When does TRT begin to "kick in"?

[pureblood]

Hi Guys,
I'm new to legit TRT and also new to this forum, so please excuse the newbie-ish questions. I've begun the protocol of 75mgs/Cyp and 250 iu's hcg twice a week while skipping the a.i. for the time being. I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and I know not to expect immediate results, but I'd like to know roughly when can I expect to feel it working. More specifically when will my ED and lousy sex drive pick up and become good? This whole ED thing is killing me and the Mrs. is none to happy about it as well lol.
Thanks in advance for any help

 

[CoastWatcher]

It varies from individual to individual. A large, meta-analysis published in Europe indicated that the return of libido begins to be "typically" noted at the three to six week mark. Erectile issues take longer to respond and, frankly, are often not resolved solely with testosterone. Many, perhaps most, members here at Excelmale use Cialis, or one of its cousins, to minimize ED challenges. It is important to give this time, at least six weeks before you make any changes, and then only after you've drawn blood and correlated those tests with your subjective symptoms. What were your starting levels? How long do you think you have been hypogonadal?

 

[pureblood]

It varies from individual to individual. A large, meta-analysis published in Europe indicated that the return of libido begins to be "typically" noted at the three to six week mark. Erectile issues take longer to respond and, frankly, are often not resolved solely with testosterone. Many, perhaps most, members here at Excelmale use Cialis, or one of its cousins, to minimize ED challenges. It is important to give this time, at least six weeks before you make any changes, and then only after you've drawn blood and correlated those tests with your subjective symptoms. What were your starting levels? How long do you think you have been hypogonadal?

Unfortunatley I'm not sure how long I've been hypogonadal. I'm 47 and was using my own self administered trt of 250 mgs. test done once a week. No hcg or ai. I did great(or so I thought) for years. After my last AAS cycle, I never seemed to get back to normal, which was with a tremendous sex drive. After some trial and error and alot of reading, I opted to go the legal route and use a Dr. After coming off my own trt, my TT was 185 and e2 was 5.
Should I try using Cialis/V or am I throwing too much into the mix for right now.
On a side note, I'm begining to get morning erections and the amount of discharge when ejaculating is getting better. Sorry for the creepy details.
Thank You

 

[CoastWatcher]

Do you have confidence in your doctor? Were you able to be candid about your past cycles? Cialis could certainly help.

 

[pureblood]

I'm just starting so confidence will take a while, didn't like the 200mg dose to start, or the use of Anastrtozole so I'm starting at 150/wk and no a.i. till blood work at 6 weeks, this way I can reassess and go up in dose or use an a.i. but only if needed.
I was very candid about past AAS use and my self administered trt.
I have V and Cialis on hand, I just didn't want to add compounds without a little advice.
Thanks very much for your help, much appriciated

 

[CoastWatcher]

I'm just starting so confidence will take a while, didn't like the 200mg dose to start, or the use of Anastrtozole so I'm starting at 150/wk and no a.i. till blood work at 6 weeks, this way I can reassess and go up in dose or use an a.i. but only if needed.
I was very candid about past AAS use and my self administered trt.
I have V and Cialis on hand, I just didn't want to add compounds without a little advice.
Thanks very much for your help, much appriciated

You will almost certainly hear from other members. We're all in this together. Did your doctor run a full thyroid panel and a PSA? I ask these questions to understand if he laid a solid foundation for your protocol, not to pick at you.

 

[pureblood]

I'm assuming he did a PSA, not really sure what that is, but def did a thyroid panel. His specialty is trt, but it's an anti aging type Dr and they seems a bit like sales people too. He seemed sure I'd need an a.i. and the were suggesting HGH as well. His protocol was 200mgs/once a week, with hcg day1-2 then Cyp day 3 followed by .5mg Anastrozole day 4.
I was insistant about splitting my shot, to which he agreed, but wanted to use the a.i. once a week, and told me I'd need it. So after alot of reading here, I'm using 250 iu's hcg and 75mgs Cyp twice a week with no a.i. His protocol is similar to Dr. Crislers, but if I can forego the a.i. then I'd prefer.
I guess you can say I'm using his compounds but trying to put together my own protocol based on alot research and some of the members here who have been kind enough to help me out, and I planned on making and changes based on my 6 week blood work.
Which was why I started at 150mgs Cyp hoping it would get me within range without using the maximum trt dose. I'm kinda looking to et the best results while using the least amout of drugs as possible.

 

[maxadvance]

Well, if your body needs the AI and you have already chosen to not take it, you realize what's happening right? Your testosterone is aromatizing into estrogen, you'll possibly see no benefits of the T supplementation, your E2 count will rise, your libido and sex life will be terrible, and you'll have wasted the first six weeks of your protocol. I had similar thoughts when I first started, and then I realized I'm not the doctor, so I'm going to do what he tells me until I have a warning sign that I may need to tell him about. So far so good.

