Search results

Pregnyl is renowned for being the strongest available hCG, so yes, it being stronger than USP is my guess to explain your reaction.

There is no settling it, because people have unique and unpredictable reactions to IM vs SC injection, in terms of absorption, aromatization, and symptoms. Every individual will need to try both methods to determine which is preferable for them. There is no other way. Like MegaTurd above...

How have you been using it? How much, applied where, and how many times per day? I have the alphagels 20% DHT gel also. Currently, I've just been using it on an as-needed basis for sexual enhancement, 1 ml on my abdomen, a couple hours ahead of time.

My to-try list if I were you would include everything I mentioned above that you haven't messed with yet: prop, cream, pregnenolone, lower frequency on long ester (try once weekly).

Actually, I started on Vitamin D recently and paid closer attention this time, and yeah, I think it does reduce libido. Wtf? Many people on reddit complaining of the same. Some theorize it relates to increased serotonin activity - ChatGPT also proposed serotonin modulation as a possible...

Do you mind sharing which indian pharm source has it this cheap? I'm seeing more like $4 per 200 mg tablet at alldaychemist.

How is your metabolic health? Fasting glucose, hba1c, fasting insulin (most important)? Body fat %, blood pressure?

Prolactin is barely out of range, and this is pretty common in men on TRT who are often functioning well sexually. If you want to prove or disprove that prolactin is a problem here, you can try p5p and see if it helps. Progesterone, when it isn't the LC/MS version of the test, picks up random...

Can you give us some background on how and why you arrived at this protocol? What else have you tried and what were the results? More important than the lab values you've shared, which are not a cause for concern IMO.

Not really - I have just about a year of 140 - 210 mg test weekly. I ate the worst form of processed crap SAD diet from childhood until age 25, and I've had some off-and-on positive autoimmune antibodies like ANA, rheumatoid factor, and anti phospholipid antibodies, which would be expected to...

Yes, I think this is the clearest evidence that there is more to the story than cholesterol. On the same theme, with the PSCK9 inhibitors, researchers are debating whether there is a small reduction or an increase in mortality associated with these drugs which obliterate LDL levels. There would...

Wow this is a good book so far! I'm about one third through. Thank you for the recommendation. I'm in kind of a similar boat as Stoak, with an 18.9 calcium score at age 44, which puts me in the 78th percentile. Of course, my PCP says that's great and didn't recommend I do anything about it. I...

What stretches did you do?

Yes, I also know this guy you speak of. Lol. Good advice on testing.

Rational decision for those who are comfortable managing their own protocols.

Same libido crushing with the curcumin and zinc. I don't think I noticed anything with vitamin D though. Impressive awareness of the NMDA antagonism angle on this. Not many people know anything about it. I think this is how magnesium also interferes with libido.

In theory, yes. Try it though, assuming you are susceptible to acne, and see what happens.

I have no idea. Studies report estradiol suppresses sebum production by countering androgenic activity in sebaceous glands. On paper, it should prevent acne.

In some men on TRT, yes.

There are independent contributions to water retention from both testosterone and estradiol. The rhetoric that only one or the other is responsible is false. Reducing E2 is a legitimate and effective way to reduce at least some of the water retention. This is blatantly obvious to anyone that...

Yes, it certainly is. It's fine. It seems like you don't know what you're doing with these questions, which makes me wonder if you have any business running the cycle you're on.

Over a 15 year period, your skin would naturally be expected to look much older. I don't know how you would be able to accurately attribute skin aging to high DHT, unless you had a twin who kept his DHT low. Even then, maybe you had more sun exposure than your twin, drank more alcohol, etc.

Ok, you do have elevated E2 to match your symptoms, although it is not terribly high. I would not take the AI at that level. The easiest thing to try is switch from SC to IM injection. This is not certain to lower your E2, but in many people it will. Try the delts and ventroglutes - these are...

Go straight to lab, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Then come back and we'll chat. You're doing multiple things that can ramp up E2, between the hCG and the subq injections, but let's see the results of your bloodwork before you change anything.

ARBs and ACEs are a good option if you are also trying to optimize your blood pressure (ARBs would be my preference for less sides and greater benefits): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14965314/ Several clinical and experimental observations suggest that an intact and activated...

A couple of graphs from the TU pharmacokinetic study jump out at me. What occurs to me looking at the first one: there may be people out there actually absorbing SC better than IM, such that it cancels out noticeable differences when comparing average levels between larger groups of IM and SC...

The anecdotes are trough measurements. The trough is supposed to be higher with SC than with IM injection. When the trough is instead lower, not by a little bit, but by 25%, 40%, 50%, you don't need to see the complete area under the curve to determine that the SC injection delivered less...

Previously on this forum, I provided evidence that the esterases to remove esters from testosterone are present throughout the body, including interstitial fluid in fat tissue, which I felt was a plausible explanation for the reduced T/E2 ratios sometimes observed with SC injections. I also...

AI to the rescue with plausible mechanisms: Yes, delivering drugs into the lymphatic system via subcutaneous (SC) injections can lead to differences in drug absorption and bioavailability compared to intramuscular (IM) injections. These differences might result in a reduced amount of the active...

Ignore the labs then and make protocol adjustments based on how you feel. That's what we all end up doing anyway - the numbers are only there to satisfy our curiosity.

Ok. You have some crazy inexplicable labs then, which look like your testosterone has roughly a 6 hour half-life, which should be impossible for test prop injected SC in thick sesame oil (I would expect closer to 24 hr half-life in this scenario).