N00b on TRT Checking In - Question About Dosing Anastrozole

[Pericles]

First post here folks - awesome site. I've been reading posts and stickies for a few months now trying to learn about HRT, but I'm still getting comfortable talking about it. I've also read Eugene Shippen's, Nelson Vergel's, and Thierry Hertoghe's and a few other Testosterone / HRT books. Please excuse my noobness...I really am trying to learn.

Background:

Almost 50 years old
Felt like crap for years
Labs showed my total test was below 200
Workout 3 / 4 times a week (cardio and light weights)
Non-smoker, occasional drinker
Five months ago started TRT with expectation I would be doing this for the next 50 years

For the last five months I've been injecting 80mg Test Cyp twice a week (Tuesday / Friday) IM, and taking .5mg (1/2 tablet) Anastrozole twice weekly (Wednesday / Saturday). Started with HCG sublingual tabs at 500IU twice weekly (Thursday / Sunday) but switched to injections because of testicle shrinkage. Injections cleared that up immediately - for whatever reason the sublingual tabs did not work for me.

I've had labs taken twice now since starting this protocol and they've been close to the same showing total total Test of 1,100, free Test of 300, and Estradiol of 6.

I have morning wood, good energy level, my strength is increasing, and phsyically I feel 100% better than prior to TRT. Mentally I seem to be a bit less emotional, which has me wondering if it is the very low E2 levels.

Question: Can I take the Anastrozole only once a week or am I going to rollercoaster? The 1/2 tablet thing is so tiny now it seems nearly impossible to take less than that. Should I be concerned with E2 in the single digits?

Thanks for your replies...be gentle.

 

[napalm]

First post here folks - awesome site. I've been reading posts and stickies for a few months now trying to learn about HRT, but I'm still getting comfortable talking about it. I've also read Eugene Shippen's, Nelson Vergel's, and Thierry Hertoghe's and a few other Testosterone / HRT books. Please excuse my noobness...I really am trying to learn.

Background:

Almost 50 years old
Felt like crap for years
Labs showed my total test was below 200
Workout 3 / 4 times a week (cardio and light weights)
Non-smoker, occasional drinker
Five months ago started TRT with expectation I would be doing this for the next 50 years

For the last five months I've been injecting 80mg Test Cyp twice a week (Tuesday / Friday) IM, and taking .5mg (1/2 tablet) Anastrozole twice weekly (Wednesday / Saturday). Started with HCG sublingual tabs at 500IU twice weekly (Thursday / Sunday) but switched to injections because of testicle shrinkage. Injections cleared that up immediately - for whatever reason the sublingual tabs did not work for me.

I've had labs taken twice now since starting this protocol and they've been close to the same showing total total Test of 1,100, free Test of 300, and Estradiol of 6.

I have morning wood, good energy level, my strength is increasing, and phsyically I feel 100% better than prior to TRT. Mentally I seem to be a bit less emotional, which has me wondering if it is the very low E2 levels.

Question: Can I take the Anastrozole only once a week or am I going to rollercoaster? The 1/2 tablet thing is so tiny now it seems nearly impossible to take less than that. Should I be concerned with E2 in the single digits?

Thanks for your replies...be gentle.

1. Why the anastrozole? At 160/week you may not even need it. I'm on 150/week and take nothing other than 1 erase/day

2. You're 50, why the hcg? Are you planning on having kids?

3. I'd like to know what your labs look like on just the test, and nothing else.

This looks like another shotgun approach to trt. "we'll throw a crap load of meds at the guy, hopefully one of them will make him feel better."

If it were me, I'd start from scratch, say around 50 2x per week, get labs and evaluate how you feel. If needed (I don't think it will be) add one variable at a time evaluate how you feel and get some more labs. That way, if you control the variables, evaluate and get labs at each step o the way, you'll know what was effecting the change.

Lather, rinse, repeat...

 

[Pericles]

1. Why the anastrozole? At 160/week you may not even need it. I'm on 150/week and take nothing other than 1 erase/day

OK, so you're thinking that I should discontinue the anastrozole and see where my E2 levels off at. I can certainly do that, I was just concerned about too much E2 and the consequences, but it appears my body is not converting Test to E2 that much...OK - I'll give that a shot and test again in a couple months.

2. You're 50, why the hcg? Are you planning on having kids?

Nope, no more kids. It makes me feel better mentally and restores the size of my testes. Without it I lose about 50% or more of the size.

3. I'd like to know what your labs look like on just the test, and nothing else.

This looks like another shotgun approach to trt. "we'll throw a crap load of meds at the guy, hopefully one of them will make him feel better."

If it were me, I'd start from scratch, say around 50 2x per week, get labs and evaluate how you feel. If needed (I don't think it will be) add one variable at a time evaluate how you feel and get some more labs. That way, if you control the variables, evaluate and get labs at each step o the way, you'll know what was effecting the change.

Lather, rinse, repeat...

It may be the shotgun approach. My doc encourages learning and discussion and is happy to tailor my treatment around not only lab numbers, but how I am personally feeling. There will be no issue with me talking to him and adjusting / eliminating components of the protocol. Am I wrong in thinking that the low E2 could be effecting me mentally or in other ways?

 

[napalm]

OK, so you're thinking that I should discontinue the anastrozole and see where my E2 levels off at. I can certainly do that, I was just concerned about too much E2 and the consequences, but it appears my body is not converting Test to E2 that much...OK - I'll give that a shot and test again in a couple months.

Nope, no more kids. It makes me feel better mentally and restores the size of my testes. Without it I lose about 50% or more of the size.

It may be the shotgun approach. My doc encourages learning and discussion and is happy to tailor my treatment around not only lab numbers, but how I am personally feeling. There will be no issue with me talking to him and adjusting / eliminating components of the protocol. Am I wrong in thinking that the low E2 could be effecting me mentally or in other ways?

I'm suggesting you should talk to your doc about starting from scratch. It sounds like you have a doc that's willing to work with you, so work it!

Me, (and my wife) could care less about the size of my nuts. The hcg is just one more variable that could confound things.

E2 is a strange animal. Different people with different levels have different results. My e2 at last draw was 43, would I like it to come down a bit, yes. Am I having any e2 symptoms, no.

My suggestion is to control the variables and evaluate and get labs at every step of the way.

Good luck...