 

[pureblood]

Well, if your body needs the AI and you have already chosen to not take it, you realize what's happening right? Your testosterone is aromatizing into estrogen, you'll possibly see no benefits of the T supplementation, your E2 count will rise, your libido and sex life will be terrible, and you'll have wasted the first six weeks of your protocol. I had similar thoughts when I first started, and then I realized I'm not the doctor, so I'm going to do what he tells me until I have a warning sign that I may need to tell him about. So far so good.

Hey Max, thanks for the reply.I understand what your saying, but following blood work I found out my E2 was at 5, I had sore joints, dry skin, and ED, so I wanted to give my E2 a chance to build up a bit and thought 6 weeks would be a better time to evaluate an A.I. I'm afraid taking one now would surpress or further tank e2.
As I stated earlier, I'm just starting to get morning wood and a better moneyshot so I'm assuming it's slowly rising.
However I'm far from an expert at this, so by all means please feel free to give me advice, it's always appriciated

 

[ERO]

Its a red flag when a doctor is "sure" you need an AI before he has any blood work to back up his assertions. That and when they try to sell you on the $1800-$2000 per month for the HGH that you totally need as well...

You are spot-on leaving the AI out of the mix when your E2 was tanked at 5 as that takes a good while to recover.

 

[Gene Devine]

I see you're 2 weeks into your protocol.

You should be getting full labs at 6 weeks.

Make sure that your Estrogen lab is the "Sensitive" assay and not the default E2 lab designed for women. The default lab tends to over estimate men's E2 levels.

AI's are very powerful antagonists in men and most men on TRT dosages don't need an AI and ONLY if blood warrants it's use.

Stay the course and don't think to hard about your TRT protocol.

TRT is not the panacea everyone thinks it is and it's not a "cure-all" for every thing so have reasonable expectations...libido and ED are much more complex than just adding in Testosterone.

When you get your next round of blood work post it in this thread complete with ranges.

 

[maxadvance]

Hey Max, thanks for the reply.I understand what your saying, but following blood work I found out my E2 was at 5, I had sore joints, dry skin, and ED, so I wanted to give my E2 a chance to build up a bit and thought 6 weeks would be a better time to evaluate an A.I. I'm afraid taking one now would surpress or further tank e2.
As I stated earlier, I'm just starting to get morning wood and a better moneyshot so I'm assuming it's slowly rising.
However I'm far from an expert at this, so by all means please feel free to give me advice, it's always appriciated

lol @ moneyshot , that's almost certainly the HCG. But I get the E2 at 5 is crazy low. Without seeing your baselines and updated bloodwork, it'd be hard for anyone on here to give you a valid response though.

 

[CoastWatcher]

Your bloodwork belongs to you. If you don't have a copy of all the results you should ask for them. We have to be our own advocates.

 

[pureblood]

Any thoughts?


