I’ve been on Clomid exclusively for 3 years

[Bcliff3027]

Hello! New member here. I wanted to document my journey here and also see if I could get some advice. I have been on Clomid for about 3 years through a urologist. Pretreatment I had a test level of about 220. I first had my testosterone checked when I was 20 and it came back at 320 and my dr of the time would not treat me and I let it go for 9 years. I had been dealing with feeling disconnected emotionally.. the way I described it was I felt like i was playing a video game with my life. I didn't feel much. She gave me Wellbutrin and sent me out the door. Fast forward 9 years. I am still dealing with my weight, endurance mental clarity, memory, being to tired to do anything.. and reclusive aside from people I had to be around for work. He put me through the ringer of blood tests.. plus checking prostate... ultrasound on my testiculs to check for anything wrong there.. sperm count was good... everything came back normal with the exception of my blood levels ( which I do not have readily available right now.) He recommended stated TRT and I asked him about doing a trial run of Clomid. He said No. I said okay, well then can I get a referral to an endo? He said, what can they do that I can't. I said maybe try to see if it works for me. If I can make it naturally I would rather go that route rather than give up a chance in having kids one day. He reluctantly agreed to try it for a month after I showed him studies of Clomid actually working in secondary hypo.. at the end of the month my blood levels were around 600 at a 50mg dose a day. He was blown away. My eyes did feel as if they were more tired than before but my energy was way up, memory etc.. I have been there for 3 years. Now for the draw back, I have ZERO libido.. have to fight to maintain erections when I do have sex with my wife... I get over heated easily.. I believe it's all due to my estrogen being so high. Last test put me at around 60 estrogen and around 550 for testosterone. I believe the normal range was 10-48 for estrogen? He refused an AI last appointment.

I have had two kids since beginning this treatment and do not plan on having anymore. I do have concerns with my eyes feeling tired and sometimes dry and cloudy that I did not experience before beginning this treatment. I also feel more tired than I did just a few years ago during the treatment. I just had my blood drawn for another blood test this week and I have an appointment with him on 10/31. I am going to suggest a medicine change. I think I want to try,
100mg of cypionate a week
.25mg of Arimidex every 3 days
and 500UI of HCG twice a week for maintaining normal test function..

Do do you think I am making the right choice? Thank you so much for your time.

 

[Vince]

Don't take Arimidex, after you're on the TRT protocol for at least 6 weeks or longer then get the right sensitive estradiol test for men. I waited 12 weeks. When you take the wrong estradiol test your levels mean nothing.

The right estradiol test for men.
Quest 140244 sensitive estradiol LC/MS/MS
LabCorp 500108 Sensitive Estradiol LC/MS/MS

 

[Bcliff3027]

Don't take Arimidex, after you're on the TRT protocol for at least 6 weeks or longer then get the right sensitive estradiol test for men. I waited 12 weeks. When you take the wrong estradiol test your levels mean nothing.

The right estradiol test for men.
Quest 140244 sensitive estradiol LC/MS/MS
LabCorp 500108 Sensitive Estradiol LC/MS/MS

So, you think the smart move is to stop Clomid and begin standard trt?

 

[FeelingLost]

So, you think the smart move is to stop Clomid and begin standard trt?

Hi Bcliff, I'd recommend you get off Clomid for 6-8 weeks and get a full blood work up. Visit Discountlabs for a list of everything you need to measure. If your Dr gives you flack about some of them just get them all done thru discount. Only then will you know what you need. Everything else is a big guess.

 

[Bcliff3027]

Hi Bcliff, I'd recommend you get off Clomid for 6-8 weeks and get a full blood work up. Visit Discountlabs for a list of everything you need to measure. If your Dr gives you flack about some of them just get them all done thru discount. Only then will you know what you need. Everything else is a big guess.

I ran out last year about 3 weeks before the next blood test and felt terrible. Got the test done dr was confused and I told him I had ran out and he smacked his head and told me I should have called.. but I was interested in how I would feel without it.. test was back in the 200s

 

[FeelingLost]

I ran out last year about 3 weeks before the next blood test and felt terrible. Got the test done dr was confused and I told him I had ran out and he smacked his head and told me I should have called.. but I was interested in how I would feel without it.. test was back in the 200s

There is more to it than just what was your total T. it is pretty clear you have secondary hypogonadism. I'm just suggesting you need to get off of all the drugs that might effect harmones so all your harmones go to their natural lvls for you. Then you and your Doc have a great starting point. I take T and AI and HCG and DHEA but I did not start any of them until my blood told me it was needed.
Best of luck to you. You have come to the right place to get honest answers.

 

[JPB]

IF your are still taking 50 mg daily you need to titrate that down... may find you can get by with a lot less

 

[Bcliff3027]

IF your are still taking 50 mg daily you need to titrate that down... may find you can get by with a lot less

I have reduced to 25mg a day for about 5 days.. I haven’t really noticed much of a difference yet except my eyes feel a little better.

