Low libido on TRT

[msfarid]

Hi
5 months on TRT

Libido 2,3 month was excellent then suddenly dropped and even no morning wood!

Doctor put me in daily 5mg Cialis , it didn’t help.

Doctor says “all your blood tests are fine except below normal DHEA “ and he says low DHEA doesn’t affect libido E2,prolactin are within normal range also.
He tried to give me HCG 500IU every 3 days
But it killed my libido and my erection so we stopped it.
What do you think can boost my libido?

 

[Systemlord]

This is common to see a great libido in the beginning and a decline months later, which usually means the T levels are too high.

Men on blast and cruise report diminished libido, but once they return to normal levels, libido is back.

Gert your DHEA up because it's a precursor to other hormones.

 

[msfarid]

This is common to see a great libido in the beginning and a decline months later, which usually means the T levels are too high.

Men on blast and cruise report diminished libido, but once they return to normal levels, libido is back.

Gert your DHEA up because it's a precursor to other hormones.

Thank you
May I ask how can I get DHEA up?
DR says DHEA supplements may increase E2 levels!

 

[JmarkH]

DR says DHEA supplements may increase E2 levels!

You said your E2 levels were within normal range. DHEA isn't like a nuclear bomb of E2. If you're worried about E2 you could also supplement with zinc.

 

[MIP1950]

This is common to see a great libido in the beginning and a decline months later, which usually means the T levels are too high.

Men on blast and cruise report diminished libido, but once they return to normal levels, libido is back.

Gert your DHEA up because it's a precursor to other hormones.

We're both on t-nation, too, and you know well, the back and forth about dosing(amount & how many times a week) and the bro science. There's one guy, that, with the exception of 300 mg every two weeks, seems not to respond nor do ED meds help him. On the other end are men doing 10 mg daily or one small dose, weekly. The one physician on there has had personal success and patient success with once weekly injections up to 200 mg and a few patients, 250 mg. I believe it was six months for him before everything came together.

It's a given that generally, men come to this forum and t-nation because they're having problems with their protocols or the labs look good or, even great, and their body isn't responding. For some, more is better. For some, less is better. For some, subq. For some IM. And for some, just dead in the water. Agree that dosing adjustments take time. Months. Even a year or more. That said, I don't think it's unreasonable for a man to want to see improvements or restoration of his erectile function, in weeks, not months or years. But, what we desire crashes into the reality of individual physiology and neuroendocrine function which are not under our control.

As a 72 year old, it hurts when I read of men in their 60's or 70's getting on T, whatever the form, and experiencing restoration of erections and improved health. There's much that isn't known about TRT and the endocrine system and why some men do well, some moderately and some poorly. Dr. Chrisler had patients who had more negatives than positives on testosterone. My urologist apprenticed with Dr. Shippen, who was as much a scientist as a physician and I have to believe he had to have had patients who responded poorly or not at all. No physician, IMO, has a 100% success track record. We all just keep trying.

 

[Systemlord]

May I ask how can I get DHEA up?

It's simple, supplement DHEA. I would start at 25 mg.

DR says DHEA supplements may increase E2 levels!

You said it yourself, the only lab value that has changed since your loss of libido is the DHEA.

 

[lowe2sucks]

I never had good libido on trt and my friend who had low libido but still some before trt hes like 53 but was like 48 when I said its good thing to try.. he said it killed his natty T and now has very bad to none libido years after TRT... stay SAfe

 

[HarryCat2]

... with Dr. Shippen, who was as much a scientist as a physician and I have to believe he had to have had patients who responded poorly or not at all. ....

Yup, I was one of them.

 

[MIP1950]

Yup, I was one of them.

I'm sorry to hear that. And I'll venture that he tried many ways to resolve the issues. I don't recall if you're on TRT now.

 

[M.J]

Libido still bad on trt I have yet to find a solution for this, been almost 3 years on it.

 

[MIP1950]

I've always had sex drive with T but erectile function has been poor. For the past five or six weeks, I find my libido gets stronger towards the evening and actually get a half mast erection between 10 and 11. If I play with it, it gets quite hard for about 10 or 15 minutes. Not about to wake up my wife. She doesn't like that. No nocturnal erections, no morning wood. I don't know if what I'm experiencing is a foreshadowing of improvements to come or just a flash in the pan. I'm going to discuss Trimix on my next consult with my urologist. I've spent several years experimenting with supplements, along with my injections, and I've had enough. I'm 72, can't tolerate ED meds and I want a strong, reliable erection. Otherwise, with my luck, right before I die, I'll get an iron pipe erection. A cruel joke from the Cosmos.

