Daily shot protocol change?

[Mr MJ]

My questions is simply this: I am going to try ED injections in order to try and improve libido, energy and keep Hematocrit stabilized. I am 57 and I have been on replacement for 14 years. I have had some minor instances with ED and I have always been a high converter to estrogen. I have been on EOD injections at 28mg Test Cyp and no AI. This gave me a level of 699 TT and E2 of 26. I was thinking of trying 16 MG Ed which is about 14mg more per week total. What are your experiences regarding switching over. Did you wait a week before initiating the regimen or just start the next day with injections? Did libido improve? Energy?....Would this dosage be to high to start with also?
Thanks Mr MJ.

 

[CoastWatcher]

My questions is simply this: I am going to try ED injections in order to try and improve libido, energy and keep Hematocrit stabilized. I am 57 and I have been on replacement for 14 years. I have had some minor instances with ED and I have always been a high converter to estrogen. I have been on EOD injections at 28mg Test Cyp and no AI. This gave me a level of 699 TT and E2 of 26. I was thinking of trying 16 MG Ed which is about 14mg more per week total. What are your experiences regarding switching over. Did you wait a week before initiating the regimen or just start the next day with injections? Did libido improve? Energy?....Would this dosage be to high to start with also?
Thanks Mr MJ.

Three years ago when I adopted a daily protocol - I've been injecting 16mg every day without fail - I simply made the switch when I was due for my next shot on the old schedule. Rather than inject 60mg on a Friday (I was doing an every 3.5 day schedule of shots, 60mg), I simply started injecting 16mg every morning. It was an interesting four to six weeks as serum levels balanced, but I've never regretted it. Libido, energy, focus...it's been a complete success. Will it work for you? Give it a good-faith effort. One question I do have: where does your SHBG sit?

 

[Vince Carter]

Though a very few of us have made daily's work I don't advise going this route, it's just not all that true about E conversion, HCT stabilizing, and on and on, you guys get hopped up daily being some miracle cure for things that just isn't all that true. I would worry more about where your SHBG is and where your E is which 26 isn't high by any stretch of the imagination, even assuming you're using the correct test. No AI and you only pull a 26....you're going to have do some more work to try and convince anyone that you're a high convertor because your numbers don't jive. at all. So I'm questioning your intent here and how you're putting numbers together, upping your weekly cumulative dose...that's not how Daily works.

 

[Mr MJ]

Three years ago when I adopted a daily protocol - I've been injecting 16mg every day without fail - I simply made the switch when I was due for my next shot on the old schedule. Rather than inject 60mg on a Friday (I was doing an every 3.5 day schedule of shots, 60mg), I simply started injecting 16mg every morning. It was an interesting four to six weeks as serum levels balanced, but I've never regretted it. Libido, energy, focus...it's been a complete success. Will it work for you? Give it a good-faith effort. One question I do have: where does your SHBG sit?

It has always been between 16 to 22.

 

[Vince]

I have been injecting daily now for over a year and my HCT has stabilized, about the same time as I started daily injections I was able to stop donating blood, if daily cause my HCT to stabilize I do not know for sure. My current protocol is 16 milligrams of testosterone cypionate every day and HCG 500 IU every three and a half days. I've never had high estradiol levels and I have not had a testosterone panel since I've started my 16 mg daily. Here is my panel when I tried 20 mg daily.

https://www.excelmale.com/forum/showthread.php?12800-I-took-a-peek-at-my-Labs

 

[Mr MJ]

My E2 has been about 98 before when I was just doing 50mg Mon and Thursday. I had to take .5 Ai EOD to keep that in check. This was for 8 years. When I switched to EOD SUB Q/Shallow IM it completely eliminated the need for an AI. I feel better though with more T than just what I am currently doing. My body cannot tolerate an AI an more.

 

[Vince]

My E2 has been about 98 before when I was just doing 50mg Mon and Thursday. I had to take .5 Ai EOD to keep that in check. This was for 8 years. When I switched to EOD SUB Q/Shallow IM it completely eliminated the need for an AI. I feel better though with more T than just what I am currently doing. My body cannot tolerate an AI an more.

