0.5 MG Anastrozol SR

[JimR]

My doc has me on 1 pill a week. Says it is sustained release and once a week is enough? Also says I should cycle HCG instead of staying on. I am on TRT 250 mgs a week.

[kelkel]

Hi Jim. Do you mean .5mg twice per week totaling up to 1mg total? If that's the case twice per week is fine as it's half life is about 46 hrs. If you mean .5 mg one time per week then you need to make sure it is timed about 24hrs after your T injection for the best effect. BW is the key here for exactly how much AI you need. Without it you're just guessing.

I do not agree with cycling HCG . When you weren't on TRT and your body was functioning normally it did not every now and then just shut down LH production! Consistency is the key which allows your body to find homeostasis. Read the sticky thread at the top of the forum on HCG. Read the others as well as there is a ton of valuable info there for you. Also visit all things male . com and read Dr. Crislers paper on HCG.

When it comes to your TRT dosage it is a rather high dosage. Usual high end dosage we see here is around 200mg per week but this is the exception, not the rule. Most at that level end up titrating back after blood work unless they are a hyper-metabolizer. Further if you're injecting all that at once then you will definitely have a subsequent spike in your E level. If you have the capability you may consider twice weekly injections instead. Less injected=less spike in E=less AI needed. Have you had follow-up BW since starting the protocol? If not, check the Finding a Physician sticky for an example of what is needed.

Welcome to the forum Jim! This really is a great place to learn. Stick around and let us know how things go. Update this thread.

kel

[Vettester]

Jim, welcome to our forum. Glad you joined!

The needed dosage of Anastrozole is unique to each patient. If needed, I would personally try to break it up 2x week, along with breaking up your TRT protocol the same with 2 injections per week. If administering Anastrozole, your best results will be to take it the following day after your test.

The million dollar question ... Do you have labs? We really need all the labs to talk intelligently with you. At first glance, most will tell you that 250mg/wk is usually a bit high for a TRT protocol, and the need for an AI might be only because your serum levels are higher than they need to be, thus resulting in higher rates of E2 conversion, which could be mitigated just by keeping your serum levels controlled. However, this and everything else is speculative without lab assays.

Let us know ...

[HRTstudent]

Whats the name of the anastrozole product? I've never heard of a sustained release one. Regardless, it has a half life around 45 hours as it is and plenty of people don't need an AI in the first place. Meanwhile, some people need 2mg per week or more. Its very individual and really you can only find out what you need by using the drug and getting bloodwork and monitoring symptoms.

I don't know why I would cycle HCG , but the drug has been used for years now and we are still learning about it. It is primarily a fertility drug, however, so it was normal to "cycle" it as in use it when a man wanted to have children/boost fertility. But the way the drug has been used clinically over the last decade has changed a lot. More recent research has been using much smaller doses, more frequently. Nonetheless, a man using HCG on TRT is different than a man who is simply trying for a transient boost in fertility. I would either stay on or stay off if it were for quality of life purposes.

250mg of T per week is a lot. What does that have your T at? You might very well be able to avoid a low dose of anastrozole by simply using a smaller weekly dose and/or splitting it up.

[bass]

What the two wise men above said. I can't add any thing else but like to subscribe to follow your progress.

[bass]

Make that three wise men!

[JimR]

Thank you Kel. Yes,I am injecting twice a week...actually every 3 days. For instance Monday then Friday..I get regular blood work done with privatemdlabs(Labcorp) and stay around 1000 with that. The AI is just .5 once a week per his recommendation. Perhaps I should increase that 2 twice a week. I haven't been monitoring my estrogen levels with that regimen yet but will start. I will tell him I want to stay on HCG all the time. Thanks

[JimR]

Thanks for the responses. The name of the AI product is my thread title. Sorry...on new laptop and a bit spacey with typing so keeping things a bit short.

[Vettester]

Agree as well on the other HCG comments. I worked with a doctor who also liked to cycle it in every couple of months. I guess each doctor will have his/her own philosophy on the matter. I can tell you from personal experience though, I've been running it straight now for almost 3 years, and it works just as good as ever. As far I'm concerned, HCG is just an analogue replacement of LH, which was naturally being sent from your pituitary to the testicles when everything functioned normally.

If you think about it, when you were a teen, or early 20's, your body wasn't cycling LH, it was pulsing it as needed via the negative feedback loop with your testes and endogenous testosterone production, signaling the HPT axis. If you body didn't cycle it naturally at that time, then I wouldn't personally see the need to cycle it now. My doctor did it mainly to give the body a break from the cyp, as he thought it was best to take small break from it once in awhile. That's a whole different discussion, but again, I'd just stay on it continuously.