new member questions

Hello to all. I am 39, good physical shape. I have been a believer in TRT for a long time after reading Nelson's book years ago. Unfortunately my family doctor was not on board with this kind of stuff even though my test levels were about 300-350 so I began self administering with 1 vial sustenon250/week for 2 years; 6 months ago I switched to test cyp. I recently discovered through a coworker that our insurance covers these treatments and I plan on seeing his doctor. Do I have to stop what I am doing to get baseline blood tests? for how long? Isn't this risky? The main reason I want to do this is to monitor estradiol levels better. I have had a very hard time dialing in what I need: too much/too little, lots of ups and downs with feelings/emotions and sex drive. For a while I thought I had a sweet spot figured out but it was short lived. Doing research on this site and talking to my coworker it seems that my body produces a little more est than others. I have felt arimidex working in as little as an hour (immediate sexual drive, decrease in anxiety, great person to be around-says my wife...) However a few days in those positive symptoms would slowly disappear and get worse, so I took more only to lose an erection during sex, embarassing feeling! So how long does it stay in the body? When should next dose be? How much? 1mg? 1/2mg? 1/4mg? 1X/week? 2X/week? I have experimented pretty much all...These are questions I will get answered through monitoring hopefully. Anybody here have similar experience in finding the right dose? Any good advise is appreciated....

welcome to ExcellMale, you would have to come of to prove low t to get it covered by insurance as well as avoid any legal issues. did you test LH/FSH before your self administered TRT? have you checked thyroid and what tests have you done? as far as the AI to me it sounds like your dosing to much or to close together and its building up
I'm not an expert so please take everything I say with a grain of salt

Thanks PAUL-E. I have not tested for anything, just normal blood panels for yearly physicals showing I'm a normal dude (that's not what my wife says...). I realize I have to drop what I'm doing for a doctor to prescribe TRT/HRT, just curious of others experience. I have to stop being an amateur about all this and take my body seriously through the help of a doctor.

Welcome to ExcelMale. You should be completely honest with your doctor, let him know why you started TRT on your own.

What Vince said but most likely you will need to be clinically diagnosed as being hypogonadal for your insurance to cover your therapy.

It would be best to just stop everything and get tested in about 6 weeks. It's going to suck because you're HPTA suppressed and will crash but you will need to live through it till you are diagnosed and get the correct therapy.

Make sure you are using the "Sensitive" assay when testing your E2.

You should know that most men don't need an AI on Testosterone Therapy doses and AI's are very powerful in men as well.

You can pull your own lab work via Diacountedlabs.com.mThat will give you some idea as to where your self-directed protocol puts you. Estradiol levels are notoriously difficult to feel subjectively - low E2 poses as many challenges as does high. It is well worth your time to endure a bit of discomfort in order to partner with a doctor who knows what contemporary TRT can do for a patient.

Thanks guys.

Building on what Gene, C.W., Vince suggest, how about you get full labs now then try a medically supervised axis restart? That way the crash might not be so bad and your doc will have the best evidence that TRT is indicated.