Search results

These increase clotting risk and are not very effective. You want estradiol injections if you can get them, or failing that, transdermal E2. If you can't find a doctor to play ball, the trans community is an excellent source for high quality UGL estradiol in many countries. Don't supplement E2...

Less testosterone was more, and estradiol was more effective for sexual function and libido in our case. Under normal physiologic conditions / hormone levels, estradiol is the primary driver of libido in female mammals of all stripes including humans. Testosterone plays more of a complimentary...

I thought this too, until I found evidence that tadalafil is substantially more protective than sildenafil. This seems consistent with it's longer half life, supporting the hypothesis that these medications are actually beneficial. Unless of course, you can think of a reason the populations of...

These can be fixed by things like lower dose and/or switch to daily test propionate. There are likely some benefits to maintaining normal HPTA function, but it wasn't necessary in my case to resolve your entire list of complaints.

No, I was there. What point are you trying to make? Not one of us emerged from the womb knowing what native testosterone was, not even you good buddy.

Here's your question as I read it: aside from clinically significant differences in side effects, have clinically significant differences been found? Yes, there are also differences in fasted absorption, and the amount of DHT that results, where native testosterone produces a lower DHT:T ratio...

I misread that, sorry. Consult with your Maximus provider, but yes, that works fine in many cases. Roughly 90% of patients stay with the single morning dose and 10% opt for split dosing like you're proposing.

They are not the same thing. Native testosterone is simply testosterone without chemical modification. Testosterone undecanoate modifies testosterone by attaching the undecanoate ester. Cue someone rushing to reply, "but testosterone undecanoate yields the same bioidentical testosterone...

The obvious answer here is to gradually reduce the dose of tirzepatide, until you find a dose that controls your weight without making climax impossible. Like TRT, a series of dosage adjustments are typically required with GLP-1 medications to reach an optimal state of benefits vs. side effects...

Oral testosterone would be my vote for this guy. Equalized for a target LH / FSH level, you'll be able to hit high peak levels with oral testosterone, whereas your non-fully-suppressive dose of injections will probably produce peak levels that are on the low side of the normal range. Either...

Absolutely, yes. Psychology doesn't prevent gym gains. The other symptoms may possibly have a psychological component, or they could be testosterone related. Life-changing is a little too strong in my case. Very beneficial would be a more apt description. Yes, it could.

Twinsies (almost: 14 here)

Yeah, yeah. You live (usually) and learn.

You know what's likely to help with the lumps, and is missing from your list of experiments? Injecting half the dose / volume!

Your lab numbers are real and expected. 28 mg of test prop daily is a heroic dose, regardless of what you heard elsewhere, and I have put up similarly insane and unsustainable numbers with similar doses. These days, I take exactly half of that (14 mg daily). Much better results in terms of...

Yes, they are more expensive. I use tigermedical.com, which is not the cheapest option, but its one that doesn't enforce the CT laws requiring a prescription for the syringes.

BD for everything. Easy touch is not bad, but I think BD is better quality.

Yes. I tried 27G 5/8" for awhile when I was on an EOD testosterone cypionate in MCT protocol, but I feel these are too large for ED. My T/E ratio was actually way too high on that protocol, as high as ~60:1 at one point, so in some cases you might even take things too far with the "deeper IM...

Each site can be subdivided into many more mini-sites. You don't need to, nor should you IMO, inject into the bullseye center of these muscles everytime. Move all around. EOD is great for most people. Use a thicker viscosity formula for this if the most stable levels are your goal. This...

You did a good job bringing the issue of the raw shortage to light, and calling it early. Kudos again for that. Now you're acting hysterical. It's really not the end of the world, when the worst case imaginable is having to return to somewhat overpriced legit prescription sources. I doubt it...

Sounds like 35 - 40 grams of fat, which should be sufficient. No, but communicate with your provider before making any adjustments to your protocol.

I work for Maximus and can answer some of these questions for you. 90% of patients stick with a single morning dose. 10% prefer to split the dose, and take some amount of it a bit later in the afternoon. If you're curious to try splitting the dose, reach out to your Maximus provider and...

I don't think there's any way to predict what levels will produce optimal cognitive function for a given individual. I would suggest experimenting with different levels and see how you feel. Once you are aware that testosterone can affect cognition and are looking for that effect, I think it...

Yes. There's some real neuroscience underpinning the meathead gym bro stereotype.

I have to give @madman credit for posting the inverted U cognition study. The effects of testosterone increasing dopamine in the limbic system are more well known, so I don't remember where I came by that. You can just ask chatGPT about it for more info and studies.

Same assumptions here, it is very counterintuitive. In the limbic system you have the exact opposite situation, where testosterone is increasing dopamine levels and reward circuit activation. You can start to imagine how these opposing forces play out with rising testosterone, making you more...

Thanks for noticing. It does seem like a huge blind spot in the community and among providers. They understand the free hormone hypothesis as it applies to testosterone, and then for some reason fail to apply the same concepts to estradiol. As with T, free E2 is all that matters, and you need...

You're thinking of the infamous Dr. Keith Nichols.

There's some similarity in the effect on energy and mood (both increase with increasing testosterone serum levels, up to a point), but not focus / executive function, which as mentioned elsewhere is only optimized by the mid-range levels of an inverted U before it declines with increasing...

Depending on the dosage (let's assume at least 100 mg daily) and the individual, it could land anywhere between 150 - 500 ng/dL, occasionally even higher. Mine was in the mid 300s on 150 mg daily.

Yes, he needs to retest with SHBG. That E2 of 47, in a low SHBG context, could certainly be high enough to cause ED and loss of libido in some men. Then he'd be looking at dose reductions to sort that out, preferably starting with reducing or eliminating hCG as a first experimental step.