What Benefits with Different Injection Frequencies?

So I should switch back to less frequent doses so as to have a lower trough and ignore the peaks?

Or better yet just buy some test u and go once a week and stop being a goddamn pin cushion?

That’s what I am going to try and prove out with some testosterone troches (buccal administration). Match diurnal swings that occur naturally but huge peak (I am going to gun it) and low low trough every day. If kinetics are linear and there’s a saturation point, you aren’t penalized (at least in nonlinear fashion) for the high peak and get more credit (in a weighted fashion) for the trough. I think that’s why we see less Hct issues with men on the creams (spend a significant portion of the day in lower half of the range) unless they are slathering it on all day. Obviously, not much help if you are blasting with esters but for TRT it’s interesting discussion.

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I see your theory and understand what your getting at, had this in the back of my mind too.

Just not sure as to how to go about this new protocol as Dr will want to test bloods in 6 weeks time.

With your dosage in my body (see example), frequency (weekly vs daily) it wouldn’t make a difference. Opportunity in that semi-blast realm for sensitive people (like me) to do some optimization on weekly dose equivalent vs HCT curve. Think I family of curve parameterized by injection frequency where you find a local minimum with weekly vs daily injections.

Part of me just wants to take 100mg/w of test u, experiment with MENT and once a year blast some primo. Seems much easier than trying to dial in these stupid numbers in order to keep my blood from becoming pancake batter.

See the dose response of testosterone effect on hepcidin followed by saturation after going past roughly 125 mg/week. Older guys more pronounced effect.

So once you elevate past the upper limit on testosterone physiologic range, no additional penalty on Hepcidin suppression (i.e. saturation)

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/95/10/4743/2835251#supplementary-data

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Could you do me a favour? I’m a very simple person lol! Could you explain the above in simple terms?

So what your saying is if you are in a constant range or saturation range then it promotes RBC production?

Weekly would in theory lower this if you fell out of the saturation range but what if your trough is still in the saturation range? There is still going to be a big peak in TT, FT and E2 and then a gradual decrease, surely it’s better for the body to adapt to a lower mid range consistently?

If the average of your peak/trough is near the top of the range, may be better to do once weekly injections instead of daily/biweekly injections. Average is the same but your trough is much lower on weekly injections and hence you get some Hct benefit over more frequent injections.

In a normal healthy person, testosterone level is not constant over the course of a day. It’s peaking and troughing and the trough can be below range. Again all this is only if you have issues with Hct. Does that help?

All this flies in the face of philosophy to keep your T levels as constant as possible while on TRT. Also why regimen of injections every 2 weeks isn’t quite as nuts as everyone makes it out to be.

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Yea makes perfect sense what you are saying.

Personally I just want to inject the protocol that will make me feel the best, I do like the idea of weekly injections of cypionate, 1 day a week and that’s it for another 7 days.

Also like the idea of getting a slight peak and drop off, started this evening at MWF so will do this for about 6 to 8 weeks and see how I get on.

Trial and error I guess.

Guys please provide me with all your experiences and what you noticed both positive and negative from running more frequent injections other than twice weekly.

I just started M, W, F today and I tend to overthink everything and am extremely cautious with changes etc but I really want to feel more consistent and better.

Is there many benefits to more frequent injections?

Im low SHBG

Can i keep my same dose but split between 3 injections so instead of 37.5mg every 3.5 days, I can do 25mg M, W and F? Do i need to lower the dose slightly or increase?

I’ve used both every other day and twice weekly schedules and did not notice a difference. In fact, I noticed no difference from once a week. That does not mean no one else does.

Most of my patients use weekly dosing. Those that use twice weekly notice a difference between that and once a week, obviously. Some, not many, use three times a week injections.

Honestly, I think this is often the case. But, if a guy tells me he want to try every other day, or daily for that matter, I’m not saying no. Whatever you do, I’d keep your doctor in the loop.

For the most part, I’d say no. But for those very sensitive to hormone fluctuations, it seems there are some. You can lower the (accumulative weekly) dose with more frequent injections, which may lower E2 for some guys. I’ve seen it go up in some cases and they feel better.

