How quickly does Aromatization occur?

[TRicker]

How quickly does aromatization occur?

The reason I ask is, lately I've been feeling worse sexually (low libido, ed, dick turtling, etc) the day after my injection. Can aromatization occur this quickly? Or is that I'm throwing off my test/E2 ratio?
I've been told by my clinic that estrogen slowly creeps up, but can be shot down quickly with an AI. Does the same idea hold for lower shbg guys?

This happened the day after my last 50mg injection. I think some would advise on lowering the dose, however this has never happened before on higher dosages. With a lower shbg of 17 (mostly from TRT), I know that low shbg means higher free test and higher free E2. I have lowered my overall TRT dosage, but this never occurred when I began TRT on a 200mg/week in one injection. Last year I started splitting the dosage (100mg/2x week), and then lowering the dosage (50mg/2x week), and it still never happened.

Ever since I did my 5 month fertility run of enclomiphene (25mg/day) last year, I haven't felt the same, and TRT doesn't seem to have the same effects. I wonder if enclo somehow changed my physiologically, or if being very low testosterone for 5 months changed me. Despite having low shbg, the best I ever felt was from doing 200mg/week with hcg and an ai when needed.

 

[Cataceous]

Both testosterone and estradiol rise quickly within a day of an injection; estradiol follows testosterone, as testosterone is its primary ingredient. The conversion rate also depends on the current amount of aromatase. A separate issue is the extent to which TRT and/or enclomiphene can change the amount of aromatase over time. And you bring up another question: Can effects on aromatase persist after treatment is ended? The regulation of aromatase is complex and location-dependent. Wikipedia notes "Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors." With so many factors going into an overall observed rate of aromatization, it's little surprise that conflicting anecdotes are common.

Keep in mind that at a fixed testosterone dose rate, changes in SHBG do not have much effect on the levels of the free hormones. Free hormone levels are driven directly by the dose or production rates. In contrast, total hormone levels vary as a function of their free hormone levels, along with other variables, such as the levels of SHBG and albumin.

 

[TRicker]

A separate issue is the extent to which TRT and/or enclomiphene can change the amount of aromatase over time

If you had to guess, do you think enclomiphene treatment would increase the amount of aromatase?

During my 5 months of enclomiphene for fertility, I gained 25lbs of fat that I'm having trouble losing. I wasn't sure if it was the enclomiphene, or the fact that I had low testosterone levels for 5 months, or maybe it greatly raised or reduced aromatase activity.

 

[Cataceous]

My guess is that enclomiphene may increase aromatase. My results are inconclusive, however. In a first year of use there was no discernible increase in the rate of aromatization. In the second year it was higher, but there were confounding factors. In a study on Androxal it was noted that enclomiphene increased estradiol. Unfortunately they didn't provide the data needed to determine if the increase was more than would be expected from higher testosterone alone.

If I'm remembering correctly, estradiol in the presence of healthy levels of testosterone is favorable for body composition. But a skewing of the ratio towards estradiol is linked to higher body fat. This might be one of the studies I'm thinking of.

Androgen deficiency accounted for decreases in lean mass, muscle size, and strength; estrogen deficiency primarily accounted for increases in body fat; and both contributed to the decline in sexual function.​