About to Start HRT, Could Use Some Advice -- With Bloodwork

[hawk14dl]

In my opinion, you should not take the ai yet.

You're on a very low dose of test. Unless you're aromtatizing very easily, on 100mg a week you shouldn't need ai. especially splitting into daily doses.

Plus you're only a couple of weeks in. You should stick with one protocol for at least six weeks, get blood work, adjust from there. This is the typical procedure.

I'd say the itchy nip is coincidence. Our a bug bite

[OingoBoingo]

Thanks for the comments, hawk14dl.

I did consider a bug bite, but there was no mark, and it was a different kind of itch. Not really localized to one specific spot. And scratching really didn't provide any relief.

You may very well be right about the small daily doses. Trying to sidestep possible AI problems is a big reason for deciding to go that route.

I took 0.25mg Anastrozole once. It's not officially added to my protocol.

24 hours after Anastrozole, no more itchy nip, vascularity is returning to my feet and hands, and I can see my delts again. It's not back to where it was last week, but it's an improvement.

Maybe the nip thing was a coincidence. But I would like to keep an eye on the bloat. Maybe if it returns I'll see what kind of diuretics are available around here. Might also be a good idea to send an email to the doctor to see what he thinks.

[hawk14dl]

We're all different, naturally. I'm currently on 150mg a week and have no e2 related issues. In fact I feel like my e2 is still a little on the low side.

Blood work is best. Sensitive is more accurate, but normal will give you an idea. Im just not sure it's possible to have those issues that fast?

[OingoBoingo]

Last week had another bout with bloat. It started with night sweats. A day or two after the bloat started, I experienced some pretty intense nipple pain in both nipples. After 24 hours of that, I grabbed the Anastrolzole. 0.25mg did the trick, and the pain was gone in a couple days.

Don't know if the TRT alone is responsible. Am thinking it might also be alcohol related. Only had a couple beers, and maybe that was enough.

After the 0.25 MG Anastrolzole, also noticed a small increase in libido.

Now waiting in doctor's office for blood to be drawn. Should have results in about 9 hours.

[OingoBoingo]

We're all different, naturally. I'm currently on 150mg a week and have no e2 related issues. In fact I feel like my e2 is still a little on the low side.

Blood work is best. Sensitive is more accurate, but normal will give you an idea. Im just not sure it's possible to have those issues that fast?

Sorry I missed your post, hawk14dl.

I read something from Dr. Crisler yesterday, where he told doctors not to treat nipple issues for the first month.

I might have been able to ride out the first occurrence, but the second was just too painful. And the night-sweats, bloating, and nipple pain had me convinced it was E2. Also read something yesterday that said alcohol raises E2 levels. I didn't really drink much, and I can go without if it means no more E2 issues. We'll see how it goes.

Maybe the daily subcutaneous protocol kicks some serious rear.

Found a post on this forum yesterday, where LEF recommended E2 Standard over E2 Sensitive. LEF said that E2 Sensitive should only be used in cases of low E2, but not for common testing. That has restored my faith in the E2 Standard test, which is good because it's the only E2 test available to me. If I can find the post again, will post the quote in this thread.

[OingoBoingo]

My protocol for this 1st blood work after starting TRT was:

15mg Testosterone Cypionate SQ daily
100IU hCG SQ daily
0.25mg Anastrozole as needed.

The results are:

Test	Starting BW	1st BW	Range
IGF-1	157	222	81 - 225
Total Test	232	1137	240 - 950
Free Test	42	302	90 - 300
Bio Test	94	659	50 - 190
E2 Standard	24.5	32.9*	11 - 44
Prolactin		5.17	3.46 - 19.40

* E2 taken 6 days after 0.25mg Anastrozole.

Where to start...

Overall, I'm happy with the results. I'd expect a higher libido, but think E2 and Prolactin may be out of sorts.

Going by the LEF recommendations, my E2 should be somewhere around 27. I know it's close, but libido could be better. And I figure E2 is only going to rise from here at the current protocol. Very tempted to take another 0.25mg Anastrolzole. Suggestions?

