Before TRT and after with questions

[badrad123]

Hi,

I recently joined the site and am looking forward to learning and eventually sharing my experiences on TRT with the hope of helping somebody. At the moment I think I'm the one that needs some help.

I started TRT about 6 months ago. First with the gel and then later switching to subq shots twice a week. I'm currently doing 34mg E3D and have just recently started liqdex at .25 a week EOD. My last blood test results are below from Jan-2013

Protocol at the time was:2 times a week of 40mg subq. No adex or HCG. Oh, blood was taken 18 hours after injection of 40mg.

Total Test: 970ng/dl (241 -827)
Estradiol: 39pg/ml (<or=39) high?
Hemoglobin 15.7g/dl (13.2-17.1)
Hematocrit 44.1% (38.5-50.0)
PSA, Total 1.1ng/ml (<or=4.0)

Any thoughts or recommendations?

My before TRT are attached:


At the moment my biggest issues are: noticeable flushing around the back of my neck, irritability, muscle cramps, and brain fog. I'm thinking this is either from high e2 or a strange result from the liqdex I added recently.

[steroid.com 1]

Let's start with the before posted labs:

1. Start adding in vitamin D3 to your supplements. 5000 units daily will do it. Best to have Vitamin D3 25-Hydroxy near the top of the reference range.
2. Your Thyroid looks good for a man your age. You are converting FT4 to FT3 nicely and all other labs look good. Start taking kelp and selenium with your supplements and make sure to use table salt that is iodized...you need to read the label to make sure. Salt if good for you and it makes food taste a lot better.
3. Are you supplementing with Pregnenolone? Your serum levels on the posted labs are high. This is weird lab anyway and not very accurate.
4. FSH and LH tanked because you're HPTA suppressed.
5. E2 is fine BUT this is not the sensitive assay as noted on the lab.
6. Your total and free Testosterone are low as you know

Now the recent labs:

Total Test: 970ng/dl (241 -827)
You had a draw 18 hours after the injection and your serum levels are increasing when you consider peak at about 36 hours from injection. Next time go the day of your injection but don't inject until the draw. The is over your reference range and it will continue to rise given the time of the injection. It's odd that you are injecting only 34 mg every 3 days which equates to about 70 mg per week...not a lot, but goes to show many men don't need a lot to get to the upper end of the reference range. I'd keep this dosage till next draw.

Estradiol: 39pg/ml (<or=39) high?
Tad high, a very small amount of an AI will bring this down. Stick with the liqdex at .25 a week EOD if no change add another .25 and do 24 hours after each test injection.

Hemoglobin 15.7g/dl (13.2-17.1)
Hematocrit 44.1% (38.5-50.0)
PSA, Total 1.1ng/ml (<or=4.0)
These are fine.

Over all with everything you presented you look good my new member friend...keep it up!!!

gd

[badrad123]

Thanks for the feedback. Not supplementing with Pregnenolone but was thinking about it since I'm not using HCG. I did try HCG which made me feel pretty good emotionally for the first 8 hours but then would get this strong adrenalin rush that would push me close to a panic attack ( I had these in my younger years) so I eventually stopped. I tried 250iu and then 100iu and still had the same reaction about 8 hrs later. Maybe an E2 spike or spiking my T too high for my body to handle. Probably the T since that was one of the reasons I'm on a lower dose. Initially the higher dose of 50mg 2 x week made me very anxious so my doctor told me to dial down the dose until my system gets used to additional T. We slowly dialed the dose up from a starting dose of 20mg 2x week to 40mg 2 x week. I then changed to the E3D injection protocol of 34mg in the hopes it would lower my e2 a bit. Will probably adjust again after my next blood tests and followup with doc.

Initially I did think the high Pregnenolone was pretty strange but my doctor told me those tests are not very accurate and to not worry. Will check again on next test.

Again, I appreciate the feedback and have a follow up appointment next week to go over my most recent blood work and the red/flush marks on my neck. Not sure what this is about.

If there is one thing I've learned so far is that TRT is more of an art and requires an open mind and lots of research and feedback.

Thanks and look forward to learning a lot.

[badrad123]

Question, possibly dumb - I'm donating blood tomorrow and also need to do my injection. Would it be okay to do my injection in the morning and still donate blood later in the morning. Thanks.

[badrad123]

I just received my new blood tests back. I was injecting 17-18ml E3D and taking .25mg of liquidex a week EOD for about two weeks prior to my tests. My E2 was 39 when I started the liquidex and was 20 per the blood test. I guess I'm a over responder when it comes to AIs. The test was also take the day of my next injection but prior to the shot. It looks like I could afford to go up a bit on my dose.

If my total t was 375 ont he morning of my next injection what do you think my peak is?

Does everything look okay? Free T okay?

Thanks!

[badrad123]

Anybody?

[Trific]

I guess it depends on if you feel OK or not....you might consider adding HCG and that could bump your test up and make you feel better.

If you thought you might do better with a higher total you could discuss with your doc about exploring a higher dose/total.

[krugerr]

Question, possibly dumb - I'm donating blood tomorrow and also need to do my injection. Would it be okay to do my injection in the morning and still donate blood later in the morning. Thanks.

I think it depends on where you are. In the Uk you can donate whilst on TRT, but you have to make them aware. After that I think they do some checks. In the US, I guess you'll have to check with whichever state you're donating in.

[badrad123]

I guess it depends on if you feel OK or not....you might consider adding HCG and that could bump your test up and make you feel better.

If you thought you might do better with a higher total you could discuss with your doc about exploring a higher dose/total.

Thanks Trific. I feel okay but not at 100%. I would love to add the HCG but last time I did I felt great the first 6-8 hours and then got a strong adrenaline rush that almost pushed me into a panic attack. I tried at 250iu and then 100iu and the same thing happened. I think it really spikes my T or maybe it's the E2 that is spiking, not sure. I'm thinking about trying again but at a lower dose.

[badrad123]

I think it depends on where you are. In the Uk you can donate whilst on TRT, but you have to make them aware. After that I think they do some checks. In the US, I guess you'll have to check with whichever state you're donating in.

Thanks Krugerr. i actually waited to do the injection until after donating blood. I asked the lady and she said it would have been okay.

[krugerr]

Thanks Krugerr. i actually waited to do the injection until after donating blood. I asked the lady and she said it would have been okay.

Fantastic buddy! At least you know now!

[badrad123]

Yep, thanks. First time donating blood so I wasn't really sure.