Advice on how to adjust protocol (mostly adex) based on recent labs

[klepp0906]

So im over a half year into TRT now. Have made adjustments every 6-8 weeks based on how i felt, and based on prior labs.

I'm getting close(r).

I feel amazing. No more acne. No more oily skin. Just trying to minimize the havoc its wreaked on my hairline (which to be fair, is probably expected since i had very low test (and likely dht) prior to starting). Also trying to find out why I now struggle with symptoms of BPH. (incredibly powerful orgasms but dripping after voiding, i have to milk myself like a damn cow).

My hematocrit was increasing, almost to the point of requiring donation, so that coupled w/ the hairloss - i figured id do well to go down a tad and see where I stand.

Well, lowered dose, and adjusted adex accordingly'ish. I lost all morning wood. Have always slept bad, but now its obnoxious. Appetite is out of control. Temper a bit short. and libido is severely lacking.

Now looking at labs, my hematocrit went down, my PSA went down, my dht went down, considering my shgb im pretty happy with my testosterone #'s. Only thing I can see potentially causing it, is my estrogen having gone up.

Now as you'll be able to see from the following ranges, i wanted to simplify my protocol. do shots and take adex on the same day. I have two toddlers, life is crazy enough. Problem is, my adex is 1mg pills so cutting 4 ways is the best I can do. I figured with the lowering of my dose from 60mg e3d to 50mg e3d, i could move my EoD adex to E3D and be generally ok. I was wrong.

now i'd like to keep my protocol simple, but ultimately, lack of sex drive and morning wood isnt a fair compromise.

before i carry on any longer, here are my labs. would 1/2 mg of adex e3d be too much?

Pre-Trt 9/18
----------
Total Testosterone 198
Free Testosterone 40
SHBG 55
Hematocrit 48.3
PSA .54
Cholesterol 139
HDL 64
LDL 63


11/17/18 (80mg E3.5D/.25EoD)
----------------------------
Total Testosterone 1137
Free Testosterone 216
SHBG 33
E2 Level 26
Hematocrit 50.1
PSA .87
Cholesterol 126
HDL 52
LDL 59


2/22/19 (60mg E3D/.25EoD)
-----------------------------
BP 117/69
Total Testosterone 1280
Free Testosterone 192
SHBG 47
E2 <25
E2 Serum 14.9
Hematocrit 51.2
PSA .9
DHT 660
Cholesterol 119
HDL 46
LDL 60


5/11/19 (50mg E3D/.25E3D)
----------------------------------------------
Total Testosterone 1192
Free Testosterone 179
SHBG 46
E2 27
E2 Serum 28.2
Estrone 26.3
Hematocrit 50.9
PSA .74
DHT 480
Cholesterol results not in yet
HDL results not in yet
LDL results not in yet

 

[fifty]

Are any of these sensitive e2 tests?

1/3 tab e3d?

 

[Vince Carter]

Are any of these sensitive e2 tests?

My question, too. I know they are not.

 

[klepp0906]

no idea if theyre sensitive. i request sensitive but what i get is what i get.

Sensitive or otherwise, the numbers are at least relative to one another.

As for 1/3 tab, without some fancy shmancy dillution or finding a compounding pharmacy (both which break up my pursuit of simplicity) its not possible.

I see guys doing a weekly shot, with a weekly dose of adex along with the shot. I wont do weekly shots even though im sure id feel amazing, I dont want my test to spike that high considering the battle w/ DHT i already fight.

Is an e3d trt dose and once a week 1mg adex dose reasonable or is that a bad idea?

 

[klepp0906]

 

[klepp0906]

thats what i got. the "total estrogens" is irrelevant yes? We purely worry about estradiol?

thats day of next injection ftr

 

[fifty]

Tough situation given your restrictions.

I would stay the course as your e2 is the same as pre trt. I would not increase arimidex dose based on your labs and comments.

I felt like crap recently thinking it was high e2 and I got a free e2 test and my levels were in the bottom 10 percentile.

Remember dht opposes estradiol. Dht goes down, sex drive goes down, e2 goes up (objectively or subjectively) all things being equal.

Once a week arimidex will put you on a bit of a rollercoaster given its half life.

 

[fifty]

SteroidGraph - Graph your cycle

Play around with this to learn about your arimidex blood levels. Might make things more objective.

 

[klepp0906]

pre trt i felt awful, which is what led me to go get blood to begin with. Of course sub 200 test was likely much of the culprit lol.

my "restrictions" arent cold n fast or w/e the saying is - so to speak. I'm just trying to keep this as simple as i can given its a really long term solution given my age. (36)

I felt great and had sex drive and wood prior to this change, hence the inquiry. Now i still feel good - just libido has left the building and morning wood along with it.

I have an inkling im one of those guys who function better with lower estrogen. That or I crossed some kinda threshold with free T and total T a bit lower when I went from 60mg e3d to 50mg e3d. Even though my test numbers are plenty high to produce substantial libido and morning erections.

What do we think about 60mg e4d and .5mg e4d. Would that be feasable? I noticed that my earliest results on 80mg e3d had my total T lower, but my free T higher. Also my shbg much lower.

Does total T drop faster than free T? Is this why they say guys with higher shbg do better on larger, less frequent injections?

thanks for the time and insight guys.

 

[klepp0906]

SteroidGraph - Graph your cycle

Play around with this to learn about your arimidex blood levels. Might make things more objective.

aaaaaaah. I used that for my peak/trough's on my testosterone, but never even thought to check if it had arimidex

 

[fifty]

Also I would ignore your free t and instead calculate it using tru-t.org. Range for that is 16-31.

 

[klepp0906]

another bookmark in my toolkit, that one i didnt know about - thank you

though considering my albumin of 4.9, if that range truly goes up to 31 it puts me at 36, which further begs the question where my libido and wood went, and further lends cirumstantial evidence towards it being estrogen related.