Very high FT on 70mg/wk?

[Detroit Diesel]

Wow. We have scarily similar response patterns. Have you tried exogenous estradiol (creams, patches, shots)?

I’m scared to raise my T dose as well. It seems like once lowered the body needs far less (metabolism seems to slow). Very odd.

It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. My total testosterone is the same at 70 mg/wk as it was at 140 mg / wk.

Test numbers scale linearly for most, but certainly not for me.

I’d love to chat in PM a bit about our issues to see if we can come to any insights about what the hell is happening.

@readalot Thanks for all the information and the probing questions. I’ll do the math when I’m more level-headed. Right now my nervous system is in complete meltdown, insomnia is insane, and brain fog is thick enough to cut with a knife.

Can you give me a quick answer - do you think this free T determined by quest is plausible? I’ve only used direct or calculated in the past, and those were always close to the top of the reference range, not almost twice above it, even on much higher doses of test.

Also, what do you make of the above phenomenon, where TT (fT aside for now) isn’t scaling linearly at all with respect to dosage? (TT is just as high now as it was on 140 mg / wk, and this is not accounted for by difference in injection frequency (i.e. measuring at lower troughs)).

Finally I have found someone like me. I was on 140/wk for years and now take 70/wk with virtually the same Total T. My doc had no answer for it either. At 100/wk I have higher total T than I did taking 140/wk…..

 

[GreenMachineX]

Finally I have found someone like me. I was on 140/wk for years and now take 70/wk with virtually the same Total T. My doc had no answer for it either. At 100/wk I have higher total T than I did taking 140/wk…..

Same here. Using 5mg daily and have same free test as 50mg twice per week. Feels a little different though. Total T is within 50 points of each other.

 

[Detroit Diesel]

Same here. Using 5mg daily and have same free test as 50mg twice per week. Feels a little different though. Total T is within 50 points of each other.

Did you notice any significant difference in SHBG doing daily small doses compared to larger, less frequent doses? I definitely feel better now doing 10mg/day than I did doing 70mg 2x/wk. I plan to go even lower as my last blood work had my total T at 1396.

 

[GreenMachineX]

Did you notice any significant difference in SHBG doing daily small doses compared to larger, less frequent doses? I definitely feel better now doing 10mg/day than I did doing 70mg 2x/wk. I plan to go even lower as my last blood work had my total T at 1396.

My shbg went up 1 point so far in 5 months of daily, but only the past 6 weeks of that has been in normal range. I'm wondering if shgb will raise now that I'm mid range on daily protocol.

10mg daily put you at 1396?!

 

[Detroit Diesel]

My shbg went up 1 point so far in 5 months of daily, but only the past 6 weeks of that has been in normal range. I'm wondering if shgb will raise now that I'm mid range on daily protocol.

10mg daily put you at 1396?!

That’s correct. 140mg put me between 1200-1400. Now 70mg puts me at the same level. I’m definitely a hyper-responder but I still don’t understand why drops in dosage do not correlate with my total T. Very strange. E2 dropped, hematocrit also, but not Testosterone.

 

[GreenMachineX]

That’s correct. 140mg put me between 1200-1400. Now 70mg puts me at the same level. I’m definitely a hyper-responder but I still don’t understand why drops in dosage do not correlate with my total T. Very strange. E2 dropped, hematocrit also, but not Testosterone.

Side effects didn't drop either I imagine then?

 

[Detroit Diesel]

Side effects didn't drop either I imagine then?

At this dosage I don’t have any side effects actually. At higher doses I had hematocrit issues, insomnia, brain fog. So you are only taking 5 mg/day (35mg/wk)?? What is your total T using this protocol?

 

[GreenMachineX]

At this dosage I don’t have any side effects actually. At higher doses I had hematocrit issues, insomnia, brain fog. So you are only taking 5 mg/day (35mg/wk)?? What is your total T using this protocol?

