My experience, First 6 months on TRT

[Baxter35]

Everybody on this board has been a fantastic help so far, so I'm hoping I can start sharing some of my own information to help others along. I see a lot of threads from guys getting ready to start, so I thought I'd share my personal experiences as a newbie myself.
History: I started TRT in January 2014. Pre trt I had been suffering the typical low T symptoms for several years and finally decided toward the end of 2013 that maybe it wasn't just "normal aging" and started doing some research and then went to my doctor. 3 different blood draws from Oct to Dec all had my total T at 200 or less. All other blood panels were good so no underlying cause could be identified. Agreed to start TRT.
January: started Axiron at two pumps per day. I felt an almost immediate jump in libido and an improvement in general energy and mood. I hated applying gel everyday and I was also worried about cross exposure to my kids, so I requested a switch to injections after just a few weeks on the Axiron.

Feb: started test cyp at 200mg/week. High dose, I know, but my primary Dr. Doesn't have much experience with trt and neither did I. I stayed at this dose for 8 weeks.

April: I was referred to a Urologist for ongoing trt care, and my dose was backed down to 100mg/week when a blood test showed my total T over 1600 at 200mg/wk. This is the dose I've stayed at since then.

What I've experienced so far:

libido: crazy spike at first, settled down a bit now, but my "normal" libido is now much higher than pre trt.

energy: overall I feel much "clearer" and generally more alert and in tune throughout the day. I still have up days and down, but I feel it is now at normal human levels and no longer zombie like levels of lethargy.

Body hair: steadily increasing, I was never very hairy before and that is quickly changing. Mostly new hair on my stomach and chest, and hair on my lower legs that had thinned out in my early 30's has come back. Not sure if I like the hair or not, but its there.

Testicle size: so far...no noticeable change. I know this may come in the future, but nothing yet. I am not on HCG btw.

Weight gain: I've always stayed pretty lean, and at 5'9" I weighed 175 pre-trt. I now weigh 197. I was up to 205, but I had lost my abs and was looking a little too soft for my liking so I adjusted my diet accordingly. I was following a clean bulking diet up to that time. I do train pretty hard and from what I understand my weight gain may be above average. I gained the most during the first 8 weeks when I was at 200mg/wk dose.

Strength: I'm no superman, but relatively speaking its gone way up. I've lifted regularly since I was a teen, I've just never been able to get very big. I literally spent 5 or 6 years maintaining a max bench press of 260...1 rep. I can now do 315 for 4-6 reps. All other major lifts have gone up similarly. For me, this is a big change.

Acne: this has been the one major negative side effect. I've always been acne prone, and since starting trt its gotten way worse on my back and shoulders. Thankfully my face stays pretty clear. I tried Austinites protocol and it helped, but not enough. I recently started a very low dose of Accutane so hopefully that will do the trick. I know Accutane takes longer at lower doses, but I'm willing to be patient if it avoids the negative sides of higher dose Accutane.


Overall: I feel like a whole new person from what I was a year ago. Its taken some adjustment, but I'm very happy to have started trt and see no reason to ever look back. Hopefully this helps someone trying to make a decision.


O

[Lifted1]

Glad to hear some positive feedback from someone who's recently new to trt!

[ppwc1985]

Glad to hear, I started over a year ago and everything is mostly going well. The body hair, I hate it. I never was hairy, but it's growing on my back now and it sucks. I just have my wife use the clippers on it , zip zip and it's gone for a little while. You may want to keep hcg in mind just in case your boys start hurting. Glad it has had a positive impact on your health.

[Baxter35]

I thought about shaving but am worried about ingrown hairs. The clippers work pretty well? Not too scratchy or stubbly with the little bit the clippers leave behind?

[kelkel]

Well said Baxter. Now, get on HCG . No reason not to.
How is your E2 doing? What was it at 200mg per week compared to now?

[Baxter35]

E2 was 41, but I felt fine. Only symptom at higher dose was notable water retention in ankles which has resolved itself at lower dose. I haven't taken any AI yet. I have some follow up labs in two weeks so I should know E2 again then. I'm also planning to ask about hcg on next visit. I didn't know enough to discuss it early on. Worst case is sourcing it on my own, but prefer to ask Dr first.

