Can aromatization result in low sex drive?

[JohnnyV85]

Prior to starting my test only cycle last week (500mg/wk), Id wake up and have to bend 90* at the waist to take my morning piss. Id say my sex drive was nice and healthy. I was also taking 10mg cialis daily.

Fast forward to today, Im 3 shots in and Im noticing that I dont have that same problem as before. Still taking the same amount of cialis.

Im not on any AI, though I do have both Aromasin and some Adex on hand ready to go but Im wanting to wait one month in to do bloods first. I have no nipple sensitivity, minimal water bloat but I suspect thats from creatine.

Will high E2 levels impact my libido? Im having no other E2 related symptoms... I want my morning boners back.

[GearHeaded]

how often are you injecting per week ? more frequent injections will lead to more stable levels

keep in mind your going to be in hormonal flux at the start of any cycle. your boner is a pretty sensitive "antenna" to any hormonal changes that occur in the body. after awhile when things peak and balance out you'll have a better feel as to whats going on.

[JohnnyV85]

how often are you injecting per week ? more frequent injections will lead to more stable levels

keep in mind your going to be in hormonal flux at the start of any cycle. your boner is a pretty sensitive "antenna" to any hormonal changes that occur in the body. after awhile when things peak and balance out you'll have a better feel as to whats going on.

Injecting Monday AM and Thursday PM

[GearHeaded]

just to change the perspective a bit here.

I was just on 2000mg of test per week, 1000mg of tren , and 500mg of mast. I was not taking an AI. my androgens AND my estrogen was through the roof (and so was the morning wood).
I came off of that cycle and began going into an anti-estrogen phase (really just to get my estrogen down into non super high levels) and taking an AI . my morning wood is now reduced. this is simply due to hormonal flux (and not because my e is too low or high)

[JohnnyV85]

just to change the perspective a bit here.

I was just on 2000mg of test per week, 1000mg of tren , and 500mg of mast. I was not taking an AI. my androgens AND my estrogen was through the roof (and so was the morning wood).
I came off of that cycle and began going into an anti-estrogen phase (really just to get my estrogen down into non super high levels) and taking an AI . my morning wood is now reduced. this is simply due to hormonal flux (and not because my e is too low or high)

Thats a lot of juice.
When estrogen is sky high, if there arent any sides like gyno/nipple sensitivity or bloat, are there any other risks/sides?

Like now for example that i dont know what my E2 is at, but I have no sides, is there any risk in that?

[GearHeaded]

Thats a lot of juice.
When estrogen is sky high, if there arent any sides like gyno/nipple sensitivity or bloat, are there any other risks/sides?

Like now for example that i dont know what my E2 is at, but I have no sides, is there any risk in that?

there are risks of course, just like there are risks when you take steroids for the purpose of massively increasing your Androgen levels (which why we take them). but its totally 'natural' for the body to also try and up-reguate estrogen levels when androgen levels go up.
thats why I don't always agree with AI use (situation dependent). your body is designed and made to aromatize naturally.. its supposed to take elevated androgens and convert that into estrogen so you can have a good ratio of androgens to estrogen (this imo is the best scenario for muscle growth too).
so if your body is taking this massive influx of exogenous androgens your injecting (eg, 500mg of test), and wanting to convert some of it to estrogen , then let nature take its course (its not 'unhealthy' per se , its actually naturally what the body does).
thats part of the process and why your injecting these androgens in the first place .. just like the rise in RBC and increase in blood volume (don't go donate blood on your first cycle, your blood is supposed to get thicker, this is a benefit).

now is it good to have your estrogen levels sky high chronically year round . no. its also not good to have high heamtorcrit chronically, or for that matter even high androgen levels .

BUT for the times your on cycle , all these levels of things are supposed to all go up together . the idea of using other drugs while on cycle in an attempt to keep your blood levels in the "normal range" can be counter productive ,, your not running AAS to be "normal" . no normal person has thousands of Mg's of test or high levels of androgens floating around your blood stream .. so theres no point in trying too hard to keep things 'normal' while on cycle.


having said all that .. it really depends on the context and the persons situation. if your trying to grow and put on size, then high estrogen levels make sense. if your trying to shred or contest prep, then low e levels make more sense.

its a common mistake to think that "high e2" is a negative side effect of steroid use in and of itself

but just like some guys are androgen sensitive, so too are some guys estrogen sensitive. IF your sensitive and high levels then lead to side effects, its these sides effects that are the negative (not the high androgen or estrogen levels themselves).
like gyno (high e2) acne (high androgen).

if your sensitive then do what you need to do to control the sides.. I can run 2 grams of test with no AI because I'm not sensitive to estrogen (other people may be though)

[JohnnyV85]

there are risks of course, just like there are risks when you take steroids for the purpose of massively increasing your Androgen levels (which why we take them). but its totally 'natural' for the body to also try and up-reguate estrogen levels when androgen levels go up.
thats why I don't always agree with AI use (situation dependent). your body is designed and made to aromatize naturally.. its supposed to take elevated androgens and convert that into estrogen so you can have a good ratio of androgens to estrogen (this imo is the best scenario for muscle growth too).
so if your body is taking this massive influx of exogenous androgens your injecting (eg, 500mg of test), and wanting to convert some of it to estrogen , then let nature take its course (its not 'unhealthy' per se , its actually naturally what the body does).
thats part of the process and why your injecting these androgens in the first place .. just like the rise in RBC and increase in blood volume (don't go donate blood on your first cycle, your blood is supposed to get thicker, this is a benefit).

now is it good to have your estrogen levels sky high chronically year round . no. its also not good to have high heamtorcrit chronically, or for that matter even high androgen levels .

