First bloods

[BigLebowski]

So these are my results after about 7 weeks of trt (I'm about 9 weeks in now). They were taken about 3.5 days after a shot, my protocol is as follows:

125mg sustanon per week
3x 500iu HCG per week (although occasionally I'll miss a HCG shot)

My questions are:

1 I'm wondering why the range for testosterone only goes up to 27.80nmol? I've seen a fair few people's results and ranges usually go higher right?

2 Although I'm happy with the test level, because I split my 250mg/1ml vial in to 2 shots, my doses are usually a little under 125mg. Should I bump my shot up to roughly 140mg to squeeze some better test numbers out or wait ti see if I'm going to stabilise at a higher number in the coming months? I'm not experiencing any negative side effects other than some acne and my heamatocric hasn't budged since my bloods prior to trt so what do you think?

Thanks for the replies in advance

 

[Royal244]

So these are my results after about 7 weeks of trt (I'm about 9 weeks in now). They were taken about 3.5 days after a shot, my protocol is as follows:

125mg sustanon per week
3x 500iu HCG per week (although occasionally I'll miss a HCG shot)

View attachment 6420My questions are:

1 I'm wondering why the range for testosterone only goes up to 27.80nmol? I've seen a fair few people's results and ranges usually go higher right?

2 Although I'm happy with the test level, because I split my 250mg/1ml vial in to 2 shots, my doses are usually a little under 125mg. Should I bump my shot up to roughly 140mg to squeeze some better test numbers out or wait ti see if I'm going to stabilise at a higher number in the coming months? I'm not experiencing any negative side effects other than some acne and my heamatocric hasn't budged since my bloods prior to trt so what do you think?

Thanks for the replies in advance

Depend on how you feel. Your SHBG is lowish so you should have a lot of free testosterone. Especially that your total T is high. I would go check Free Testosterone nevertheless just to know how it looks. About your question - the ranges varies from lab to lab. My lab for example has 4.94 - 32.01 (nmol/L) range for Total T.

 

[BigLebowski]

That's good then right? Prior to trt my free testosterone was low and shgb was 37 (16-55).

 

[BigLebowski]

Oh wait, being lower shgb means I'm better off having more regular injections right?

 

[Gman86]

Oh wait, being lower shgb means I'm better off having more regular injections right?

Yup. Since you’re doing HCG 3x a week, you could just do those EOD, and then just do your test injection on the same day. So just do both EOD. That would probably be ideal, and be nice and easy to remember. That’s what I do, and I never forget to take my injections.

And like royal said, make sure to check your free testosterone. I don’t think you had the right Estradiol test done, so I would also try to get an ultrasensitive estradiol test done. If that’s not available, just get the standard estradiol test. Not sure what the test is you had done, but it looks like something different, based on the range.

 

[BigLebowski]

Yup. Since you’re doing HCG 3x a week, you could just do those EOD, and then just do your test injection on the same day. So just do both EOD. That would probably be ideal, and be nice and easy to remember. That’s what I do, and I never forget to take my injections.

And like royal said, make sure to check your free testosterone. I don’t think you had the right Estradiol test done, so I would also try to get an ultrasensitive estradiol test done. If that’s not available, just get the standard estradiol test. Not sure what the test is you had done, but it looks like something different, based on the range.

Ideally I'd like to avoid doing that many injections, at the minute I've been splitting my HCG in to 2 injections per week to get them down. Unfortunately, these bloods are done in the UK by the NHS so no E2 sensitive and no free test. What are the low shgb symptoms as in not getting an issues at the minute and no estrogen sides either. Seems a bit pointless to give myself more pip when I don't have sides (especially as I have fibromyalgia so don't really wanna inflame my muscles any more than I already need to). Also I never do HCG and test shot on the same day to avoided any unwanted estrogen sides. Do you think it's still worth considering eod shots with this stuff in mind?

Cheers for the replies

 

[BigLebowski]

Also just to add, it's not that I forget shots, I will purposly miss the odd one if in running low on HCG to conserve.

 

[Royal244]

That's good then right? Prior to trt my free testosterone was low and shgb was 37 (16-55).