COMPLETE BLOOD COUNT

WHITE BLOOD CELL 3.6 L 3.9 - 11.1 K/ul

RED BLOOD CELL 5.43 4.2 - 6.0 M/ul

HEMOGLOBIN 15.7 13.2 - 18.0 g/dl

HEMATOCRIT 49.7 38.5 - 54.0 %

MCV 91.4 80.0 - 100.0 fl

MCH 29.0 26.0 - 34.0 pg

MCHC 31.7 31.0 - 37.0 g/dl

RDW 13.6 11.0 - 15.5 %

PLATELET COUNT 290 140 - 400 k/ul

MPV 8.2 7.5 - 11.6 fl

DIFFERENTIAL

GR% 47.1 38 - 75 %

LY% 40.8 15 - 49 %

MO% 7.1 2.0 - 13.0 %

EO% 3.8 0 - 8 %

BA% 1.2 0 - 2 %

GR# 1.7 1.6 - 8.4 K/ul

LY# 1.5 1.0 - 3.6 K/ul

MO# 0.3 0.0 - 0.9 K/ul

EO# 0.1 0.0 - 0.6 K/ul

BA# 0.0 0.0 - 0.2 K/ul

GENERAL CHEMISTRY

GLUCOSE 99 65 - 100 mg/dl

BUN 23 H 6 - 20 mg/dl

CREATININE, SERUM 0.9 0.5 - 1.2 mg/dl

SODIUM 141 133 - 145 mmol/L

POTASSIUM 5.4 H 3.3 - 5.1 mmol/L

CHLORIDE 103 96 - 108 mmol/L

CO2 27 22 - 32 mmol/L

CALCIUM 9.7 8.5 - 10.5 mg/dl

TOTAL PROTEIN 7.1 6.4 - 8.3 g/dl

ALBUMIN 4.7 3.2 - 4.8 g/dl

GLOBULIN 2.4 2.1 - 3.6 g/dl

BILIRUBIN, TOTAL 0.4 0.0 - 1.0 mg/dl

ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE 71 35 - 129 U/L

ALT 39 <42 U/L

AST 14 <39 U/L

Albumin/Globulin Ratio 2.0 0.8 - 2.0

BUN/CREAT RATIO 25.6 H 7.3 - 21.7
GFR, estimated 96 ml/min

CORONARY RISK

TRIGLYCERIDES 89 <150 mg/dl

CHOLESTEROL, TOTAL 240 H <200 mg/dl

HDL CHOLESTEROL 43 >40 mg/dl

LDL CHOLESTEROL, calc. 179 H <100 mg/dl

CHOL/HDL RATIO 5.6 H <5.0

The higher the Ratio,the higher CHD risk.

THYROID TESTING

T3, FREE 2.1 1.8 - 4.6 pg/ml

T4, FREE 1.07 0.9 - 1.7 ng/dl

TSH 1.200 0.27 - 4.2 uIU/ml

TUMOR MARKERS

PSA, TOTAL 0.361 0.0 - 4.0 ng/ml

ENDOCRINE EVALUATION

ESTRADIOL (E2) <5.00 L 7.6 - 42.6 pg/ml

DHEA-SULFATE 67.9 44.3 - 331.0 ug/dl

TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL 183 L 280 - 1100 ng/dl

SEX HORMONE BIND GLOBULIN 17 10 - 80 nmol/L

TESTOSTERONE, FREE 4.55 1.9 - 27 ng/dl

IGF-1 311.0 H 119 - 166 ng/ml

ENDOCRINE EVALUATION (Continued)

Serum IGF-1 (ng/ml) Reference Range by Age Group and Sex

Age Group (Years) Men Women

20 - 24 188 - 257 175 - 260

25 - 29 150 - 222 157 - 228

30 - 34 137 - 199 139 - 195

35 - 39 124 - 181 122 - 179

40 - 44 113 - 172 110 - 163

45 - 49 119 - 166 108 - 164

50 - 54 110 - 160 108 - 167

55 - 59 93 - 147 98 - 141

60 - 64 93 - 134 94 - 139

=> 65 93 - 145 80 - 141

CORTISOL 10.1 ug/dl

Normal individuals:

Morning am 7-10: 6.2 - 19.4 ug/dl

Afternoon pm 4-8 : 2.3 - 12.3 ,,

 

[Vince]

Hi Guys,
I'm new to legit TRT and also new to this forum, so please excuse the newbie-ish questions. I've begun the protocol of 75mgs/Cyp and 250 iu's hcg twice a week while skipping the a.i. for the time being. I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and I know not to expect immediate results, but I'd like to know roughly when can I expect to feel it working. More specifically when will my ED and lousy sex drive pick up and become good? This whole ED thing is killing me and the Mrs. is none to happy about it as well lol.
Thanks in advance for any help

I know we're all different, I felt the benefits of TRT immediately, it was almost instant. Clear head and very strong libido, it was unbelievable for me.

 

[ERO]

It took me like 2 months to feel anything at all on TRT and even then it was damn subtle, so it definitely varies person to person as Vince stated above.

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

I'm assuming he did a PSA, not really sure what that is, but def did a thyroid panel.

PB,

A PSA test stands for "Prostate Specific Antigen." Your doctor is screening you for prostate cancer. It's a normal test that everyone gets before starting TRT. Any decent physician is going to augment that with a digital rectal exam during your physical examination (especially if you're over 40). He's feeling the prostate for size, and any nodules, lumps, bumps, hardness, etc.

I saw the labs you posted...I'm assuming that they're pre-TRT, since your total and free test were in the tank, along with your DHEA-S. I'm also assuming that your E2 was not the "sensitive" assay that you need to monitor. Regardless, your E2 is also in the tank, and I wouldn't be taking the Anastrozole either. Good call.

That being said, it's very possible that your super low E2 could be the cause of your sexual grief. You also might consider taking supplemental DHEA 25mg (capsules) twice a day to get those numbers up where they need to be. Consult your Doctor first, and bring him up to speed on all your current symptoms asap. Good luck.

 

[Carlos]

You should try Defymedical. It's not that expensive and you can do all the prosses by phone and e mails. I have been with them for about 3 years and they have keep me tune up very well.

 

[Les]

This thread answered many questions for me:
https://www.excelmale.com/forum/showthread.php?1519-How-long-does-testosterone-take-to-show-effects