My TRT journey starting @ 100mg/week. Notes, thoughts, data and everything in between."

[Belekas]

Ok so its official today had my first proper set of labs since starting TRT October 16th last year. My protocol has been 100mg per week split E3.5D of Sustanon250 every Sunday and Wednesday. Test has been done today (Wednesday) fasted at 9am in the morning.

DHEA-SO4 5.04μmol/L (2,41 - 11,60)
FAI 78,284% (35-92.6)
SHGB 37.3nmol/L (18,3 - 54,1)
Testosterone 29.2nmol/L (8,64 - 29,0)
E2 124pmol/l (40 - 162)
PSA 0.815μg/l (<2)
TSH 2.32 mIU/L (0,27 - 4,2)
fT3 4.03pmol/l (2,63 - 5,7)
fT4 13.83pmol/l (9 - 19,05)

CRP 2.16mg/l (0-5)
Total Cholesterol 3.78mmol/l (2,6-5,18)
NonHDL 2.9mmol/l (no range)
HDL 0.88mmol/l (no range)
LDL 2.66mmol/l (no range)
Triglicerides 1.05mmol/l

Iron 8.6μmol/l (11,6 - 31,3)
Ferritin 93.74μg/l (25 - 400)

Alpha Amylase 40U/l (25 - 125)
ALT 6U/l (0 - 55)
AST 14U/l (5 - 34)
GGT 15U/l (12-64)
ALKP 64U/l (40 - 150)

Forgot to add Prolactin and they didn't have Cystatin-C so might do them in a couple more days in a different lab. As my eGFRcreat was 79 mL/min (90 - 120) and Serum Creatinine 102umol/L (59 - 104) I'm very interested to see my Cystatin-C and do the proper calculation using the formula at kidney.org

No FT-ED method was used as they didn't have it so will use the calucatator to get a ballpark where my cFT sits, even though thats probably +-20% FWIW. Using tru-t I'm rocking a 0.95 nMol/L or 27.38 ng/dL cFT. Now using the issam.ch calculator I'm getting a result of 0.61 nmol/L. By looking at NHS FT range that they have used before to calculate my cFT it's (0,198 - 0,619) so more or less looks like I'm rocking a top of the range cFT even on the injection day at the through so ain't hard to figure out that I'm flying sky high after the injection FWIW. Now I'm interested in what the Pros think about my results and if anything stands out please let me know.

Also about my HDL also I'm very interested as I couldn raise it for years with trying everything I could. It was 1+mmol/l before and now I see that its crept even lower to 0.88mmol/l even after me having 4 table spoons of EVOO a day for months, avocados and all other bs. No bueno. So I'm really interested what the next step would be or/and if I need to do a genetic Cholesterol test or something in that manner.

 

[Belekas]

An update on my GERD type chest pain after eating or even drinking water. Thought I'll be having something there but when a serious doc finished Endoscopy he said well damn there is nothing that stands out and pretty much everything looks perfect. I though it will be a lot worse, even my old little wounds have healed since last test odd 20 years ago. Doc was also surprised. He did a little test from the inside where the best sensitivity is and he found a still active Hpylori. The NHS have been doing blood tests for it and thats why they found nothing, because the bacteria is sitting inside the stomach and blood doesn't show. He asked for Liver blood tests and will be seeing him again tomorrow for proper medicine and protocol needed to finally and hopefully cure this bastard at least for now. So looks like another round of Antibiotics incoming. IIWII but it has to be done as been struggling a long ass time. Will update once I have prescription at hand and what the further procedures will be.

 

[Belekas]

Back after short holiday and time for an update. Have missed 2 regular 0.2ml (50mg) shots on purpose and only today had a shot but 0.15ml next one Sunday, as usuall. Since my levels are still very high (top of the range) just before injection as per previous "blood results" post I decided to lower my dose to 70-80mg per weel split same E3.5D Haven't felt anything bad by missing my 2 shots and even felt less fatigued and def better flaccid hang. Slept like a baby with zero supplemens just proper, clean, home prepped food. Haven't trained close to 2 weeks as well. Will give this new lower dose 3 months time and see if I feel any improvements. Will be starting Hpylori treatment again. Antibiotics, other antibacteria meds, probiotics, digestive enzymes, etc, all ready as per protocol. Post therrapy will be using some other supplements but about them later. Also will be drinking Wormwood Herb herbal tea for my bladder and digestive benefits. Will be eating a 100% clean diet for the next 3 months and pretty much no training for a month just light cardio work, etc. Doctors orders. Time to kill that fucking Hpylori and that requires proper, strategic work and lots of patience. Will update as time goes. So fingers crossed and time to roll. Hope you guys are feeling good and getting better at least 1% each and every day Peace!

