4 Months In - No Improvements - Major E2 Issues - Switching to Defy

I am 4 months in with TRT and have yet to feel/experience any benefits. Please, please look at these labs and let me know your thoughts. And let me know if you have any questions. I am moving to Defy and have my first consult with Dr. Saya in early January. My doctor now is recommending I increase my AI dose to .5mg every day and I am worried about doing so but I still have high E2 after 6 weeks of .5mg EOD. Should I increase or wait until I discuss with Defy?

Pre TRT:
Total T = 193 ng/dL 241-827
Free T = 3.50 ng/dL 3.70-23.28
SHBG = 33.2 nmol/L 11.0-57.0
E2 = 2.0 μg/24hrs 0.8 – 7.0
FSH = 0.9 [IU]/L 1.4 - 18.1 mIU/mL
LH = 1.3 [IU]/L 1.5 - 8.1 mIU/mL
DHT = 1.6μg/24hrs 3–16
TSH = 1.020 uIU/mL 0.350-5.500

6 Weeks of 70mg E3.5D Test-C, 200IU HCG EOD:
Testosterone Total - 712 ng/dL 240 - 950 ng/dL
Testosterone, Free - 173.9 pg/mL pg/mL
SHBG - 20 nmol/L 10 - 57 nmol/L
Estradiol (E2) - 63 H pg/mL 10-40

Switched to EOD injections of 40mg Test-C:
Estradiol (E2) - 100 H < or = 29 pg/ml

Dr added AI. After 2 weeks of .25 Anastrazole EOD:
Estradiol (E2) - 33 H < or = 29 pg/ml
Total T - 519 250-827 ng/dL

Dr changed AI to .5mg EOD and bumped Test-C to 45mg EOD. Labs after 4 weeks:
Estradiol (E2) - 36 pg/mL 10‐40
Total T - 960.0 ng/dL 240.0 ‐ 950.0 ng/dL
Free T - 273.8 pg/mL 46.0‐224.0
TSH - 1.88 u[IU]/mL 0.35 ‐ 4.01 u[IU]/mL
SHBG - 16 nmol/L 10 - 57 nmol/L

1 Week Later - Same protocol:
Estradiol (E2) - 26 pg/mL 10‐40
Total T - 668 ng/dL 240.0 ‐ 950.0 ng/dL

Labs were all drawn at the same time relative to injection (on injection day and before injection). So I see my SHBG is dropping, E2 is all over the place and still very much there with a high dose of .5mg EOD Anastrazole. My total T seems to jump around as well even though I am on an EOD injection protocol. I am looking forward to joining Defy but I fear that I am a tough case. My primary concern is libido and ED, followed by energy, brain fog and general anxiety. I see so many posts about people crashing their E2 with far less of a dose than I am taking.

Any thoughts about these labs is greatly appreciated.

riverside said:

I am 4 months in with TRT and have yet to feel/experience any benefits. Please, please look at these labs and let me know your thoughts. And let me know if you have any questions. I am moving to Defy and have my first consult with Dr. Saya in early January. My doctor now is recommending I increase my AI dose to .5mg every day and I am worried about doing so but I still have high E2 after 6 weeks of .5mg EOD. Should I increase or wait until I discuss with Defy?

Pre TRT:
Total T = 193 ng/dL 241-827
Free T = 3.50 ng/dL 3.70-23.28
SHBG = 33.2 nmol/L 11.0-57.0
E2 = 2.0 μg/24hrs 0.8 – 7.0
FSH = 0.9 [IU]/L 1.4 - 18.1 mIU/mL
LH = 1.3 [IU]/L 1.5 - 8.1 mIU/mL
DHT = 1.6μg/24hrs 3–16
TSH = 1.020 uIU/mL 0.350-5.500

6 Weeks of 70mg E3.5D Test-C, 200IU HCG EOD:
Testosterone Total - 712 ng/dL 240 - 950 ng/dL
Testosterone, Free - 173.9 pg/mL pg/mL
SHBG - 20 nmol/L 10 - 57 nmol/L
Estradiol (E2) - 63 H pg/mL 10-40

Switched to EOD injections of 40mg Test-C:
Estradiol (E2) - 100 H < or = 29 pg/ml

Dr added AI. After 2 weeks of .25 Anastrazole EOD:
Estradiol (E2) - 33 H < or = 29 pg/ml
Total T - 519 250-827 ng/dL

Dr changed AI to .5mg EOD and bumped Test-C to 45mg EOD. Labs after 4 weeks:
Estradiol (E2) - 36 pg/mL 10‐40
Total T - 960.0 ng/dL 240.0 ‐ 950.0 ng/dL
Free T - 273.8 pg/mL 46.0‐224.0
TSH - 1.88 u[IU]/mL 0.35 ‐ 4.01 u[IU]/mL
SHBG - 16 nmol/L 10 - 57 nmol/L

1 Week Later - Same protocol:
Estradiol (E2) - 26 pg/mL 10‐40
Total T - 668 ng/dL 240.0 ‐ 950.0 ng/dL

Labs were all drawn at the same time relative to injection (on injection day and before injection). So I see my SHBG is dropping, E2 is all over the place and still very much there with a high dose of .5mg EOD Anastrazole. My total T seems to jump around as well even though I am on an EOD injection protocol. I am looking forward to joining Defy but I fear that I am a tough case. My primary concern is libido and ED, followed by energy, brain fog and general anxiety. I see so many posts about people crashing their E2 with far less of a dose than I am taking.

Any thoughts about these labs is greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure exactly what's wrong here, what are your symptoms, how did you feel on each of these protocols, and did any of these protocol changes improve them? That would be valuable to know.

Your second last protocol gives great lab results.

Am I correct in that you only had E2 checked after "EOD injections of 40mg test-c"?

johndoesmith said:

I'm not sure exactly what's wrong here, what are your symptoms, how did you feel on each of these protocols, and did any of these protocol changes improve them? That would be valuable to know.

Your second last protocol gives great lab results.

Am I correct in that you only had E2 checked after "EOD injections of 40mg test-c"?

Click to expand...

I wasn't happy with the response time of my Doctor. I requested this E2 draw on my own and this was 2 weeks after EOD injections. The next draw was on that same protocol and when he stared me on .25mg AI EOD.

johndoesmith said:

I'm not sure exactly what's wrong here, what are your symptoms, how did you feel on each of these protocols, and did any of these protocol changes improve them? That would be valuable to know.

Your second last protocol gives great lab results.

Am I correct in that you only had E2 checked after "EOD injections of 40mg test-c"?

Click to expand...

Sorry, realized I didn't answer your other question. I really don't feel much different from Pre-TRT which is frustrating. Each change of protocol hasn't really brought any changes for me that are noticeable. I will say that I think I am having more nocturnal erections. My libido comes and goes almost in waves, same as pre TRT. I started doing the 5x5 workouts this summer and I have been feeling somewhat,better physically but I think that is from the workouts and not the T. Still have brain fog, very weak libido, anxiety..etc.

The 10 point swing in E2 and Total T in a week most recently was interesting to me. My Dr says that I may need much lower E2 levels because of my low SHBG. That is interesting to me because my Pre-TRT SHBG was 33 so I'm not naturally low SHBG. I am apparently a hyper converter to estrogen, hyper metabolizer and hyper excretor of Testosterone. Tough case I guess...

Seeing all these horror stories of small amounts of Adex makes ne wonder what is going on with me. It doesn't impact me near as much.

With the exception of the high E2, your experience with TRT is the same as mine has been.