How do you know when to take an AI.

[firefighterinNC]

Still working with a urologist to get dialed in.

My complaints about lack of libido and sensitivity downstairs are still my biggest issues. Energy and sleep quality seemed to be getting better. I was actually saying to myself I felt pretty good lately and at times for 1-2 days infrequently I think libido is getting better, but it's gone just a quick.

My urologist recently upped my dose to 150 mg of test cyp split into two doses weekly, he did mention he has folks take test cypionate eod and they have good success. My sensitive e2 came back in the at 52 and my testosterone was 1128. He suggested checking prolactin which was 9.7 ng/ml, so that was normal.
He also gave me aromatase inhibitor anastrozole and told me to take a quarter. I don't like that the way that makes me feel at all, depressed and irritable. The previous urologist prescribed aromasin and I did not have that depressed irritable feeling when I took it.
The current urologist just didn't have many answers for me. He said I might not be on high enough dose to get my levels to where they need to be. He said some folks sometimes need an ester change and some folks have to get estrogen under control. He said mine was elevated but not bad ( whatever that means). He wanted me to give it 8 weeks and re evaluate.

His response was to take the AI as needed.
I guess i'm dumbfounded here, when and how do I know when this would be needed? I just had a follow up with my pcp and I told her I felt like the increasing of the dose was the wrong way to go but she told me to just stay the course and see how it went at the 8 week follow up. I'm on week 3 of this dose increase and I can feel this inner anxiety creeping up this week that I didn't have the previous two weeks. Financially I don't have the means to get independent labs so i'm trying to work with my pcp and my urologist.
One thing i have noticed is that towards the end of my week if I miss an injection day or go past an injection date my libido increases. That makes me think i'm on to high of a dose, but what do I know.
Regards,

 

[madman]

Yeah being 24hrs past I feel like my numbers would have been closer to what they were before in the 900-1000+ range on testosterone but free t i'm not really sure. All that said, this stuff is a massive pain in the butt. I never thought it would be so complicated


Do you think its reasonable to just try for 80-100mg a week and split the dose every other day? I know its not what the doctor ordered me on but I'm 4 weeks in on the 150mg a week and not seeing any improvement in libido or energy etc.

If you want to try injecting lower doses more frequently then an EOD protocol would suffice.

Main benefit here is you will be clipping the peak--->trough and blood levels will be more stable throughout the week which some men fare better on.

Downfall here is if you still end up running too high a trough/steady-state FT you will most likely struggle with elevated hematocrit as it is not only the high supra-physiological peaks that play a role here but more importantly running a high trough/steady-state FT.

Some men will jump on dailies in hopes of managing elevated hematocrit/estradiol yet they still end up struggling because they are still running too high a steady-state FT level.

I still think you would be far better off giving oral TU a go otherwise you will need to start over on a lower weekly dose/manipulate injection frequency and work your way up slowly if you plan on sticking with the injections.

Trial and error.

Do what you feel is best for you!