Oh wait, being lower shgb means I'm better off having more regular injections right?

Like Gman said - yes. Theoretically the lower SHBG the better are more frequent injections. But for some dudes it's not necessary to take testosterone Every Day or Every Other Day. It's kind of hard to tell, if you feel good you need to realize that you MAY feel worse after you change your protocol. But you also might feel even better. Think about it, but first do Free Testosterone if you can, to know how it looks. Let us know .

 

[BigLebowski]

Decided I'm gonna up slightly to 140mg for the time being (got a lot on so don't wanna rock the boat too much just yet, can't be feeling like shit) and then in Jan I'll try splitting the dose up to twice a week (IE 70mg X2) as I'm on the lower side and not technically low, wait 8/12 weeks, see how I feel and get bloods including free test. I may consider eod after that time but will see how I go.

Thanks for the advice guys

 

[Gman86]

Decided I'm gonna up slightly to 140mg for the time being (got a lot on so don't wanna rock the boat too much just yet, can't be feeling like shit) and then in Jan I'll try splitting the dose up to twice a week, (IE 70mg X2) wait 8/12 weeks, see how I feel and get bloods including free test. I may consider eod after that time but will see how I go.

Thanks for the advice guys

Sounds like a pretty good plan. I personally wouldn't up your dose. With your SHBG being on the low side, you're not going to require that high of a total testosterone level to have a good free testosterone level. You're total is pretty damn good, considering it is your 3.5 day trough. So I can almost guarantee your total is at the top of the range, if not over, at it's peak. So I think it's safe to assume your free T level is in a good place. I also wouldn't up the dose because you don't know where your E2 sits. If you're not experiencing any side effects, you're risking having side effects by upping your dose. I personally wouldn't mess with it. But it depends on how you feel. You say you have no side effects, which is good, but how do you feel overall? Do you feel good?

In january, I would just try doing test and HCG EOD. You don't have to worry about raising E2 that much, because HCG and testosterone have different half lives, so they are going to peak at different times. HCG is going to peak quicker, and testosterone is going to take quite a bit longer. So just do them both on the same day, if you switch to and EOD protocol.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when you inject more frequently, the same dose can act like a little higher dose in your system. For instance, when guys switch to injecting everyday, they frequently report having to lower their dose, because their numbers all increased too much once they started injecting more frequently. So basically if you're injecting 125mg E3.5D, if you switched to injecting EOD, that same dose might act stronger in your body and raise your numbers like you were injecting 135mg E3.5D. Not sure if that made sense, but basically when you increase frequency, you usually get more bang for your buck, so to speak, out of the same dose.

 

[BigLebowski]

Sounds like a pretty good plan. I personally wouldn't up your dose. With your SHBG being on the low side, you're not going to require that high of a total testosterone level to have a good free testosterone level. You're total is pretty damn good, considering it is your 3.5 day trough. So I can almost guarantee your total is at the top of the range, if not over, at it's peak. So I think it's safe to assume your free T level is in a good place. I also wouldn't up the dose because you don't know where your E2 sits. If you're not experiencing any side effects, you're risking having side effects by upping your dose. I personally wouldn't mess with it. But it depends on how you feel. You say you have no side effects, which is good, but how do you feel overall? Do you feel good?

In january, I would just try doing test and HCG EOD. You don't have to worry about raising E2 that much, because HCG and testosterone have different half lives, so they are going to peak at different times. HCG is going to peak quicker, and testosterone is going to take quite a bit longer. So just do them both on the same day, if you switch to and EOD protocol.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when you inject more frequently, the same dose can act like a little higher dose in your system. For instance, when guys switch to injecting everyday, they frequently report having to lower their dose, because there numbers all increased too much once they started injecting more frequently. So basically if you're injecting 125mg E3.5D, if you switched to injecting EOD, that same dose might act stronger in your body and raise your numbers like you were injecting 135mg E3.5D. Not sure if that made sense, but basically when you increase frequency, you usually get more bang for your buck, so to speak, out of the same dose.

Solid advice, thank you!