33 y/o, elevated Estradiol, looking for advice

[zaambo]

Hi, first post here, hoping to find some advice. If this in in the wrong subforum mods please let me know.

Anyway I’m a 33 y/o male, 5'10" 195lbs, lifting frequently for 18 month now and by my estimate would be at about 20% body fat, most of which is on my chest and stomach. Haven’t touched any gear. I’ve had symptoms that are associated with low T for the better part of a decade now - fatigue, brain fog, low libido, some ED. Also had gyno since puberty.

I got some tests recently and found out my Estradiol is pretty high:

Estradiol	160 pmol/L	(50-150)
Total Test	17.3 nmol/L	(10-35)
Free Test	402 pmol/L	(225-725)
SHGB	28 nmol/L	(13-71)
FSH	2 iu/L	(1-10)
LH	3 iu/L	(1-10)

I had the E2 confirmed with a second test a couple weeks later, which came in at 150 that time.

My questions, is that considering my T levels aren’t abysmal (although definitely not as high as I’d like), could my elevated E2 be causing some of my symptoms, and if so, what would my best option be? Start taking an AI like Aromasin? Can that even be kept up indefinitely?

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[Pongo]

Aromasin (exemestane) is a suicide aromatase inhibitor. I was warned very early on in my journey not to play with Aromasin. Arimidex has less side effects & easier for longer term treatment. Start really low dose & get labs after one month. Even 0.25mg twice a week maybe to much & cause your E2 to crash! Be careful, go small & be patient with results.

I am now on 0.125 once a week, as i'm very sensitive to e2 treatment.

 

[zaambo]

Just curious, were you in a similar situation to me? As in not on TRT but dealing with high E2?

I've seen pros and cons for both Aromasin and Arimidex, and thought the general consensus was Aromasin was better. Interesting though I'll do more reading, thanks

 

[Pongo]

No i'm not in a similar position to you but you will find most of us TRT guys on this site are trying to manage our E2 levels. Me personally & a lot of members on here have overdone the AI's in the early days & crashed their E2. Be careful as it makes you feel terrible when overdone & months to feel good again. That's my point & warning to you.

There's a lot of chat on bodybuilding forums about Aromasin but remember they're cycling massive doses of AAS which spikes E2 levels in the 300's & higher, which is why they like suicide aromatase inhibitors.

Do you have access to a sensitive estradiol test? The ranges on your test look like the non sensitive female test.

 

[zaambo]

All good was just wondering, and yes I've probably been getting most of my info from more bodybuilding focused sites/forums!

My test was definitely the sensitive assay though, it's what I requested and it's also specified on the actual lab report. My results are in a different unit of measurement to what I see I talked about on the web a lot. Mine are pmol/L, where as I think I see pg/ml on the web a lot. I'm from Australia so maybe we just want to be different down here or something!

 

[Pongo]

Your maybe not as high as I initially thought as an Australian site explained the range differences in the test as:
Men 13-42 pg/ml = 48-154 pmol/L

At 160pmol/L it's only slightly over. A very small dose of Arimidex could easily bring that into the sweet spot.

 

[zaambo]

Great, I'm starting to feel a bit better about all this! Any idea on what a potential protocol of Arimidex might look like?

 

[Pongo]

Arimidex (Anastrozole) it usually comes in 1mg tablets & a good starting dose would IMHO be 0.25mg (1/4) of a tablet per week, probably best cut into 2 doses of 0.125mg. It's fiddly if tablets are crumbly but worth the hassle not to go to high a dose to soon. Try for a month & do labs.

Good luck & keep us posted

 

[Systemlord]

You can also dissolve Arimidex (Anastrozole) in vodka leaving behind only the filler. You could get graduated droppers to dispense precisely. Anastrozole is the first line of defence when E2 problems arise.

Aromasin eliminates the aromatase enzyme that are needed for the conversation of testosterone to estrogen, the body will eventually recreate the aromatase enzymes in time.

 

[zaambo]

Great thank you guys really appreciate it, I'll give it a go and definitely report back with how I feel + blood results.

You can also dissolve Arimidex (Anastrozole) in vodka leaving behind only the filler. You could get graduated droppers to dispense precisely. Anastrozole is the first line of defence when E2 problems arise.

