Hey new here and somewhat young at 30

[vexxev]

Hey my name's Vinny I am new here but been lurking a bit reading around a bit. I am 30 years old used to lift all the time was in great shape around a year and a half ago out of the blue had anxiety come up first time in my life and panic attacks. Of course right away wanted to put me on antidepressants but I always thought that was not the case. Long story short I am in a much better place now with that stuff altho it comes up sometimes..but it does not rule my life anymore. Skip ahead to this year I work a very physical job and with everything that happened with me I lost alot of weight . I used to weigh 160 and now weigh 130 if not less . I have no interest in sex or working out anymore my joints and body cracks all the time constantly tired . So I went and got everything checked out . My thyroid is fine everything else is fine I actually eat very healthy had a nutritionist help me out never smoked or drink on paper I'm healthy but then these were the results of my hormones. The only thing they were a little concerned with was my hemacrit being on the high side for not smoking or anything. And I'm pretty positive I do not have sleep apnea. I drink plenty of water too . So I just wanted to introduce my self here want some advice . I was prescribed 150mg m/w/f . Hcg and an AI but those were to be introduced later. I just want advice on I guess getting over the fear of injecting. I know it'll sound stupid but I am not afraid of the needle it self I guess I think my anxiety will spike up or something along those lines after my first shot... Just wondering any suggestions on where to inject? I can do sub Q or IM . I was given 27 gauge 1/2 inch needles. Hope I can keep learning here I just need to push my self to do this first shot and hopefully feel better with time. As I miss the days of feeling good working out and just overall energy and enjoying my life with everyone . Would like to add when I was younger I did experiment with sarms and did some clomid to pct


Total test -- 476 ng/dL 264-916


Free test low ---. 8.6 pg/mL. 9.3. -26.5


Dhea --- 312 ug/dL 138--- 475.2

Sensitive estrogen --. 12.0 pg/mL 8.0 ----35.0

TSH ----. 1.850 uiU/mL 0.450 -- 4.500

LH ---. 6.5 miU/mL 1.7-- 8.6

Prolactin. 10.2 ng/mL 4.0--15.2

Hemocrit ---. 50.9. 37.5---51.00

 

[madman]

Hey my name's Vinny I am new here but been lurking a bit reading around a bit. I am 30 years old used to lift all the time was in great shape around a year and a half ago out of the blue had anxiety come up first time in my life and panic attacks. Of course right away wanted to put me on antidepressants but I always thought that was not the case. Long story short I am in a much better place now with that stuff altho it comes up sometimes..but it does not rule my life anymore. Skip ahead to this year I work a very physical job and with everything that happened with me I lost alot of weight . I used to weigh 160 and now weigh 130 if not less . I have no interest in sex or working out anymore my joints and body cracks all the time constantly tired . So I went and got everything checked out . My thyroid is fine everything else is fine I actually eat very healthy had a nutritionist help me out never smoked or drink on paper I'm healthy but then these were the results of my hormones. The only thing they were a little concerned with was my hemacrit being on the high side for not smoking or anything. And I'm pretty positive I do not have sleep apnea. I drink plenty of water too . So I just wanted to introduce my self here want some advice . I was prescribed 150mg m/w/f . Hcg and an AI but those were to be introduced later. I just want advice on I guess getting over the fear of injecting. I know it'll sound stupid but I am not afraid of the needle it self I guess I think my anxiety will spike up or something along those lines after my first shot... Just wondering any suggestions on where to inject? I can do sub Q or IM . I was given 27 gauge 1/2 inch needles. Hope I can keep learning here I just need to push my self to do this first shot and hopefully feel better with time. As I miss the days of feeling good working out and just overall energy and enjoying my life with everyone . Would like to add when I was younger I did experiment with sarms and did some clomid to pct


Total test -- 476 ng/dL 264-916


Free test low ---. 8.6 pg/mL. 9.3. -26.5


Dhea --- 312 ug/dL 138--- 475.2

Sensitive estrogen --. 12.0 pg/mL 8.0 ----35.0

TSH ----. 1.850 uiU/mL 0.450 -- 4.500

LH ---. 6.5 miU/mL 1.7-- 8.6

Prolactin. 10.2 ng/mL 4.0--15.2

Hemocrit ---. 50.9. 37.5---51.00

Welcome!

Nothing to feel stupid about.

I was nervous when I first started knowing that not only would I be shutting down my hpta but also how I would feel in the coming weeks and what kind of journey it would turn out to be.

It will be much easier and less painful injecting with a fixed insulin syringe 27-31G than using 22G mini-harpoons that are still used by some.

After your first few shots, it will eventually become routine and you may even be one who looks forward to it.

The biggest hurdle will be the first 6 weeks as once you introduce exogenous testosterone not only will your hpta shut-down within 2-6 weeks (depending on dose T) but your hormones will be in FLUX during the weeks leading up until they stabilize (4-6 weeks) and during this transition, you may experience ups/downs let alone something we call the honeymoon period where you feel euphoric due to the increased dopamine/androgen levels but it will be short-lived and temporary.

Whether you decide to inject sub-q/IM there are numerous sites to use.

You did not post your SHBG level as it is important to know and you do not need to jump into injecting 3X weekly (M/W/F).

