TRT clinic/What should I expect

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05-01-2018, 10:31 PM
lomac

TRT clinic/What should I expect

I have felt like sht for a couple years. 47yo, 5'9, 220. Dropped 25lbs 2 years ago and was on a sarm triple stack for about a month but just had to much going on to continue. So about 20 lbs have come back.
Present. no drive, Low sex drive, just not into going gang busters over anything even though I've always been a outside person doing stuff non-stop.. I've gone to my doc and got blood wrk done and he says I'm in the % of normal test. I know the way I feel and something hasn't been right for awhile. But he says there's nothing he can do.
My question is, I'm contemplating seeing a Men's Wellness Center. They specialize, so they say, in TRT and THRT. Have you ever had experiences with these types of clinics or people who have? It's a $99 first time office visit where they go over your symptoms, take bloods, and go over your results at that time. From there I guess you go on some type of regiment if low T is found. I just want to be prepared. Are these like contract things? is there an avg price range? They wouldn't give me much info on that bc they say labs have to be done first. Just don't know what to look for and Don't want to get screwed. I guess I'd have to lose the $100 to find out what the deal is . They have high rating on google but you know how ratings are. I'd appreciate any guidance you could give me. Thanks
05-02-2018, 02:31 AM
almostgone

It's not set in stone, but I think $200-$350/month is about average with them providing meds. Some of the clinics may waive the consultation fee if blood work indicates a need for treatment.
Again, that's just a ballpark figure.

I would read the link below as well so you will be familiar with what a good treatment plan should incorporate.

https://forums.steroid.com/hormone-r...physician.html
05-02-2018, 11:40 AM
Youthful55guy

Some follow up thoughts from our private discussion on the same topic.

1) What hormones will they test for $99?
-- My thoughts are that you may be able to get the same information for less at https://www.discountedlabs.com/choose-your-test.

2) Do they take insurance?
-- This could influence your decision. As I previously told you, I started at a Low T center (Ageless Men's Clinic). They did take my insurance for the labs, office visits, and T injection. But they charged an exorbitant amount for HCG, which was not covered by insurance. They also insisted I come there for their T shots (90 mile round trip) because they did not give T to go. They only had a one size fits all protocol of weekly T injections. The worst part was not giving T to go because of the time and travel and the fact that I had a 3 week vacation planned and that would mean going without T for 2 weeks. If you've ever come off TRT, you'd know how bad that is!

3) What exactly is the protocol they will be prescribing. As discussed in countless posts here. I, and most people with experience and in the know, recommend at least twice weekly injections (I much prefer E3D) of small amounts of T with an insulin syringe. AIs only if your 6 week follow up labs indicate high E (never at the start). HCG ranging from 500 to 1000 IU per week split into at least 3 injections, but only after you get the T dose nailed down. This is a very simple and sustainable protocol. Simplicity and sustainability is the key to success with TRT.
05-02-2018, 07:01 PM
lomac

My appointment is tomm. I will post back the info and lab work I get. I appreciate the feedback.
05-04-2018, 07:07 PM
lomac

So I went to my appointment. I got 2 texts the night before and 3 texts the morning of for my appt at 12pm. I never left the waiting room after asking questions. They only do the procedure in house and will not script out. I really don't want to be tied down like that. The appox cost qould be $250-275 per month from what I was told. Also got 4 more texts after I left to reconsider. I don't care for that kind of pressure. I think I can do it cheaper on my own and get labs from Lab Cor. Will keep pushing forward. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated. And thank you Youthful55guy, you've been a tremendous amount of help!!
05-05-2018, 06:42 AM
almostgone

Quote:

Originally Posted by lomac

So I went to my appointment. I got 2 texts the night before and 3 texts the morning of for my appt at 12pm. I never left the waiting room after asking questions. They only do the procedure in house and will not script out. I really don't want to be tied down like that. The appox cost qould be $250-275 per month from what I was told. Also got 4 more texts after I left to reconsider. I don't care for that kind of pressure. I think I can do it cheaper on my own and get labs from Lab Cor. Will keep pushing forward. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated. And thank you Youthful55guy, you've been a tremendous amount of help!!

Would've done the same. There are competent clinics that will do virtual visits and minimal face to face consultations that allow self-administration..Also, maybe check the A4M directory?
05-05-2018, 11:38 AM
Youthful55guy

Quote:

Originally Posted by lomac

So I went to my appointment. I got 2 texts the night before and 3 texts the morning of for my appt at 12pm. I never left the waiting room after asking questions. They only do the procedure in house and will not script out. I really don't want to be tied down like that. The appox cost qould be $250-275 per month from what I was told. Also got 4 more texts after I left to reconsider. I don't care for that kind of pressure. I think I can do it cheaper on my own and get labs from Lab Cor. Will keep pushing forward. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated. And thank you Youthful55guy, you've been a tremendous amount of help!!

Good decision. My brief experience with Low T centers is that they are profit oriented and gouge you on price. For >3,000 per year, your certainly could do better on your own. Their protocols are also out dated because they know that they can't script T and make money. That makes forces you to come back in every week (or worse 2 weeks) to get your fix. What happens when you want to take that long vacation?

Best approach is to find a doc that will write the scripts and do it right. Unfortunately, they are hard to find, particularly if you are not overtly low on T. The next best choice are the A4M docs (https://www.a4m.com/find-a-doctor.html), but they generally are expensive and usually do not take insurance. I went this route after an initial 4 or so months at a Low T center and the doc was great and led me out of the woods. I still use his basic protocol 6+ years later. I keep my PCP informed of what I was doing, and after a couple of years of observation so that she could see the benefit (or at least see I wasn't hurting myself), I convinced her to take over the protocol and scripting of the meds. Since I only see her once per year, I still do most of the labs on my own when I fine tune the protocol, but labs are not all that expensive compared to what a Low T center charges you.