 

[Belekas]

After 3 months 100mg/week and blood test results I've got couple weeks ago I've decided to try completely different approach to what I have been planning and wen't to EOD protocol of 25mg (0.1ml) of Test-E for a change. Not that I'm looking to feel any changes from the esther type but just had some left that expire this year and decided to put it to use. See how I respond to more frequent injections but slightly lower dose of 87.5mg/week.

Conclusions for the last 3 months I've been on since starting treatment are like this. In all fairness haven't noticed much if any benefits at all. Fatigue is still here. Muscle recovery same as before. Some headaches here and there but nothing too much. One thing I've noticed, I think, I got calmer and more focused on my own grind which is really a good thing. The problem with all this is that these results are not optimal because I haven't been able to eat as much as I need to function the best and train the best, because of my Hpylori bacteria. So the lack of food really effects my mood, recovery and overall feeling, even though I manage to eat around 3000kcal if I'm eyeballing correctly, as I have quit tracking calories after many years. Also since my digestion has been compromised hard probably that contributed to my overall wellness and how I feel day-in day-out. Coupled that with my serious back probems and it becomes really hard to tell whats what. Living with pain wears you out and then its tough to notice small benefits if any at all. Also I haven't been working out since the last 3 weeks I had serious back reconstruction. Now only resistance bands plus foam roller work for the month and light gym work with baby weights. Today started treating Hpylori for the second time so antibiotics and some other meds are on. It's a long road to recovery and rehabilitation but nobody will do the work for me. Gotta do what you gotta do. The best is yet to come.

Now since my blood results came back being top of the range tested at through but my HC is still in good place I think I could try going a bit higher with my dose to see how I feel. Ofc I'll be peaking above range FWIW. And since its only been 3-4 months since the start HC will still be climbing higher for another 8-9 months according to some papers I've read. So decided to try EOD protocol using a bit lower dose and see if that gives any benefits. If not the next step and probably final will be a bump in dose towards 125-150mg and if that doesn't help with fatigue and overall energy and sides rise I'll be getting off and will stay off for years and just get as healthy as possible naturally and maybe look at TRT again in the next 10-20 years when we will have more data and research in this field. I was skeptical before starting as I was feeling better and better with more weight I've been putting on after living too lean for too long naturally so my skepticism still stands and probably the increase in my FT won't give me any benefits without giving me sides. My TT was around 17.2 and cFT 0.225 (0.2-0.6) (NHS lab range) because of my high SHBG (IIRC) but I was feeling good, with a good libido, good sleep and good overall wellness. So even with crashed cFT I was functioning better then with a high-end cFT that I rock now. Really interesting things and looking forward to the next chapter and see how this new protocol goes.

Regards,
Bel.

 

[Cynice49]

crazy, I’ve been feeling pretty much the same symptoms that you have. I’ve been on trt for about 5 years and still having slight issues. In additions to some of the stuff you showed, I’ve also have had anxiety like symptoms all day with random Hr spikes, cold hands, hyperhidrosis so that’s what I’m really trying to figure out now. I think it’s more cortisol related because same as you, I’m a night shift RN so maybe some of the issues stem from that.

How have your blood pressures been on your current injection protocol? do you take any preg or dhea

 

[Belekas]

crazy, I’ve been feeling pretty much the same symptoms that you have. I’ve been on trt for about 5 years and still having slight issues. In additions to some of the stuff you showed, I’ve also have had anxiety like symptoms all day with random Hr spikes, cold hands, hyperhidrosis so that’s what I’m really trying to figure out now. I think it’s more cortisol related because same as you, I’m a night shift RN so maybe some of the issues stem from that.

How have your blood pressures been on your current injection protocol? do you take any preg or dhea

Hi Cynice49.

