I'm thinking of quitting trt. Should I

[Mike9876]

I started TRT just over 4 weeks ago.

Here are my pre-TRT bloods.
Test 8.4nmol/L Range 8.3-29
Free Test 191.5 pmol/L 255-725
Oestradiol 97pmol/L 50-150
SHBG 20nmol/L 11-71

For the first 2 weeks I felt good. Then around week 3 I started to have feelings of anxiety and low mood. I had a blood test done earlier this week and everything was in the normal range.

Test 18nmol/L Range 8.3-29
Free Test 457 pmol/L 255-725
Oestradiol 93pmol/L 50-150
SHBG 18nmol/L 11-71

The most recent advice seems to be that due to my SHBG being low, I might need to change to EOD injections. Now, to add more variables into the mix, I also found out my ex is with someone else not long after we had been together, which is causing me a lot of grief emotionally. HOWEVER, I have no way of knowing how I would have felt about this if I wasn't on TRT. I have been extremely emotional and low. Not to the point of being suicidal, but completely understanding how hormones levels can make people do that. I'm at the point where I feel like I'll never feel good again.

The dilemma I'm facing is, do I quit now and give my natural testosterone production a good chance to bounce back quickly. Or do I just keep going for a bit longer and hopefully everything will come good?

 

[30005Gator]

TRT takes a lot of time. Your body has to adjust and rewire in order to get used to the higher concentration of T. It can take months. Check this out: https://www.nebido.com/en/hcp/research/testosterone-tools/effects-tool.php

I doubt your TRT is causing your depression. It is more than likely the hurt you have from the breakup and quick bounceback by your gf. Go talk to someone, or better yet, go rebound and hookup.

How often do you inject now? I think you would be better off with EOD shots (based on other low SHBG cases). Your Free T is disappearing too quickly. Keep going with it, but change to EOD.

 

[stevep]

Its a personal choice, but if it was me I'd hang in there and continue my treatment. Only being 4 weeks your body has not fully adjusted to your injections. After six weeks and another set of blood work I'd be curious where your SHGB is in comparison and if still on the lower side consider more frequent injections. As mentioned individuals with lower SHGB have better success with more frequent injections.

I don't know how long she was your GF, but time will heal your heart and you'll find someone else. Stay busy; go to the gym, go get laid, just stay busy with your buds.

 

[Mountain Man]

Your depression would seem to have nothing to do with the TRT. I'd think that, given what you are dealing with emotionally, you may want your testosterone to be optimized in the near future. Get yourself healthy physically and emotionally and move on. Too many guys today try to remain friends with exes, following them on social media and everywhere else. Forget that and her. Move on. Having good testosterone will help, as will working on your health. There are 3.75 billion women on the planet and in time you will find the right one for you. Sorry to be so blunt, but she hurt you when the relationship ended. Anything you are feeling now is you hurting yourself. Counseling, a rigorous exercise routine, TRT and a positive view of the future is what you need right now. Remember, she is your ex fo a reason.

 

[Alldayeveryday]

4 weeks is not long enough. Your hormone levels were at disease state before TRT! It sucks seeing someone you cared about moving on but why punish yourself for it by going back to disease state? Focus on you and living an extraordinary life. Work. Train your butt off. Buy some new clothes. Trade in that piece of crap car. Get a cool hobby. Turn into a rock star and you will be saying "what was her name again?".

 

[Systemlord]

What's happening to you is common, it usually take 1-3 weeks for your pituitary gland to shutdown do to exogenous testosterone and end the honeymoon phase. You must be patient and wait for your body to adapt to the exogenous testosterone, your head will start to become clearer and the benefits in the coming weeks will become clear if your hormones are balanced out. Often some tweaking is needed and most require at least several months to find the right dosage, how long this takes is determined by the skill of your doctor.

Your SHBG is no lower than mine at my 4 week checkin, you'll just require more frequent injections than someone with high SHBG. Possibly smaller injections EOD, I don't respond well to TRT unless I'm injecting EOD. I'm concerned that you don't have any thyroid labs, if you start TRT with low thyroid function (me) your results will be unimpressive and you may feel worse than pre-TRT.

I've been on TRT for a year and all this time I had hypothyroidism, my results have been poor as a result. My doctor only believes in TSH testing and missed the high Reverse T3 and high levels of thyroid antibodies test that shows my thyroid is being attacked by my immune system. So that means my SHBG is being suppressed by hypothyroidism and should be higher than my pre-TRT SHBG level of 22 nmol/L.

 

[Mike9876]

Thanks a lot for the replies and the encouragement and advice. It has definitely helped. Regarding the Thyroid, I did get a complete thyroid test and everything came back in the normal range. I will continue on but I will change to EOD. Thanks again.

 

[Will Brink]

The dilemma I'm facing is, do I quit now and give my natural testosterone production a good chance to bounce back quickly. Or do I just keep going for a bit longer and hopefully everything will come good?

Do you not already have an existing thread on this very topic?

 

[Systemlord]

Thanks a lot for the replies and the encouragement and advice. It has definitely helped. Regarding the Thyroid, I did get a complete thyroid test and everything came back in the normal range. I will continue on but I will change to EOD. Thanks again.

