Bloods after 6 months on TRT. Thoughts?

[gusamaso]

I’m feeling great, but I believe it’s not sustainable to maintain supra physiological levels. Should I reduce my dose to 120mg/wk? Any suggestion/advice would be appreciated.
Couldn't test for pregnenolone due to insurance not covering, and it's very expensive.

Thanks, guys!

 

[Vince]

I’m feeling great, but I believe it’s not sustainable to maintain supra physiological levels. Should I reduce my dose to 120mg/wk? Any suggestion/advice would be appreciated.
Couldn't test for pregnenolone due to insurance not covering, and it's very expensive.

Thanks, guys!

View attachment 16803

I'm surprised at your high levels of DHT on your labs in January. Are you using anything to increase your DHT?

 

[gusamaso]

I'm surprised at your high levels of DHT on your labs in January. Are you using anything to increase your DHT?

Hey, Vince. It's actually July. We use DD.MM.YYYY over here. I ran proviron for a while.

 

[Vince]

Hey, Vince. It's actually July. We use DD.MM.YYYY over here. I ran proviron for a while.

Your old levels, marked January. Look good to me. What was the reason for your increase in dosing?

 

[gusamaso]

Your old levels, marked January. Look good to me. What was the reason for your increase in dosing?

Vince, it looks good, indeed, but, just for clarification: I pointed out that the date goes by DD/MM/YYYY, so my pre-trt levels are from april 3rd, then july the 1st, then the most up to date are from september 25th.

 

[madman]

I’m feeling great, but I believe it’s not sustainable to maintain supra physiological levels. Should I reduce my dose to 120mg/wk? Any suggestion/advice would be appreciated.
Couldn't test for pregnenolone due to insurance not covering, and it's very expensive.

Thanks, guys!

View attachment 16803

If overall blood markers are healthy and you are not struggling with any sides than let it be for now!

You are only 2 months in on your current protocol.

As you stated.....I’m feeling great!

Will you maintain this feeling 3-4 months in.....only time will tell.

If things go south then you easily have room to lower your weekly T dose and bring down your FT.

Were labs done at the trough?

Pointless to test LH/FSH on trt.

As you can see on your current protocol 150 mg T/week split into EOD injections + 250iu hCG EOD that not only is your TT 1686 ng/dL absurdly high but more importantly your FT is very high.

Estradiol is also very high due to the absurdly high FT level.

Even then I would put money on it that your FT was not even tested using an accurate assay.

The only way to know where your FT level truly sits is to have it tested using the most accurate assays such as the gold standard Equilibrium Dialysis or Ultrafiltration (next best).

Although TT is important to know FT is what truly matters as it is the active unbound fraction of testosterone responsible for the positive effects.

Not sure what assays were used/available in your country but with an absurdly high TT 1686 ng/dL even with a highish SHBG 41.9 nmol/L your FT would be absurdly high around 60 ng/dL.

If these are trough values.....peak levels will be higher.

Also, keep in mind that although you stated.....I’m feeling great you have only been on your current protocol (150 mg T/week split into EOD injections + 250iu hCG EOD) for 2 months.

Keep in mind whether starting trt or tweaking a protocol hormones will be in flux during the weeks leading up until blood levels have stabilized (4-6 weeks) and it is common for many to experience ups/downs during the transition as the body is trying to adjust.

The first 6 weeks mean nothing when looking at the bigger picture.

Many make the mistake of gauging how they truly feel during the first 6 weeks which can be misleading.

Even then some end up feeling stellar for the first 6 weeks only to end up struggling 3 months in especially when running absurdly high FT levels.

Once blood levels have stabilized it will take a few months for the body to adapt to the new set-point and this is the critical time period when one should gauge how they truly feel overall regarding relief/improvement of low-t symptoms.

Every protocol should be given a fighting chance as in a full 12 weeks to claim whether it was a success or failure.

You started off on 100 mg T/week split into twice-weekly injections (50 mg every 3.5 days) + 250iu hCG EOD and blood work was done on July 21 which had your TT at 795 ng/dL and FT on the higher end (most likely high 20s ng/dL).

You then decided to up your T dose/injection frequency from 100 mg T split into twice-weekly injections (50 mg every 3.5 days)--->150 mg T spit into EOD injections.

Going from 100-150 mg T/week is a whopping jump!

Increasing T dose 20mg/week would have had a big impact on driving up TT/FT.

As you can see your TT went from 795 ng/dL--->an absurdly high 1686 ng/dL and more importantly your FT went from the higher end (most likely high 20s ng/dL) to an absurdly high level (most likely 60 ng/dL).