If I were you I would try this 16 mg, took me about 12 week to feel the full effect of the change. I would go to daily on your next schedule injection date.

 

[CoastWatcher]

My E2 has been about 98 before when I was just doing 50mg Mon and Thursday. I had to take .5 Ai EOD to keep that in check. This was for 8 years. When I switched to EOD SUB Q/Shallow IM it completely eliminated the need for an AI. I feel better though with more T than just what I am currently doing. My body cannot tolerate an AI an more.

What about SHBG? Was this estradiol level captured with the sensitive, LC/MS,MS, lab test? If you aren't sure, post the ranges as they are a sure sign of which test was used.

 

[Mr MJ]

My E2 has been about 98 before when I was just doing 50mg Mon and Thursday. I had to take .5 Ai EOD to keep that in check. This was for 8 years. When I switched to EOD SUB Q/Shallow IM it completely eliminated the need for an AI. I feel better though with more T than just what I am currently doing. My body cannot tolerate an AI an more.
Also Libido is the worst it has ever been with maybe a slight interest in sex once every 7 days.

 

[Mr MJ]

Yes . All tests have been sensitive LC/MS/MS.

 

[HealthMan]

Daily injections didn’t help my hematocrit but did lower my estradiol quite a bit. Overall didn’t make me feel any better than injectin E3.5D (and my SHBG is low-mid 20s). Interestingly my SHBG dropped to 17 while on daily injections and my TT dropped as well despite increasing the dosage (usually TT goes up when you inject more frequently). So for me daily injections didn’t help my hematocrit and it actually lowered my TT. Not worth the daily poking for me.

 

[CoastWatcher]

Daily injections didn't help my hematocrit but did lower my estradiol quite a bit. Overall didn't make me feel any better than injectin E3.5D (and my SHBG is low-mid 20s). Interestingly my SHBG dropped to 17 while on daily injections and my TT dropped as well despite increasing the dosage (usually TT goes up when you inject more frequently). So for me daily injections didn't help my hematocrit and it actually lowered my TT. Not worth the daily poking for me.

When it works, it works very well. When it doesn't, it's more often following this pattern. A mixed bag of pluses and minuses that have to be evaluated in a larger picture.

 

[HealthMan]

When it works, it works very well. When it doesn't, it's more often following this pattern. A mixed bag of pluses and minuses that have to be evaluated in a larger picture.

Agree. It was definitely worth the try. If it had kept my hematocrit under control I would still be injecting daily.

 

[Dave B.]

My questions is simply this: I am going to try ED injections in order to try and improve libido, energy and keep Hematocrit stabilized. I am 57 and I have been on replacement for 14 years. I have had some minor instances with ED and I have always been a high converter to estrogen. I have been on EOD injections at 28mg Test Cyp and no AI. This gave me a level of 699 TT and E2 of 26. I was thinking of trying 16 MG Ed which is about 14mg more per week total. What are your experiences regarding switching over. Did you wait a week before initiating the regimen or just start the next day with injections? Did libido improve? Energy?....Would this dosage be to high to start with also?
Thanks Mr MJ.

The half-life of Testosterone Cypionate when injected intramuscularly is approximately eight days.
https://www.drugs.com/pro/testosterone-cypionate.html

The testosterone will break down over time, no matter when you inject it. The whole point of an 8-day breakdown is so that you only need to inject once per week. Some people report various improvements with injecting twice per week, but really beyond that I'm not sure what benefit you hope to gain, and why would you want to be sticking yourself daily.

So your libido problems started after you switched to subq injections? Sub q might be the wrong approach for you, maybe to back to IM and see if that solves your problem.

 

[lenny]

Though a very few of us have made daily's work I don't advise going this route, it's just not all that true about E conversion, HCT stabilizing, and on and on, you guys get hopped up daily being some miracle cure for things that just isn't all that true.

