Questions about starting TRT

grunt03

grunt03

New member
I may be starting TRT and wanted to ask those of you with experience if the protocol the clinic I’m looking at right now seems like a good one.

Their goal is to get my testosterone level up into the high normal range.

They use weekly injections administered at the clinic but they will provide injections for people traveling even for extended periods of time.

They plan to use a small dose of an AI to prevent any gyno monitoring and adjusting the dose as necessary.

They plan to start me on HCG after about 3 weeks and cycle that on and of every 2 months.

The say they will monitor testosterone, cholesterol, liver enzymes, red blood cell count, PSA (may have forgotten something) and adjust accordingly.

Anyone see anything wrong with what they are saying or something I should ask about?

They are also an internal medicine clinic so they provide a full range of care in that respect. If they turn out to be legit I may even switch over to them for my primary care since I’ve been unhappy with my regular doctor since he hates that I’m weightlifting which IMO is BS since the doctor I had prior to him suggested I stop running with a pack and start strengthening my core to help my herniated disk, which is the only thing that’s ever worked for it.
 
Well my labs came back and my total testosterone was 66.

Because it was so low they ran another set of labs to ensure it wasn’t caused buy my pituitary or hypothalamus and those labs say it isn’t so I’m going to go ahead and start the HRT today since everything I’m reading says at this low of a T level it’s going to go a long way to stop me from feeling like a worn out piece of crap every day.
 
Well they’ve been giving me 140mg of Test Cyp a week now for 6 weeks and drew blood this week to see where I’m at. I probably won’t get the results until I go in next week. They will check where I’m at and adjust the dose accordingly.

I have to say that from the first day of the first shot I could feel a huge difference. Starting out at a total Test level of 66 it was night and day, I almost felt euphoric as I was driving from the clinic to work. That intense feeling subsided the first week but evolved into a more general feeling of wellbeing. My mood is greatly improved and all the little things that were getting to me before just don’t seem significant now. I no longer feel so tired that I have to go home early from work a couple nights a week like I was. And as an added bonus all my lifts have started going back up again after being nearly stagnant for about 6 months. In 5 weeks my Squat is up +10 lbs. to 375, Bench up +5 to 240 lbs. (even more significant because I had lost about 10% previously) and Deadlift is up +10 to 385 lbs. which finally gives me a total of 1,000 lbs. Of all the things I’ve done for my health ever this is having the most significant impact of any of them.

Unfortunately I’m going overseas for two months. On the plus side the doc is sending me with 9 weeks of shots. On the down side I have to figure out how to take them with me without having the Air Farce confiscate them when I get there which I hear they’ve been doing even if you have a script. I’d hate to 9 weeks without but if it happen at least I know I can start right back up when I get back.
 
that sounds like a pretty good protocol to start. fine tuning can take a while. i also use 140mg/week split in two inj, i use aromasin 12.5mg once per week and i also cycle hcg from time to time. my tt 3 days post inj is ~800. im very comfortable with my numbers.

as for your blood work. there are other tests id ask them to run
 
Thanks for the comment Bulldog!

They also have me on 12.5mg of aromasin from day one and I’m suppose to start my first cycle of HCG once they check my first blood work. They originally checked a bunch of things including my thyroid and pituitary to see if there was some other underlying cause for my very low test. They are also going to monitor other things like my estrogen level and adjust the aromasin dose accordingly. Also my hemoglobin level to make sure my blood isn’t getting too thick or something. I can’t give blood because of some of the places I’ve lived so they will do blood-letting if I need to get my red blood cell count down.
 
grunt03 said:
Thanks for the comment Bulldog!

They also have me on 12.5mg of aromasin from day one and I’m suppose to start my first cycle of HCG once they check my first blood work. They originally checked a bunch of things including my thyroid and pituitary to see if there was some other underlying cause for my very low test. They are also going to monitor other things like my estrogen level and adjust the aromasin dose accordingly. Also my hemoglobin level to make sure my blood isn’t getting too thick or something. I can’t give blood because of some of the places I’ve lived so they will do blood-letting if I need to get my red blood cell count down.
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do you mean 12.5mg aromasin everyday? if so thats a very bad idea your e2 will be crushed very quickly. on a trt dose of test 12.5 every 4 or 5 days should suffice.
 
ambulldog said:
do you mean 12.5mg aromasin everyday? if so thats a very bad idea your e2 will be crushed very quickly. on a trt dose of test 12.5 every 4 or 5 days should suffice.
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No right now it’s once a week (actually I’ve been cutting the pill in half and taking half the day of my shot and the next 3-4 days later) but they plan to adjust the dose to get the right balance once they get my test level up to where they want it which they say they normally shoot for about 900 or so, but I imagine the average will be higher since they take blood before my shot which I is when my weekly level will be at its lowest.
 
