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Testosterone Replacement, Low T, HCG, & Beyond
Testosterone Side Effect Management
Treatment resistant acne
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<blockquote data-quote="SpazTheCat" data-source="post: 245171" data-attributes="member: 44897"><p>Hi,</p><p></p><p>Just looking for a second opinion on the cystic acne I’ve been dealing with and a plan to re-introduce testosterone. The back ground is a little long but pertinent, I think.</p><p></p><p>Back in May I started a course of prednisone for an ulcerative colitis flare up. About 3 months after that, I started on TRT. I felt more terrible than usual with the flare up and had my testosterone checked. It was 240 ng/dL. I’ve been using the 20% compounded cream. 100mg to the scrotum in the AM and 100mg to the scrotum in the PM. Had a total testosterone ~1400. The prescriber did not measure DHT but I think we all know it probably was crazy high. I reduced the dose down to 50mg AM and 50mg PM as I felt a little off/bloated/edgy on that high of a dose. Felt great after the dose reduction.</p><p></p><p>During the treatment with prednisone, my skin was great. No cysts, just the normal pimple here and there. But, every time I tried to taper the prednisone down, I’d get pretty bad cystic acne. This occurred both before I was on the testosterone and after I was on it. The distribution was also rather strange. Odd places like my neck, bridge of my nose, orbits of the eyes in addition to just my face in general. So, I thought it was more related to the prednisone than the testosterone.</p><p></p><p>I finally stopped the prednisone the 2nd week of December and the acne peaked at that point and spread down to my chest in addition to my face.</p><p></p><p>I had been working with a dermatologist since it flared up in December (he also felt it was prednisone related and not the testosterone). Nothing seems to work. We’ve been through pretty much every topical treatment on the market. The only thing that brings them down is an injection with kenalog. Oral antibiotics and accutane are not options due to the UC. Oddly, the chest pretty much cleared up on it's own after about 4 weeks of being off the prednisone.</p><p></p><p>I finally decided to stop the testosterone. Within 3 weeks, it was pretty much gone. Not totally but I went from 1-2 new cysts per day down to 2-3 in the course of a week. So, seems pretty clear that the testosterone is playing part in this despite the thought that it was related to prednisone.</p><p></p><p>I’m now contemplating restarting the testosterone. I was thinking of starting with 50mg applied to the inner thigh daily and see how the acne does over 1-2 weeks. If it doesn’t increase, then I’d start bumping up the dose, wait 1-2 weeks, and repeat until it flares up or I hit 150mg daily.</p><p></p><p>Does that sound reasonable? I proposed that plan to the provider managing the testosterone and got a rather unhelpful response that didn’t directly answer my question. But, did imply it was a stupid idea and if I am prone to acne on testosterone, I’ll just have to deal with acne regardless of dose. Seems to me I should be able to find a dose that doesn’t cause a really bad acne flare. Maybe, I’m wrong…</p><p></p><p>I guess my other option would be to give it another couple of months to see if whatever craziness the prednisone did to my sebaceous glands resolves. I still think that the prednisone has something to do with this.</p><p></p><p>Thanks,</p><p></p><p>Andy</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SpazTheCat, post: 245171, member: 44897"] Hi, Just looking for a second opinion on the cystic acne I’ve been dealing with and a plan to re-introduce testosterone. The back ground is a little long but pertinent, I think. Back in May I started a course of prednisone for an ulcerative colitis flare up. About 3 months after that, I started on TRT. I felt more terrible than usual with the flare up and had my testosterone checked. It was 240 ng/dL. I’ve been using the 20% compounded cream. 100mg to the scrotum in the AM and 100mg to the scrotum in the PM. Had a total testosterone ~1400. The prescriber did not measure DHT but I think we all know it probably was crazy high. I reduced the dose down to 50mg AM and 50mg PM as I felt a little off/bloated/edgy on that high of a dose. Felt great after the dose reduction. During the treatment with prednisone, my skin was great. No cysts, just the normal pimple here and there. But, every time I tried to taper the prednisone down, I’d get pretty bad cystic acne. This occurred both before I was on the testosterone and after I was on it. The distribution was also rather strange. Odd places like my neck, bridge of my nose, orbits of the eyes in addition to just my face in general. So, I thought it was more related to the prednisone than the testosterone. I finally stopped the prednisone the 2nd week of December and the acne peaked at that point and spread down to my chest in addition to my face. I had been working with a dermatologist since it flared up in December (he also felt it was prednisone related and not the testosterone). Nothing seems to work. We’ve been through pretty much every topical treatment on the market. The only thing that brings them down is an injection with kenalog. Oral antibiotics and accutane are not options due to the UC. Oddly, the chest pretty much cleared up on it's own after about 4 weeks of being off the prednisone. I finally decided to stop the testosterone. Within 3 weeks, it was pretty much gone. Not totally but I went from 1-2 new cysts per day down to 2-3 in the course of a week. So, seems pretty clear that the testosterone is playing part in this despite the thought that it was related to prednisone. I’m now contemplating restarting the testosterone. I was thinking of starting with 50mg applied to the inner thigh daily and see how the acne does over 1-2 weeks. If it doesn’t increase, then I’d start bumping up the dose, wait 1-2 weeks, and repeat until it flares up or I hit 150mg daily. Does that sound reasonable? I proposed that plan to the provider managing the testosterone and got a rather unhelpful response that didn’t directly answer my question. But, did imply it was a stupid idea and if I am prone to acne on testosterone, I’ll just have to deal with acne regardless of dose. Seems to me I should be able to find a dose that doesn’t cause a really bad acne flare. Maybe, I’m wrong… I guess my other option would be to give it another couple of months to see if whatever craziness the prednisone did to my sebaceous glands resolves. I still think that the prednisone has something to do with this. Thanks, Andy [/QUOTE]
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Testosterone Replacement, Low T, HCG, & Beyond
Testosterone Side Effect Management
Treatment resistant acne
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