I hear you. Haven't taken my BP lately due to protocol change from E3.5D to EOD as I think its not that important ATM as the change is taking place and measuring that won't give me anything useful just more anxiety. But I haven't been feeling off BP wise so guess its not much different then on previous protocol maybe slightly as I def got more emotional so thinking due to estrogen surge of more frequent injections but I'll take a measure quite soon and will post it here anyway. I had a hunch that my issues might be cortisol related as well but also I might not need TRT (yet) in the first place FWIW even with my crashed cFT levels, as before starting treatment. What is your protocol ATM and how do you feel overall? I was very skeptical trying a more frequent injection schedule but since my girl is giving me a pretty much painless shot I went for it for the sake of experiment. Will be interesting to see how I feel in 8-12 weeks time and how my blood looks. Was a tough decision what to do as my last blood test showed that my levels are high, pretty much top of the "range", even on 100mg/week tested at through. So if following a more conservative way keeping physiological levels I had an option to go lower, but wasn't feeling much benefits TBF so decided to try a more frequent protocol but on a bit lower dose 100mg vs 87.5mg (currently) to see if that helps any. So if that doesn't do much for me I'll go back to twice a week or even one shot a week. Also will try adding quallity DIM or Calcium Glucorate supplement to help with Estrogens and see if that helps, as my Estrogens were also on the higher side during last test. But that has been measured not using sensitive assay as would be preffered so who knows. I'll go by how emotional I feel. As right now since changing my protocol I def feel more emotional then before as hormones are in flux and should level out in 8-12 weeks. So will see

All in all I haven't been feeling much anxiety lately but probably the best I felt was then I went on holiday some weeks ago and didn't even pin for 10 days lol I'm a high SHBG so maybe a less frequent and bigger injections are more better for me, who knows, and only one way to find out Also I don't take any preg or dhea as TRT is hard to dial in on its own. The more moving parts the less probability for me to nail it down.

Hang in there and hope you feel better soon!

 

[Belekas]

Nearly 2wks after starting EOD protocol and I decided not to waste more time with it and reverted back to the mean lol so 2 weekly injections split E3.5Ds Today did a 75mg shot and might continue doing a bit bigger doses then before to speed up my back healing process and also help me to rebuild the muscle tissue on the lower, upper back I've lost during this 3 year period starting with lockdowns and all the other BS. Will see how it goes. About EOD well its still too early to say but for me personally it's not sustainable and most likely not worth the hustle. First error in my experiment but IIWII. Will continue on 2 injections and then 1 if things don't improve. No rush now, and def won't explore the frequent dosing philopshy any more as felt messed up these two weeks FWIW. Back to the drawing board I go. Everything else stays the same. Will post updates as time goes and my back gets stronger. Doing lots of resistance bands work, foam roller work and started going to the gym lifting 8-10kg dumbells lol Still manage to get a good pump with these babyweights and boy do folks look and think how da fuck this guy is pumping 8kgs and looks like that lol Jokes aside, lets work. Hope yall are crushing it and staying healthy. One love. Peace!

 

[K.pietera]

No, full testicles and strong libido. I really like how HCG makes me feel, in my opinion, everyone on TRT should try it.

Do you think that afther 4 years on TRT without HCG , starting with HCG could still be benefitial ? I would like to add it in and maybe regain my fertillity also ?

 

[Vince]

Do you think that afther 4 years on TRT without HCG , starting with HCG could still be benefitial ? I would like to add it in and maybe regain my fertillity also ?

Yes, it will be beneficial. I don't think you will become fertile, but your testicles will become full. If you want to become fertile you're probably have to add FSH.

Semen analysis results after adding FSH to TRT and hCG

So after 6 months of adding FSH to my TRT protocol I got a sperm analysis done. A quick background. My fertility was normal before TRT and went to zero when I started TRT without HCG. Adding HCG 500 IU 2x a week my sperm analysis results were: sperm count 2.1mm (normal >=20mm) total sperm 7.2mm...

www.excelmale.com

 

[Belekas]

Ok little update whats going on with my TRT right now. So I'm doing 0.25ml of 250mg Test-E every 3.5 days. That's 125mg total per week. Up 25mg from my previous 100mg per week of Sustanon250. Now nearly 5 months since I started and I'm beginning to see real body changes in the mirror. Muscles comming back alive, body recomping nicely, so I believe it is working. Now I'm feeling not too bad actually, more energy, more drive, more decisivness. I like it. BP still normal and not elevated. I'm still fairly light weight only 80/82kg and not pushing food as I'm deep down the rabbit hole with my H-pylori puzzle and can't eat as much as I need to grow in good pace. But everyday I read, study and find new information and progress further. I've taken some steps by myself after finishing second round of antibiotics just recently and will probably make a new post regarding this and the information I found, if it works for me and I'll be able to recover and beat it. This bacteria ain't no joke and with such severe and crucial consequences that most probably have no idea. It's a long road to recovery but I'm happy to have a chance to beat this mofo. TRT wise I'll hold 125mg/week for now since I'm recovering from my back injury, doing resistance work and special workouts for my kyphosis type issue. So I believe it will improve the healing process, tissue recovery and overall progresses in what I'm trying to achieve here. Will run bloods then see where I'm at but I have a fairly good guess about that but will see. I feel better at lower E2. More calmer, less emotional and likely better downstairs department function, but thats to be determined. On the same note all that works good now and no complains. TRT takes time to start working and def takes time for full benefits. Most likely I will drop back to 100mg or even 80mg as 100mg/week gives me full throttle and top of the range levels BUT we will see how I feel and how my blood labs will look.

