First Post... Long Journey -Help-

[SpeedJunky]

Trying to not make a wall of text here as it's really not that interesting. I've been living in basically hell for the last 10 years and need to get to the bottom of this before I off myself. (Joking, but not really somedays it feels).

(Back story)
34 now, married one child. Have had low T since I was around 26 or so. Always an avid weight lifter but never really noticed gains like my friends did NO MATTER how hard I worked out and dieted. Now at 34, I'm 190lbs, I eat super clean, still train, no gluten under 500 maintenance calories a day and cannot lose weight.
I still have muscle, but I am on an uphill battle at this point. Battled with depression, sadness, anxiety, panic attacks for the last 10 years which I'm guessing is due to my shitty genes.
So I saw many doctors. Diagnosed secondary. Years back I saw a urologist who prescribed Testim gel. I felt slightly better but my levels never raised although my libido and erections were slightly better.
Now: I'm 34, I haven't had morning erections in probably 10 years at this point but still can get and maintain erection with wife.

I started injections three weeks ago (after dealing with low T for 9 years (200 range), first at the doctors after prolonging this for a very long time to figure out whats wrong with my body/hormones. I never felt right. I've had anxiety and depression for as long as I can remember having low testosterone. I am on a 100MG a week Cyp injection, intramuscular in my thigh. (Labs to follow in 4-6 weeks per doc).

First injection three weeks ago, two days in I had libido/erections/interest in sex back like I haven't had in 15 years. (I'm 35). Major anxiety day 4-5 however. Second injection, little libido spike but not much else. Just gave myself the third injection. I know my low SHBG is a major issue and I am going to have to dose more frequently. What's odd is the doctor that prescribes this says my low SHBG is a good thing and I would respond well to TRT treatment. Everywhere I read this is completely incorrect.

Another question I have, I have A LOT of the symptoms of Hypothroidsm (but my Thyroid panel looks ok?)... joint pain and popping, fatigue, anxiety/panic attacks, weight gain no matter how much exercise or eating clean, feeling cold (feet especially), depression, memory issues and my Mom has Hashimotos. (Go figure).

I know LOW T, mimics a lot of these issues, could I have had a messed up Thyroid for the last 8 years and not a test problem or do I have TWO problems? I did have Thyroid labs done previously but noone said anything about issues.

Most recent labs:
Here are the Thyroid:
TSH with Reflex, FT4, FT3: 1.36 .... Range .36-3.74
TPO AB: 7..... Range: 0-34
Free T4: .09 ..... Range: .76 - 1.46

Testosterone
Test, Serum: 229 ..... Range: 348-1197
Free T: 12.1 ..... Range: 8.7 - 25.1
SBGH: 15 Range: 16.5 - 55
Estradiol: 20.... Range: 11-52.5
LH: 4.1 .... Range 1.7-8.6

 

[Vince Carter]

LOW SHBG can be seen as a good thing in the context that you'll have more than enough Free T which is what's important. The backside to that is that you have A LOT of Free Estrogen, too, and therein lies the very challenging part, managing that E

 

[SpeedJunky]

LOW SHBG can be seen as a good thing in the context that you'll have more than enough Free T which is what's important. The backside to that is that you have A LOT of Free Estrogen, too, and therein lies the very challenging part, managing that E

Thanks for your reply Vince, are you saying by giving that 100MG shot, with low SHBG your estrogen is going to jack way up as well?

 

[Vince]

Get a complete thyroid panel with TSH, free T4, free T3, and reverse T3. Did you have both antibodies done.

 

[S1W]

You should strongly consider splitting your dosage up to at least 50mg 2x/week. Some guys will likely chime in and recommend that you inject more frequently than that.

 

[Vince Carter]

Thanks for your reply Vince, are you saying by giving that 100MG shot, with low SHBG your estrogen is going to jack way up as well?

