Hi guys. I'm in my late 30s in general good health and in shape. Used anabolics off and on for years in my late 20s. After coming off, TT was 300ng/dl for years and my last free test was mid single digits pg/ml. I decided to try TRT to see if I could live better. My sleep has always been pretty good. I'm a vivid dreamer and can sleep for 9 hours. I usually have a couple of drinks early evening and go to bed consistently at 930-10. Usually I would wake up every other night around 2 (sometimes to piss, sometimes just because) but would fall back to sleep. Since beginning TRT I can't go back to sleep at 2 and if I do I wake up every hour. I even tried not drinking anything one night and I couldn't fall asleep until 2 then woke up every hour. I feel like I can't get to REM sleep... I'm not dreaming. The crazy part is that I am not tired just a bit out of it.
Apparently I do grind my teeth and wear a mouthguard nightly. I had a sleep study done a couple of years ago and I do not have sleep apnea. The question I have is this... is this just an adjustment period and my body will normalize? Or do I need to start tweaking things now? I can't keep doing this because I feel like I have been in hell for 10 days. As far as I can recall I have never had trouble sleeping. I used to take 500+ mg of test and other anabolics 10+ years ago and I do recall some mild insomnia, but this seems way worse.
My current protocol is 170mg of test cyp weekly divided into 2 shots. I've done 4 injections so far.
Also, is week 3 too early for hormone bloodwork just to see where this dose has my levels?
The question I have is this... is this just an adjustment period and my body will normalize? Or do I need to start tweaking things now?
You just started trt and your body is going to go through a hormonal rollercoaster.
In the beginning, your body is still producing some endogenous T and you are also injecting exogenous T which will eventually cause shut down of your hpta which can happen within 2-6 weeks depending on the dose used.
Average trt doses 100 mg/week have been shown to cause shut down within (4-6 weeks) as oppose to supra-physiological doses (250/500 mg/week) which can cause shut down much quicker (2 weeks).
It is common for many to experience sleep issues due to not only the fluctuations in T levels but also because testosterone has a tonic effect on the CNS and can easily make one feel amped up.
High T levels will cause this and seeing as you are on a fairly high starting dose of 170 mg/week (85 mg every 3.5 days) it is not surprising that you are experiencing insomnia.
Your T levels will be in FLUX leading up until when levels stabilize at 6 weeks and many can experience ups/downs during this transition and even then once levels have stabilized it can take another 2 months for the body to adapt to the new levels.
So although the insomnia you are currently experiencing may be temporary it may very well persist if your T levels end up being too high.
Only time will tell and you need to wait 6 weeks before getting blood work to see how said protocol (dose T/injection frequency) affects your TT/FT/e2 levels along with overall health markers.
I know this may be easier said than done but you are only 2 weeks in and it would be smart to just tough it out and wait until you have blood work done then decide if any adjustments need to be made.
Otherwise, take advice from others and lower your weekly dose slightly.
Most on trt are using anywhere from 100-150 mg/week and some higher up to 200 mg/week.
No one can say for sure if your dose will indeed have your T levels too high as again some men do need 150-200 mg/week to achieve a healthy FT level.
We are injecting hormones and starting low and going slow would be the most sensible approach.
