SERM "PCT" Alternatives

[sammmy]

The very name Post Cycle Therapy suggests it is invented by bodybuilders and for bodybuilders. They are the ones doing cycles. Some TRT doctors state that PCT is not necessary.

If your body hormonal systems are intact, they know how to restore when you stop TRT and no external compounds and "jump starting" are necessary.

If they don't restore, no PCT can, and you are going to have to do TRT till the end of your life. This situation is frequently encountered by people abusing anabols.

 

[gerardo]

From my understanding HCG is no longer available. Or at least that is what my provider stated. They replaced HCG with Gonadarelin. From what I have read it seems that gonadarelin lowers E2 levels. This may sound weird but anything that can lower E2 levels impacts me, I can't even have caffeine, I have cut out anything that can or may lower E2 levels. When I 1st crashed my E2 I couldn't figure out why the symptoms always got worse, so I looked into everything I was taking vitamin wise and removed everything that impacts E2 levels, then the killer anxiety went away after about a week, but the other symptoms stayed. So I removed any food or drink that could lower E2 and then my symptoms lessoned a little but never went away. I have tried everything from micro dosing test, to a large shot once a week, to every 3 days, EOD, lowering doses until I was at like 50mg per week, nothing helped. What is really weird is that I usually felt fine with my E2 levels around 11 on the sensitive test, but after the crash its been like a total nightmare at 11. I don't know what to do, my BP is super high even the BP meds aren't working to bring it down, from the constant dehydration my stomach is all fucked up, and I seem to be caring water weight which I never have done, the only thing that made an impact is when I stopped taking test, then I started to really feel better, but then with Test levels at 38, the low t symptoms took over, which was not ideal in any way shape or form, so I restarted with the test at like 10mg EOD and then the low e2 symptoms came back.....

I'm strongly considering getting off TRT after being on 1.5 years and worsening my health tremendously. Since I'm suffering from an abundance of low E2 symptoms which I would probably exacerbate majorly if I were to use SERMs. Are there any other good alternatives? Anything that antagonizes estrogen (even things like cialis) absolutely wreck me, hence my need for alternatives.

Current thoughts on potential tools for recovery:

- Triptorelin - some people have used this to recover HPTA function after failing to recover their HPTA with SERMs) by kickstarting GnRH production and all downstream hormones (LHRH -> LH -> T -> e2)
- Gonadorelin (another GnRH agonist, which sometimes is used for puberty, and I believe which @Cataceous uses for preserving some LH activity).

Any others to consider? Any input? Read story below for more info.

Back story:

I crashed my e2 for a prolonged period when I started TRT about 1.5 years ago, and it's been nothing but hell since (flat emotions, memory loss, brain fog, lack of sweating, loss of erection "fullness", loss of libido, anhedonia, apathy, anxiety, among many others).

When experimenting with exogenous estrogen, I did see some improvements in some symptoms; however, I was toying with too many variables. I may try a couple more regimens before throwing in the towel on TRT and trying to get my estrogen to work naturally (I wasn't technically hypogonadal prior to starting TRT, but I had lasting sexual side effects from SSRIs - a condition called PSSD, which is very similar to PFS with respect to symptoms).

Have you tried TRT according to the symptoms? When we stop the TRT and feel an improvement and when you start to feel the lack of testosterone again, you start the TRT again and observe the symptoms and so on. Unfortunately, there are times when we cannot find any solutions.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

From my understanding HCG is no longer available. Or at least that is what my provider stated. They replaced HCG with Gonadarelin.

hCG is definitely still available, you just have to get it from a regular pharmacy now, which threatens the TRT clinic business model of marking up compounded medicine. You can also source it from overseas pharmacies.

 

[MDavidW76]

hCG is definitely still available, you just have to get it from a regular pharmacy now, which threatens the TRT clinic business model of marking up compounded medicine. You can also source it from overseas pharmacies.

Yup, I’m on 500iu of pregnyl 2x a week and it’s spiked my total T >1500 ng/dL… I’ve had to cut back on my T injection. With 0.5ml of 200mg/ml Enanthate alone I was at ~500 ng/dL TT… I was blown away how it jumped up after the hcg.