New Dads and Stay at Home Dads and Low T

[clarkster]

This is what lead me to TRT in the first place and I thought I'd share what I was going through to see if this is anyone else's story. I was a 39 (now 43) year old stay at home dad for my daughter with special needs just trying to keep my head above water. I couldn't get out from the brain fog and fatigue and depression that plagued my life. It got to the point that if I didn't wake up tomorrow, I'd be OK with that. And I thought this was my new normal and just chalked it up to this is my life and I better get used to it. I finally went to my Doc and he ran some BW and found my T level was 105. I was like, "is this OK?" and he said, "this is the T level of a 90 year old man and no wonder you feel like a festering turd." He mentioned Test and wanted to give me a shot of 200mg. I was apprehensive, I didn't want to go back on gear. He said no, this is TRT and explained it to me. We started with 200mg. EOW. Felt great then around day 8 thud. I felt worse than before. We moved to 200mg. once every week. Felt great but nipples started hurting. Added an AI, .25 twice a week. Felt better, then shutdown. He agreed to add hCG. I started that at 250ius M-W-F and lowered my T to 50mg. twice weekly SQ and cut out the AI. At 200mg. IM week my T levels were 781. At 50mg. SQ twice a week, my T levels are 505. Still trying to figure out the whole IM and SQ debate, but the point I wanted to make is that while fatherhood is wonderful, it can have a direct effect on OUR health and we need to be aware of it and take action if needed and not sit back and not do anything like I did for 4 years. So, new dads to be and stay at home dads, I guess my message is while you're taking care of your family, don't forget to take care of yourself.

[chickenstirfry]

Great post brother and thankyou.

The thing that interests me is the body's hormonal response to different life situations. I guess nature lowers a mans T when he becomes a father to encourage him to stay at home and be more family oriented. Obviously in your case nature went a bit too far!!!

One thing that does trouble me a little about TRT is that you lose the bodies natural hormonal response to outside stimuli. I guess if your deficient your better off supplementing. But for someone borderline low T they must realise they are entering into a situation where they will have 'static' T levels. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Personally I can't wait for the day when TRT technology allows us to replicate the bodies natural pulse of T!! Until then, we have a wonderful therapy to save us from all the shit that goes along with T deficiency.

Glad to hear you are doing well man.

[nyjetsfan]

Well done. Too many people neglect to take care of themselves. You need to be at the top of Your game to effectively take care of/help others.

[HRTstudent]

Good message. Totally agree!

[clarkster]

Thanks guys. I was reading a post from Alpinist and thought, I can't be the only one going through this. Yes, chickenstirfry I can't wait for the day science catches up as well. In fact, I've got a brother in law that's a chemist for Phizer and TRT is on their radar and beyond the creams and gels that are saturating the market. He knows my protocol and understands the reasoning behind it, especially hCG. He's under the impression there's a better way and if big pharm can profit from it they'll be there.

[HRTstudent]

You know what they say, put your oxygen mask on first.

[schon]

A whole lot of your OP hits pretty close to home for me. I'm glad you found a solution, albeit a bit later than preferred (same boat as me). I hope to have as much luck, my appointment is this Thursday.

[clarkster]

How did your appointment go?

[schon]

My appointment went quite well, I was prescribed 200mg/wk of test cyp, and 250IU hcg 2x/wk. The PA also recommended I supplement with some DHEA and possibly Pregnenolone. I've only injected test once so far and I haven't noticed much in the way of benefits yet except in one area. I used to get these terrible migraine like headaches almost every night, and I've been 4 days without one, could be coincidence, but I'm hopeful.

How long did it take you and your doc to pin down your dose?

[alpinist]

schon, I'm far from an expert but 200mg 1x week is quite high for TRT. At the minimum, most around here would agree to at least split the dose in 1/2. Even then 100mg 2x a week is still high. There are many folks around here running 40mg to 60mg 2x week and are far more able to keep E2 in check while reporting trough T levels still at the high end of normal. Are you pinning at home yet? I and a bunch of other guys are using 25 gauge x 5/8" for IM injections and having good results. Frankly, the subq for my HcG often 'hurt' worse.

To answer you question, at least for me, I'm 9 months into TRT and am still adjusting things.

[schon]

I hear you alpinist, I briefly discussed this in another thread, but based on the halflife of test cyp I really would like to be injecting 2x/wk. I also don't want to go maverick changing up the dosing schedule and/or my prescribed dose my first week out of the gate. I'll just do what I'm told and when I go in for my followup and blood work I'll discuss whatever symptoms I'm having or not having, and see about adjusting my schedule and or weekly dose. All this goes out the window if my nips get sensitive.

To answer your other questions, I am pinning at home with a 25g 1", and I didn't have any problems the one time I did it, lol. Can you give me an example of how your treatment has been tweaked over time? i.e. Dosages increasing/decreasing, injection frequency changes etc?

Thanks for your feed back.

[clarkster]

My appointment went quite well, I was prescribed 200mg/wk of test cyp, and 250IU hcg 2x/wk. The PA also recommended I supplement with some DHEA and possibly Pregnenolone. I've only injected test once so far and I haven't noticed much in the way of benefits yet except in one area. I used to get these terrible migraine like headaches almost every night, and I've been 4 days without one, could be coincidence, but I'm hopeful.

How long did it take you and your doc to pin down your dose?

schon, got the migraines like you as well. TRT seems to be helping, but one can slip though and wreak havoc for a couple of days, but imitrex seems to help.
It's great that your up and running on your TRT. I was on 200mg/wk Test Cyp (No hCG.) At this dose I needed an AI. I dropped down to 60mg 2Xweek SQ and added hCG. Don't seem to need an AI at this dose.
I need to start the DHEA and pregnenlone as well. GD has nothing but praise, so it's got to be great.
To answer your question, I'm still tweaking my dose. I went back to SQ in my thigh and not stomach and feel much better. I'm gonna do this for awhile and run BW to see where I'm at. But, SQ in my stomach just wasn't working. I will switch back to IM if numbers aren't where they need to be. Seems there's more guesswork and uncertainty with SQ and not IM.