A not so brief history

[AndrogenicFortress]

Hello people

So here is the history of my journey:
On november 2017 I went to the doc, the symptoms where extreme fatigue, really extreme.
The doc order some blood samples and everything was perfect, most solid health he has ever seen, so he gave me some vitamins.
I took the vitamins and went again in 15 days, having read a lot of things online I asked for a hormonal panel, doc was “why not” and order some prolactin, estradiol and testosterone tests.

This where the results:
Prolactin: 7.25 ng/ml 2.58 - 18.12
Test: 1.72 ng/ml 2.49 - 8.36
Estradiol: Less than 18 pg/ml 25 - 107


The first thing I notice is that my test is low AF, and the second is that my country standards are really low for test and really high for estradiol.
Note: the estradiol test was not a sensitive one, in fact there is no sensitive test in my country (I’m from south america).

When the doctor sees the results he gave me 250mg enanthate test.
The difference… Was like opening my eyes and realising that I was in the matrix. I realize that I was deep deep in a depression and never really realise it, life had lost it’s colours for me, I was just going by. The first week I got an incredible love for life, a desire to conquer and make my life the most amazing one. It’s hard to describe, it was like life was gaining colours again, like sound was coming back and I could really enjoy beauty. I was full of drive and ambition base only in that life was amazing and wonderful, a full love of the experience itself.
Of course, that was one I decided “Ok, I’m in for life”. The second week was still amazing but just filled with a sense of well being and confidence.

2 weeks passed, gone back to the doc and he is glad that it helped me, he gave me another 250mg and told me to come back in 1 month and a half. I actually waited one month and a half, it was shitty going back but hey… I already decided I’m in for life, I will have patience and make the necessary sacrifices.

January I went to the doc and he disappointed me with the greatest BS protocol ever, 250mg every 2 months. Yeah, once every 2 months. I started talking to some friends that are doctors, to get medical orders. I’m not going back to that hell, never again, it swallows you in a way that you don’t even realize how miserable you are. My friends understand what I went through and accepted helping me, so now having medical orders freely at my disposal I started my own protocol, 250mg x week.
I started IM and dosing once per week, but move to twice per week after a month or so.

I run some test with my insurance in late january:
Hematocrits: 46.9 % 40 - 54
TT: 13.10 ng/ml 2.49 - 8.36
Free test: 1.378 nmol/l 0.174 - 0.672
Estradiol: 70 pg/ml 25 - 107 (Non sensitive)
HDL: 47 mg/dl >60 optimal, > 40 safe
LDL: 93 mg/dl <130 optimal
TSH: 2.45uUI/ml 0.35 - 4.94

At that point I move to 2/wk SubQ of 125mg each and added Anastrozole 0.25mg with each injection.

Mid february I did two estradiol tests from two differents labs, at the same day with 40 minutes difference. The test are non sensitives so I don’t know how useful they can be.

At the moment I lost that feeling of being in love with life, even the sense of wellbeing.
For now I’m betting that it’s a matter of high E2 and I’m trying to manage it, which is difficult as there are no sensitive assays in my country (a topic for another thread).

For now I’m at using 0.5mg Anastrozole 24hs after injection. Feeling better than before, I have a little of wellbeing every now and then but nowhere near what I know it could be.


So... that's my journey so far.
Cheers

 

[pistolero]

Welcome to Excelmale.
250 mg a week is a lot of test. Better to start low and work up. You are already above those ranges and your testo levels will still be rising. Keep an eye on your levels. You might not get that great feeling again. There is a "honeymoon". You should feel much better than before your TRT though.

.5mg of anastrozole is a lot also. Be careful, brother. Good luck.

 

[Gman86]

When did the great feeling of well being start to disappear? Was it before or after you started using Anastrozole?

 

[Vince]

You're injecting too much testosterone and over treating your estradiol levels. No wonder you're feel so bad.

 

[AndrogenicFortress]

When did the great feeling of well being start to disappear? Was it before or after you started using Anastrozole?

It was before Anastrozole. From my point of view it was when I change from IM to Sub-Q and at the same time from 250 once per week to 125 x 2/wk. It would be around that blood test, I was feeling weird around the nipple area a little puffiness, so I change to sub-q for a week while I searched for Anastrozole (not easy to get around here).

You're injecting too much testosterone and over treating your estradiol levels. No wonder you're feel so bad.

Why? Honest question, I’m asking for real. You are basing your statement in the lab ranges?

My experience is that the more that I treat the estradiol, the better I feel.
Is test too high a problem? Besides the common things to look out: estradiol, blood pressure, HDL and hematocrits.

 

[pistolero]

You need to find a happy medium brother. 250mg every 60 days is total bullshit, of course. But starting at 250 a week is almost certainly too much.

 

[pistolero]

Why? Honest question, I'm asking for real. You are basing your statement in the lab ranges?

In part because of the levels but also because you got up there so quickly. The timeline you described means that as of "late January" when you got those tests you hadn't even leveled out yet. You were over the ranges already, but at 250mg a week they haven't even topped out yet.

 

[Vince]

E2 follows T, if you inject less testosterone your estradiol levels will be less. It's very hard to manage your E2 levels with the wrong estradiol test. It can take a long time recover after someone crashes their estradiol levels.

 

[AndrogenicFortress]

Makes a lot of sense. Test should take around 40 days to stabilize, according to my calculations between my first injection and the last full blood test 21 days passed. So yeah, it should be higher now.

This how I plan to continue:
This week: I already shoot 125mg in monday, so no more shoots and no AI
Next week: 1 shoot of 125mg IM, no more AI. Then wait at least 4 weeks because my E2 should be lower than it would normally be.


After 5 weeks (or in the case that I start feeling really bad by the end of the week): moving to e3.5d
With once per week I should have higher spikes of T allowing to restore E2 and at the same time test how I feel through the week, so the information should be helpful.