Shutdown! When does it usually occur?

[Wes201]

About how far into a basic 12 week testosterone eth 500mg wk. cycle does shutdown occur? I was wondering if this is something that varies from person to person, If certain stats like age and or bf play a role in this. (meaning when it takes place.) Does it generally happen at about the same legnth of time into a cycle for most people. I've heard that the inclusion of hcg administered correctly while on cycle can prevent the shutdown but assuming that someone was not running hcg, about how far into a cycle would someone notice signs of shutdown i.e. testicular atrophy.

[Sworder]

It happens on a cellular level in the hypothalamus and pituitary. The reason the testicles shutdown is because of the hypo/pit stopping the signaling to produce the testosterone. The resulting lack of signaling leads to decreased levels of intratesticular testosterone and other byproducts from t production resulting in less plump and soft testicles. Then they will start creeping up into your body as it is your body's way of protecting the testes and/or it is confused(something like that).

By using hCG you aren't preventing shutdown per se, I believe a better term would be to keep the testicles "under maintenance". Understand that you are shutting down the hypothalamus and pituitary mainly, the testicles are a secondary action. The reason you want to use hCG is so that the cells that produce testosterone stay responsive during PCT to the pulse from the pituitary.

I think I did a pretty good job of not answering any of your questions but I hope this gives you a better idea how it works.

[Wes201]

It happens on a cellular level in the hypothalamus and pituitary. The reason the testicles shutdown is because of the hypo/pit stopping the signaling to produce the testosterone. The resulting lack of signaling leads to decreased levels of intratesticular testosterone and other byproducts from t production resulting in less plump and soft testicles. Then they will start creeping up into your body as it is your body's way of protecting the testes and/or it is confused(something like that).

By using hCG you aren't preventing shutdown per se, I believe a better term would be to keep the testicles "under maintenance". Understand that you are shutting down the hypothalamus and pituitary mainly, the testicles are a secondary action. The reason you want to use hCG is so that the cells that produce testosterone stay responsive during PCT to the pulse from the pituitary.

I think I did a pretty good job of not answering any of your questions but I hope this gives you a better idea how it works.

ts

Thanks for the reply sworder, and yes that does definatly give me a better idea of how it works. Its interesting learning all this stuff. But can you or anyone else tell me about how far into cycle this happens?

[Sworder]

It's progressive and keeps on going past LH/FSH levels being undetectable. The unresponsiveness that I was mentioning with the testicles applies to the pituitary as well. It would be unwise to guess on a week shutdown is a fact, so I will say about week 5 shutdown will be in full-swing.

The longer you are taking exogenous hormones the harder your shutdown is. Some guys have been doing intense 2 week cycles with minimal suppression(shutdown).

[acidking]

Not sure how long testosterone takes, but Nandrolone (deca or other esters) will cause 100% shutdown in a couple of days.

[MickeyKnox]

ts

Thanks for the reply sworder, and yes that does definatly give me a better idea of how it works. Its interesting learning all this stuff. But can you or anyone else tell me about how far into cycle this happens?

It can be very broad, but typically it has been reported anywhere from 1-5wks, depending on the person and the steroid used.