able to bench over 150lbs. I have never been able to do even 50 push ups. You folks see where this is going? It’s pretty bad.
I have this bench press I bought 10 years ago that has sat in my garage collecting dust; it’s a nice, sturdy “Olympic” set, not these dinky deals you get at garage sales that you can barely get your shoulders between. Well, the other day I went out and knocked the dust off of it. I figured, “fuck it,” I need to start somewhere. Doc said lifting heavy weights will keep the Estrogen at bay too. Plus, he said, I should be knocking shit out as far as the weights go with the TRT. So, I threw on the 45’s (don’t laugh), I was expecting to lift them 2-5 reps (haven’t benched in about 7 years)…lo and behold, I put all 135lbs up 25 times and could have done more, but figured, “shit, let’s see what else I can do…” I had 175lbs on that damn bar within the next 10 minutes, put that up 8 times and could have done more, but I don’t have a spotter (starting to see the necessity in that…never had to before). I know it’s weak but damn I feel better! I actually feel like I could go out and put another 35-50lbs on that bar and throw it up a few times. The Doc told me that doing a lot of reps is not necessary, only that I lift “heavy weights” until “failure”. Is that true? Is that what builds muscles? I thought it was about repetitions…oh well, thiese are the reasons I’m here, I suppose.
My apologies for the Russian novel-type post…I do believe the subject matter does warrant it, though. I am probably going to have a shit ton of questions as I already had. Before I go, I need to know one thing…I was taking the Armour Thyroid for about 2 months and I started getting heart palpitations. I was not taking the Iodoral (forgot about it) when I was taking the Armour, could that have been the cause of the palps? Any of you folks experienced this? Within 4 days of stopping the Armour, the palps went away. Do you think if I started back on it with the Iodoral, the palps would not return? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your time. I look forward to the information overload!