Kyzatrex -Oral TRT - (or similar) experiences

[JorgeF]

Thanks for the feedback on the dhea/preg. I think it's improving a bit, but it's only been a week on the lower dose, so we'll see.


Yeah, the hematocrit is something I'm keeping my eye on. It seems on the edge of concern, but not there yet. Interestingly, it seems to vary a bit depending on the lab performing the test. On 12/9, with DiscountedLabs, it was 50.8, on 12/30, with a local lab, it was 47.7, and on 2/3, with LabCorp, it was 52.1. I'll just keep eyeing that.


That's a good question about the most recent 16.5 e2/52.1 hct numbers. That was done in the morning, fasted, before the first dose (total T, as expected, was 298 ng/dL), probably decent hydration, but it was morning. From that test, the hemoglobin was 16.8 g/dL, RBC was 5.23 (x10E6/uL), and ferritin was low at 26 ng/mL.

I was curious whether I needed to address the ferritin, but I was reading that it may be somewhat expected in this situation: I'm not deficient in the class sense, but low because I'm making blood aggressively, and should not supplement yet, but monitor the situation.

yeah your read on ferritin is pretty reasonable, and it’s one of those spots where people get tripped up because “low ferritin” doesn’t always mean “go slam iron”

with trt (and especially if your hematocrit runs high-ish), your body can chew through iron stores faster because it’s basically being nudged to make more red cells. plus if you’ve ever donated blood or done a therapeutic phlebotomy, ferritin can get dragged down while hemoglobin still looks totally fine. so you can end up in this annoying spot where hct is up, but ferritin is low-ish, and you’re like… ok so which way am i supposed to go here

ferritin at 26 is not “panic low”, but it’s low enough that i’d keep an eye on symptoms. some people feel totally fine there, others start noticing weird stuff like restless legs, crappy sleep, lower endurance, or just feeling more drained. what i usually like to see (before supplementing) is the rest of the iron picture, because ferritin alone can be misleading: iron, tibc, transferrin saturation, maybe crp if you want context. if transferrin sat is low and you’ve got symptoms, that’s when a doc might actually consider iron, but doing it blindly can be a bad time, especially if you’re already riding the edge on hematocrit

also worth noting: your labs were a true trough (fasted, before first dose), so total t being low there isn’t shocking at all with oral tu. if you ever want a “how high am i actually getting” snapshot, a lot of people pull labs a few hours after a dose, but obviously do it consistently so you can compare trends

are you having any low ferritin type symptoms (restless legs at night, fatigue that feels different, breathlessness on stairs, cold hands/feet)? have you donated blood at all since starting? and do you have your transferrin saturation from that same draw, or was it just ferritin?

 

[thegdgteer]

ferritin at 26 is not “panic low”, but it’s low enough that i’d keep an eye on symptoms. some people feel totally fine there, others start noticing weird stuff like restless legs, crappy sleep, lower endurance, or just feeling more drained.

I have not noticed any of these symptoms.

what i usually like to see (before supplementing) is the rest of the iron picture, because ferritin alone can be misleading: iron, tibc, transferrin saturation, maybe crp if you want context. if transferrin sat is low and you’ve got symptoms, that’s when a doc might actually consider iron, but doing it blindly can be a bad time, especially if you’re already riding the edge on hematocrit

It's interesting you should ask about CRP (I don't think I have those other biomarkers in the latest labs) because that came in alarmingly high at 4.54 mg/L. However, I deduced that this was likely because I had mistakenly taken these tests just 4 days after an RSV vaccination. Another CRP test came back at 0.5 just a couple of weeks before that.

also worth noting: your labs were a true trough (fasted, before first dose), so total t being low there isn’t shocking at all with oral tu. if you ever want a “how high am i actually getting” snapshot, a lot of people pull labs a few hours after a dose, but obviously do it consistently so you can compare trends

Yeah, I usually like to test testosterone at about 4 hours after morning dose, but this set of labs was for another provider that wanted morning, fasted tests.

are you having any low ferritin type symptoms (restless legs at night, fatigue that feels different, breathlessness on stairs, cold hands/feet)? have you donated blood at all since starting? and do you have your transferrin saturation from that same draw, or was it just ferritin?

No, not symptoms I've noticed yet. I have not donated since starting. I don't see (not familiar with this biomarker either) TSAT in this round of tests.