BUT for the times your on cycle , all these levels of things are supposed to all go up together . the idea of using other drugs while on cycle in an attempt to keep your blood levels in the "normal range" can be counter productive ,, your not running AAS to be "normal" . no normal person has thousands of Mg's of test or high levels of androgens floating around your blood stream .. so theres no point in trying too hard to keep things 'normal' while on cycle.


having said all that .. it really depends on the context and the persons situation. if your trying to grow and put on size, then high estrogen levels make sense. if your trying to shred or contest prep, then low e levels make more sense.

its a common mistake to think that "high e2" is a negative side effect of steroid use in and of itself

but just like some guys are androgen sensitive, so too are some guys estrogen sensitive. IF your sensitive and high levels then lead to side effects, its these sides effects that are the negative (not the high androgen or estrogen levels themselves).
like gyno (high e2) acne (high androgen).

if your sensitive then do what you need to do to control the sides.. I can run 2 grams of test with no AI because I'm not sensitive to estrogen (other people may be though)

Got it. Makes sense. Thanks for the knowledge bombs left and right

[Obs]

Increased estrogen can lead to decreased sex drive.

It can also lead to depression, moodiness, gyno, increased sex drive, changes in taste, desire for prostate stimulation, and numb weiner.

[JohnnyV85]

Increased estrogen can lead to decreased sex drive.

It can also lead to depression, moodiness, gyno, increased sex drive, changes in taste, desire for prostate stimulation, and numb weiner.

That explains a lot lol

[Test Monsterone]

I just did my first cycle and when I was taking 800 mg/week (started off low) I had the worst sex drive. Still took .75 mg of Arimidex a week. Not that I didn't have a sex drive, but it wasn't any different than before the cycle. I think being on a high TRT you get the best sex drive. Still learning though, so don't take my word.

[JohnnyV85]

I just did my first cycle and when I was taking 800 mg/week (started off low) I had the worst sex drive. Still took .75 mg of Arimidex a week. Not that I didn't have a sex drive, but it wasn't any different than before the cycle. I think being on a high TRT you get the best sex drive. Still learning though, so don't take my word.

What did you start off your cycle with? At what point did you crank it up to 800mg? Sex drive was the same the whole time? You were on TRT before?

Ive also heard that being on high TRT gives you a nice boost in sex drive. A buddy tried talking me into TRT instead of going on cycle. He said his levels ranged from 1000-1400. I guess I figured if I get mine to +4x that amount then that would mean an even higher libido... guess it doesnt quite translate that way.

[Test Monsterone]

What did you start off your cycle with? At what point did you crank it up to 800mg? Sex drive was the same the whole time? You were on TRT before?

Ive also heard that being on high TRT gives you a nice boost in sex drive. A buddy tried talking me into TRT instead of going on cycle. He said his levels ranged from 1000-1400. I guess I figured if I get mine to +4x that amount then that would mean an even higher libido... guess it doesnt quite translate that way.

You're right, it doesn't translate to higher libido. I started off on a TRT dose (200 mg/week) and after 3 weeks went up to 400 mg. Then 500, then 700, then 800. I only went up to 800 around week 10. Was on 3 months.

Overall I didn't feel more aggressive or had a higher libido on 800 mg. It's only during the transition phases (getting on and coming down) that I feel acute irritability. I was not on TRT before. I am now self-administering a TRT dose (150 mg/week). I feel great now, 40 days after ending my cycle and getting on the TRT dose. The two weeks (while higher test was still in my system) I felt great. Then the next two weeks I was very irritable and depressed. This, I gathered from members on here and research, is from the estrogen rebound. The ratio is thrown off... body still trying desperately to convert Test into E and now it's no longer getting all that test, so you have a generally normal test level but higher conversion to E.

For the past week I feel pretty good, I can manage my emotions, I feel in control again. So I would say that even if you get on TRT but you cycle, you will still get some of the emtional/sexual side effects.

[JohnnyV85]

You're right, it doesn't translate to higher libido. I started off on a TRT dose (200 mg/week) and after 3 weeks went up to 400 mg. Then 500, then 700, then 800. I only went up to 800 around week 10. Was on 3 months.

Overall I didn't feel more aggressive or had a higher libido on 800 mg. It's only during the transition phases (getting on and coming down) that I feel acute irritability. I was not on TRT before. I am now self-administering a TRT dose (150 mg/week). I feel great now, 40 days after ending my cycle and getting on the TRT dose. The two weeks (while higher test was still in my system) I felt great. Then the next two weeks I was very irritable and depressed. This, I gathered from members on here and research, is from the estrogen rebound. The ratio is thrown off... body still trying desperately to convert Test into E and now it's no longer getting all that test, so you have a generally normal test level but higher conversion to E.

For the past week I feel pretty good, I can manage my emotions, I feel in control again. So I would say that even if you get on TRT but you cycle, you will still get some of the emtional/sexual side effects.

Im far from being an expert on this topic as I'm just on my first cycle as well, but what I can deduct here is that maybe you never felt that ramped up sex drive on cycle because as GH stated earlier "due to an influx in hormones." You kept upping the dose and never "peaked and stabilized" as he described. Idk. Just a thought.

[Testlolblast]

Increased estrogen can lead to decreased sex drive.

It can also lead to depression, moodiness, gyno, increased sex drive, changes in taste, desire for prostate stimulation, and numb weiner.

Yup! And anorgasmia, too.