Will meet with the doctor Wednesday morning. I did want to bump up the hCG to 770IU weekly to see if I could achieve greater benefits, but I know he's going to want to bring down the Test Cyp. The question is, how much?

Any suggestions on how to raise Prolactin?

[hawk14dl]

It's going to be hardto say, daily. .

But I'd drop down to maybe 11 or 12mg daily.

I'm not sure I'm buying into the daily injections. I ran daily for a while and the first week or two seemed to be a huge difference, then it disappeared. coupled with the annoyance of daily pinning, I went back to 2x weekly.

Imo your e2 isn't too bad. You don't want to crash it. Was it a sensitive test?

[OingoBoingo]

No E2 Sensitive Assay in Thailand. E2 Standard is the best I can do.

The day before seeing the doctor, I took another 0.125mg Anastrolzole, and noticed some improvements.

It might depend on where you pin. When I first started out, I was hitting the belly. After a couple weeks got tired of it, decided to try the thighs, and never looked back. I think the belly is great for learning how to inject, but in my case the thighs were more effective.

Met with the doctor yesterday, and will post results soon.

[OingoBoingo]

Wednesday’s meeting with the doctor went very well.

I told him what I had learned about subcutaneous injections, and he seemed very interested.

Also told him that I suspected a couple high E2 episodes. He said my E2 level looked good, but I told him that was *after* taking 0.25mg Anastrozole. He asked me if I was taking anything else for E2. When I mentioned 45mg Zinc, the doctor said that was not enough. He takes 75mg daily. He suggested including Anastrozole weekly, but when I said I wanted to monitor it some more first and only take an AI as needed, he was agreeable to that. Although he did caution me to not live with E2 for too long.

In our previous meeting, he made it *very* clear that his target was 80% of aged adjusted maximum; “no lower, and no higher.” When we got around to discussing my latest blood work, he was elated. When I asked if he wanted to lower my dose, he said he “treat(s) the man and not the numbers, and it looks like (I’m) doing fine.” He also said that with my current FT and HGH levels, I would really enjoy the results from working out.

He did raise his eyebrow when I told him that I wanted to increase hCG a bit, but after a short discussion about only increasing it 70IU per week, he was fine with that. And I asked again if he wanted to lower my Test Cyp, and he said, “No.”

I also asked if the hospital had a blood donation program, and if it was run by the Red Cross. He was unsure, and said he would look into it. He started pushing phlebotomies, but I told him I would rather donate if at all possible; it’s good for me, and it’s good for society.

One problem with Red Cross in Thailand is that unless you have your donor card from the US, one can’t donate blood if they’re over 55 years old. I might be able to finesse the situation at a local blood drive, but I’d rather not go down that path if I can avoid it.

Lipids had taken a turn for the worse, but he said let’s give it a couple more months as it could take some time for my body to get used to the changes. He mentioned trying some Red Rice Yeast. Will see if I can find it.

Thursday morning, it was time for me to pre-fill my syringes.

With all the stuff spread out before me, I made the decision to lower my dose.

My current protocol is:

Testosterone Cypionate : 14mg subcutaneously daily (98mg week, lowered from 105mg)
hCG: 110IU subcutaneously daily (770IU week, raised from 700IU)
Anastrozole: As needed


Supplements include:

Salmon Oil: 6g (2g with meals)
Vitamin C: 1,000mg
Vitamin D: 10,000IU
Animal Pak: 1 pack = half/dose. (If gym time increases, so will dose.)
Zinc: 45mg (includes Animal Pak Zinc
Protein Powder: As needed to hit macros


So I didn’t lower the Testosterone by much, but I want to see what effect it has on E2 and well-being.

Have pinned 110IU for a few days, and noticed some results. The boys have plumped a bit more, but they’re still not where they used to be. May give it another week or two, and try 120IU.

Scheduled for next blood work in eight weeks.