accutane user, starting TRT

[beaver107]

Hi all,

24 y/o 6'1, 180lbs male who took accutane ages 15 - 18 on/off (mostly on). Started experiencing usual accutane sexual dysfunction issues at age 17ish, but didnt make the connection until after stopping accutane around age 18. symptoms include: low libido, little/no sexual sensation, general erectile dysfunction, fatigue. haven't noticed any real effect in terms of cognitive effects etc, consider myself an exceptionally smart person (though fatigue can really get to me at times). around age 17/18, I went and saw an endo and told my parents about the problems i was facing. endo told me it was "in my head" after test drawing showed 490, parents were concerned but didn't know what to make of it. none of us had made the connection to accutane at that point. moment of realization came when I looked up accutane and sexual side effects and read forums from previous users and PFS sufferers. needless to say, i was crushed. tried to give it time to come back naturally, was able to get rid of side effects like joint pain etc from regular, vigorous exercise (which helped with some anxiety issues as well).

i started TRT at a clinic in September of 2018 after blood levels (will post) showed levels around 390 ng/ml. initial dose was test c 150mg 1x/week subq. did this for a month before deciding to move onto a real dr., a urologist. told him story of accutane etc, he hadnt heard of problems from accutane but had heard of pfs. he said guys with pfs respond best to higher doses of trt, and put me on 200mg/week to "flood the system with testosterone" before we found what worked for me. he also upped dosage to 2500U hcg 2x/week I've been on that protocol for two months (three months total on TRT) and havent noticed much. am actually a bit more tired than i was before starting, have also noticed a bit more acne on chest and back (reason why i started taking accutane). ironic that that was actually exciting to me, as my body was responding to T.

i'm just getting a bit discouraged that i haven't seen any results thus far from the protocol. next appointment in a week and plan on asking about ai to reduce higher estradiol level that came with higher dose (he mentioned before that this was an option.. generally very willing to hear my thoughts on these things) posted results as an attachment. Please let me know thoughts! just very scared from other accutane/pfs sites where guys havent felt anything (androgen receptors silenced?).. any and all thoughts welcome. dr also mentioned putting me on higher 300mg/week dose until we see some response. i plan on asking to do this 2x/week in 150mg dosage to see if we can get a more even response.. many thanks in advance

also please note that "free test" starting in oct 2018 is lab equivalent of free T and range is 50-125

side note: i know trt at such a young age is dangerous (less so for fertility with HCG), but it's clear that if the problem is indeed hormonal, i need to address asap. i'm fully committed to finding something that makes me feel as normal as possible after so many years of pain, avoiding relationships, etc

 

[Systemlord]

Well bad news first, endocrinologists and urologists typically are very ignorant in sex hormone therapies such as TRT, the flood the system comment made my stomach sink!

Insurance is almost useless as TRT has been in preventive medicine for some time and has been ignored by mainstream medicine for a very long time which is why few doctors know what they are doing.

Large infrequent doses of testosterone encourages estrogen production and even hematocrit levels which can make the blood thicker. The majority of men starting out at 200mg weekly months down the road usually have to lower the dosage do to ever rising hematocrit levels and is just too much testosterone for the majority of men.

A knowledgeable doctor would know how to read your blood biomarkers to determine a proper TRT protocol, we tend to see men with your SHBG levels do very well on two injections per week, everyone is different but a good starting point is 50-60mg twice weekly.

This would lower estrogen and keep levels more stable and is better manage all levels. TRT is not dangerous, testosterone is a bioidentical hormone so close to the original article that the body doesn't notice the difference.

The HCG dosage is way too high for a maintenance dose to remain fertile. When my estrogen is sky high I have no energy and am quite fatigued and anyone taking that much HCG would most certainly have the same issues.

A typical HCG protocol is 250 EOD or 400-500 2-3 times per week and believe estrogen would decrease if you got off that terrible HCG protocol and you would start feeling better. When estrogen is high it may feel like TRT isn't working. You can forget about libido and erections when estrogen is high, a lot of guys would be having problems with estrogen as high as yours.

I recommend 50-60mg twice weekly and HCG 400-500 twice weekly.

 

[beaver107]

Are you familiar with Pfs? It seems as though guys with the condition need to run on consistently higher levels to notice anything. I definitely think regardless I should split into two doses\week but wasn’t opposed to seeing how I responded to high doses, considering my testosterone was low normal to begin with and I already felt so poorly

 

[Ronnny]

I had very bad breakout from teenage year to my adulthood. Nothing worked for me accept Accutane. Antibiotic for acne is not for someone with acute acne issue.

 

[Vvs1]

Are you familiar with Pfs? It seems as though guys with the condition need to run on consistently higher levels to notice anything. I definitely think regardless I should split into two doses\week but wasn’t opposed to seeing how I responded to high doses, considering my testosterone was low normal to begin with and I already felt so poorly

Beaver, there's a site called totalmaleoptimization .com where a guy layer out his protocol on pfs. You can also find him and other pfs guys on swole source forum under the pfs section.

People have had some jumpstarts using licorice root. I've seen others that eat gluten free, probiotics, and fasting. I'd recommend them all including herbal cleanses. Avoid any that include Saw Palmetto, Beta Sitasterol, and any other DHT blockers.