That sucks. Weren’t you on kratom or some other opiates at that time too though? That could’ve played a role.
Hard opiate use ended for me in 2009 and I have never returned. In fact, sober and natty within a few years I was able to maintain a test level of 880 in my early 30s.
My situation is this, as everyone’s is different and has thousands of other variables that aren’t so black and white:
2 years of hard opiate use and alcohol abuse ‘suppressed’ my natural testosterone, but not significantly enough to where total abstinence, sobriety and healthy living and training for a few years didn’t bring me to an even better test level of most my age.
However, running very long, extremely suppressive cycles in my mid thirties, ‘decimated’ my bodies natural production.
In my personal experience, steroid “cycling” did FAR more damage to my HPTA function than heavy opiate and alcohol use did; in half the time too.
Now, in Christ’s case, a decade plus of opiate abuse may have been enough for him. Some people just end up on TRT for the same reason they get on thyroid meds, body just doesn’t want to produce much of it anymore.
But to answer your question. After 8 years sober, In. 2017, A year after starting TRT, I decided I could enjoy a little Kratom every Thursday night. Fast forward to now, I was able to successfully taper under a half kilo a week the last 2 weeks. I’ll tell you it’s not helping my gains in the gym, if only for the nausea alone trying to eat often but wanting to puke instead. I’ll be excited when I am low enough to jump off this drug.