Change to ED injections

Ref4ua · Mar 20, 2018

Made the swap today from e5d @ 100mg to ED @ 20mg due to SHBG of 9. Other guys when you made this change did you feel a lull while your body adjusted or start feeling better shortly after the change to ED?

Vince · Mar 21, 2018

When I make adjustments to my protocol it takes me about 12 weeks before I notice a difference. To improve your ED, you may wish to start a nitric oxide stack, if you haven't already.

Vince Carter · Mar 21, 2018

That's a huge change, on paper, but given you're going to ED it may not be so rough in how feel but definitely going to through everything in to flux that you'd need at least 6 weeks of it to see where you're at as far as your numbers are. You may need to really watch the Free T levels with low SHBG much more than Total T.

Ref4ua · Mar 21, 2018

VC,

Below is my bw from last week. This was on 100mg e5d, labs were done on the 5th day.

TT 967 Ng/dL
FT 277 pg/ml
SHBG 9 nmol/L
Estradiol 51 pg/mL

BW was 2 weeks after taking 0.5 mg of arimadex.

My FT is really high, I think due to the low SHBG. Surprisingly my TT was still pretty high, I would’ve thought low SHBG would’ve resulted in a lower TT 5 days out.

I’m tired of feeling good at times and crap most of the time. So I talked to my doctor and we decided to swing for the fences with ED injections to see if we can control FT. I think the high FT is resulting in high E2 and high FE causing a huge imbalance.

Vince Carter · Mar 21, 2018

Ref4ua said:
VC,

Below is my bw from last week. This was on 100mg e5d, labs were done on the 5th day.

TT 967 Ng/dL
FT 277 pg/ml
SHBG 9 nmol/L
Estradiol 51 pg/mL

BW was 2 weeks after taking 0.5 mg of arimadex.

My FT is really high, I think due to the low SHBG. Surprisingly my TT was still pretty high, I would've thought low SHBG would've resulted in a lower TT 5 days out.

I'm tired of feeling good at times and crap most of the time. So I talked to my doctor and we decided to swing for the fences with ED injections to see if we can control FT. I think the high FT is resulting in high E2 and high FE causing a huge imbalance.

I think you're 100% on point there.

Ref4ua · Mar 21, 2018

VC, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I remember you being low SHBG as well. Did ED injections help you? Should ED help control FT better?

We started at 20mg ED since I was already at 100mg E5D. I have labs in 6 weeks to check my levels again.

Vince Carter · Mar 21, 2018

I am low SHBG but ED hasn't helped me with E or HCT/HGB, I still aromatase like crazy even with .25mg EOD so I'm indeed trying to bring my Free T down. I was using 28mg/D, I reduced it to 24mg and E is still very high so I'm reducing to 20mg/D starting tomorrow.

CoastWatcher · Mar 21, 2018

I'm a believer in every-day injections: it's been three years for me and I couldn't be happier. There was a six to eight week period where I was certainly "off balance." I was warned by my doctor that I might well wonder if it was a good idea, and she was right. But she also stressed how important it was to stay the course. It all worked out far better than I'd hoped. All the best.

Ref4ua · Mar 25, 2018

VC / CW,
Since swapping to ED injections Tuesday my joints seem to be sore and popping more than normal, almost like low E2. Do you recall this during your transition to ED injections? I haven’t taken an AI in over 5 weeks.

CoastWatcher · Mar 25, 2018

Ref4ua said:
VC / CW,
Since swapping to ED injections Tuesday my joints seem to be sore and popping more than normal, almost like low E2. Do you recall this during your transition to ED injections? I haven't taken an AI in over 5 weeks.

I never dealt with low estradiol, and never took an AI, so I've no first-hand experience with what you encounter. Joint pain is a symptom of low e2 - and suppressed levels can take quite a long time to recover...quite a long time. Every day injections are, by nature, not going to drive your testosterone to peak levels, nor are they going to result in a peak of e2. That's to the good, exactly what you want, but it means your estradiol is rising slowly to healthy levels.

Ref4ua · Mar 25, 2018

CW my E2 was 51 almost 2 weeks ago when I had my labs done and I haven’t taken any AI since. So no real reason why it would’ve dropped anymore. This is why the sudden onset of soreness and joints popping is interesting.

CoastWatcher · Mar 25, 2018

Ref4ua said:
CW my E2 was 51 almost 2 weeks ago when I had my labs done and I haven't taken any AI since. So no real reason why it would've dropped anymore. This is why the sudden onset of soreness and joints popping is interesting.

I went to daily injections to lower estradiol from 55/sensitive without an AI (and to achieve as close to a steady-state level as possible). During the six weeks I spent going from my old, every 3.5 day protocol to the daily schedule, I had bouts of sweating and periods where I certainly "felt" hypogonadal. I'd been warned it could happen, but it was still enough that at a number of points I wondered if this was worth it. Given that all of us are unique, you may well be swinging through serum instability and presenting with surprising issues during the shakedown. Are they such that you're really uncomfortable, in pain, or puzzled and a bit annoyed?