cycling libido

[tm123]

Hi all. I am a 53 yom who has been on TRT for roughly 13 years. I seem to have an issue with my libido coming and going in a somewhat predictable cycle. Typically I'll experience raging libido for maybe a week to 10 days, and then it'll drop off to the point where I can't get an erection even with PDE5 inhibitors. Usually the inability to get hard at all will only last a day, maybe two, and then the libido slowly seems to recover over time. It's almost as if when my libido is high, I can fuck until I wear my dick out and then it wont work for a day or two. The depressed libido though will last for maybe 3-5 weeks. I can get hard and have sex during this time, but it's nowhere near as satisfying and the erections are hit and miss. It seems similar to a hormonal cycle in women.
I'm guessing the smart approach would be to do bloodwork both when my libidio is high and then again when it's low, but I've not yet done that. My doc has me on 400 mg of test cyp 2x / week, and adex 3 x / week. That seems like a boatload of test but I've been doing that dose for a very long time and this is the only issue that I've had.
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar. Thanks!

[CA_DXB_85]

Hey bro.
Adex 3x per week at what dose?
Like you said, you definitely need to get blood work done as its better than guessing.
Until I read the Adex 3x week line I was thinking maybe your estrogen is out of whack but since you are taking Adex and depending on the dose, you could be crushing it... You can have mad erection and libido issues if your estrogen is super low just like when it's out of whack.
Get bloods done and a lot of guys here should be able to help u out.
I had similar issues a few weeks back and it turned out my estrogen was high so I upped my Adex dose and now I feel like a 16 year old again lol.
Good luck

[The Deadlifting Dog]

My doc has me on 400 mg of test cyp 2x / week, and adex 3 x / week.

Please just write out in English what your dose is.
We are all confused.

I am guessing you are on 400mg of test injected once every two weeks.

As you can see... three different people have no idea what you are on.

And how much Adex? I am assuming you are on 1mg pill three times a week.

[tm123]

I'm sorry for not being more clear.

I take a total of 800 mg of test per week divided into two 400 mg doses.
I take 1 mg of adex, on Mon, Wed, and Fri.

For whatever reason my doc uses saliva testing instead of blood testing (another thing I'm questioning but don't know enough about). Whenever I get testosterone measured it's always >1500 and estrogen is always in the normal range, although it has been quite some time since I've had it tested.

As for the libido, it's cyclical. I don't cycle my test. I've pretty much taken 800 mg /week for years with no break. Thanks for the help!

[The Deadlifting Dog]

I'm sorry for not being more clear.

I take a total of 800 mg of test per week divided into two 400 mg doses.
I take 1 mg of adex, on Mon, Wed, and Fri.

For whatever reason my doc uses saliva testing instead of blood testing (another thing I'm questioning but don't know enough about). Whenever I get testosterone measured it's always >1500 and estrogen is always in the normal range, although it has been quite some time since I've had it tested.

As for the libido, it's cyclical. I don't cycle my test. I've pretty much taken 800 mg /week for years with no break. Thanks for the help!

I am surprised your doctor still has a license.
Your "TRT" is higher than many peoples cycles.

I am prescribed 80mg of test per week.
Most real doctors prescribe 80-100mg per week of test.
Most TRT clinics prescribe up to 200mg of test per week.

Personally, I think that there is no way in hell that your lipids and bp can be fine running 800mg of test per week for years on end.
Now... you may not want to lose this "doctor" but...
You really should at least run a cruise dose of 100-200mg of test per week for at least 6 months IMO.

What are your stats? height, weight, bf%, etc..
Do you work out?

Your libido is fucked because you are running an unhealthy level of test for years on end IMO.

You really should get blood work.

[tm123]

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks again for responding. Just to clarify, I have all my bloodwork down every 6 months. CBC,lipids, nutritional panel, etc. All that stuff is always normal. BP is always normal. I'm 5'10", 180 lb and about 12% fat measured by dxa. I lift 2-3 times per week.
Unfortunately my doc does saliva testing for test and estrogen, so I don't get those values checked regularly and I'm not sure how accurate saliva testing is for those hormones. Can those results be trusted or is bloodwork a better option?
I decreased my dosage by half. I didn't know if going from 800mg/week to 200 as you suggested was too aggressive so I dropped to 400mg week.
My question now is how long will it take for levels to stabilize after changing the dosage? I want to get blood work done but I'd rather wait until it is stabilized as opposed to checking it as it's falling. Thanks!