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When I was administering PeakTestosterone there were no obvious commands for accessing PMs. However, I could backup the entire forum database to local storage. I think it was MySQL, so it might not have been too hard to see PMs if they were in there. Of course the SMF forum software is different...

We have been cautioned that PM's should not be considered private. My interpretation of this is that PMs are probably shielded from the general public and most forum members, but administrators may review them at their discretion.

And pharmacological doses given as an adjunct to chemotherapy have what bearing on doses for healthy individuals? You also misrepresent the size of the doses. I checked several of the studies at random, and ones mentioning doses in the abstract cited 5 mg, 18 mg and 20 mg/day. You're taking way...

The trough is supposed to be higher, but it's more plausible that these individuals have unusually fast SC absorption than that these highly speculative mechanisms for testosterone disappearance apply. And that's assuming no injection site leakage. I have personally seen injection sites go...

The thread? Yes, as it was being formed. Linus Pauling all over again. Somebody decides to focus on one nutrient or hormone as "the answer". Because a little is good, a boatload must be better, right?

As I recall, @madman offered a rebuttal to this idea. Here's the biggest problem, though. These anecdotes have little meaning when area under the curve is not measured. If this really were a significant effect then it would show up in the clinical trials. Alternatively you'd have to acknowledge...

I wouldn't go that far. There's not much evidence of immediate acute toxicity. But do it for enough years and who knows what will happen. Recall that excessive doses of some antioxidants appear to cause harm over time. I tend to argue that optimal health requires balance. Taking 60 mg a night is...

I've played this game with AI before. Ask leading questions and it will tell you what you want to hear. But once you start challenging it for making things up you can easily make it change its "mind". In this case there is specific data that contradicts the hypothesis. The arguments about...

Unfortunately not. As a voice for moderation at EM I discourage others from following his lead. This dose is roughly 1,000 times natural production, though admittedly oral bioavailability is variable.

This premise is still on shaky ground regarding testosterone, given that the rigorous data show comparable areas-under-the-curves—and no plausible mechanism for losing testosterone, except via injection site leakage. I'll grant there's more ambiguity with estradiol. One hypothesis is that the...

The implication is that your metabolic clearance rate for testosterone is on the low side. You get a lot of bang for your buck. If you're concerned about the underlying cause then you might do some testing of liver function. Otherwise, cut your dose to achieve more reasonable—e.g. midrange—free...

We've had many discussions about possible reasons for not feeling good even with robust testosterone levels. One of the more significant ones is the hormonal disruption caused by TRT. TRT can affect 20-30+ other hormones, leading to disparate symptoms. It's possible that in some cases higher...

The skin is said to act as a reservoir for testosterone, gradually releasing it, which extends the apparent half-life. The figure of 60+% absorption probably applies to relatively small doses applied to the scrotum. With such transdermal application there is likely a saturation effect, such...

No, it is less suppressive. Because DHT cannot be aromatized to an estrogen a significant source of negative feedback at the hypothalamus and pituitary is eliminated. However, the hypothalamus experiences negative feedback from androgens, so there can still be suppression, albeit to a lesser...

Scrotal absorption is variable, depending on the individual, the carrier, etc. I recall some research finding that absorption can be upwards of 60%, which is quite high compared to what's possible at other locations. Virtually all that gets absorbed is bioavailable. Suppose you actually achieve...

It can be acknowledged that aside from suppressing the production of SHBG, mesterolone also ties up some fraction of the reduced level of SHBG, which leads to an even lower effective level. Conventional wisdom had held that this loss of SHBG leads to more free testosterone. However, it's...

In this simple model free estradiol would not change, but it's believed that in reality—free—mesterolone is independently interfering with aromatization. The extent of this interference is uncertain. As far as I know these simple water flow models, including the sponge model, are creations...

No. In theory, at steady state it should not change. This applies to TRT with constant dosing. Otherwise you have to consider possible HPTA suppression. Here's an analogy: Think of SHBG as a pond with water flowing in and out. Free testosterone is analogous to the water running out. Now...

Yes. Mesterolone-bound SHBG is effectively missing with respect to estradiol, yet it is still counted when SHBG is measured. This would be strongly dependent on the dose and strength of the compound doing the aromatase inhibiting, which is exactly what's in question here. As for estradiol's...

I have a sense that this is overlapping into the domain of oxytocin. There are some interesting ideas stemming from the research reported on here. The gist of it is that you need a reasonable amount of empathy and caring to live successfully with others. But you need to ditch that when you are...

It might be possible to quantify this, though it gets complicated. Here are a couple of the elements—chime in with any others you can think of: the androgenic action of mesterolone leads to reduced production of SHBG and lower levels; mesterolone's strong binding potential for SHBG displaces...

I've found that this kind of emotional responsiveness correlates with estradiol. With undetectable estradiol I was almost getting a flat affect, maybe technically a blunt affect. With high estradiol there's heightened sensitivity to the point where it feels like every drama movie is being overly...

I do not see mesterolone mentioned in the underlying reference. Is there another name for it aside from the ones listed in Wikipedia? The last sentence is speculation. Is there some direct evidence in the literature? Anecdotes aside, is there any reason to believe that DHT does not act...

Do you have a reference for this claimed distinction, or is it more a matter of degree? I believe DHT is also capable of aromatase-inhibition, and can act as a competitive antagonist of the estrogen receptor...

It's pretty clear that higher testosterone combined with adequate resistance training and diet yields muscle hypertrophy and greater strength. For erections and libido the research suggests there's more of a threshold effect; a minimum amount of testosterone is necessary, but not sufficient for...

No. They've been elevated vs baseline only twice in the last ten years that I've seen, once with a UTI/prostatitis, and again with shingles.

I never had a problem with hematocrit, blood pressure and such, but still had headaches that I eventually realized were tied to TRT. I was in denial for a long time, thinking that there was no way that 18 mg TE EOD could be enough to cause such side effects. I wasted a lot of effort looking for...

@Blkandrust: Good information from @madman as usual. I would add that it's almost certain that your SHBG has been driven very low by the excessive dose of testosterone. As a result, total testosterone is unusually low for the dose, while free testosterone is likely to be well over-range. Healthy...

You need to provide context with a post like this: Current protocol, how long on it, when labs were done relative to last dose? Without this I can say that this free testosterone is fine as a daily trough. As a peak or continuous level it is going to be a bit low for some men. If it's the trough...

When you asked last year I came up with 18: pregnenolone, DHEA, progesterone, kisspeptin, GnRH, LH, FSH, estradiol, prolactin, DHT, hepcidin, androstenedione, androstenediol, cortisol, TSH, T3, T4, rT3... To this we might be able to add dynorphin, neurokinin B, GnIH, ACTH, aldosterone and...

Have you ruled out sleep apnea as a possible contributing factor? Another option to try is testosterone nasal gel, if you can get it. It's the shortest acting testosterone we have. Basically you're relying on natural production to fill in the gaps between the 2-3 daily exogenous pulses.