First set of Follow Up Labs since Starting TRT. Looking for Feedback

[Gibbon]

My sleep has now gone to absolute crap the last few days as well. High BP and I am waking up every hour regardless of what I do. Wired and awake right now at 3 AM. My sleep had gotten somewhat better, but since my BP has spiked, it has gone to garbage.

Maybe your dose is too high........Sounds like what I experienced. Look at your free levels and adjust your dose. Going down can be rough as is going up at times but I believe many people think hormones in flux while adjusting point to free t not being high enough so they think more is better. Seems like the only thing you haven't tried is lowering your dose.

 

[joetown2001]

Maybe your dose is too high........Sounds like what I experienced. Look at your free levels and adjust your dose. Going down can be rough as is going up at times but I believe many people think hormones in flux while adjusting point to free t not being high enough so they think more is better. Seems like the only thing you haven't tried is lowering your dose.

I am contemplating going down to 90 a week. My doc prescribed telmisartan 40 mg to me today. I chose it over losartan for the longer half life and other benifits I researched. I am also going to check into my cortisol levels. My BP has been slowly creeping up for years, even before TRT. It is also hereditary on my father side of the family, as my father had it and so did my grandfather. My father used to run 4 miles a day in his 40s and was on blood pressure medication. Anyone on telmisartan know how long it usually takes to start working?

 

[Gibbon]

My total is in the low 400's at trough. Free T is 16 (scale 7 to 24ish). I inject EOD. What do you think my weekly dose is?

 

[joetown2001]

My total is in the low 400's at trough. Free T is 16 (scale 7 to 24ish). I inject EOD. What do you think my weekly dose is?

My guess is 90 or 100 a week

 

[Gibbon]

My guess is 90 or 100 a week

It was a little bit of trick question because you are focusing on high doses so I apologize but 42 mg/wk is all I take. Few years ago I started at 80 mg/wk and free T just kept going up after my body adjusted and SHBG dropped. I have had SHGB as low as 11 but right now it is around 17. I am probably an outlier (am I really?) but many won't know if lower doses work for them because of the more is better mentality. I believe nobody should be tied to the mg/wk is what I HAVE to take or I CANNOT go down past this mg/wk. We are all so different so if something isn't working decide and just try it. It's how you feel AND levels. My sleep, cognitive function, libido, and everthing else is better. At 80 mg/wk I was exhausted all of the time and put on about 10 pounds of water weight and after titrating down (not a pleasant experience) I lost all of that and I can work out longer. You may be surprised that 60 mg/wk may make you feel much better. The first 3 weeks will not be a pleasant experience even though after a few days or week your sleep may improve. You cannot let hormones in flux dictate that your change is a failure. You have to give it 3 months at any change to know.

 

[joetown2001]

It was a little bit of trick question because you are focusing on high doses so I apologize but 42 mg/wk is all I take. Few years ago I started at 80 mg/wk and free T just kept going up after my body adjusted and SHBG dropped. I have had SHGB as low as 11 but right now it is around 17. I am probably an outlier (am I really?) but many won't know if lower doses work for them because of the more is better mentality. I believe nobody should be tied to the mg/wk is what I HAVE to take or I CANNOT go down past this mg/wk. We are all so different so if something isn't working decide and just try it. It's how you feel AND levels. My sleep, cognitive function, libido, and everthing else is better. At 80 mg/wk I was exhausted all of the time and put on about 10 pounds of water weight and after titrating down (not a pleasant experience) I lost all of that and I can work out longer. You may be surprised that 60 mg/wk may make you feel much better. The first 3 weeks will not be a pleasant experience even though after a few days or week your sleep may improve. You cannot let hormones in flux dictate that your change is a failure. You have to give it 3 months at any change to know.

Bumping down 10 and going from there. My 48 hour trough for free testosterone was over 24 on my last labs in July. I don’t feel like I need to be quite that high, but I was also feeling really good for about the past 4-5 weeks before my blood pressure spiked again.

Talking to my PCP yesterday about how high my blood pressure got when I had Covid. He thinks it possible that it’s the reason why my blood pressure has gotten so high, i.e. long Covid. I know multiple people who had a blood pressure spike that never went back down after getting Covid over the last few years.

There’s a good chance that my blood pressure never really went back down even after my symptoms went away back in the beginning of August. It may just be at a point now over the last week and a half that the toll of it has now started causing the physical symptoms. I was at about 170/100 at the doctors yesterday afternoon. My doctor came in after the nurse took the reading and said we need to get you on some meds now.

After one dose last night I was reading low 140s over high 90s at lunch time. Hopefully it’ll stabilize after a week or two of meds.

 

[Gibbon]

good luck, I hope everything calms down for you.

 

[joetown2001]

good luck, I hope everything calms down for you.

Thanks. Me too.