 

[M.J]

I've always had sex drive with T but erectile function has been poor. For the past five or six weeks, I find my libido gets stronger towards the evening and actually get a half mast erection between 10 and 11. If I play with it, it gets quite hard for about 10 or 15 minutes. Not about to wake up my wife. She doesn't like that. No nocturnal erections, no morning wood. I don't know if what I'm experiencing is a foreshadowing of improvements to come or just a flash in the pan. I'm going to discuss Trimix on my next consult with my urologist. I've spent several years experimenting with supplements, along with my injections, and I've had enough. I'm 72, can't tolerate ED meds and I want a strong, reliable erection. Otherwise, with my luck, right before I die, I'll get an iron pipe erection. A cruel joke from the Cosmos.

I will be trying pt-141. I think I have dopamine issue trying to work on that maybe maybe I reach something.

 

[MIP1950]

I will be trying pt-141. I think I have dopamine issue trying to work on that maybe maybe I reach something.

My urologist offered to prescribe it from Empower. For me, the concern is that it might push me into a manic episode. I think, though, that I also have dopamine issues. One psychiatrist wanted to prescribe Adderal. I got it filled and never tried it. Too scared that it might jack me into a severe mania, but he was a first class doctor who did his training at Emory and he studied under some of the top docs in psychopharmacology. He a gut feeling that some of my problems were related to low dopamine. The alternative would be Selegeline, which @Cataceous uses, but I read this:

"PT-141 is a nonselective agonist that binds to melanocortin receptors. PT-141 peptide therapy activates your dopamine hormones which enhance your sexual performance and stimulate sexual motivation. PT-141 works directly on your nervous system, bypassing the vascular system entirely."

Peptide Therapy for Erectile Dysfunction - Truong ...​

https://truongrehab.com › peptide-therapy-for-erectile-dys...






rom my reading,

 

[HarryCat2]

I'm sorry to hear that. And I'll venture that he tried many ways to resolve the issues. I don't recall if you're on TRT now.

Yes, we tried some options to resolve the issues. I'm currently still
on low dose TRT.

 

[MIP1950]

Yes, we tried some options to resolve the issues. I'm currently still
on low dose TRT.

It's a shame. I'm trying 150 mg subq Test E every ten days, letting the shot run out its half life instead of the quick burst of IM, figuring a slower rise and a longer time in my system might, over time, produce something more positive. All theoretical, not based on anything I've read other than the half life of subq Test E and I guess, Test Cyp. Nothing to lose.

 

[M.J]

My urologist offered to prescribe it from Empower. For me, the concern is that it might push me into a manic episode. I think, though, that I also have dopamine issues. One psychiatrist wanted to prescribe Adderal. I got it filled and never tried it. Too scared that it might jack me into a severe mania, but he was a first class doctor who did his training at Emory and he studied under some of the top docs in psychopharmacology. He a gut feeling that some of my problems were related to low dopamine. The alternative would be Selegeline, which @Cataceous uses, but I read this:

"PT-141 is a nonselective agonist that binds to melanocortin receptors. PT-141 peptide therapy activates your dopamine hormones which enhance your sexual performance and stimulate sexual motivation. PT-141 works directly on your nervous system, bypassing the vascular system entirely."

Peptide Therapy for Erectile Dysfunction - Truong ...​

https://truongrehab.com › peptide-therapy-for-erectile-dys...






rom my reading,

The thing is I am getting injection eod to maximize my free T and since day one even with multiple protocols nothing is happening both libido and ED issues. What I find it interesting is when doing another girl I get erection and libido (not always) but not my wife it’s very difficult with my wife so I assume it’s dopamine “pleasure reward stuff” maybe ?

 

[M.J]

My urologist offered to prescribe it from Empower. For me, the concern is that it might push me into a manic episode. I think, though, that I also have dopamine issues. One psychiatrist wanted to prescribe Adderal. I got it filled and never tried it. Too scared that it might jack me into a severe mania, but he was a first class doctor who did his training at Emory and he studied under some of the top docs in psychopharmacology. He a gut feeling that some of my problems were related to low dopamine. The alternative would be Selegeline, which @Cataceous uses, but I read this:

"PT-141 is a nonselective agonist that binds to melanocortin receptors. PT-141 peptide therapy activates your dopamine hormones which enhance your sexual performance and stimulate sexual motivation. PT-141 works directly on your nervous system, bypassing the vascular system entirely."