The normal range is a problem, you can still have hypothyroidism with labs in the normal range. Low Free T3 but in range will present with symptoms, fat gain being one of them.

Don't bow to the God of normal, bow to the God of optimal.

 

[Mike9876]

The normal range is a problem, you can still have hypothyroidism with labs in the normal range. Low Free T3 but in range will present with symptoms, fat gain being one of them.

Don't bow to the God of normal, bow to the God of optimal.

Ok, understood. Here are my results:

TSH 2.1 Range 0.5-4
FT3 5 Range 3.5-6
FT4 19 Range 10-20
TGAb 20 Range <41
TPOAb 37 Range <60

Another thing I should mention, which I know I will probably get tons of criticism for, is that I am doing this without a doctor and sourced my own testosterone. I contacted several doctors, a couple which specialise in trt, all of which said I wasn't eligible for trt because my levels weren't low enough. Here in Australia it's not like there in the US. You have to be extremely low before you can get trt. So I sourced my own testosterone. As much as I have done my research and the brand does seem to be a decent one, LA Pharma, I do have my concerns that it hasn't come through an actual pharmacy with a prescription. My options were, do it this way, or don't do it at all. Ok, I'm ready for the backlash...

 

[Mike9876]

Hi guys. I really need help. I am seriously considering getting off TRT. Tomorrow will be exactly 6 weeks since I started. I am feeling emotionally terrible. The problem is that I have things going on in my life, well, one thing that is causing me a severe amount of emotional pain. The thing is, I have no way of knowing if I would be feeling this way if I hadn't been on Testosterone. I really feel like I wouldn't be feeling this way if I wasn't. I am feeling emotions that I have never felt before in my life. It's like being severely depressed and feeling like life will never be good again. I am also having anxiety, which I have never had before. I'm ashamed to say it, but if I didn't have a daughter, I think I would be borderline suicidal. I could never have imagined it would be possible to feel this way. I feel like I just want to get out of my body, or my head, or something... My question is, what am I likely to experience if I stop TRT now after 6 weeks?

 

[Deleted member 16042]

You have not said what you are actually taking, and nothing about dosage.

What form of testosterone are you taking and what dose? Is it just Testosterone? Are you taking anastrazole? anything else?

What you describe is similar to what I experienced with depressed estradiol (E2 crash) from doctor prescribing aromatase inhibitor as initial protocol when my E2 was 10.

 

[Mike9876]

For the first few weeks I was taking 50mg Testosterone Cypionate and 300iu HCG twice a week. Once I started feeling bad, it was recommended that I might do better to cut out the HCG for now. So I did that around week 3. Then it was suggested, due to my low SHBG that EOD injections would be better for me. So around a week ago I swiched to 30mg Test EOD.

 

[lowe2sucks]

who recommended you to cut hcg?

 

[Systemlord]

I didn't start to feel good until week 6, but it took longer to really feel good. Your levels look great, just give it more time and recheck all your levels.

 

[FeelingLost]

Hi guys. I really need help. I am seriously considering getting off TRT. Tomorrow will be exactly 6 weeks since I started. I am feeling emotionally terrible. The problem is that I have things going on in my life, well, one thing that is causing me a severe amount of emotional pain. The thing is, I have no way of knowing if I would be feeling this way if I hadn't been on Testosterone. I really feel like I wouldn't be feeling this way if I wasn't. I am feeling emotions that I have never felt before in my life. It's like being severely depressed and feeling like life will never be good again. I am also having anxiety, which I have never had before. I'm ashamed to say it, but if I didn't have a daughter, I think I would be borderline suicidal. I could never have imagined it would be possible to feel this way. I feel like I just want to get out of my body, or my head, or something... My question is, what am I likely to experience if I stop TRT now after 6 weeks?

Hi Mike so sorry to hear this is not working out for you. You can totally quit cold turkey and your body will just return to whatever it was before you started TRT.
You don't need a post cycle therapy plan “PCT” or anything like that at your TRT dose. Just stop taking everything and move on with your life.

 

[Mike9876]

lowe2sucks, a couple of guys on here said that some guys just don't do well on HCG and recommended I cut it out for now and see how that goes.

feelinglost, thanks for the recommendation and advice about being able to stop.

I guess what I really want to know is, has anyone here seen this before - where someone starts feeling terrible after starting TRT? I should say that for the first couple of weeks I did feel pretty good and had more energy compared to pre-TRT. It's all gone downhill very quickly since then though and I'm so confused about it all. I'm thinking that given how unbelievably bad I'm feeling, it would be best to stop for now. There's nothing to say that at some point in the future I can't give it another go.

 

[Systemlord]

I think your problem is the HCG and not TRT. I guess if you quit now you'll never know if it was the HCG that was making you feel bad.

I know where I'll place my bet.

 

[lowe2sucks]

in my experience hcg prevented testosterone from doing it's job that's why i was so hesistant when my doctor wanted me on hcg so it's worth trying!
but if you want to have kids one day you need to be on hcg or if you ever want to restart yourself to function on your natural testosterone hcg would make it easier to come off

 

[Mike9876]

Thanks for the replies. I did stop the HCG a few weeks ago. Would it still be affecting me now?