Hey guys. Had my consultation with
Defy the other day. Starting me at 220mg weekly. I’m going to go with 2 days per week. .55ml. Thinking about going with shallow IM.
My numbers are
- 558 ng/dl
- free - 45.2 pg/ml
- SHGB - 70. High.
- estradiol 20 pg
- LH - 2.9
- DHEA-S - 131
I’d like to know your thoughts on this and what you guys would do. I’ve been working out my whole life. I’m 47. 6ft 1 200lbs. I work out 4 to 5 days per week. Count my calories, etc. the whole nine. Would love to hear your thoughts. I know 220 is high but my SHGB is high as well. Thanks in advance. Should be arriving by next week. Can’t wait to get it started. Your opinions would be greatly appreciated
NUTTY!
This is extreme overkill especially off the hop!
The doctor treating you is out to lunch!
Most men on T therapy are injecting 100-200 mg T/week whether once weekly or split into more frequent injections.
The MAJORITY of men can easily hit a healthy/high trough FT injecting 100-150 mg T/week especially when split into more frequent injections.
Yes as I have stated numerous times on here over the years there will always be this outliers who may need the high-end dose 200 mg T/week but its far from common as in RARE.
Such dose would have the MAJORITY of men overmedicated.
Keep in mind there are also some men who can achieve stellar levels injecting <100 mg T/week especially when split into more frequent injections.
The standard starting dose by those in the know across the board is 100 mg T/week or the more sensible move would be 50 mg T split twice-weekly.
Always best to start low and go slow on a T only protocol so we can see how your body reacts to testosterone and where said protocol (dose T/injection frequency) has your trough TT and more importantly FT, estradiol and SHBG let alone critical blood markers RBCs, hemoglobin and hematocrit.
There will always be time to increase the dose or throw in hCG if need be.
Trust me when I tell you going up is much easier than having to come down.
The last thing you want to do here is jack up your FT off the hop and even then chances are slim that you would even need a whopping 220 let alone 200 mg T/week.
I know 220 is high but my SHGB is high as well.
Yes high doses can have a stronger impact on driving down SHBG but even if one's SHBG never budged all you would need to do is increase your TT to drive up your FT.
Men with higher SHBG will need to hit a higher TT to achieve a healthy, high or absurdly high FT.
Just because one has high SHBG it does not justify one needing let alone starting on a high dose of T.
This is a myth that needs to be put to rest!
Again the majority of men can easily achieve a healthy/high FT injecting 100-150 mg T/week especially when split into more frequent injections and this includes men with high SHBG!
Bad move here diving in head first with that whopping weekly dose of T!
It will take 4-6 weeks to reach steady-state (TC/TE) and you will get your blood work done to see where said protocol (dose T/injection frequency) has your trough TT, FT, estradiol, SHBG and RBCs, hemoglobin and hematocrit.
Keep in mind when first starting T therapy or in cases where one may eventually need to tweak their protocol and increase the weekly dose of T hematocrit will start rising within the 1st month and the biggest increase will be seen at the 3-6 month mark and even then levels can take upwards of 9-12 months to fully stabilize for some.
So where your hematocrit sits at 6 weeks and 3 months in means jack s**t when looking at the bigger picture here.
This is just a snapshot to make sure your are hitting a healthy FT and moving in the right direction.
If by chance your trough FT is too low which is highly doubtful in most cases then you can easily bump up your dose by 20-25 mg/week and retest in 6 weeks.