Many men with high/highish SHBG will do well injecting once or more commonly twice weekly (every 3.5 days) or in cases of low SHBG daily or EOD but even then it is not set in stone as some men with high SHBG feel better injecting more frequently.

150 mg/week is a fairly high starting dose and will most likely have your TT/FT levels very high let alone it will drive up your hemoglobin/hematocrit which is already on the high-end.

In most cases, it is more sensible to start low (100 mg/week) and go slow.

On average most men on trt are injecting 100-200mg/week.

Principles of Testosterone and hCG Injection Technique

Selecting the Devices There are many different syringes and needles, suiting many different procedures. It is important to choose the needles and syringes carefully according to the type of injection to be administered. For example, the length and gauge of the needle and type of syringe must...

www.excelmale.com

 

[vexxev]

Thank you for the reply i appericate the info and sorry i thought i posted it my SHBG was . 33.7 nmol/L--- 16.5---- 55.9 .. They told me to inject 3 times a week to actually keep my hemacrit down since it is already on the high side for whatever strange reason.. I will start off with 100 mg if its suggested over 150 mg. Do you think i can just do that 2 shots a week then? i was told to inject .25ml m/w/f. How would i break down the 100mg? .20ml Sorry the conversions on the needle is all new to me too. I want to start off slow as i already am afraid to start haha but i am ready to feel better. Thanks again.

 

[madman]

Thank you for the reply i appericate the info and sorry i thought i posted it my SHBG was . 33.7 nmol/L--- 16.5---- 55.9 .. They told me to inject 3 times a week to actually keep my hemacrit down since it is already on the high side for whatever strange reason.. I will start off with 100 mg if its suggested over 150 mg. Do you think i can just do that 2 shots a week then? i was told to inject .25ml m/w/f. How would i break down the 100mg? .20ml Sorry the conversions on the needle is all new to me too. I want to start off slow as i already am afraid to start haha but i am ready to feel better. Thanks again.

Do what you feel is best but personally I would start off on 100 mg/week and seeing as your SHBG is roughly 34 nmol/L than splitting the 100mg into 50mg twice weekly (every 3.5 days) would suffice.

Keep in mind that it is not a given injecting more frequently will result in keeping down/lowering hematocrit as it is not only the supra-physiological peaks but running higher TT/FT levels can also have a big impact on driving up ones RBCs/hemoglobin/hematocrit.

The strength of your testosterone is 200 mg/ml.

You are using a 100 unit fixed insulin syringe.

1 unit= 2 mg esterified T

25 units= 50 mg esterifird T

 

[vexxev]

Do what you feel is best but personally I would start off on 100 mg/week and seeing as your SHBG is roughly 34 nmol/L than splitting the 100mg into 50mg twice weekly (every 3.5 days) would suffice.

Keep in mind that it is not a given injecting more frequently will result in keeping down/lowering hematocrit as it is not only the supra-physiological peaks but running higher TT/FT levels can also have a big impact on driving up ones RBCs/hemoglobin/hematocrit.

The strength of your testosterone is 200 mg/ml.

You are using a 100 unit fixed insulin syringe.

1 unit= 2 mg esterified T

25 units= 50 mg esterifird T

Thank you so much for the help . I honestly thought 150 was kind of high but I figured I was just so low on the estogren and free T that it was fine. I will definitely try 100mg to start and see how things go. Also thank you for breaking down the units. You are very helpful I will post my progress once I get the courage to inject and know that I won't have some kind of crazy side effect the first shot lol. Sorry last question say I begin Tuesday would the 3.5 days be Friday ? Also does time of the day matter?

 

[madman]

Thank you so much for the help . I honestly thought 150 was kind of high but I figured I was just so low on the estogren and free T that it was fine. I will definitely try 100mg to start and see how things go. Also thank you for breaking down the units. You are very helpful I will post my progress once I get the courage to inject and know that I won't have some kind of crazy side effect the first shot lol. Sorry last question say I begin Tuesday would the 3.5 days be Friday ? Also does time of the day matter?

100 mg (50 mg twice weekly) will bring your TT/FT/e2 levels up and depending on how you respond you may very well achieve a healthy FT level at such dose if not then you will need a slight dose increase and waiting 6 weeks until you have blood work done is not that long.

Always better to see how your body reacts to testosterone (start low) and go slow.

T only protocol would be the most sensible move than you can decide after 6 weeks what adjustments may need to be made.

You may want to eventually add in hCG and hopefully, you can avoid any use of an aromatase inhibitor mind you some do need micro-doses.

If you are injecting every 3.5 days then it would be roughly 84 hrs between injections.

So if you inject Tuesday morning 8 am then your second weekly injection would be late Friday evening at 8 pm or around that time.

I have been on trt for almost 4 years and have always injected twice weekly (every 3.5 days) Tuesday morning and Friday evening.

It is what works for me.

Just make sure when you have blood work done in 6 weeks that you test at true trough which would be on Tuesday morning before your injection.

Also when testing FT tell your doctor you want the most accurate assay such as the gold standard Equilibrium Dialysis or Ultrafiltration.

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.

 

[vexxev]

Wow thank you so much for breaking it down like that really helps. Hopefully tomorrow morning I can get my self to inject in the morning as I've been putting it off all week. Thank you again you are very helpful. Do you think there is anything I can do about the HCt before starting? Not a huge fan of donating blood but I understand it may have to happen eventually.