T Nation

TRT Questions

T Replacement
#1

Since it seems many young people are having T problems, i Was wondering a few random questions.

What is the cutting edge at the moment? Is there anything coming up that can possibly bypass the HPTA system and not shut down production? aka do the heavy lifting? I remember reading of some new drug a while back going through FDA investigations claiming to do this, although it sounds far fetched. Could HCG be put in time released pills to imitate the impulses sent by the pituitary?

In regards to fertility I understand using HCG, but how effective is that if used since beginning of treatment to maintain fertility and receptors? Should HMG be used from the beginning to prevent FSH receptor degradation even though HCG can weakly stimulate these receptors?

For those of you who had a hard time building and maintaining muscle who were able to balance their lab numbers ideally, how good were the results?

Hope to see an interesting discussion.

#2

I have no idea why young people might have T problems, though I suspect that they are like everyone who looks at T as some magic elixr that’s going to make them superman. From what I’ve seen, T works for a little while, then causes more trouble than it solves.

I have no opinion about those who blast and cruise. That is a totally separate subject from Testosterone Replacement. TRT prescribes a biological amount to be available to the body at all times, which I think is the wrong thing to do.

Natural T is introduced to the body in pulses, and the amount of T circulating varies widely throughout the day and night. Could this variation be important for men’s health? I think it is! Start on a conservative program of biologically-normal replacement levels and what is the number one problem that tends to happen? Your balls shrink! Tell me that’s normal! Those low-T intervals in between pulses are important for testicle health!

The second thing that goes wrong is your Estrogen levels go nuts. E2 is nasty stuff for a male, it will kill you! What happens when T is added to a “normal” middle-aged man’s body? Aromatase immediately converts it into E2! You don’t get extra T, you get crazy amounts of Estrogen instead!

Okay, now, let’s say for argument’s sake that you get your T and E2 levels under “control”, whatever that means. What happens then? Your libido goes to hell. Why should that happen?

There are things going on here that we are not aware of, and I don’t think anyone, least of all medical science, knows what they are doing.

#3

From looking around the forums a lot of people in their 20’s are getting labs below 300 in test. In regards to T working for a little while in some cases I think that is caused because T simply masks the initial problem causing low test, whether it by thyroid, adrenals, etc. There are some legit cases that need to supplement T.

Your balls shrink when you inject exogenous test because the pituitary detects enough in the blood and stops LH signals which halt production and causes the atrophy. Even if someone is willing to inject 5mg of test a few times a day and imitate pulses the pituitary would still detect enough test and reduce endogenous production. A 50mg dose of T every other day is much better than the mega dose once a week or every two week regime some people have. Large one time doses cause more aromatisation to E2 and unsteady levels. The LH signals do come out in pulses, which is why I was wondering if its possible to put HCG in time released pellets to more closely imitate LH rather than injecting 250 IU EOD. HCG imitates the pituitary signal that tells the balls to work, that means having to inject less since you make your own T, no atrophy, and continued prenognelone production. Some people who are secondary hypogonadism can treat themselves with HCG alone since their body just needs the signal.

Normal people who inject T do get extra T along with E2 aromitization, if they don’t get extra T people would not be able to go on steroid cycles.
I don’t know. A lot of people have had great success with TRT. Its important not to rush in to it and try to find the root cause of the low test first and how to best treat it. I agree there is a lot of unknowns and messing with the body this way should be a last resort. TRT is for life.

#4

A standard 5mg daily dose of T gel or cream will often cause peripheral edema. It sure does for me! That is way below a maintenance amount of estered, and closer to natural pulsatility, yet from what I have gathered the estered is less apt to cause elevated E2 and edema. Does anybody know why this is? I haven’t found an answer to this.

LH has a half-life of 20 minutes. It would be great if we could find a source of affordable research LH. HCG has a half-life of 24 hours, which makes it a poor substitute for a pulsatile therapy. I’ve been doing my own experiments with 5mg SL unestered T in the morning as a supplement. It has worked well for me for the past several months. My balls don’t ache and shrunk like they do on 100mg/wk estered. I still have an occasional problem with PE though, which I hope to address with Arimidex which is in the mail as we speak.

IMHO, pulsatility is the “cutting edge” that the OP is asking for.