Advice with adjusting protocol

[Mike9876]

I've been on TRT for 4 weeks. My protocol is:

Monday Afternoon
50mg Test Cypionate
300iu HCG

Friday Morning
Same as Monday


I was having all kinds of issues with my mood, feelings of anxiety and feeling very low, very tired etc. I had a blood test a couple of days ago and these are my results:

Test 18nmol/L Range 8.3-29
Free Test 457 pmol/L Range 255-725
Oestradiol 93pmol/L Range 50-150
SHBG 18nmol/L Range 11-71

I was expecting that my Estradiol was going to come back high but it is in normal range. I have seen some on here saying that some guys don't do well on HCG. So I'm thinking ditching that HCG and keeping the Test at 50mg twice a week like before. Thoughts?

 

[Vince Carter]

Have you run SHBG? You're not in the US, right?

 

[Mike9876]

No Vince, I haven't taken an SHBG if that's what you mean. I'm in Australia.

 

[Kirk001]

I think he was asking if you had your SHBG tested, and I do see it up there so maybe he missed it. You're at the low end of the range there and people say that guys with low SHBG need more frequent injections. Maybe you could try moving to shots every other day... something to think about.

 

[FeelingLost]

I've been on TRT for 4 weeks. My protocol is:

Monday Afternoon
50mg Test Cypionate
300iu HCG

Friday Morning
Same as Monday


I was having all kinds of issues with my mood, feelings of anxiety and feeling very low, very tired etc. I had a blood test a couple of days ago and these are my results:

Test 18nmol/L Range 8.3-29
Free Test 457 pmol/L Range 255-725
Oestradiol 93pmol/L Range 50-150
SHBG 18nmol/L Range 11-71

I was expecting that my Estradiol was going to come back high but it is in normal range. I have seen some on here saying that some guys don't do well on HCG. So I'm thinking ditching that HCG and keeping the Test at 50mg twice a week like before. Thoughts?

Heah there my Aussie Friend.
I like your idea of dumping the HCG until you get your body used to the T injections. Man it seemed like it took forever for my body(hormone lvls) to settle down when I started TRT. Water weight, acne, mood swings, limp****, stinky arm pits you name it I got it. But in time things started improving. All that initial crap slowly went away and brain fog lifted, strength mentally and physically started happening. With such a low SHGB you are going to make a ton of free T. I'm told that's the part you feel.

I do like Kirk's idea of more shots per week. My SHGB is 24.2 and I inject M/W/F I love it. Anyway something for you to consider.
Stay strong my friend you are getting there. Those are dam good blood numbers by the way.

 

[Mike9876]

Thanks very much. I will consider the 3x a week injections however for now I am going to just cut out the HCG and keep doing 2 x 50mg per week. Just so I'm only changing one thing at a time so I can have a good idea of what effect that one change has.

 

[Blackhawk]

Seems with SGBG at 18, most guys benefit from EOD or every day injection.

 

[Gman86]

Ya with a SHBG of 18, in the end to be optimized you are going to have to do EOD injections minimum. So why wait. Might as well do it now instead of later. That SHBG is about as low as you can have. ED injections is what I would do if I was you. Twice a week is just not enough. You're going to burn through your testosterone so quickly with that SHBG that you are gonna have major peaks and valleys which will cause you problems stability wise week to week

Trust when I say you'll save yourself a lot of time and frustration by just switching to EOD now. I personally would 100% switch to ED though with a SHBG like yours

 

[Vince Carter]

Have you run SHBG? You're not in the US, right?

I missed it up there but caught on to the OEstradiol as not being US

 

[Vince Carter]

I'd cut back on the HCG than eliminate it, try 200iu E3.5D...sometimes its just not tolerated well by some of us. Run your labs again and see what it shows and cut it back some more if you like. But I do see great FT numbers that you could possibly cut the Cyp dose down.

 

[Mike9876]

Thanks for the updates. I will change my injections to EOD. To be honest I'd much rather only have to do it once or twice a week but if that's not going to work for me, II suppose I don't have much choice. Is there any way to just get my SHBG instead?

Also, my Free Test numbers on my last blood test seemed to be in proportion to my Total Test. So wouldn't that mean my Free Test hasn't been pushed high by my low SHBG?