As you can see your estradiol skyrocketed let alone hematocrit went from 46-50%.

Although I would not consider 50% too high you can clearly see the effects of having a very high FT.

A FT 5-10 ng/dL would be considered low.

FT 16-31 ng/dL (high-end) is healthy.

Most men will do well with FT 20-30 ng/dL range and many tend to do better having FT on the higher end.

Some may choose to run slightly higher or in many cases absurdly high FT levels (50-80 ng/dL) but most would never need to achieve absurdly high levels to experience relief/improvement of low-t symptoms.

Comes down to the individual and where they feel best.

 

[gusamaso]

If overall blood markers are healthy and you are not struggling with any sides than let it be for now!

You are only 2 months in on your current protocol.

As you stated.....I’m feeling great!

Will you maintain this feeling 3-4 months in.....only time will tell.

If things go south then you easily have room to lower your weekly T dose and bring down your FT.

Were labs done at the trough?

Pointless to test LH/FSH on trt.

As you can see on your current protocol 150 mg T/week split into EOD injections + 250iu hCG EOD that not only is your TT 1686 ng/dL absurdly high but more importantly your FT is very high.

Estradiol is also very high due to the absurdly high FT level.

Even then I would put money on it that your FT was not even tested using an accurate assay.

The only way to know where your FT level truly sits is to have it tested using the most accurate assays such as the gold standard Equilibrium Dialysis or Ultrafiltration (next best).

Although TT is important to know FT is what truly matters as it is the active unbound fraction of testosterone responsible for the positive effects.

Not sure what assays were used/available in your country but with an absurdly high TT 1686 ng/dL even with a highish SHBG 41.9 nmol/L your FT would be absurdly high around 60 ng/dL.

If these are trough values.....peak levels will be higher.

Also, keep in mind that although you stated.....I’m feeling great you have only been on your current protocol (150 mg T/week split into EOD injections + 250iu hCG EOD) for 2 months.

Keep in mind whether starting trt or tweaking a protocol hormones will be in flux during the weeks leading up until blood levels have stabilized (4-6 weeks) and it is common for many to experience ups/downs during the transition as the body is trying to adjust.

The first 6 weeks mean nothing when looking at the bigger picture.

Many make the mistake of gauging how they truly feel during the first 6 weeks which can be misleading.

Even then some end up feeling stellar for the first 6 weeks only to end up struggling 3 months in especially when running absurdly high FT levels.

Once blood levels have stabilized it will take a few months for the body to adapt to the new set-point and this is the critical time period when one should gauge how they truly feel overall regarding relief/improvement of low-t symptoms.

Every protocol should be given a fighting chance as in a full 12 weeks to claim whether it was a success or failure.

You started off on 100 mg T/week split into twice-weekly injections (50 mg every 3.5 days) + 250iu hCG EOD and blood work was done on July 21 which had your TT at 795 ng/dL and FT on the higher end (most likely high 20s ng/dL).

You then decided to up your T dose/injection frequency from 100 mg T split into twice-weekly injections (50 mg every 3.5 days)--->150 mg T spit into EOD injections.

Going from 100-150 mg T/week is a whopping jump!

Increasing T dose 20mg/week would have had a big impact on driving up TT/FT.

As you can see your TT went from 795 ng/dL--->an absurdly high 1686 ng/dL and more importantly your FT went from the higher end (most likely high 20s ng/dL) to an absurdly high level (most likely 60 ng/dL).

As you can see your estradiol skyrocketed let alone hematocrit went from 46-50%.

Although I would not consider 50% too high you can clearly see the effects of having a very high FT.

A FT 5-10 ng/dL would be considered low.

FT 16-31 ng/dL (high-end) is healthy.

Most men will do well with FT 20-30 ng/dL range and many tend to do better having FT on the higher end.

Some may choose to run slightly higher or in many cases absurdly high FT levels (50-80 ng/dL) but most would never need to achieve absurdly high levels to experience relief/improvement of low-t symptoms.

Comes down to the individual and where they feel best.

Thank you very much for the detailed response. These are trough values, indeed. I'll take your advice in consideration when consulting with my doctor, which will be this week.

Also, FT was not tested with the accurate assay.

Do you think I should supplement on DHEA?

 

[madman]

Thank you very much for the detailed response. These are trough values, indeed. I'll take your advice in consideration when consulting with my doctor, which will be this week.

Also, FT was not tested with the accurate assay.

Do you think I should supplement on DHEA?

Definitely have room to bring up your levels.