About to get first bloods since starting TRT

[juice2012]

Original thread: http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...ions-about-TRT.

Today has been my 5th week of injections since I started TRT. Which means I'm going to wait one more week before getting bloodwork done.

I currently am on 100mg of Testosterone Cypionate injected semi-weekly, 50mg per injection, Sunday night and Thursday morning.

I'm going to ask for the following B/W:

• Total Testosterone
• Free Testosterone (if Bioavailable T is still unavailable)
• Estradiol (specify “sensitive” assay for males)
• LH
• FSH
• CBC
• Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
• Lipid Profile
• IGF-1, IGFBP-3 (Should I ask for both of these or just IGF-1?)

Should I also ask for the following considering it's so soon?
DHEA
Pregnenolone
PSA

So far the only change I have felt in these first 5 weeks has been an increase in libido. The fatigue I have been experiencing is still there, even after sleeping 10 hours a night. Brain fog is still there, just all around feeling crappy. I've only been lifting like once a week because I'm usually so destroyed afterwards that it takes days to heal. Going to work is still a struggle, sitting and starting at a computer all day. Just started using a CPAP last night and still slept 10 hours with it.

I think I'm going to email my doctor with a paragraph of how I'm feeling before the bloodwork results just so he has my subjective experience documented before we have bloodwork results. Just based on how I feel I would say we need to up the dose but as we all know, gotta have bloodwork to make that decision.

One final question: At what day should I get my blood drawn? Next Thursday morning would be my injection around the 6 week mark. Should I get blood drawn the day of, day before or day after?

[steroid.com 1]

There are more labs you'd want to see. See the sticky on the follow-up labs you need.

Also, see the sticky on how long things take to change on a TRT protocol; 5 weeks I didn't see anything either but at 12 weeks things really started to change big time!

Make sure to get your Prolactin checked along with a complete Thyroid including TSH, FT4, FT3, RT3 and Thyroid antibodies...this will rule out any Thyroid issues for your fatigue as many of the symptoms you are expressing could be associated with Hypothyroidism.

Injecting twice weekly your serum levels are pretty consistent so the day of the pull is less relevant but you might want to get somewhere in between the injection days as this will present where you live.

[HRTstudent]

Original thread: http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...ions-about-TRT.

Today has been my 5th week of injections since I started TRT. Which means I'm going to wait one more week before getting bloodwork done.

I currently am on 100mg of Testosterone Cypionate injected semi-weekly, 50mg per injection, Sunday night and Thursday morning.

I'm going to ask for the following B/W:

• Total Testosterone
• Free Testosterone (if Bioavailable T is still unavailable)
• Estradiol (specify “sensitive” assay for males)
• LH
• FSH
• CBC
• Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
• Lipid Profile
• IGF-1, IGFBP-3 (Should I ask for both of these or just IGF-1?)

Should I also ask for the following considering it's so soon?
DHEA
Pregnenolone
PSA

So far the only change I have felt in these first 5 weeks has been an increase in libido. The fatigue I have been experiencing is still there, even after sleeping 10 hours a night. Brain fog is still there, just all around feeling crappy. I've only been lifting like once a week because I'm usually so destroyed afterwards that it takes days to heal. Going to work is still a struggle, sitting and starting at a computer all day. Just started using a CPAP last night and still slept 10 hours with it.

I think I'm going to email my doctor with a paragraph of how I'm feeling before the bloodwork results just so he has my subjective experience documented before we have bloodwork results. Just based on how I feel I would say we need to up the dose but as we all know, gotta have bloodwork to make that decision.

One final question: At what day should I get my blood drawn? Next Thursday morning would be my injection around the 6 week mark. Should I get blood drawn the day of, day before or day after?

I would get blood drawn just before your next shot. That way you see your trough. If you measure a peak level, then you don't really know if you are a fast metabolizer or not.

Do not test your LH or FSH - they will be near 0 and that is normal for TRT.

I don't know enough about IGFBP3 but I would definitely check out that IGF1.

I would check the DHEAS and pregenolone. There is question whether the preg blood test is any good, but it makes ME feel better knowing I got a baseline for later on when I want to try preg supplementation or whatever. The DHEAS is fairly standard though and its just good to get that looked at because we have a lot of data on it (and its good qualities) and if it is low then its relatively cheap and easy to bring up (unlike a low IGF1 which may be a lot less easy).

PSA is up to you... if you haven't had one in a year then id say get it. But otherwise, TRT is not associated with increased prostate cancer. But if you had prostate cancer... well, I guess if that's you then you shouldn't be on TRT anyways so its probably not you.

Based on subjective well being... I am quite frankly not sure TRT even does much for me but I made my decisions on upping the dose based on my blood work. I am now in a good range and plan to try that for a while. Shoot for 650+ but definitely not above-range. More is not better for the well-being aspects of Testosterone.

[HRTstudent]

And that's good advice on getting your thyroid checked out. If you have insurance and can afford it then I see no reason not to check it. Even though my thyroid was fine, I feel better knowing there is 1 less variable "out there" in my journey to improve my life.

[juice2012]

Thanks Gdev.

I've already done the Prolactin stuff, and had an MRI. It was high and I'm taking Caberoline now.

I also had everything but RT3 checked for thyroid and it all came back "normal". The results are buried in my old thread.

I am being patient though, hearing about feeling better after week 12 gives me hope.

I think I'm going to get my blood work on Saturday which would be 2 days after the injection, easier for me to get there since I won't have to work that day.

I pasted those labs from the sticky, from the section on follow-up labs. Which others should I get?

[juice2012]

Whoops, didn't see your post's HRT before posting my last reply. Thanks for the input.