Daily injections may not work for everyone, or improve everyone's hematocrit, but it sure as heck has worked for me. Dramatically so. My hematocrit is back to where it was before I ever started TRT, around 43-44. Since I have hypertension that gets worsened by high hematocrit, this is worth its weight in gold to me. I love knowing my hematocrit is perfectly normal, every day of the year.

No one protocol is going to work for everyone, so I don't see the value in dismissing the idea of a daily protocol simply because it doesn't work for everyone.

 

[HealthMan]

Daily injections may not work for everyone, or improve everyone's hematocrit, but it sure as heck has worked for me. Dramatically so. My hematocrit is back to where it was before I ever started TRT, around 43-44. Since I have hypertension that gets worsened by high hematocrit, this is worth its weight in gold to me. I love knowing my hematocrit is perfectly normal, every day of the year.

No one protocol is going to work for everyone, so I don't see the value in dismissing the idea of a daily protocol simply because it doesn't work for everyone.

TRT is certainly very individual. There is no harm in trying different protocols to achieve success. Daily injections jacked up my HCT to 53. So now i aggressively lowered my dosage to see if that will keep HCT under control.
What was your protocol and TT, FT, E2 and HCT before and after daily injections?

 

[lenny]

What was your protocol and TT, FT, E2 and HCT before and after daily injections?

Well, more useful would be an earlier protocol before my doc prescribed phlebotomy and anastrozole. When I was injecting 200 mg once a week with no AI (and this wasn't even my peak at the time):

Total T: 1130 ng/dL
Free T: 30.1 pg/mL
e2: 60 pg/mL (non-sensitive)
HCT: 50.3

Hematocrit had gotten even worse in recent years, often creeping up to 53 or higher if I didn't keep up with my phlebotomies. And by that time I was only on 140 mg of t-cyp, once a week.

Latest results on a daily protocol (22 mg of t-cyp a day):

Total T: 711 ng/dL
Free T: 28.9 pg/mL
e2: 37.1 pg/mL (sensitive)
HCT: 43

I feel great on this protocol, but it certainly isn't a "miracle cure" by any stretch. Libido and erectile strength are still not perfect, but overall still better and more consistent than when I was injecting weekly or twice weekly, even off of tadalafil.

Side note: what was interesting to me about those most recent results was the excellent free T alongside a relatively modest total T. I'd never seen that before in my own labs (usually both would rise or fall in tandem). I kinda suspect SHBG has crept up a bit since I started doing daily, but unfortunately my doc hasn't checked that in the past year. I may have to check it myself next time I order from DiscountedLabs.

 

[Mr MJ]

Update..... It has been about 7 months on daily injections and they are working great!! My hematocrit is not rising as fast and ED and Libido are the best they have been! Labs are perfect. My only question now is this: I rotate delt and glute shots daily shallow IM , but feel better if I only did delt shots. I have a little more fat layer on my glutes which is probably more Subq than IM. Will scar tissue build up if I only use delts? I have tried other locations, biceps and chest, but am scared about veins etc.... What other locations can be used for dailys? I have tried quad shots but they do not work for me. Nelson suggests delt shots - which do work for me. I use 29G .5 CC 1/2 syringe. I would also add that if you are contemplating daily injections just give it a try. It just may be what will work for you.

 

[Vince]

Update..... It has been about 7 months on daily injections and they are working great!! My hematocrit is not rising as fast and ED and Libido are the best they have been! Labs are perfect. My only question now is this: I rotate delt and glute shots daily shallow IM , but feel better if I only did delt shots. I have a little more fat layer on my glutes which is probably more Subq than IM. Will scar tissue build up if I only use delts? I have tried other locations, biceps and chest, but am scared about veins etc.... What other locations can be used for dailys? I have tried quad shots but they do not work for me. Nelson suggests delt shots - which do work for me. I use 29G .5 CC 1/2 syringe. I would also add that if you are contemplating daily injections just give it a try. It just may be what will work for you.

I injected in my shoulders and VG. I feel that's all the areas I need for my daily injection.

Best Injection site, no aspiration needed, avoids all nerves