Peptide Therapy for Erectile Dysfunction - Truong ...​

https://truongrehab.com › peptide-therapy-for-erectile-dys...






rom my reading,

Did @Cataceous reported anything good from it ?

 

[Cataceous]

... He a gut feeling that some of my problems were related to low dopamine. The alternative would be Selegeline, which @Cataceous uses, but I read this:

"PT-141 is a nonselective agonist that binds to melanocortin receptors. PT-141 peptide therapy activates your dopamine hormones which enhance your sexual performance and stimulate sexual motivation. PT-141 works directly on your nervous system, bypassing the vascular system entirely."

...​

Did @Cataceous reported anything good from it ?

This study is a little closer to the origin of the statement about dopamine.

Animal studies suggest that bremelanotide may affect female sexual desire by activating presynaptic [melanocortin receptor subtype 4] on neurons in the [medial preoptic area] of the hypothalamus, leading to increased release of [dopamine], an excitatory neurotransmitter that increases sexual desire.​

I find selegiline and PT-141 to be quite dissimilar, even if both have some influence on dopaminergic activity. PT-141 did nothing for me but cause sleep-disrupting nocturnal erections. The intensity of this effect had me worrying about unintended side effects. Selegiline seems more controllable. It reduces my prolactin, while potentially improving mood, libido and sexual function. Animal studies suggest anti-aging properties.

 

[Anonymon]

This is common to see a great libido in the beginning and a decline months later, which usually means the T levels are too high.

Men on blast and cruise report diminished libido, but once they return to normal levels, libido is back.

Gert your DHEA up because it's a precursor to other hormones.

I’ve heard all manner of dick issues but never heard them attributed to T itself being too high, mostly just things that it causes like higher E2 and other hormone imbalances people usually try correcting. Currently experimenting with lowering my doses. Be interesting to see how my dick responds. Thyroid meds put my free T and E2 much higher but help immensely with other things. AI’s do nothing for the lack of sensation I get from T3 in my dick. Before the issues started my free T and E2 were about 33% lower. Lowering my daily dose about 30%. Be hilarious if it worked. Mostly started it to see if I can counter T4 making my hair shed rapidly despite helping so much with all else.

Consider me a test case with lack of dick feelings being related to free T being too high. Going from 24mg a day to 16mg a day, and also halving my HCG dose from 720iu 3x a week to 250-300iu 3x a week since I was going to cycle that down anyway. That’s around 170mg a week + the pretty high HCG, so let’s just consider it a 200mg dose spread over a week to around a 130mg dose spread through the week since HCG will contribute a little to the free T. Likely not the HCG itself doing it since I felt better with more of it and on less I still had the issues. Cialis doesn’t affect it as it’s not blood flow related but sensation related. Does help get it in there faster though.

It’s not entirely broken but I can’t feel the inner base of it that retains the blood so it’s mostly sensation driven. Less mental connection the worse I am. And if I try to tighten the internal base like I usually can mentally, it actually seems to release the blood instead of keeping it, so I have to change how I boner on top of that and finishing nearly requires me to kill something with it.

As additional info, I’m known to have low cortisol as well. SHBG is unshakeable at 26 no matter what I do or don’t do so it’s also not that. My free T when it’s broke is 31/310 and E2 of 70’s at various times, likely 75-78 more often based on when it was. Free T when my dick was a god was 21/210ish and E2 of 52. Total T was 900ish when my free T was higher and 1320ish when my free T was lower. One test had 460 total T and almost all of it free but a lot was wrong with that test so I’ll discount It. Only other thing that helped my dick was T4 at night, not in the morning as that broke it more, and T3 spread out into hits while on enough T4.

Started lowering the dose yesterday. I’ll know within a month based on the trends.

 

[M.J]

This study is a little closer to the origin of the statement about dopamine.

Animal studies suggest that bremelanotide may affect female sexual desire by activating presynaptic [melanocortin receptor subtype 4] on neurons in the [medial preoptic area] of the hypothalamus, leading to increased release of [dopamine], an excitatory neurotransmitter that increases sexual desire.​

I find selegiline and PT-141 to be quite dissimilar, even if both have some influence on dopaminergic activity. PT-141 did nothing for me but cause sleep-disrupting nocturnal erections. The intensity of this effect had me worrying about unintended side effects. Selegiline seems more controllable. It reduces my prolactin, while potentially improving mood, libido and sexual function. Animal studies suggest anti-aging properties.

You mean it did work ? How long have you been using it for ?