new member, hello everyone!

[jsmitty]

Hey everyone Im 30 years old and have been on HCG monotherapy for a year now. I tried clomid first and that seemed to do nothing. My levels before treatment were right in the 400s and had low T symptoms for well over a year before my endo referred me to a specialist because he didnt know enough about treating a younger guy like me. I had gone in to see him initially because of my symptoms and I suspected I had a varicocele which I read could cause low T. Which the endi confirmed I had but not bad enough to operate.

A year later I went back to him after doing my own research, still complaining about the symptoms and he finally said that my levels were low for my age and referred me.

Ive had some ups and downs with my treatment. My T was way too high above 1500 at first. Then we got it into the low 1000s but then Ive had trouble with my estradiol now. I think we maybe finally getting me where I need to be. Currently switched to 1000iu novarel every 3 days. 20mgs of tamoxifen and 1mg of anastrozole per day. Going in for a check up on Tues. Last blood draw this week 896 total t, 21.9 estrodial. So I should have some updates on my treatment plan after then. So happy to have found this forum so I can see what other guys are doing and compare. I dont know anyone on trt.

Thanks!

 

[Vettester Chris]

Welcome to EM. Glad you joined, you came to the right place.

I don't want your introduction thread to be a lecture by any means, BUT I'm telling you from the bottom of my heart that you will be seeing the dark side real hard, real soon with a 1mg/day dosage of Anastrozole!! That's 7mg/week!! Everybody has their take, but I would never recommend anything over 2mg/wk. Even if that much is needed, it's a sign that things need to be tapered down with the protocol.

If you have your dosage adjusted to the right amount, you can get your E2 under control in relatively good time with some smaller dosages, going 3x week. Keep in mind, it doesn't have to come down all at once. If it takes a month or more to get in range, so be it. Much, much better than crash & burn, then having to go through estro rebound.

On a side note, several years ago, a friend of mine on another forum ended up bedridden for several months when he was doing something like 5mg/week. His immune system was wrecked and he was down and out going nowhere real fast. Although, there are more powerful inhibitors like Letro, Anastrozole is some potent stuff and it can do some damage if not managed correctly.

Again, welcome to the forum. This is a great community!

 

[jsmitty]

Thanks for the input Im definitely gonna talk to my doctor about that this week. Id like to hear from some other people too on here about this and if there are any doctors please comment.

 

[Vettester Chris]

Thanks for the input Im definitely gonna talk to my doctor about that this week. Id like to hear from some other people too on here about this and if there are any doctors please comment.

Completely agree! We have some great minds on this forum, and also some notable physicians that specialize in HRT will occasionally post here, so hoping there will be a plethora of comments from any and all.

 

[jsmitty]

Completely agree! We have some great minds on this forum, and also some notable physicians that specialize in HRT will occasionally post here, so hoping there will be a plethora of comments from any and all.

Also my last blood draw was a few days ago and my e2 was 21.6 so much lower from the 90 something it was a couple months ago. Total test was 896. But im definitely concerned now about my estrogen going too low.

 

[Vettester Chris]

Also my last blood draw was a few days ago and my e2 was 21.6 so much lower from the 90 something it was a couple months ago. Total test was 896. But im definitely concerned now about my estrogen going too low.

Yeah, if that's going on a "Sensitive" assay platform, like Labcorp, you probably don't want to go much lower than that. 25 to 35 tends to be about the best range for me. For me that area/range is where skin, nails, hair, libido, and just general well being seems to be.

It's a real delicate balancing act. It's a very vital hormone for men, but it's a fine line with too much or too little. In similar contrast it's the same with testosterone for females, where in a lot of cases some will find 45ng/dl to 70ng/dl will be sufficient for BHRT purposes, but it's not a very big window when you compare the deviations with ranges for men.

 

[TheyCallMeTrinity]

jsmitty, I just saw this old post ... did you ever do anything about your varicocele issue? Such as surgery? I have had that on my left side for most of my adult life, but it just recently started causing me pain - bad enough it's been distracting me for a week and it' shard to work or concentrate on other things.

I see there are a lot of natural things you can try (loose clothing, sleeping without underwear, keep abdominal pressure low, sleep naked, cold shower, etc), but that's not working well for me. Just a darn dull ache/pain that won't go below of 3-4 on scale of 10. Orgasm seems to help, but that is not a full solution.

Thanks!

Jeremy

 

[DLK]

Trinity, I noticed you posted on two old threads to get some input on a varicocele issue, I think you would get better input by starting a new thread on it.

 

[jsmitty]

jsmitty, I just saw this old post ... did you ever do anything about your varicocele issue? Such as surgery? I have had that on my left side for most of my adult life, but it just recently started causing me pain - bad enough it's been distracting me for a week and it' shard to work or concentrate on other things.

I see there are a lot of natural things you can try (loose clothing, sleeping without underwear, keep abdominal pressure low, sleep naked, cold shower, etc), but that's not working well for me. Just a darn dull ache/pain that won't go below of 3-4 on scale of 10. Orgasm seems to help, but that is not a full solution.

Thanks!

Jeremy

Jeremy,

The natural things that you listed I found actually made the pain worse. I find it best to wear briefs or real tight boxer briefs to give me better support in that area. Wearing boxers or sleeping at night without underwear always aggravated my situation. I would not consider surgery because it doesn't hurt bad enough although it is annoying. Try wearing briefs for a while and see if that helps. It does act up more sometimes when Ive been doing a lot of ab exercises or straining real hard but the doctor didn't think it was bad enough to consider surgery at this time.

 

[Vince]

I never heard of varicocele, so I looked it up. I found an interesting explantion at the Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/varicocele/basics/definition/con-20024164

 

[TheyCallMeTrinity]

Trinity, I noticed you posted on two old threads to get some input on a varicocele issue, I think you would get better input by starting a new thread on it.

DLK, yes, I am probably going to post a new thread also to get input from current users, but I believe posters (such as jsmitty) are notified immediately of posts to THEIR threads, so I am covering my base by reaching out to someone who specifically mentioned this issue in a posting.

I doubt he's watching every new thread on this quite active forum.

 

[TheyCallMeTrinity]

Jeremy,

The natural things that you listed I found actually made the pain worse. I find it best to wear briefs or real tight boxer briefs to give me better support in that area. Wearing boxers or sleeping at night without underwear always aggravated my situation. I would not consider surgery because it doesn't hurt bad enough although it is annoying. Try wearing briefs for a while and see if that helps. It does act up more sometimes when Ive been doing a lot of ab exercises or straining real hard but the doctor didn't think it was bad enough to consider surgery at this time.

Thanks for sharing your experiences & knowledge, jsmitty!

Yes, I noticed a majority of articles said orgasm can make pain worse, but it actually helped me - so it's definitely sort of a "try what works best for each person" issue it appears. I do feel a little better each day. I'll stay off any lower-body workouts for a while. I still plan on also trying to talk my TRT Doc into an ultra-sound test and hopefully a urologist consult just to check things out. I can't imagine living another 40-50 years and not needing to see one at least once, so probably a good name to have for future reference anyway.

My TRT doc is a cash office and has given me great referrals for other clinics with huge discounts with cash vs. insurance. For example, I just had a $250 echo-cardiogram, which I think if Insurance bills is like $1,500-$2K. So maybe I can get a great cash price on an ultra-sound varicocele test, but I bet anything I have to do through a Urologist will cost big $$.

 

[daniel_walker]

hello jsmitty welcome to the forum