Hi everyone, I am new here but I frequent some subreddits regarding TRT and testosterone. (24M, on TRT for 1 year)
I recently discontinued TRT due to some health concerns and because I was most likely put on TRT improperly without proper testing. My doctor only did a saliva test for testosterone and never inquired to the cause. (ridiculous, I know. I feel stupid for listening to her). My protocol was 150mg split twice a week (75mg each), 500iu of HCG once a week. Everything always came back normal, HCT sometimes got a tad high.
Fast forward to today, I am dealing with some funky, unexplained health concerns. Now with the virus and everyone at home, I thought it would be best to eliminate Test from the equation and start from scratch and see what my natural body can produce and see if I need TRT after that.
I sought help from a urologist who seemed to be very well versed in test, hormones etc. I had talked to him and wanted to do something like the PCT described by Dr. Saya (spelling?), with 2 weeks of HCG and then clomid.
We agreed to do do 2 weeks of HCG, test levels and then see about clomid.
HCG protocol: 500iu MWF for 2 weeks
labs (5/16/20) taken 1 day after last hcg injection at 9am:
Albumin: 4.7 g/dL (3.6-5.1)
Testosterone, Total: 441 ng/dL (250-1100)
Free Testosterone: 60.7 pg/mL (46-224)
Testosterone, Bio-available: 130.1 ng/dL (110-575)
SHBG: 31 nmol/L (10-50)
Estradiol (E2): 31 pg/mL (6-54)
FSH: <.3 mIU/mL (0-18.2)
LH: .5 mIU/mL (0-13.8)
Here is his response:
"Your T levels look pretty good at 440. Your LH is 0.5 which means the body is making some despite the previous suppression, so that's great. Let's have you go to 2 days a week of HCG for 2 weeks then 1 day a week for 2 weeks and then stop completely. That should give us a reasonable taper Then I'd like for you to recheck labs 2 weeks after that. That panel will include testosterone, estrogen, LH and then another blood count."
My thoughts:
Why taper off HCG? my HPTA would still be suppressed and would just prolong the restart.
I really just want to start clomid or nolvadex now and ease the process.
I should ask him to start the clomid or nolvadex now, right? Is it ok that I am starting it almost a week after my last HCG injection?
I would really appreciate your guys help with this. Im starting a new job in 1 week and I really dont want to be feeling crappy to start it.
((Edit: also if anyone has any thoughts on my weird symptoms, please let me know. ))
-overall leg pain all over and in knees and hips, stretching or massaging doesnt help.
-some lower back pain
-overall fatigue and tiredness (recently started using a CPAP but dont notice any difference yet)
-weakness
-depression
-visual snow, light tracers
-headaches
-low to no sex drive, even on T
-only other thing I have tested for that was off was that I had low ferritin. I assume its worse now because my red meat intake has been lower recently.
I recently discontinued TRT due to some health concerns and because I was most likely put on TRT improperly without proper testing. My doctor only did a saliva test for testosterone and never inquired to the cause. (ridiculous, I know. I feel stupid for listening to her). My protocol was 150mg split twice a week (75mg each), 500iu of HCG once a week. Everything always came back normal, HCT sometimes got a tad high.
Fast forward to today, I am dealing with some funky, unexplained health concerns. Now with the virus and everyone at home, I thought it would be best to eliminate Test from the equation and start from scratch and see what my natural body can produce and see if I need TRT after that.
I sought help from a urologist who seemed to be very well versed in test, hormones etc. I had talked to him and wanted to do something like the PCT described by Dr. Saya (spelling?), with 2 weeks of HCG and then clomid.
We agreed to do do 2 weeks of HCG, test levels and then see about clomid.
HCG protocol: 500iu MWF for 2 weeks
labs (5/16/20) taken 1 day after last hcg injection at 9am:
Albumin: 4.7 g/dL (3.6-5.1)
Testosterone, Total: 441 ng/dL (250-1100)
Free Testosterone: 60.7 pg/mL (46-224)
Testosterone, Bio-available: 130.1 ng/dL (110-575)
SHBG: 31 nmol/L (10-50)
Estradiol (E2): 31 pg/mL (6-54)
FSH: <.3 mIU/mL (0-18.2)
LH: .5 mIU/mL (0-13.8)
Here is his response:
"Your T levels look pretty good at 440. Your LH is 0.5 which means the body is making some despite the previous suppression, so that's great. Let's have you go to 2 days a week of HCG for 2 weeks then 1 day a week for 2 weeks and then stop completely. That should give us a reasonable taper Then I'd like for you to recheck labs 2 weeks after that. That panel will include testosterone, estrogen, LH and then another blood count."
My thoughts:
Why taper off HCG? my HPTA would still be suppressed and would just prolong the restart.
I really just want to start clomid or nolvadex now and ease the process.
I should ask him to start the clomid or nolvadex now, right? Is it ok that I am starting it almost a week after my last HCG injection?
I would really appreciate your guys help with this. Im starting a new job in 1 week and I really dont want to be feeling crappy to start it.
((Edit: also if anyone has any thoughts on my weird symptoms, please let me know. ))
-overall leg pain all over and in knees and hips, stretching or massaging doesnt help.
-some lower back pain
-overall fatigue and tiredness (recently started using a CPAP but dont notice any difference yet)
-weakness
-depression
-visual snow, light tracers
-headaches
-low to no sex drive, even on T
-only other thing I have tested for that was off was that I had low ferritin. I assume its worse now because my red meat intake has been lower recently.
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