Test Repacement Therapy

**dtdionne** · 07-02-2002, 10:38 AM

Hey all, new poster here.
I am 31 and have been on propecia for 3 years and rogain for 6 and it has worked great at keeping my hair. 3 months ago my sex drive disappeared and last week my doc checked my blood and said that my test was way low (210) especially for someone my age and in my shape (31yeas old, 160lbs, 15.25" bicepst, 42" chest, 30" waist, 7.5%bf on a 9pt). He prescribed 1cc test thearpy a week.
I was wondering if the propecia might be the reason my test is so low. I did a lot of research propecia and think i learned that propecia hinders the conversion of test to dht and that dht causes hairloss (and prostate problems) by binding to the hair folicles and killing them.
I have had 3 shots so far and I swear the I am shedding a lot of hair, I have not stopped taking propecia or using the rogain, does anyone know if test replacment thearpy at such a low dose could cause this?

**TNT** · 07-02-2002, 11:00 AM

It is unlikely that the test is accelerating your MPB (male pattern baldness) at this stage, although MPB can be a side effect of using testosterone .

Assuming the test you're using is 200 mg/ml, however, this is not a low starting dose for HRT (hormone replacement therapy). The usual starting dose is 200 mg every three weeks, not every week. Most guys end up using 200 mg every two weeks, which they split into a weekly injection of 100 mg - this is recommended in the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists guidelines on hypognadism in order to avoid the peak-and-valley effects of test. You can get the guidelines in a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file at this link, and they're well worth reading - they are the same guidelines used by all endocrinologists.

If you have not yet done so, check out the Over 30 Forum here on A.R. There are several threads that deal with HRT and the therapeutic use of testosterone, and you'll find them more focused than the test-related threads in the Steroids Forum.

Again, welcome to the board.

**dtdionne** · 07-02-2002, 11:17 AM

Thanks TNT, ill do that. I'm pretty sure its 200mg a week but not positive, ill double check. It's really got me freaked out, I DONT WANT TO LOSE MY HAIR!