These online providers are obviously in the business of moving as many units of TRT as possible and are not really concerned about the labs.
Most definitely and you can blame those run of the mill dime a dozen T mills pushing that more T is better mentality let alone those blast n cruizzers polluting those so called men's health forums and you can throw in those snakey so called GURUS polluting the steroid forums and GOOTUBE!
These clinics love jacking everyone up on T from the get go!
Many may feel like superman when first starting but it will eventually bite them in the ass in the long run.
Most struggling on TTh are running way too high a trough/steady state FT level!
Initially they did run labs and I did have labs done locally by a legitimate TRT clinic. However due to another condition that needed to get under control they would not treat me with TRT until it was under control. Working with the Doc to treat this other condition it was obvious that I was getting it under control. Keep in mind it was 4 months prior to starting TRT that I discovered this other issue. This other issue was discovered through the initial labs that the local TRT clinic did. That was back in Oct of 2023.
Also keep in mind the T labs I am currently having done are not through the Online Clinic but in conjunction with this other issue. One of the chief concerns was to keep my Hcb and Hct in range which they are. I don’t have current labs for sex binding, just test and my blood labs. Part of the issue may be that in order to keep this other issue under control I had to give a unit of blood every two week which is brutal. Now that it’s fully under control I’m able to wait longer and I’m thinking that it would be smart to cut back on the TRT dose.
Sounds like you had elevated hematocrit pre-TRT which needed to be addressed before hopping on exogenous T as it is a given that RBCs, hemoglobin and hematocrit will be driven up due to driving up your FT!
Although other factors such as dehydration, sleep apnea, smoking, asthma, COPD can cause elevated hematocrit this is a common side-effect when using exogenous testosterone especially from running too high a trough FT level.
Were you diagnosed with sleep apnea or another underlying condition?
Most likely had you donating blood frequently let alone it sounds like you have been donating the whole time to keep things in check.
Surefire way to crash your iron/ferritin
Unfortunately in many cases this can lead to crashed iron/ferritin which can open up another can of worms in the long-run.
You are clearly overdosed on T and your TT and more importantly FT levels are way too high!
In Jan of 24 my numbers for this other issue got down in safe range and I went online and found this online TRT clinic. They ran labs and my Testosterone and other numbers really had not changed from the initial labs. They sent the first vial of TRT and I was wrong they actually started me at .15 and I was on that until May 24 and that’s when we did another online visit and I was asked about how I felt, no labs, and I wasn’t feeling great. They increased to .20. Lately I’ve been taking a day or two off every couple weeks. I started doing this because of this latest T lab results. Also keep in mind the T labs I am currently having done are not through the Online Clinic but in conjunction with this other issue. One of the chief concerns was to keep my Hcb and Hct in range which they are. I don’t have current labs for sex binding, just test and my blood labs. Part of the issue may be that in order to keep this other issue under control I had to give a unit of blood every two week which is brutal. Now that it’s fully under control I’m able to wait longer and I’m thinking that it would be smart to cut back on the TRT dose.
They started you on a whopping 30 mg T daily (210 mg T/week).
Most men would never even need such in order to achieve a healthy/high trough FT.
Hard to believe that you were already hitting a whopping TT 1400 ng/dL with a very high FT 30 ng/dL and they still increased your dose and we are talking an extra 70 mg T/week which is well beyond therapeutic let alone a huge jump.
When tweaking a TTh protocol (increase in/decreasing dose of T) adjusting the dose by 20-30 mg T/week would be more than enough.
Talk about complete f**king overkill going from a starting whopping dose 210 mg--->an absurd 280 mg T/week which skyrocketed your TT 1400--->2700 ng/dL and more importantly your FT 30--->72 ng/dL!
That is barring your dose adjustments are even correct.
My T levels increased moderately at first from
250 total to 500 total. I don’t have the data on free initial T handy. At 500 total I was at 74 free. Then it went up to 1400 total and 300 free. Then from there it went up again to 2772 total and 723 free.
Pure madness especially for someone who was most likely already struggling with elevated hematocrit pre-TRT!
Not sure how the dose adjustment played out over the 8 months you have been on therapy.
Did you even reach steady-state each protocol before getting your blood work done?
Forgive me but the people running that clinic treating you are f**king idiots!
Taking a day or two off every week is not the way to approach this here.
You need to lower your weekly dose and bring down your FT level big time!
If it were you - Would you cut back slowly over time? Would you cut back to the .10 right away. I’m curious as to what one might do to bring the Test numbers down to a more reasonable level.
You could bite the bullet and do a 360 and start of on a more sensible weekly dose 100-120 mg T/week but you will most likely have a bumpy ride over the following weeks going from an absurdly high FT to a more sensible level.
It would be more sensible if you lower your dose gradually over the following weeks which will soften the blow and minimize the downs you may experience along the way.
Do what you feel is best for you.
