TRT Trial 6 Months, Now "All Better"?

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
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Hello, I am new the forum so I hope I am not repeating an issue that has already been addressed. I am 40 years old and have been physically active / lifting my whole life.I am married with one child.

Last year I was diagnosed with low T via a blood test level of 140. Cause unknown. I don’t know my other levels and was not tested for Estrogen levels.

For many years leading up to me finally going in to get checked out I had been getting worsening depression, low sex drive, couldn’t sleep at night and was actually losing muscle mass despite working out and weight training on a consistent basis. The Endocrinologist also said I had mammary tissue…

I went on a trial of injections of 0.5 MLS of Testosterone Cypionate every 2 weeks for about 6 months. I started to feel better, could actually sleep at night, had a libido again, was building muscle from my workouts and mentally felt happier. I had another blood test after 6 months and had a T level of 440.

The Endo said I was all better now and wanted to take me off the injections. I have been off them for almost 3 months now and am reverting back to the way I felt before I saw him. I do have a follow up appointment and blood draw in a couple weeks.

I’m afraid the Endo is going to say I am fine and he wont want to write a new prescription to continue my shots. Has anybody else been in this situation or have any advise? I wold greatly appreciate the input. He says the shots are a short term fix and should not be used long term. I disagree.

Thanks

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Once you go on trt, it’s for life. You are replacing the testosterone your body does not naturally produce with exogenous testosterone.

Testosterone injections do not restart your HTPA, they completely shut it down. Sounds like you need to find a doctor who specializes in hormone replacement and with with them.

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I would run far away from this doctor. He doesn’t know what the fuck he/she is doing.

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Thanks for the reply. He specifically told me the injections were supposed to “jump start” my natural production. I also forgot to mention that I can barely keep my eyes open around 1-3 PM daily. Yesterday I took a 3 hour nap despite getting a “normal” nights sleep. Is it frowned upon to shop around for doctors? Should I tell him I’m getting a different doctor if I he does not continue me on treatment? Thanks again.

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How can endos be so dumb? He thinks that giving you an exogenous hormone for a few months then taking you off it will fix your low t? As another poster said Trt is for life, I’d also want to see a minimum of 1x weekly injections

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Yes. He also initially told me to do 1 injection every 30 days. I told him I read that the cycle of the shot is around 10-12 days so every two weeks would probably be better. He agreed.
WTF. Now I’m realizing this guy is an idiot and starting to get pissed. :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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What a freaking joke. This shit makes me sick to my stomach. Your protocol was trash. Your levels were trash. Taking you off cold Turkey is cruel and unusual punishment. I know exactly how your feeling right now. When my testosterone was low and my e2 was completely crashed I had the same symptoms in the afternoon. I was incapable of staying awake. You need to get back on testosterone. 50 mg on Monday morning. 50 mg on Thursday afternoon. Do it yourself or find a different doctor. I guarantee you that your currently sitting at disease state hormonal levels.

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Where are you located?

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I’m in MN. I do have a vial left over from when the dr told me to stop using it. I was waiting until after my next blood test to start taking it again, since all he cared about was the TLevel. I asked him about testing for Estrogen and he said he doesn’t need to.
This validation from you guys means a lot to me. Do you have any recommendations for a doc up here? Does insurance cover a private physician?

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Typically it would not cover private. All insurance is different though. I know if it was me… I would already have injected again. If you have test at the house go get some insulin needles from the pharmacy or order some online and get to it. I like 27 gauge easy touch. They are cheap and painless. Start injecting 50 mg Monday and Thursday to get back on track and in the mean time FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR. The stickies here suggest calling local compounding pharmacies and asking which doctors are prescribing testosterone. Then make an appointment with one of those doctors. I tried that. It didnt work for me. If you can find a doctor that will give you a script… that’s good enough. This community can guide you through everything else. My doc just gives a script. I dont follow her protocol and never have. I see her every 6 months. We go over blood work and she gives me a high five. It’s that simple. Just dont go really high on the testosterone and let them see the bloodwork. They will pull your script lol

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Thanks. I might just do that. It’s not like the shot is going to put me to super high levels. It will just get me back to “normal”. That was one argument I had with the endo. He said my level on the shot was “normal” so I didn’t need it anymore. I told him it was only “normal” because I was doing the shots! Looks like I have some shopping around to do. Thanks again.

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This guy is a newbie so 50 mg may or may not mean anything to him. To the OP, you need to know the concentration of your test vial.If its 200mg/ml, then you should inject 0.25 mL, if its 250/mL then its 0.20 mL.

Just do your math before injecting…and like @alldayeveryday said, RUN DONT WALK TO THE NEAREST GOOD TRT DOC!

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One more question. Can a regular doctor give you a prescription or does a specialist need to?

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PCP is fine. I get mine through my GP (PCP)

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Ok good to know. Should be easier since I previously obtained a script from a “specialist.”

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Its the diagnosis you need. Usually insurance companies will need you to test 3 times under range in order to cover the script. Some are different.

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Everything has been or will be covered by these guys but I want to just make one point.

Do not take offense to this. BUT who gives a shit what is frowned upon when you are talking about your health and life. You are your own best advocate. I was in the exact same boat as you. My first trip to the Dr and he didnt even consider checking Test. He said, sounds like depression, take these drugs. I moved on immediately. Dealing with the Dr you have now that is trying to screw you sounds like banging your head into the wall. I would ask him where he learned that TrT is temporary. Find a new Doc, someone who will let you self inject at home.

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@NH_Watts is right in. We are on the same page. He is being far more detailed than me. I say just inject that test and get right lol

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This doctor is a quack, he wasn’t taught or read anywhere in any journal or guideline that a bioidentical hormone jumpstarts your natural production.

A dentists could prescribe testosterone, endocrinologists and urologists are the worse at TRT because they don’t typically specialize in this area of medicine, they mostly know nothing beyond what the outdated guidelines state. Critical thinking and analytical thought does not seem to be needed to practice medicine, your doctor doesn’t even understand that TRT shuts down your natural production, so by stopping your TRT your testosterone will become zero, then you will slowly return to the state you were in before TRT.

You’re insurance will be useless for your TRT because you likely don’t have access to a doctor that is skilled in TRT, you will continue to run into idiots doctors who have no idea what it is they are supposed to do in relation to TRT.

Most of us here have encountered the same clueless doctors and is very common place to see doctors completely stumble in the dark when TRT is concerned. Going private may be your only way to ever truly work with a doctor that specializes in TRT.

Your protocol is proven to not work according to a 2005 study, if your doctors knew what the f*** they were doing, they would know 200mg every 2 weeks shows poor results. Compare your protocol with those who are doing well on TRT, 100mg weekly, 50mg twice weekly, 20-25mg EOD, 10-12mg every day.

I started on 75mg weekly and crashed after 4 days, then I was doing 50mg twice weekly, but felt a minor crash on the 3rd day, so I started on 20mg EOD day and this is when I started responding very well to TRT and no more crashing days after an injection.

A lot of us have either had to figure out our own cases or seek professional help, Defy Medical is a popular choice for those having great difficulty located a doctor that specialises in TRT, it’s a telemedicine clinics with experience hormone doctors that treat men for more than just TRT.

Hormone profiles after intramuscular injection of 200mg testosterone enanthate every 2 weeks in patients with hypogonadism

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Thanks for the info. When I told the endo every 2 weeks would be better than 1x per month he agreed. At a follow up appt I told him I was crashing by the end of the 2 weeks and he told me “but you can deal with that right?” Sigh.