[jomamma007]

Great to hear bud, the hair can be annoying but some girls like it and if you didn't want to be hairy you'd shave and wax either way I guess.
Anyways Acne is usually related to estrogen. Is that 41 a estradiol sensitive or standard panel? There's a big difference there.
HCG will probably make your acne worse as well so get on that estrogen control!

[Baxter35]

41 was sensitive.

[spacemon]

Hi Baxter thanks for the post. I started TRT in March and have had very similar results and effects as you. I will start a thread similiar to this once I get dialed in a bit more.

[The_Crawfish]

I agree, the only negative sides I've had is the acne...like u one or so every once in a while on my face, but my back (mainly the right side) and my chest is pretty damn annoying. I used to be embarrassed to take my shirt off because I was a fat-ass, now it's because of the zits!! I never had acne growing up, and now I'm having to deal with it as a 35 y/o.

[Beethoven]

Baxter thanks for sharing your story. At 200 mg a week I know you literally shot up like crazy. Been there, lol. I agree about the HCG , I was ok for quite a while but the boys started hurting a bit, HCG fixed it fast. The only down side for me of HCG is my E2 spikes on it.

[Rjay]

Congratulations on the results, those are some huge mass and strength gains!

[Baxter35]

I double checked with my Dr. and he said e2 was NOT being ordered for my next round of labs. He said he's not concerned because it wasn't far out of range last time while at higher dose and my body fat is low. He wasn't inclined to add it to the test. The acne comments regarding e2 have me wondering, so rather than stay in the dark on this I found an online blood test I can order myself for pretty cheap so I'm going to get that done on my own this week for peace of mind. I'm only doing the e2 sensitive since my T levels will be measured again by my regular labs in a couple weeks. I'll update this with results when I get them.

[Chicagotarsier]

Congrats on the positive results. Improvements to come for another 18 months plus..it takes time.


When my doctor tried to order my hormone panel without E2 sensitive I asked him..."Is my money not good enough for you" lol. I pay out of pocket...F insurance companies.

[kelkel]

41 was sensitive.

Nothing wrong with that number!

[Baxter35]

Agreed, I'm fine with the 41 score, but since that was several months back now I'd feel better testing again. I don't want to assume its always good off one early result. Even though doc doesn't want to test again right now, for $50 online I see no reason not to double check it on my own.

[kelkel]

E2 is one of the tests that should be ordered all the time, imho.

[Low Testosterone]

energy: overall I feel much "clearer" and generally more alert and in tune throughout the day. I still have up days and down, but I feel it is now at normal human levels and no longer zombie like levels of lethargy.

The way you worded this is excellent. It's also good to see you realize something that many on TRT do not...this doesn't necessarily apply to this message board but a large portion of the population in general. One of the most common things we hear on a daily basis is complaints from patients who are upset that they're having less than full-blown energy days, or they're feeling a little run down or even have a head cold. A lot of people expect that when they're on TRT for all their problems in life to go away and for everything to be 190% at all times.

Glad to hear things are going well for you!

[lovbyts]

The other thing you see all the time is after 6 months or 1 yr people say they dont feel like they did at the beginning because they are just use to feeling better and forget how bad they really felt before. Even if someone felt GREAT or perfect every day eventually it would become the norm just as people who live every day in pain or with no energy eventually they (sort of) get use to it.

[Baxter35]

Its crazy but one really can get used to feeling like crap. That pretty much describes me pre-trt. Who knows how long I was low, but thinking back I have a feeling it was several years, I had just adapted to it. Heck, I was still lifting an hour a day 4-5 days a week and still managing to be in better shape than most men in their mid 30s even when my T was tanked.

[Low Testosterone]

The other thing you see all the time is after 6 months or 1 yr people say they dont feel like they did at the beginning because they are just use to feeling better and forget how bad they really felt before. Even if someone felt GREAT or perfect every day eventually it would become the norm just as people who live every day in pain or with no energy eventually they (sort of) get use to it.

Very true. It's very common for men to say "I feel great, I don't need this anymore." And when they say this, it's very difficult to change their mind. If you have a headache you might take Advil but if you don't you won't take any. People often look at TRT the same way and that's unfortunate.

