New Members: How to Get the Best Quality Responses in this Forum

WELCOME to the HRT Forum. As you’ve gathered, this is a GREAT forum for obtaining education and in-depth information regarding HRT and many of the components that are associated with it, including the discussions of blood work, diet and exercise, supplements, and much more. If you haven’t noticed, the pool of talent at this place is incredible, and there is a great amount of diversity and expertise that the knowledgeable and experienced members bring to this forum.

You probably have joined here, or elected to participate in this forum, because you are seeking to get a lot of quality responses and discussions pertaining to your thread(s). Obviously, there is a good chance that you are at a crucial juncture in your life with making some critical decisions involving your health, and the future thereof. It can be quite a scarey endeavor. Don't worry, we have been through it just the same, and we are hoping to pass our experiences on to you; all of which will help your early journey with HRT to be a successful one right out of the gate!!

First and foremost, WE are here to help and participate with you! We Are Not Your Medical Team, but we do offer the opportunity for intelligent discussions and correspondences to help members properly assess their situation, and to make the best possible choices that they can . Remember, there’s a very good chance that many of us have faced the same concerns and/or obstacles that you are currently facing ... So don't feel you're the unlucky one or alone here.

We encourage you to utilize our knowledge and experiences. There are some simple things that you can do to maximize the input and response level of your thread …

- Step one, start by reading the “Stickies” in the HRT Forum before creating your thread. You will be miles ahead by knowing things like what lab panels need to be considered when starting up, the basics of testosterone, how to find a good physician, what effects and when you can expect them from HRT, and much, much more! If you will INVEST just a little time reading and reviewing them, I can assure you that you will be primed with a wealth of knowledge that will enable you to approach your own personal program with articulation and confidence, and none of this will seem like a foreign language class.

- Open your thread with a brief introduction of yourself, followed by some historical information leading up to where you are currently at with your program. This introduction should include your stats (age, height, weight, BF%-if possible) and any pertinent details involving your health that may contribute to the insight of why you are considering HRT to be an option. Try to keep this informative, but concise. Your audience will sometimes start zoning out if you start out with an autobiography of your life, and even worse, a run-on paragraph that has a full page with no breaks. Keep us glued into your message!

- Equally, I would highly recommend that you don’t start a thread that is limited with information and words, e.g. “I just recently got put on TRT. My doctor has me at 200mg, is that good enough?” Or, “I’ve been feeling ALL the symptoms lately, how do I talk my doctor into prescribing TRT?” Again, we encourage participation, but limited, subjective posts will tend to give you less return on the informative responses that you are desiring. Keep it objective and plentiful enough that we don’t have to ask 100 questions to finally get the ball rolling.

- List your current HRT protocol and how long you have been administering it (if you have one). Example might be: Test Cyp 100mg/wk, HCG-250iu x 2/wk, Anastrozole .05mg/wk … And/or anything else that is relevant to your protocol. If you are having an issue with this protocol and/or the doctor's mindset regarding your protocol, please make note of it on your closing paragraph(s).

- Most importantly (for new members), post your lab results with reference ranges. By reading the “stickies”, you already know what BW labs we are interested in reviewing. If your doctor and/or medical team does not agree with running some of the more critical labs (E2, free-bio T, LH/FSH, various thyroid tests, etc.) then point that out in your thread and we can try to work around that, and we might possibly have some other ideas for you on where to order BW labs online. If you are considering going on TRT, then it is a MUST that you get your baseline labs before starting.

Time and time again, we get members posting their TRT results, but they have no baseline labs to compare to, or a minimal amount. We have no comparisons to work with, which makes it hard to talk about the member’s condition (primary or secondary) and their potential plan of attack.

Do it right the first time with your labs and you will be getting dialed in sooner than later, and additionally you will be making some good impressions with the experienced members on this board.

- Conclude your post with any questions, comments, or concerns you have. It could be the relation you have with your doctor and a request for some ideas from us on how to resolve it, and/or it could be some questions regarding your labs, protocol, and what you would like us as a TEAM to focus on to help you succeed. It might just be simple and something you want to share more than get advise ... That's fine too, after all, it's your thread! Some of the responses might come with critiques, so please don’t take it as a negative strike, as that is not our intention or desire. Our goal is to help you discover all of these wonderful variables associated with HRT; all of which undoubtedly will help you achieve a greater well being. If you are on a course for destruction, you will no doubt get those opinions too.

- Also, for best results keep the startup of new threads to a minimum when seeking help on this forum. If you have two or three threads going at the same time, which are basically "dittos" of the other threads that you have posted in, then we end up in many cases getting a lot of confusion and redundancy. Relevant information stored in one thread is easily accessible and more streamlined to help you get more timely and "Quality Responses".

Please feel free to comment … Any additions from the Knowledgeable and Senior Members are always welcomed!

"HRT isn't for life, it is life!"

Helpful comments and suggestions from other members

Ecdysone:
(1) Rambles too much without asking a question or making a point one can comment on and ...
(2) BW is poorly organized or missing so that after you respond, the OP posts stuff that should have been there at the beginning.

Gdevine:
(1) New Members should read the posts of others before starting their own thread. New Members can find guys with similar issues and they can see how these threads progress and they can learn a lot from that. Also, don't be affraid to use the search button as well. Most of the questions New Members have are probably already discussed at length here.

(2) Do not inject your situation or questions into another members thread. If the thread is a "sticky", you will be off topic and you stand reducing the value of the sticky. If the thread is someone else's that would be "hijacking" and that is not good protocol.

(3) If you are a New Member and are here trying to find "sources" for gear or someone to prescribe large doses of anabolic steroids than go someplace else, we cannot help you in this forum. Also, do not post sources of drugs or Underground Sources. Do not request that others post sources as well. What you do in Private Message's is your business.