Also about dosing every other day FWIW, fuck me, I tried that for a couple of weeks and felt like a complete hot mess, junky type thing lol I wen't back to 2 injections per week and immediatly felt better, so thats exactly where I need to be and will never try more frequent injections. I know it was just 2 weeks blah blah blah but was enough for me. Now pinning 2 times per week and all is good in da hood. Will swap back to Sustanon when my Test-E runs out in half a year or so.

So pretty much thats it. Working daily on improving my health, mitigating pains, finding foods I'm digesting good and which do me good as well. Could probably write a book and might when I retire. So on the same note hope everyone is killing it and wish everyone nothing but great health, success and much more love!

Peace!

 

[Belekas]

Found my old blood test from 2017 when I was running 250mg/week of test-e, training like a beast, following a low fat, high carb diet, but also had liver disease which is healed by now. Some really interesting stats regarding my cholesterol levels:

2017

Total Cholesterol 1.82mmol/l or 70.38mg/dL
HDL Cholesterol 0.72mmol/l or 27.84mg/dL
LDL Cholesterol 0.77mmol/l or 22.776mg/dL
TGL Triglirecides 0.72mmol/l or 27.84mg/dL

2023
(after 3 years off TRT and re-starting TRT just 5 months ago @ 100mg/week of sustanon250)

Total Cholesterol 3.78mmol/l or 146.17mg/dL
HDL Cholesterol 0.88mmol/l or 34.03mg/dL
LDL Cholesterol 2.66mmol/l or 102.86mg/dL
TGL Triglirecides 1.05mmol/l or 40.6mg/dL
Non HDL Cholesterol 2.9mmol/l or 112.14mg/dL

I'm not an expert in Cholesterol but this is a drastic suppression of my Cholesterol in 2017 when using 250mg/week compared to 2023 using 100mg/week after 3 years break FWIW. Not sure if liver disease had anything to do with it but what I've read is that curred patients see their LDL and total go up. I was never ever been able to raise my HDL cholesterol significantly higher but IIRC it was >1mmol/l in the year 2012 or so, which is also not a very significat bump higher but still. Right now I'm eating freely, no particular diet, but clean food mostly, as I'm post H Pylori antibiotics treatment IInd round. Maintaining normal weight around 80-82kg nor gaining nor loosing. Eating more eggs, more butter, more extra virgin olive oil. More psylium husk fiber. Still my doing all this, working out, doing cardio, managing stress, keeping a good sleep hygiene, my HDL doesn't seem to budge much and still declined a bit over the years. I'd sure would want to find the root cause of it but I don't have my blood tests prior I got into bodybuilging back in 2006 so I have no idea what my cholesterol was before I started using test/deca/methandrostenolon. If even after 3 years off, eating healthy, working out, and then back on TRT for just 5 months, it hasn't increased but decreased a bit, I'm not sure what to take home from this. Anyone experienced with this - please chime in and let me know what you see/think or would advise to do if any at all.

Best of luck and have a great weekend!
Peace!

 

[Belekas]

Ok so a little update on my protocol. I've been on the 125mg/week for some time and decided to go lower then I started (100mg/week) and explore the sub 80mg/week dosage. So yesterday started on 0.15ml split E3.5D which gets me 75mg of testosterone per week. I might even do it E4D for the sake of simplicity.

From 100mg bump to 125mg pretty much feeling the same but a lot more emotional when watching movies/series so I know its the Estrogen surge at this point (most likely). Body recomped completely and looking like a new man. Muscle memory kicked in, gym feels great and makes me happy when I can workout without my chronic back pain and push a little. Still don't push but slowly trying to get back to the proper training. Step by step. Downstairs department working good, libido good, occasional morning wood FWIW. Bone aches still there and seems TRT won't fix 'em or still more time is needed. Sleep is good but must finish eating at least 2hrs before bed and limit water in take so I don't piss multiple times at night.

