Recent content by Cataceous

No, it can be much simpler than that. I believe it's sufficient to provide a fixed background level of testosterone. Then the HPTA can handle the rest with its natural variations. As a simple example, suppose a guy would normally have morning testosterone of 600 ng/dL, but develops testicular...

There were a couple guys on the old PeakTestosterone forum successfully using this approach. With primary hypogonadism the HPTA feedback mechanisms are largely intact; the brain is calling for a healthy amount of testosterone, but the testicles cannot respond adequately. Therefore it is possible...

A conservative approach that should promote your goals: use a short-acting form of testosterone; switch to topical finasteride and/or dutasteride; use ibutamoren if IGF-1 is below average. Short-acting forms of testosterone include nasal gels, buccal troches and micronized testosterone...

One good thing about primary hypogonadism is that testosterone (augmentation) therapy is relatively low risk if you adopt a low-and-slow approach and titrate to achieve normal LH and FSH. In this case you can achieve supplementation without replacement; your HPTA feedback loop keeps operating...

Grok to the rescue: Direct Answer Research suggests a high-fiber diet likely improves health, with strong evidence for benefits like better digestion, heart health, and blood sugar control. The evidence leans toward reduced risks of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers, though...

Assuming you're in the United States: Many of these peptides are not FDA approved and cannot legally be sold for human use. With respect to the ones that are approved, they generally require a prescription and must be made at approved facilities. All of this regulation is bypassed when the...

This is not too unusual. There's at least one study finding absorption via scrotal skin to be over 50%. Consider that healthy young men typically produce 6-7 mg of testosterone daily. You're potentially getting into the realm of four times that with your two doses. It's different at other...

Not above average, above range. This means more than two standard deviations above average. In general there are all kinds of negative associations when hormones are out of range, not least of which is reduced longevity. Although long-term research is lacking, specific to testosterone there are...

It's the opposite. The majority should not be dosed excessively just because the more-is-better minority is louder and more demanding. No, it isn't. It makes no sense to start TRT at a dose that is effectively above the physiological production range. Even the recommended starting dose for...

Throwing out a couple possibilities: Your SHBG dropped between the measurements, such that an increase in free testosterone was concealed. Or you actually have primary hypogonadism, i.e. testicular insufficiency. Have you tested LH?

I agree that Peptide Sciences is considered the most trustworthy, though ironically I have had a couple of QC issues with them. I also use Nootropic Source because they have a good price on GHK-Cu in quantity. However, I have not done any independent testing to quantify things.

It's likely much more testosterone than you could ever have produced naturally, heightening your risk of side effects. But I'm primarily emphasizing a low-and-low approach. If you had started low and slowly titrated up to this while seeing improvements then I would not characterize it as an...

We're largely on our own with this. There's this frequent argument that we should take breaks, but it seems to be based more on speculation and caution than anything concrete. Assuming copper intake is reasonable, my hope is that as with testosterone, the short half-life and pulsatile delivery...

The main argument is that you should establish a baseline at physiological levels, so that if you as an informed adult want to experiment with higher levels then at least you'll know if you're making things better or worse. All too often people feel bad starting with high levels and then assume...

Don't ignore the key qualification in my posts: starting out Even so, I can point to Xyosted. Only three doses, 50, 75 and 100 mg TE per week, which are obviously covering the vast majority of men. For reader clarity: note the difference between pure testosterone and testosterone cypionate...