 

[JPB]

The Clomid has a very long half-life, in other words it stays in the system a long time, so it will take some time to come down.

 

[Gamnc]

I take Clomid 12.5 mg per day and I am on TRT. Been over 3 years and I test in the 500 to 600 range for total test. What I notice is the Clomid keeps my testicles in the normal size range. Before Clomid they almost disappeared. I think for me it works.

 

[ERO]

I take Clomid 12.5 mg per day and I am on TRT. Been over 3 years and I test in the 500 to 600 range for total test. What I notice is the Clomid keeps my testicles in the normal size range. Before Clomid they almost disappeared. I think for me it works.

So you are on Test and Clomid? That is unusual, but I have heard of some docs trying it for low SHBG guys to see if the Clomid will raise their SHBG. Never heard of that actually working, though.

Glad to hear its working for you!

 

[Forty2]

I ran out last year about 3 weeks before the next blood test and felt terrible. Got the test done dr was confused and I told him I had ran out and he smacked his head and told me I should have called.. but I was interested in how I would feel without it.. test was back in the 200s

Due to clomid's extremely long half life, I am extremely surprised that your T levels dropped so fast after just 3 weeks off the drug!

 

[dikow]

Due to clomid's extremely long half life, I am extremely surprised that your T levels dropped so fast after just 3 weeks off the drug!

The enclomiphene part hl is only 7 days in average I think

 

[Forty2]

The enclomiphene part hl is only 7 days in average I think

Enclomiphene actually has a half life of 10 hours. Zuclomiphene has a half life of 7 days!

 

[nurselyfe]

I would do 12.5mg-25mg once a day if you plan of staying on clomid. But seeing that fertility is not an issue, I would advise starting TRT w/ HCG. No pharmaceutical AI. Start with some Calcium Gluconate & Zinc/copper. Get bloods after 6 weeks with the sensitive E2 test, reassess from there. Be patient, its worth it.

 

[Bcliff3027]

So, I went to my Urologist appointment. He was puzzled again. Test came back at 278. I informed him that his scheduling nurse refused to get my blood drawn in the morning. I told her I had been getting it done in the morning and she said the Dr. has instructed her to not do them in the morning anymore. When I told him that he said, I would have preferred YOU get the test done in the morning, what she was referring to is my standard TRT patients. Anyways, he said he had no issues with prescribing Test Cyp. I asked him what about Estrogen management should it be a problem? He said, I don't prescribe any AI's normally for my TRT patients. I asked him about HCG and he asked why I want it. I said well it mimics LH and I wont lose all function of my testicles. He said why is that important if you are done having children? I said because what if I develope an enlarged prostate or cancer that requires me to come off of TRT. It would be nice to have the ability to make SOME test naturally. At that point he said, You need to see an Endo. This is outside the scope of my practice. I said OK! He referred me to a guy he said was good. I think I am going to go in another direction though.

Before going to the Urologist 3 years ago, I went to the Wellness Dr. They drew my blood and I came back low and said they wanted to call in a prescription for Test Cyp. I decided to call his office today and spoke with the nurse. She said, they do not accept my insurance ( its the only major insurance company that they dont ) She then said cash price, $140 for first visit, 80$ for monthly HCG that the office supplies and 100$ for every followup appointment. She said blood tests run 70$ but they do accept my insurance company so it might be less. She said they do manage estrogen should it get out of range and require their TRT patients to come in every 3 to 6 months. Sounds like a good deal or am I wrong? I looked on GoodRX and HCG from pharmacy is over 100$

 

[Bcliff3027]

I’ll also add.. I quit taking the Clomid on 10/30. I was wanting to get a head start on getting it out of my system for the new battery of blood tests I’m sure I will have to have.. ?

 

[Bcliff3027]

Adding up all of the costs it appears to cost way more than I anticipated. 2180$ for first year and 2040$ a yr after. Looking at DefyMedical I think my insurance will cover labs and it will end up costing significantly less.. at 100$ a monthish with a 10% discount first responder. That’s more doable!

 

[Bcliff3027]

I just got my lab results back

Total test 272. Range 250-1100
free test 32.6 range 35-155
SHGB. 50. Range 10-50

Depressing huh? And that’s all he did.. no estrogen or anything else

 

[Bcliff3027]

So, I was able to get access to my labs. In 2014 prior to any treatment here were my labs.
FSH 1.2 Range 1.4 - 18.1
LH 2.4 Range 1.5-9.3
SHBG 29 Range 13-71
Free Test% 2.1 Range 1.6-2.9
Free Test 51.6 Range 47-244
Total Test 248 Range 300-890

My best test Lab results 2016
SHBG 40 Range 10-50
Free Test% 1.9 Range 1.6-2.9
Free Test 101.6 Range 47-244
Total Test 539 Range 300-890