Ups and downs under new protocol - normal?

[Mino]

I had been doing injecting 40mg t-cyp eod for 6 months. During my 6 month follow-up labs, my SBHG had climbed from 48nmol/L to 62 nmol/L (range 19.3-76.4). My free T was 23.9 (range 7.2-24 pg/mL), total T was 1081 (range 264-916 ng/dL) and Estradiol, Sensitive was 18.3 (range 8-35 pg/mL). As a result of the increase in SBHG Defy recommended I try switching to M/W/F injections of 50mg t-cyp, plus 0.125 Anastrosol on the day of each injection. I am also taking 250ml of HCG M/W/F as well. While on this protocol I can't say I felt much better than doing EOD, but did experience pretty bad brain fog. Had my 6 week labs done and my SHBG dropped to 51.1 nmol/L, Total T is at 1146 ng/dL, Free T of 27.2 and Estradiol Sensitive of 19.2 pg/mL. When I had my follow-up with the Defy NP I mentioned the issue with Brain Fog. She suggested that we increase the T-cyp does to 56mg M/W/F and decrease the Anastrosol to 0.125 2x per week. I have been on the revised protocol for just under 3 weeks. The issue I have is I feel like I am on a roller coaster - some moments I am feeling good, and other ones I am feeling pretty low. I am having a pretty hard time concentrating, and my sleep has gotten worse. My question is whether this is just my body adjusting to the new protocol, and I should give it a few more weeks for it to balance out. I will admit that when I first switched to M/W/F I was also having ups and downs, but they seemed to balance out over time. They just seem like much larger swings under the revised protocol.

So is this a normal part of the body getting adjusted to the revised protocol?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[S1W]

To respond to your main question, yes, that seems to be a normal part of adjusting to a new protocol. I have noticed with my protocol changes that it takes about 6 weeks for things to level out. I have seen where other members have stated that it takes them a few months to really know if a protocol is right or not.

But your post does raise a few questions - wondering why you were put on an AI with your initial E2 results? And aside from the SHBG number, were you feeling any symptoms/not feeling right on your EOD protocol?

 

[Mino]

S1W, the NP suggested the AI to prevent any spikes in E2 given the increase in t-cyp per injection. They did caution me to watch for symptoms of my E2 getting low and if they occurred to back down to using the AI 2x per week. Prior to the change I would say my protocol had me feeling good, but not great. Defy recommended the protocol change to see if it would further improve my overall feeling.

I have to admit, right now I feel worse than prior to the change, especially brain fog and being able to focus. As I mentioned in my post, I am trying to assess whether this is just my body adjusting to the new protocol.

 

[S1W]

S1W, the NP suggested the AI to prevent any spikes in E2 given the increase in t-cyp per injection. They did caution me to watch for symptoms of my E2 getting low and if they occurred to back down to using the AI 2x per week. Prior to the change I would say my protocol had me feeling good, but not great. Defy recommended the protocol change to see if it would further improve my overall feeling.

I have to admit, right now I feel worse than prior to the change, especially brain fog and being able to focus. As I mentioned in my post, I am trying to assess whether this is just my body adjusting to the new protocol.

Got it - thanks for the clarification. Kind of a tricky situation in terms of trying to draw conclusions as several variables were changed at once (injection amount, injection frequency, addition of AI). Still not sure about the AI but probably a place for more experienced members to comment. Just seems like with your SHBG, TT/FT, and E2 numbers, you could more than double your E2 and still might not have any issues.

For peace of mind, however, I can say that at least in my limited experience, I have also noticed the ups and downs with protocol changes, and for some reason the period between weeks 2-4 seems to be the worst of it.

 

[Systemlord]

You description of what you're going through sounds very familiar, everyone must go through ups and downs for 6 weeks until blood levels stabilize. The only way you will start feeling good at the end of 6 weeks is if all your levels are right for you, otherwise more tweaking is needed.

 

[Vince Carter]

The important part is sticking with it and testing and then making small changes one-at-a-time, as observed several things were changed and that just adds more variables and can make this tougher to know what works/worked and what didn't