My total was 414. Now that was only 2 weeks into this from a drop from 7mg daily. I'm not sure what would've happened over a longer period of time, because the labs at 4 weeks were screwed up and had a huge error. After the error, i panicked and I stopped test for 5 days and had it redrawn and levels were 337 total and 64 free test (35-155). So, I'm just guessing that my levels were likely still around the same place. Well see in a few weeks when I retest again to confirm.

 

[SSHSSA74]

I know for me personally I feel horrible on daily’s. Even with good labs. And I’m also a low shbg guy. I’ve tried daily’s a few times over the years and they just don’t work well for me.

what is your shbg and what is your protocol?

 

[SSHSSA74]

what is your shbg and what is your protocol?

I know for me personally I feel horrible on daily’s. Even with good labs. And I’m also a low shbg guy. I’ve tried daily’s a few times over the years and they just don’t work well for me.

my shbg is around 13 I think.

 

[Willyt]

Finally I have found someone like me. I was on 140/wk for years and now take 70/wk with virtually the same Total T. My doc had no answer for it either. At 100/wk I have higher total T than I did taking 140/wk…..

Presumably you tested on trough day when doing 2x per week so not quite apples-to-apples comparison.

But cool to see such high TT on 10mg per day. I had similar results, testing 1200+ on 8mg per day although that was Propionate which is going to have higher peak (and less ester weight).

I bet you could drop to 7mg daily and still stay within top of physiological range.

 

[Detroit Diesel]

Presumably you tested on trough day when doing 2x per week so not quite apples-to-apples comparison.

But cool to see such high TT on 10mg per day. I had similar results, testing 1200+ on 8mg per day although that was Propionate which is going to have higher peak (and less ester weight).

I bet you could drop to 7mg daily and still stay within top of physiological range.

With two times per week you don’t have much of a trough (cypionate), but I always tested on the same day. I just ordered some test prop., going to try 6 mg daily and see how that goes. How did you like the propionate?

 

[GreenMachineX]

With two times per week you don’t have much of a trough (cypionate), but I always tested on the same day. I just ordered some test prop., going to try 6 mg daily and see how that goes. How did you like the propionate?

I had a 400 point difference between peak and trough on 2x per week on total T.

 

[Willyt]

With two times per week you don’t have much of a trough (cypionate), but I always tested on the same day. I just ordered some test prop., going to try 6 mg daily and see how that goes. How did you like the propionate?

The cypionate 2x week trough is bigger than you think. I cannot recall the percentage drop, but it is significant.

I do better on low dose daily propionate than cypionate due to far less water retention, which was a major issue for me for some reason. That said, Propionate can be hard to tame because of the peaks and valleys. You may want to explore @Cataceous blend of Cyp and Prop. Theoretically, it is the best of both worlds.

 

[SSHSSA74]

The cypionate 2x week trough is bigger than you think. I cannot recall the percentage drop, but it is significant.

I do better on low dose daily propionate than cypionate due to far less water retention, which was a major issue for me for some reason. That said, Propionate can be hard to tame because of the peaks and valleys. You may want to explore @Cataceous blend of Cyp and Prop. Theoretically, it is the best of both worlds.

Are you low shbg?

 

[Willyt]

Are you low shbg?

No low 40s

 

[RickB]

When I discovered the two calculators, I used to have a habit of punching in random bloods people posted on various forums. The FT was almost always close to (or closer to) Vermulean and never with TruT. So I am firmly with camp V.

Which free T assay do you compare the calculator results to?

My Vermulean result matches to the tenth my LabCorp free direct result, but that's the piss-poor assay, no? I haven't done the equilibrium dialysis yet.

 

[bixt]

Which free T assay do you compare the calculator results to?

My Vermulean result matches to the tenth my LabCorp free direct result, but that's the piss-poor assay, no? I haven't done the equilibrium dialysis yet.

Other forums are not clued up. I'm going to say that in all probability they were piss poor assays.