I think I posted this before but I've always found it interesting and it seems to hold true. AndroGel did a study a couple years ago that showed the majority of men only stay on TRT for 6 months. Those that stop, approximately 50% begin again sometime down the line with nearly half of those repeating the stop/start cycle over the years. The reason behind this is twofold - uneducated doctors and patients. More often than not it's due to the patient not understanding or rather his unwillingness to understand and accept how TRT truly works and more often than not there is no amount of good information you can give a man to change this. Then you have the doctors, and while I wouldn't call it extremely common I do see it regularly - a doctor prescribes TRT, the patient does great, blood work later shows good stable levels and the doctor will say "you don't need TRT anymore because you're levels are good." Unfortunately, some doctors look at it like a headache too...the headache's gone, so no more Advil.

[Baxter35]

That's really scary to imagine a supposed medical expert suggesting taking someone off of trt once they've gotten their levels dialed in. So basically, they get them feeling good, shut down what little natural test they may have had, then pull the plug? That's almost criminal.

[sfgiantsfan55]

trt made me sweat alot more..never was a "sweater"...although that has mostly subsided over time. i do always feel hot, which i further attribute to trt.

[Rusty11]

One of the most common things we hear on a daily basis is complaints from patients who are upset that they're having less than full-blown energy days, or they're feeling a little run down or even have a head cold. A lot of people expect that when they're on TRT for all their problems in life to go away and for everything to be 190% at all times.

...and dandruff, sore throats, jock itch, and ingrown toenails. Yes, I've read the posts here. Hell, at 52 and on trt, I don't expect my morning woodies to be an everyday thing. Nor do I freak out about it. It's called ageing. I know trt is not a fountain of youth.

Baxter, glad you're doing well.

[lovbyts]

trt made me sweat alot more..never was a "sweater"...although that has mostly subsided over time. i do always feel hot, which i further attribute to trt.

I'm the same way, I use to NEVER sweat. I could go jogging in 90 deg weather and hardly break a sweat. I would go walking in 110 deg for a couple of hours and feel perfectly fine. The other thing though is I never drank water. Yes I know they say that's bad for you but honestly between ages 13 - 30 I probably had less than 3 cups of coffee a year. No I was not a pop drinker or juice. Some coffee and mostly milk.

Once I started TRT I started also drinking water like I should and now if I think about exercising I start to sweat.

[Baxter35]

I didn't even think about the sweating until you guys mentioned it. I feel hot all the time now it seems and definitely sweat easier too. Wonder how common this effect is?

[Low Testosterone]

The extra sweating could be due to an improved and stronger metabolism. It's not the testosterone itself that's causing you to sweat more but the fact that your body is running stronger.

[Baxter35]

I just got updated lab results last week and thought I'd share. I've been on 100mg/wk for about 4 months after coming down from 200/wk, and these are first tests at that dosage.

total test: 462 (250-1100), free test: 93 (35-155), all results from cbc , E2, and liver function tests are well in range so I won't bother typing all up. If anyone wants a specific number just ask. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. I take my injection once weekly on Mondays, and I purposefully got blood drawn Monday morning prior to pinning so I would know where I land at my lowest. I'd like to see total T a little higher, but free T is good. My urologist bumped my new script up to 120 to get total a little higher, but overall we agree this seems to be a pretty good range for me.

[Low Testosterone]

I just got updated lab results last week and thought I'd share. I've been on 100mg/wk for about 4 months after coming down from 200/wk, and these are first tests at that dosage.

total test: 462 (250-1100), free test: 93 (35-155), all results from cbc , E2, and liver function tests are well in range so I won't bother typing all up. If anyone wants a specific number just ask. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. I take my injection once weekly on Mondays, and I purposefully got blood drawn Monday morning prior to pinning so I would know where I land at my lowest. I'd like to see total T a little higher, but free T is good. My urologist bumped my new script up to 120 to get total a little higher, but overall we agree this seems to be a pretty good range for me.

It's all about symptoms and your state of health. If you're feeling good and without complications, then that means things are going good regardless of what the total test number reads. Glad to hear things are going well for you.