100mg once per week is a very poor choice, should be more like that 100mg split up to EOD shots and yes your E would be a typical response to go very high though everyone is different.

 

[SpeedJunky]

You should strongly consider splitting your dosage up to at least 50mg 2x/week. Some guys will likely chime in and recommend that you inject more frequently than that.

This was my thought as well. I didn't want to mess with dosage until I had labs done as they need a trough day, then post injection lab but I'm 4 weeks from that.

 

[SpeedJunky]

100mg once per week is a very poor choice, should be more like that 100mg split up to EOD shots and yes your E would be a typical response to go very high though everyone is different.

Talking Sub Q injections I assume M W F and so forth? (I've done a lot of research and reading to prepare for this journey)

 

[Vince Carter]

That's one way to do it, good place to start.

 

[SpeedJunky]

Anyone else experience joint cracking and popping? (Mostly from elbows, wrists, knees and ankles)

This has been going on for probably a year now. (Prior TRT)

 

[SpeedJunky]

Today was injection day, I'm going to try doing twice a week. Didn't ask the doc but I'm just dividing doses every 3.5 days.

 

[Evilwhitey]

I went straight onto 3x a week because of my low SHBG and still feel high E symptoms before my shots. I can't imagine doing one injection a week, I'd probably be a mess.

 

[SpeedJunky]

I went straight onto 3x a week because of my low SHBG and still feel high E symptoms before my shots. I can't imagine doing one injection a week, I'd probably be a mess.

Yea, anxiety on day 4-5 was a total blast.

 

[Tgrappler]

looking at the scale your E2 is on the low side. many symptoms you describe are similar to low estradiol. i am currently going through the same crap.

my T has been up and down my E2 had been up and down, nothing messes with me emotionally and physically as fluctuations in estradiol.
E2 has to be in the right range and some people (myself included) are extremely sensitive to these changes. for me it is much better if my E2 is on the higher-end of the scale. if we go from 0 - 30, i seem to be doing best around 22-25. it's really quite different for everyone, but definitely something to consider.

the reason i say your E2 is on the lower end, is because middle would be at 52.5/2 = 26.25 and you are about 6 points below that. you might feel better if you get it up to 27-30.

i seem to convert T poorly (or incorrectly), so for me it's very easy to bump E2 into the high zone. that said, low E2 symptoms are similar but for me significantly worse than high E2.

some things that can help regulate conversion:
- zinc
- magnesium
- b12
- macca powder
- shilajit
- alpha prime by atp sicence. (google this one, there's a lot of info)
- DIM (but afaik, it's mostly good to reduce high E2, atp science also has podcasts and blogs about estradiol and DIM). personally after adding DIM i seem to be a lot more functional.

 

[SpeedJunky]

looking at the scale your E2 is on the low side. many symptoms you describe are similar to low estradiol. i am currently going through the same crap.

my T has been up and down my E2 had been up and down, nothing messes with me emotionally and physically as fluctuations in estradiol.
E2 has to be in the right range and some people (myself included) are extremely sensitive to these changes. for me it is much better if my E2 is on the higher-end of the scale. if we go from 0 - 30, i seem to be doing best around 22-25. it's really quite different for everyone, but definitely something to consider.

the reason i say your E2 is on the lower end, is because middle would be at 52.5/2 = 26.25 and you are about 6 points below that. you might feel better if you get it up to 27-30.

i seem to convert T poorly (or incorrectly), so for me it's very easy to bump E2 into the high zone. that said, low E2 symptoms are similar but for me significantly worse than high E2.

some things that can help regulate conversion:
- zinc
- magnesium
- b12
- macca powder
- shilajit
- alpha prime by atp sicence. (google this one, there's a lot of info)
- DIM (but afaik, it's mostly good to reduce high E2, atp science also has podcasts and blogs about estradiol and DIM). personally after adding DIM i seem to be a lot more functional.

Thank you for this. I always wondered if low E2 was the cause of all my problems due to my low T.