TRT labs

[greenwaters]

Just got my labs back, and I'm surprised. I was expecting my numbers to be off. I have been feeling just off, not seeing any progress in my body, and I lift 3–5 times a week. Struggling with weight loss, and I inject only once a week because injecting more than once has always made me fatigue and made me feel abnormal. I think it's because I suffer from hypopituitarism(due to pituitary tumor) , which results in hypothyroidism for me. Prolactin levels normal, cortisol up and down, and treated off and on. IGF-1 is 160, but I failed a growth hormone stimulation test, which means I dont produce it. Currently battling insurance for that treatment. I just feel like Im missing something.

Medications- Test CYP 125mg once per week
Synthroid- 125mg


Total Tesosterone-698 (range 250-1100) 7th day after injection which shocked me, and confirms I do fairly well on once a week.

Free Testosterone- 129.9 (range 35-250)

SHBG-29 (range 10-50)

Estradiol(not ultrasensitive) 47, which the lab says is high.

 

[Systemlord]

I wouldn’t chase your tail trying to dial in in on TRT with a growth hormone deficiency.

You can’t circumvent the problem.

 

[Cataceous]

Chances are good you're on a testosterone roller coaster. Peak levels with weekly cypionate are going to be around two to three times trough levels. So you're looking at 1,400-2,100 ng/dL, which is not physiological. If overall health is more important than musculature then you might consider a significant dose reduction along with a frequency increase, e.g. 20-25 mg EOD. Keep in mind that you could take half as much testosterone as currently and still be getting about the same as the average healthy young guy makes naturally.

 

[greenwaters]

Chances are good you're on a testosterone roller coaster. Peak levels with weekly cypionate are going to be around two to three times trough levels. So you're looking at 1,400-2,100 ng/dL, which is not physiological. If overall health is more important than musculature then you might consider a significant dose reduction along with a frequency increase, e.g. 20-25 mg EOD. Keep in mind that you could take half as much testosterone as currently and still be getting about the same as the average healthy young guy makes naturally.

Its not a roller coaster, I've been on trt for close to 5 years, and I've always had these numbers on once a week injections. I've tried the twice a week and eod protocol and it just made me feel horrible. I figured my numbers had changed, since I haven't felt the greatest lately, but to my surprise, they're actually better than I expected.

 

[Cataceous]

You may not perceive it as a roller coaster, but it's still likely that you have a large fluctuation in serum testosterone, with even your average level above what's seen in normal physiology. I maintain that this is ill-advised for anyone concerned with overall health. One might speculate that you felt worse with more frequent injections because that raised your trough testosterone and eliminated your weekly respite from excessive levels. Alternatively it could have been withdrawal-type symptoms from the reduction in peak levels. These would fade over time.

 

[Phil Goodman]

I agree with systemlord in that you’re probably overlooking the obvious. I’d say it’s more likely your issues are a result of not producing growth hormone and/or your hypothyroidism. The trt is helping, but it will never be able to fix those issues.

But for the sake of discussing that since it’s what the thread is about, how do you feel over the course of the week? Any changes? I ask because it may be that you need higher levels(and yes I understand that more often than not people should view a decrease in dose as the first approach). When you went to a multiple times/week protocol did you increase your dose? It could be that you prefer that extra high peak, and the lower more frequent doses didn’t get you close enough to it. Increasing your dose could help with that…but again I’d say you’re better off addressing the growth hormone issue first.

 

[Ribeye]

Just got my labs back, and I'm surprised. I was expecting my numbers to be off. I have been feeling just off, not seeing any progress in my body, and I lift 3–5 times a week. Struggling with weight loss, and I inject only once a week because injecting more than once has always made me fatigue and made me feel abnormal. I think it's because I suffer from hypopituitarism(due to pituitary tumor) , which results in hypothyroidism for me. Prolactin levels normal, cortisol up and down, and treated off and on. IGF-1 is 160, but I failed a growth hormone stimulation test, which means I dont produce it. Currently battling insurance for that treatment. I just feel like Im missing something.

Medications- Test CYP 125mg once per week
Synthroid- 125mg


Total Tesosterone-698 (range 250-1100) 7th day after injection which shocked me, and confirms I do fairly well on once a week.

Free Testosterone- 129.9 (range 35-250)

SHBG-29 (range 10-50)

Estradiol(not ultrasensitive) 47, which the lab says is high.

You may want to have a thyroid panel run, but sometime's the numbers don't always provide the answer you need. Meaning, sometime's things like TSH and t4 or even T3 numbers can be in the therapeutic window, but you still feel lousy. If those numbers are are all at the more aggressive end of the range's then it would be time to consider Armour or NP thyroid the desiccated versions of natural T3 and T4. These dugs are known to give some folks a boost, when just Synthroid by itself does not. You could also try synthetic T3 or Cytomel for T3 too. There are other things in NP or Armour that are not well studied, and no one has a deep understanding of what they do, T1 and T2. I know for myself, the endocrinologist INSISTED my thyroid levels were fine, but when I got tired of being tired, and switched to NP it was like flicking on a light switch. I wouldn't want to give it up anymore.