How long would this vodka solution be stable for? Would it need to be kept in the fridge or anything like that?

 

[Systemlord]

Great thank you guys really appreciate it, I'll give it a go and definitely report back with how I feel + blood results.



How long would this vodka solution be stable for? Would it need to be kept in the fridge or anything like that?

As long as you keep it in a sealed container you're fine, I left mine in the glass vial for over a month in hot temperatures with no evap. I purchased 10ml glass sealable medical vials and graduated droppers on Amazon. I suppose you could refrigerate it, probably best if you did refrigerate.

 

[zaambo]

Sounds good. Something like this yea?

https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Sampling-Sample-Glass-Bottles/dp/B01D2OHCQA

 

[Systemlord]

Sounds good. Something like this yea?

https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Sampling-Sample-Glass-Bottles/dp/B01D2OHCQA

Sealed Medical Vials
Graduated droppers

 

[zaambo]

Brilliant thankyou

 

[lazaroiu152]

preciate it, I'll give it a go and definitely report back with how I feel + blood results.

How did Arimidex worked?

 

[zaambo]

Hi again, thanks for reminding me to post an update!

So I decided to try myself on TRT to see how I felt both mentally and physically, and see where my Estradiol levels naturally ended up, and bring in an AI if needed.

I know starting TRT is not something that my natural bloods might have pointed to as being necessary, but it's something I've been curious to see if it helped some of my long standing symptoms. I'm sure I would have had to fight with many doctors just to get a script and see, so I thought stuff it I'm sick of my T being in the lower end of the range, I'll just try it myself and see.

I started on 120mg of Test C per week, dosed every 3.5 days. Felt great! Mood improved, energy improved, all round wellness I’d say. No additional high E2 sides than what I felt in the past. I kept this protocol and got bloods 6 weeks later. Besides my test being too high (no shit I felt good!) I found my E2 and Prolactin were also sky high! :

Total Testosterone	49 nmol/L	(8.3-29)
Free Testosterone	1425.8 pmol/L	(225-725)
Estradiol	299 pmol/L	(50-150)
Prolactin	515 mIU/L	(45-375)
Progesterone	1.7 nmol/L	(1.2-4.8)
SHGB	29 nmol/L	(13-71)

I decided to lower my dose to 80mg per week. Waited another 5 weeks and got tested:

Total Testosterone	24.5 nmol/L	(8.3-29)
Free Testosterone	623 pmol/L	(225-725)
Estradiol	177 pmol/L	(50-150)
Prolactin	559 mIU/L	(45-375)
Progesterone	1 nmol/L	(1.2-4.8)
SHGB	24 nmol/L	(13-71)

At this point my mood had definitely reduced a somewhat, but all in all I was still a lot better off than before. One thing to note is that although my testosterone and E2 had reduced along with the dose, my Prolactin had actually increased. So apparently though, 80mg per week is too low a dose, so now as of a few weeks ago I have increased it to 100mg per week, and also started taking .25mg of Armimidex, split into two doses, on the same day I pin. Also followed the advice here for dissolving in vodka. I'll take bloods again in a few weeks to see where everything is sitting.

I'm slightly concerned about my Prolactin levels though, and unfortunately I don't have a blood level for that prior to starting TRT. From what I read though, in a worst case scenario this can be due to a benign pituitary gland tumor, that can only be assessed via an MRI. For an unrelated reason I actually need to get an MRI soon, so I am going to chat to my GP about all this, see what he thinks, and if required try and get the MRI to include a scan of my pituitary gland.

Any thoughts or suggestions you guys have about all this would be much appreciated!

 

[Gman86]

How are your feeling the past couple weeks since upping to 100mg/ week and starting the Arimidex?

And how was your libido and erections on 120mg with the high E2?

 

[zaambo]

Better than 80mg per week, but I'm aware it will still be reaching peak saturation in my blood. Should be about 4 or 5 weeks from dosage change, yea?

Arimidex though, honestly I'm not sure, no noticeable change yet. How long does it take to start working?

And libido/erections on 120mg - definitely better erections than I've had in some years! This noticeably dropped off again at 80mg, but still better than I was before starting anything. Honestly though I think they are probably still not great compared to what they could be. I believe I've had high E2 for a long time now, so think I've just gotten used to it.