risk of PCT? complete BW

[JR3]

I'm 24 years old, 5' 11'', 230 lbs, 13% bf.
About 18 months ago, my doctor put me on a gel only for my TRT plan.
She only ran blood work for test free and total. Last lab, my results were:

serum test: 285 ng/dl
free test (direct): 14 pg/ml

My doctor doesn't seem to really know what she is talking about, and if she does, she is doing a horrible job of telling me. Anyways, mid august I decided if i had such low TRT BW, that I'd run a cycle of test E at 500 mg per week (250 mg, twice weekly) with 25mg EOD arimidex. That cycle is coming to an end, and I am trying to decide what to do. I read a few stickies on "blasting and cruising" and the "slingshot" method, and was thinking I would look more into that, since i have to be on TRT anyways.
However, part of me wonders if my doctor missed important information when she didn't do BW for anything more than test.

Would it be reasonable to attempt an aggressive "typical"/non-TRT PCT in order to try to get a complete blood panel done without anything exogenous in my system - in attempt to see if I absolutely need to be on TRT so young... or is the low Test BW in itself enough to tell me i need to be on standard TRT protocol again?

Are there any horrible sides that could come of clearing my system for 2 weeks or so to let the test E clear, or would i just go back on TRT as normal?

[Wes201]

I'm 24 years old, 5' 11'', 230 lbs, 13% bf.
About 18 months ago, my doctor put me on a gel only for my TRT plan.
She only ran blood work for test free and total. Last lab, my results were:

serum test: 285 ng/dl
free test (direct): 14 pg/ml

There was a thread that came up about a month ago that involved a situation similar to yours. What i remember most about that thread is that by the end of it there was one thing that the majority of the guys who replied to the thread agreed on: and that was that women doctors have absolutley no business working in the field of mens testosterone replacement therapy. it seems as though everyone who had the misfortune of having to deal with a female doctor for trt/hrt issues had a horror story. I have absolutley nothing against women doctors in general. As a matter of fact, my regular general practice doctor is women. i just feel (and so do a lot of other men) that they have no place working in mens trt. My advice to you is to get rid of her and seek out a reputable male doctor.

My doctor doesn't seem to really know what she is talking about, and if she does, she is doing a horrible job of telling me. Anyways, mid august I decided if i had such low TRT BW, that I'd run a cycle of test E at 500 mg per week (250 mg, twice weekly) with 25mg EOD arimidex. That cycle is coming to an end, and I am trying to decide what to do. I read a few stickies on "blasting and cruising" and the "slingshot" method, and was thinking I would look more into that, since i have to be on TRT anyways.
However, part of me wonders if my doctor missed important information when she didn't do BW for anything more than test.

Would it be reasonable to attempt an aggressive "typical"/non-TRT PCT in order to try to get a complete blood panel done without anything exogenous in my system - in attempt to see if I absolutely need to be on TRT so young... or is the low Test BW in itself enough to tell me i need to be on standard TRT protocol again?

Are there any horrible sides that could come of clearing my system for 2 weeks or so to let the test E clear, or would i just go back on TRT as normal?

There was a thread that came up about a month ago that involved a situation similar to yours. What i remember most about that thread is that by the end of it there was one thing that the majority of the guys who replied to the thread agreed on: and that was that women doctors have absolutley no business working in the field of mens testosterone replacement therapy. it seems as though everyone who had the misfortune of having to deal with a female doctor for trt/hrt issues had a horror story. I have absolutley nothing against women doctors in general. As a matter of fact, my regular general practice doctor is women. i just feel (and so do a lot of other men) that they have no place working in mens trt. My advice to you is to get rid of her and seek out a reputable male doctor.

[JR3]

yeah, thats definitely good advice. I tried to be patient and not judgmental, but I believe she is really out of her realm of knowledge here. When I switch to a new doctor, I will definitely request a full BW done (not just test). I wonder if it has been too long (about a year and a half on TRT) to jump start the HPTA? It'd be nice if i could get a blood panel with nothing exogenous in my system so that maybe the new doctor can see if there is an alternate solution to test injections? I'm only 24 and I haven't had any trauma to the testes, so I'm hoping there may be a chance the new doctor can have better insight and perhaps a slightly different diagnosis.

[kelkel]

JR you need a new doc. First, it seems you were put on TRT without your doctor finding a causative factor for your low T. So, a doc with limited knowledge then does what so many do and just treats the symptom instead of finding the root problem. Your 24. Your normal T level should be awesome right now.

IMO your best bet would be to find a good doc, hopefully an A4M Certified one. Try the search engine in the Finding a Doc Sticky. I'd be upfront with your new doc and go from there. If it were me, I'd want to know what the cause is and fix it. You can wait another 20 years for TRT to hit you. Who knows, it could be a thyroid issue, cortisol, pathology. You just don't know without a proper diagnosis. If you can't find a good doc in your area then travel to one of the elite ones, Crisler, Shippen, Gaines, etc. After that the rest of your visits can be virtual.

Good luck,

kel