I get my shot once a week. It was taken in the afternoon a full 7 days after the last shot. I am wondering if the fact that it was drawn in the afternoon coupled with the fact that it had been a full 7 days since the last shot could account for only testing at 600? As for HCG, my doctor is cool and would be willing to prescribe HCG, but I told my doctor I don’t want to be on HCG because I have no interest in injecting myself (yes I know I am a wimp) and I can care less if I have hanging nuts lol. My estradiol sensitive test pre trt was a 15.7 which is low, thus I was not put on an Ai initially and won’t be on one unless warranted from high E bloodwork results. I am awaiting the result of the one month estrogen sensitive test. I have doctor prescribed Arimidex on hand if I get any symptoms of high estrogen. (I hope for health reasons I don’t have to utilize an Ai,
Symptoms such as libido have greatly improved. I would prefer to be like 900 instead of 600 though. That is 50 percent more and is supposed to be the “optimal” range from what I have read.
Hi John, yes from what I read more frequent dosages is preferable to keep stable levels. Unfortunatly I go to the office for injections and due to overnight travel from work this makes getting dosages more frequent not possible. I was not aware that levels drop off each day after the injection, but definetly makes sense. The nurse emailed me that I was good at 600 and I recalled that my doctor said he would get me in the 800 to 950 optimal range. So when she told me 600 was good I was upset (not knowing this means levels are probably at a 1000 after the injection). I’m glad you explained this to me. I guess in light of this when they retest me in 3 weeks I will not try to get the dose increased again.
its up to you. I can tell you from being on trt over four years now, getting blood work every 3 months, donating blood every three months, in the beginning. Now I ve been going every six months for lab results, and cut down on donating to once or twice a year. My Doctor asked me what dose do i want to do....I told him 150 mgs, when I could have gotten 200..... as Jerry brainum has a video out somewhere where there's some research showing over 150mgs raises hematocrit and globin so the conclusion was 150 mgs and under. That said its probably no big deal, as long as you get your labs done, and make sure youre healthy.
Ya I think I will keep it at 175. Really don’t want to have take an AI or have blood thickening issues. My symptoms of low t have disappeared and that is the important thing. Chasing numbers can just make things go down hill with side effects.
What are you doing im or sub-q
That's all that Matters, Long as you are Feeling Well!!!
Get injections in butt.
Insulin in pin in ass = sub Q LOL
Thanks I learned something lol
I have found the best teachers are the students them selves.
It is in the muscle
That means its in IM; intramuscular.
So I just got back my estradiol sensitive test results after being on my new increased dosage of 175 mg test a week for three weeks. The lab was drawn the day after my once a week shot. The range was an 8 to 35 and I came in at 29. Is this a good reading? I get more test bloodwork done soon. If I get bumped to 200 mg test a week do you think this could up my e where I would need an ai? I want to avoid an Ai for health reasons and would even take less test to do so. At about what level on a sensitive test would an AI be warranted?
Which lab did you use for the e2 testing lab Corp?
Thanks for the info. I get my one month bloodwork back Monday or Tuesday for my 175 mg a week dosage. If it doesn’t get me to at least 800 I am going to ask for one last bump to 200 mg since hemacrit and estrogen hasn’t been an issue so far. Don’t want to go over 200 a week because that starts nearing a small cycle dosage and I want to be able to avoid taking N ai. If e goes up too much at 200 I will go back down to 175.
To be honest I don’t think they are too in depth in their analysis. No SBHG testing, no free t testing. They said they normally don’t even do an estradiol sensitive test unless patients have symptoms of high e, but I told them I always want to have that done. The main reason I go there is they are only 125 a month and will do the injections in the clinics (don’t want to self inject). All the other places I inquired about were above
Free Test is just a mathematical calculation from Total Test and SHBG... I actually can't believe they charge for it (if they do, it's bundled with the other two for me, so no idea). It's also unlikely that a Doc would go after SHBG directly with something like Danazol - I'd say 99.9% deal with SHBG by increasing the Testosterone dose.
That is true. Dr. will run any tests I want, it his standard test doesn’t include free t unless the patient requests. I do feel much better on treatment and notice a definite difference so I am not too worried about it.Free Test is just a mathematical calculation from Total Test and SHBG... I actually can't believe they charge for it (if they do, it's bundled with the other two for me, so no idea). It's also unlikely that a Doc would go after SHBG directly with something like Danazol - I'd say 99.9% deal with SHBG by increasing the Testosterone dose.
The Matrix is right though, you should try to get a complete picture by pulling those values - if you have super high SHBG and your free T is low, you're not getting bang for the buck. On the other hand, if you feel great, that's the whole point, right?
It only includes my test dosage. He called in Arimidex generic to the pharmacy for me to have on hand just in case. I have insurance so it was only a few bucks so no big deal. It was also a whopping 15 1mg pills a month with 12 refills so I am more than set in that department. The 125 a month doesn’t include HCG. He would call it in if I wanted it though and more than likely insurance would pick that up too, but I don’t want to be on it. Before I selected a dr. I thought about using Entourage, but I don’t want to pin myself and my wife refuses to do it for me because she is suspicious of the company since I found it on what basically is at least in part a steroid/anabolics forum. She is convinced it is a mill and their click on add on the forum of the roided up bodybuilder didn’t help my case either. I know Entourage is legit and a good value that has helped many board members feel better again, but believe me I cant persuade her. I have tried.
You probably know this, but just in case you don't: Subcutaneous administration works 100% fine, and is, I'd honestly say, 98% painless. That fat band above the glutes and below lower back is perfect on me. 26G 3/8" is what I use.
Got my 4 week bloods back at the 175 mg dose. Nurse says still at around the 600 mark total t. Gonna up me to 200mg and retest in 4 weeks. Told her this will be my last increase even if test levels don’t increase much again because don’t want to go over 200 due to probability of potential sides increasing. Perhaps like you said I am more of a nonresponder since increasing from 150 to 175 a week didn’t increase total t much.
This anecdotally jives with what I've seen on my own bloodwork. I'm one of those 'perma-cutters' (not really, but it seems like it) SHBG in a deficit (hate keto, so just about 150g carbs) was 55 and 48. Free test was around 16 and 20. This last draw I was at maint or slightly above (300g carbs) and my SHBG was 36 and free test was at 23.8 (out of 24 max lab value). CARBS=GOOD!
Same 180mg (90x2) of testosterone.
So I got back my actual number total t today from Labcorp (nurse had told me that I was around at 600 again). Looks like I tested at 574 total t at the 175 mg dose whereas I had previously tested at 600 total t at a lower 150 mg dose. Weird I tested higher at a slightly lower dose. Will be staring 200 mg this Friday. I think I am going to take your and the THEmatrix advice and have them test for both SHBG and free t next time.Free Test is just a mathematical calculation from Total Test and SHBG... I actually can't believe they charge for it (if they do, it's bundled with the other two for me, so no idea). It's also unlikely that a Doc would go after SHBG directly with something like Danazol - I'd say 99.9% deal with SHBG by increasing the Testosterone dose.
The Matrix is right though, you should try to get a complete picture by pulling those values - if you have super high SHBG and your free T is low, you're not getting bang for the buck. On the other hand, if you feel great, that's the whole point, right?
Just make sure you are getting the lab draw done at the exact'ish same time, each time. For hrt, that is usually in the "trough" right before (as close as you can get) the next injection. Since i inject monday am and thurs pm, i get mine drawn at 10am on thursday every time.If you are taking DHEA, dose it 2 hours before the draw.