I have not seen a correlation between SHBG and injection frequency. For every guy with low SHBG levels using multiple injections per week, I can point to one with single digit SHBG taking once a week and doing great.

If you you are not happy with the results, by all means try something different.
While I think it is fine to play around with different doses and frequencies and “dialing in”, I think the constant obsession with feeling better can be counter productive.

It turns into a kid with a mouth full of candy holding his hand out for more. Reminds me of the guy who, on follow-up, told me his libido could be better. Turned out he and his wife were have sex twice daily.

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Absolutely no difference between daily and twice weekly for me. Even weekly isn’t terribly noticeable.

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Same. One a week or twice a week I feel the same. I’m seriously starting to doubt that the majority of TRT “issue” posts have anything to do with the testosterone itself. It’s not a fix all. I dare to say the majority having issues are related to something else entirely. Anxiety, stress, immune system etc.

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The vast majority of the trt problems on here are totally unrelated to trt. Once you start to dig deeper they start telling you about diet, training, stress at work, etc and huge red flags pop up. There should be a rule: if after a year of trt you’re not feeling better then you have a mandatory psych evaluation and a former Marine and a yoga instructor follow you around for a week and observe your workouts and meals. That would clear up pretty much every issue that ends up here.

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I’ve heard from more and more guys who are not feeling as good on TRT this year, guys doing great previously. Upon further questioning, they are now working from home, somewhat isolated, not eating right, not exercising (gyms are closed), admittedly drinking, or drinking more, maybe clinically depressed, etc. Funny how a complete change in lifestyle is associated with all of that.

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Yeah but it’s way easier to take a medicine that will make chicks dig you and guys envy you than to be self-reflective and ask, “am I really trying?”. My libido is worse on TRT, though it massively helped thyroid and insulin resistance and mental stability. Now my nuts are the size of almonds and I’m sterile (sperm test - 0 sperm) and my ejaculate volume is only one spirt of 0.5mL probably less than an average spit drop.

Ejaculate volume should improve on HCG. Without it yeah, you end up with very little to work with down there.

So guys I’m going with the 3 times a week protocol at 25mg each shot, I think I need more frequent shots and I think you guys might also be right in that maybe I do need a bit higher dose so will do this and increase slightly if I need to as I go along after 6 weeks.
Thanks for all your help and I definitely second the pathetic ejaculate! Though I’ve been trying sunflower lecithin and pyegum which seems to be helping a bit! Worth a try!

@systemlord Can I ask you a question? What difference did you notice each time you moved injections to shorter frequency?

I’ve already done 2 more frequent and might be placebo but have felt a slight improvement, I think my body prefers the smaller amount in one go but more frequent, probably similar to how I eat my meals, I can’t eat any big meals at all or I feel terrible, so I have a very small meal but every couple of hours.

Appreciate not directed at me but will answer with my personal experience - having started at weekly, then gone to E3.5D, then to E3D, then EOD and finally daily. You say you are low SHBG - I know the feeling; as at October 2020’s blood test I’m currently at 13 nmol/l (range 10-57). Daily has been a real game-changer for me.

Broadly speaking, TRT has worked better for me as I’ve reduced T volume and increased frequency. I’m currently using 29G 0.5 inch insulin pins, injecting only 0.075ml a day (taking the ester into account, it’s around 13mg of test). My key benefits felt within the first week was an evening in mood/less jittery; and over the coming weeks my shoulder/chest/back acne subsided dramatically despite no changes to the diet.

Contrast that with my initial protocol- one 1ml/cc (weekly) injection of c. 210mg of test (taking the ester into account at a concentration of 300mg/ml). Acne flares, mood swings, trouble sleeping, sensitive nipples, a need for cialis at 10mg daily and TT over 3100ng/dl as verified by bloods. Just awful.

Daily or EOD and a lower overall volume of test (c. 90-100mg a week) have been the only protocols that have enabled me to drop the cialis, save for special occasions or times of increased tiredness (we all have a lot of ‘external’ things going on right now which really do play their part). So if you are low SHBG, try daily using insulin pins and a lower T volume, give it a few weeks and see how you feel. Others seem to prefer higher volume than what I need (200mg + would feel like I was on cycle, personally) but you may find a sweeter spot than where you are now. Good luck and hope it helps.