Discontinuation/ PCT discussion with doctor

[Gbucks18]

Hi everyone, I am new here but I frequent some subreddits regarding TRT and testosterone. (24M, on TRT for 1 year)

I recently discontinued TRT due to some health concerns and because I was most likely put on TRT improperly without proper testing. My doctor only did a saliva test for testosterone and never inquired to the cause. (ridiculous, I know. I feel stupid for listening to her). My protocol was 150mg split twice a week (75mg each), 500iu of HCG once a week. Everything always came back normal, HCT sometimes got a tad high.

Fast forward to today, I am dealing with some funky, unexplained health concerns. Now with the virus and everyone at home, I thought it would be best to eliminate Test from the equation and start from scratch and see what my natural body can produce and see if I need TRT after that.

I sought help from a urologist who seemed to be very well versed in test, hormones etc. I had talked to him and wanted to do something like the PCT described by Dr. Saya (spelling?), with 2 weeks of HCG and then clomid.

We agreed to do do 2 weeks of HCG, test levels and then see about clomid.

HCG protocol: 500iu MWF for 2 weeks

labs (5/16/20) taken 1 day after last hcg injection at 9am:

Albumin: 4.7 g/dL (3.6-5.1)
Testosterone, Total: 441 ng/dL (250-1100)
Free Testosterone: 60.7 pg/mL (46-224)
Testosterone, Bio-available: 130.1 ng/dL (110-575)
SHBG: 31 nmol/L (10-50)
Estradiol (E2): 31 pg/mL (6-54)
FSH: <.3 mIU/mL (0-18.2)
LH: .5 mIU/mL (0-13.8)

Here is his response:

"Your T levels look pretty good at 440. Your LH is 0.5 which means the body is making some despite the previous suppression, so that's great. Let's have you go to 2 days a week of HCG for 2 weeks then 1 day a week for 2 weeks and then stop completely. That should give us a reasonable taper Then I'd like for you to recheck labs 2 weeks after that. That panel will include testosterone, estrogen, LH and then another blood count."

My thoughts:

Why taper off HCG? my HPTA would still be suppressed and would just prolong the restart.
I really just want to start clomid or nolvadex now and ease the process.

I should ask him to start the clomid or nolvadex now, right? Is it ok that I am starting it almost a week after my last HCG injection?

I would really appreciate your guys help with this. Im starting a new job in 1 week and I really dont want to be feeling crappy to start it.

((Edit: also if anyone has any thoughts on my weird symptoms, please let me know. ))
-overall leg pain all over and in knees and hips, stretching or massaging doesnt help.
-some lower back pain
-overall fatigue and tiredness (recently started using a CPAP but dont notice any difference yet)
-weakness
-depression
-visual snow, light tracers
-headaches
-low to no sex drive, even on T
-only other thing I have tested for that was off was that I had low ferritin. I assume its worse now because my red meat intake has been lower recently.

 

[swoops36]

You really need to get onto Nolva or Clomid and stop the HCG for proper PCT, like you said. 20mg Nolva always worked for me. 4-6 weeks then get labs again, see where you’re at.

 

[Gbucks18]

You really need to get onto Nolva or Clomid and stop the HCG for proper PCT, like you said. 20mg Nolva always worked for me. 4-6 weeks then get labs again, see where you’re at.

Thanks for your reply. I had to do some polite arguing and convincing but I got myself some clomid to use for 4 weeks or so. Is some clomid better than no clomid? I have to admit I am a little nervous about the side effects and will have to stop early.

 

[swoops36]

Clomid I didn’t have a great time with. I stopped after 2 weeks cos I just felt ‘bad’. Whether that was end of cycle feels or the Clomid, don’t really know, never tried it again. However, Nolva hasn’t made me feel like bad, so it’s my preference. I don’t actually know if one works better than the other

 

[Gbucks18]

Clomid I didn’t have a great time with. I stopped after 2 weeks cos I just felt ‘bad’. Whether that was end of cycle feels or the Clomid, don’t really know, never tried it again. However, Nolva hasn’t made me feel like bad, so it’s my preference. I don’t actually know if one works better than the other

Did you switch directly from clomid to nolva? Or was this a different cycle?

 

[swoops36]

I switched directly. Never touched Clomid again

 

[Gbucks18]

I switched directly. Never touched Clomid again

Interesting, thanks for your thoughts! Hopefully I can tolerate clomid okay!

Im also hoping I can bounce back quick since I am only 24 and only did TRT for a year

 

[swoops36]

Remember PCT is meant to speed up the process of getting your HPTA back in action. The process will progress regardless of if you take anything to make it go faster.

however, you’ll return to your pre-TRT levels, most likely. So if you felt bad before TRT, you’ll likely feel bad after stopping it

 

[Nik]

Remember PCT is meant to speed up the process of getting your HPTA back in action. The process will progress regardless of if you take anything to make it go faster.

however, you’ll return to your pre-TRT levels, most likely. So if you felt bad before TRT, you’ll likely feel bad after stopping it

Swoops 36 cual era su dosis de nolvaex , algun problema con su higado , he escuchado que nolva es hepatoxico.