Will hold 75mg/week, see how I feel, pull labs when I'm back home again and then go from there. 100mg/week puts me right at the top of the range, probably even a bit above, so 75mg should be good and fit in the range nicely as per my guess. Also my DHEAs is low so might try supplementing and see if that helps in any ways. But with low DHEAs is not that simple and supplementing to raise it might not help as its far more complicated. Also I might be giving a good, quallity DIM product a go later on as been reading about it, even though I hate supplementing, as most of the time the more I did in the past the worse I felt. So lets see what happens and will update journal as time goes.

Hope ya'll feeling better and crushing your goals!

Peace!

 

[Belekas]

Fun, anecdotical post.

My mate makes RSO (Rick Simpson Oil) capsules of around 50-80mg each. So he gave me some as my girl has twisted her back badly. So I took a capsule as well. Slept like a rock and whats funny is I woke up with a massive hardon mid night to go to the toilet and in the morning as well LOL Once again this tells me the erection are very much connected to how we feel in regards to daily stress, anxiety and depression, if I can say so. So def a great experience and worked wonders for me. Will repeat some day in the future and see if the effect stays the same

 

[Belekas]

Ok so a little update on my protocol. I've been on the 125mg/week for some time and decided to go lower then I started (100mg/week) and explore the sub 80mg/week dosage. So yesterday started on 0.15ml split E3.5D which gets me 75mg of testosterone per week. I might even do it E4D for the sake of simplicity.

From 100mg bump to 125mg pretty much feeling the same but a lot more emotional when watching movies/series so I know its the Estrogen surge at this point (most likely). Body recomped completely and looking like a new man. Muscle memory kicked in, gym feels great and makes me happy when I can workout without my chronic back pain and push a little. Still don't push but slowly trying to get back to the proper training. Step by step. Downstairs department working good, libido good, occasional morning wood FWIW. Bone aches still there and seems TRT won't fix 'em or still more time is needed. Sleep is good but must finish eating at least 2hrs before bed and limit water in take so I don't piss multiple times at night.

Will hold 75mg/week, see how I feel, pull labs when I'm back home again and then go from there. 100mg/week puts me right at the top of the range, probably even a bit above, so 75mg should be good and fit in the range nicely as per my guess. Also my DHEAs is low so might try supplementing and see if that helps in any ways. But with low DHEAs is not that simple and supplementing to raise it might not help as its far more complicated. Also I might be giving a good, quallity DIM product a go later on as been reading about it, even though I hate supplementing, as most of the time the more I did in the past the worse I felt. So lets see what happens and will update journal as time goes.

Hope ya'll feeling better and crushing your goals!

Peace!

Tomorrow will be 4 weeks on the 75mg protocol and what can I say. Pretty much feeling same as on the 125mg which was good as well. Still need time to really see how I feel, perform and sleep but so far looks like I'm on the right path. But to be fair I think my libido has gone up and also the energy as well. Downside department also improved, feeling more full and flacid. Sleep never was an issue so no problems here. Digestion improved but thats more to my treatment as I had H-Pylori and a nasty one. Right now I'm thinking I'm 90% and pretty much pain-less with my stomach if I stay on my regular healthy eating pattern, don't overeat, avoid certain products and eat every 2.30-3hrs. Still taking Betaine HCL with every meal and if heavier protein meal then popping a couple caps but probably should go with one. No more mastic gum, but will repeat in the future. Will work on making bile less thick as that is very important in having good and proper digestion as well. That is why many times increasing stomach acid is not enough, we must make the bile less thick and increase its flow. Also I watched a video, not sure how much of that is anecdotal, but a dude was telling that high estrogen thickens bile and its flow as well and in my mind it made sense as many men on TRT/testosterone do get their digestion problems like GERD/acid reflux/chest pain/etc flare up when starting testosterone. So anyway, more healing to do, but no compains regarding the 75mg/week test-e protocol so far 4 weeks in and 7.5 months on TRT since the start of treatment. Feeling good, performing good, sleeping good. Fingers crossed we continue to improve and get better.)

Best wishes
Peace!

 

[medbxl1984]

Hi,

I am also on trt sustanon 100mg per week and what you describe I feel almost the same.

I have a lot of stomach gas and pain and libido almost 0

I think I will decrease the dose to 75mg per week and see the difference.

The result of my last blood test for 125mg / week my testo was 1300 and e2 estradiol 76 so much too high.

that's why i went down to 100mg but the symptoms still persist.

I hope that by decreasing to 75mg per week I will have less stomach pain and less fatigue and more libido

 

[Systemlord]

I have a lot of stomach gas and pain and libido almost 0

You may have something else going on in which Sustanon is exacerbating. Reminds me of my iron deficiency (IBS) while on TRT.