my trt journey

[redhawk01]

pre trt: tt 250, 3mos on gel: 550 3mos on test cyp: 772

after 3 mos on test cyp, i retested before my follow up with doc. 727 tt, 7 days after last pin. didn't want to test mid week, figured i be too high, and doc would reduce dose. my protocol: 50mgs 2x/week. only problem was he only tested total t. we had already discussed seeing an endo for the other required tests, since this was getting over his head.

so saw endo last monday, talked about situation. i felt i had hit a wall after 10 weeks on cyp. so maybe we could up the dose. he wanted me to let this play out for three more months though. also suggested i cut back my workouts a bit, to 30 minutes instead of 60. strenuous workouts can reduce test. called me back on my way home. after he went over all my blood work more closely, realizes they tested me at the wrong time of day the first time, when my tt was 250. now wants me to go cold turkey 3-4 mos, and retest for baseline. i had this scenario in the back of my mind, so i wasn't too surprised. still sucks. well, that's it for now.

i'm still going to plug away. i'd hate to see all my hard earned gains go to shit.

[kelkel]

Hi Red. That's the issue with docs who instantly start people on TRT as a "fix all" before determining exactly what the causative factor is. It seems in most cases the doc just doesn't understand hormones and this is the easy way to go. Did the first doc ever give you a reason you were low? How old are you btw? Height, weight, body fat estimate?

Hit a wall in what way? Initially you'll have a euphoric feeling while your body acclimates to the sudden onset of T that it was starving for in the past. Eventually you normalize. Read GD's sticky on what to expect when starting TRT.

Strenuous workouts reduce test. Arguably briefly due to a rise in stress which can elevate cortisol this lowering DHEA temporarily. DHEA helps to balance cortisol. But overall building muscle elevates your T level.

Cold turkey for 3-4 months. OMG, it does not take that long for the exogenous T to be out of your system and for everything else to normalize. Further, do you have prior BW from your initial doc that he can review instead of putting you through all this. If astute, and the BW is relatively complete, he should be able to make a pretty good assessment from it, IMO.

[Vettester]

Rack up another endo for the wall of lame!!! These guys are such an embarrassment for the few who are actually good with hormones.

[lovbyts]

WTF is with these guys wanting to stop cold turkey after a few months? it seems when one makes a bad decision they all follow suite. Maybe they are related to Lemmings or the DoDo bird and follow each other off the cliff.

Sorry to hear you ran into another one of the whack jobs. That would be like a marriage counselor telling someone who is complaining of only getting sex once a month to go without for 1 year then report back. lol

[kelkel]

WTF is with these guys wanting to stop cold turkey after a few months? it seems when one makes a bad decision they all follow suite. Maybe they are related to Lemmings or the DoDo bird and follow each other off the cliff.

Sorry to hear you ran into another one of the whack jobs. That would be like a marriage counselor telling someone who is complaining of only getting sex once a month to go without for 1 year then report back. lol

Great analogy!


And lets not forget those sheep that pass out whenever they are frightened!....

[redhawk01]

Hi Red. That's the issue with docs who instantly start people on TRT as a "fix all" before determining exactly what the causative factor is. It seems in most cases the doc just doesn't understand hormones and this is the easy way to go. Did the first doc ever give you a reason you were low? How old are you btw? Height, weight, body fat estimate?

Hit a wall in what way? Initially you'll have a euphoric feeling while your body acclimates to the sudden onset of T that it was starving for in the past. Eventually you normalize. Read GD's sticky on what to expect when starting TRT.

Strenuous workouts reduce test. Arguably briefly due to a rise in stress which can elevate cortisol this lowering DHEA temporarily. DHEA helps to balance cortisol. But overall building muscle elevates your T level.

Cold turkey for 3-4 months. OMG, it does not take that long for the exogenous T to be out of your system and for everything else to normalize. Further, do you have prior BW from your initial doc that he can review instead of putting you through all this. If astute, and the BW is relatively complete, he should be able to make a pretty good assessment from it, IMO.

hey kelkel, had this nice post written out until it was denied cuz i used the name of the little blue pill. lol
these are the tests my primary doc did prior to putting me on gel.


LH 3.9 (.8-7.6 mIU/ML)
FSH 5.4 (.7-11.1 mIU/ML)
TSH 1.45 (.4-5.0 mIU/ML)
PROLACTIN 6.2 (2.5-17.0 ng/ml)
ESTRADIOL 22 (.0-56.0pg/ml)
T4 FREE .91 (.8-1.6 NG/DL)
total test 258 (280-1100)

metabolic panel etc, all came back normal.

46yo
6'
198lbs prior to gel/cyp
212lbs now
body fat unknown. if i were to guess 18ish
now probably 2-3 points lower. belly fat and love handles are shrinking. shirts getting tighter, pants getting looser.

the "wall" i hit, was after about 10 weeks on cyp. seemed to last a couple of weeks. all good now. was like pre trt feelings. this forum has been great. learned a lot from you guys. did lots of research, read all the stickies etc. printed out a bunch for doc's to read over. seems like they don't want to hear anything you have to say. they know all. so yeah, today is my last pin, retest in 3-4 months. endo said my quality of life will suffer, but this needs to been done. he said i'm still too young for this low of testosterone . i have not been on an ai or hcg at this point either. should i consider hcg at this point?

[redhawk01]

UPDATE 5/17/13



these are my only tests they had me run. saw endo on wednesday, said all is good, see ya. no more trt for me. quite surprised by the test results, no pct when i came off to retest, and about 3 months since my last pin. the only major change is that i quit taking statins about 15 months ago. so statins crushed my testosterone levels , in 2 years on them. but i told him my fella still doesn't work, and i don't feel energetic like i did, when i was at 700+. so he says, " ok, so here's a referral for a urologist ". i'll see him in 2 weeks.

i have a script for viagra, but i don't want to rely on it. i have a feeling my e is off, but no tests were done for that. i may just do the blood work out of my own pocket, just to rule that out.

[redhawk01]

Bump for any feedback.

[Spartans09]

You need to find a real professional. These quacks piss me off. Many of us that started on our trt journey have had similar experiences. I'd love to give this Dr. A couple of massive shots of Deca and nothing else and have him come see me in a few weeks and tell me how he feels!