Rausch
New member
New member here. I'll give you the abbreviated version of the story.
I'm a 24 yr old, 240 lb powerlifter and I've been lifting for almost 7 years. Well over a year ago, I ran a cycle that lasted entirely too long. It was basic, 500mg test/week, ramping it up to 750mg/ week about halfway through. The entire cycle lasted about 32 weeks. I knew I was taking a risk by staying on that long, but it didn't stop me. It was a huge mistake that I'll regret for the rest of my life. The worst part about it was that it was my third cycle and I knew better.
I came off last January (2006). I did my normal PCT - ran HCG for the 2 weeks immediately following my last shot, did Clomid starting at 300mg a day and working my way down to 50mg over the course of several weeks. I started to notice that I didn't "feel" recovered. I continued to run the Clomid for several months. Then I waited a month and went for my blood test. Total test was in the low range of normal, and free test was below normal. I waited another month or so - total test was within normal range and had climbed a bit. Free test still below normal. I thought I simply needed more time. I waited until February of this year before running another blood test at a different doctor's office. Both free and total test had crashed and were below normal. The doctor said to drop other supplements I was using and give it another month. She also told me an OTC supplement like DHEA might help me. I was desperate and ignorant at this point, so I went ahead with the DHEA supplementation at 100mg/day. Now, only after reading a bit, do I know that DHEA is more harmful than helpful. I'm slowly weening myself off at this point.
I ended up getting referred to an endo and he ran another blood test. My levels were even lower than the last blood test (although free test did go up a smidge). He immediately suggested a brief period of TRT to see how I would react. I asked him to try something lkke HCG+clomid first and he said he thought the TRT would be more helpful in the meantime, especially if he wasn't giving me high doses of it. This worried me because I'm only 24 years old - way to young to be jumping on TRT at this point.
So in the end, he prescribed me 5g Androgel a day for the next 3 months. I started my Androgel last night. I have a couple questions:
1) Should my doctor have tried another route first? If so, what?
2) I'm going to be applying the gel at night, but I keep reading that morning is better. My endo said it doesn't matter as long as there are 24 hour periods b/w applications. What is the best thing to do here?
3) I shower twice a day: once at night after my workout and once in the AM. Will the second shower in the AM decrease my gel absorption?
I'm a 24 yr old, 240 lb powerlifter and I've been lifting for almost 7 years. Well over a year ago, I ran a cycle that lasted entirely too long. It was basic, 500mg test/week, ramping it up to 750mg/ week about halfway through. The entire cycle lasted about 32 weeks. I knew I was taking a risk by staying on that long, but it didn't stop me. It was a huge mistake that I'll regret for the rest of my life. The worst part about it was that it was my third cycle and I knew better.
I came off last January (2006). I did my normal PCT - ran HCG for the 2 weeks immediately following my last shot, did Clomid starting at 300mg a day and working my way down to 50mg over the course of several weeks. I started to notice that I didn't "feel" recovered. I continued to run the Clomid for several months. Then I waited a month and went for my blood test. Total test was in the low range of normal, and free test was below normal. I waited another month or so - total test was within normal range and had climbed a bit. Free test still below normal. I thought I simply needed more time. I waited until February of this year before running another blood test at a different doctor's office. Both free and total test had crashed and were below normal. The doctor said to drop other supplements I was using and give it another month. She also told me an OTC supplement like DHEA might help me. I was desperate and ignorant at this point, so I went ahead with the DHEA supplementation at 100mg/day. Now, only after reading a bit, do I know that DHEA is more harmful than helpful. I'm slowly weening myself off at this point.
I ended up getting referred to an endo and he ran another blood test. My levels were even lower than the last blood test (although free test did go up a smidge). He immediately suggested a brief period of TRT to see how I would react. I asked him to try something lkke HCG+clomid first and he said he thought the TRT would be more helpful in the meantime, especially if he wasn't giving me high doses of it. This worried me because I'm only 24 years old - way to young to be jumping on TRT at this point.
So in the end, he prescribed me 5g Androgel a day for the next 3 months. I started my Androgel last night. I have a couple questions:
1) Should my doctor have tried another route first? If so, what?
2) I'm going to be applying the gel at night, but I keep reading that morning is better. My endo said it doesn't matter as long as there are 24 hour periods b/w applications. What is the best thing to do here?
3) I shower twice a day: once at night after my workout and once in the AM. Will the second shower in the AM decrease my gel absorption?