I got the results from my first labs after starting HRT at 140mg/week of test cyp 6 weeks ago. My free test is up from 66 to 413 which is still short of the 700-800 range they want me in so they upped the dose to 160mg/week.
 
So the physician office is going to preload the syringes to take on your trip or is it TDY? I'll be going TDY later this year and I plan to load the syringes and put in shaving kit.
 
emantest said:
So the physician office is going to preload the syringes to take on your trip or is it TDY? I'll be going TDY later this year and I plan to load the syringes and put in shaving kit.
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Yes the clinic, an “anti-aging” clinic, (my personal doc has his up his butt and wouldn’t do anything despite my total Test being 66 . . . looking for a new doc), preloaded syringes for 9 weeks to get me through the deployment.

It’s a 2 month TDY to Qatar. Be aware that CENTCOM has very strict rules about bringing meds into theater and my clinic told me that many guys they’ve done this for have had their syringes confiscated when they reported having them. I went through a waver process and got written permission to take them.

The issue doesn’t seem to be the medication itself it’s the syringes or anything that requires a syringe to administer since they don’t want you to have sharps without a proper way to dispose of them and to have the clinic there administer them I had to get pre-approval.

My original backup plan was to sneak them in in my cargo pocket since customs is mainly looking for alcohol and porn. However, at the suggestion of the docs at my Guard unit when I went on orders to out-process they told me to go to the local active duty base, Luke AFB and see one of their docs. He gave me 90 days double dose supply of Androgel as a backup in case the waver wasn’t approved which it was. He also told me that when I come back, while I’m still on orders, and see him and he’ll give me a 90 day supply of Test Cyp. Note that I have been diagnosed with hypogonadism (sp) and had to have them put it in my medical record for all this to happen.

So in short the issue for CENTCOM isn’t being on TEST, it’s not disqualifying for anything I’m aware of, it’s just the method of administering it that they are worried about.
 
Thumbs up to this protocol as well. Seems like they know what they are doing and I would stick with them if I were you.
You are doing the right dosages, testing etc.
 
grunt03 said:
Yes the clinic, an “anti-aging” clinic, (my personal doc has his up his butt and wouldn’t do anything despite my total Test being 66 . . . looking for a new doc), preloaded syringes for 9 weeks to get me through the deployment.

It’s a 2 month TDY to Qatar. Be aware that CENTCOM has very strict rules about bringing meds into theater and my clinic told me that many guys they’ve done this for have had their syringes confiscated when they reported having them. I went through a waver process and got written permission to take them.

The issue doesn’t seem to be the medication itself it’s the syringes or anything that requires a syringe to administer since they don’t want you to have sharps without a proper way to dispose of them and to have the clinic there administer them I had to get pre-approval.

My original backup plan was to sneak them in in my cargo pocket since customs is mainly looking for alcohol and porn. However, at the suggestion of the docs at my Guard unit when I went on orders to out-process they told me to go to the local active duty base, Luke AFB and see one of their docs. He gave me 90 days double dose supply of Androgel as a backup in case the waver wasn’t approved which it was. He also told me that when I come back, while I’m still on orders, and see him and he’ll give me a 90 day supply of Test Cyp. Note that I have been diagnosed with hypogonadism (sp) and had to have them put it in my medical record for all this to happen.

So in short the issue for CENTCOM isn’t being on TEST, it’s not disqualifying for anything I’m aware of, it’s just the method of administering it that they are worried about.
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They prob worrying about other drugs being injected. If you dont have to dont use gel test it sucks.
 
vassille said:
Thumbs up to this protocol as well. Seems like they know what they are doing and I would stick with them if I were you.
You are doing the right dosages, testing etc.
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Thanks for the feedback. I agree they are doing it as well as I’m likely to find so I do plan to stick with them. They are still trying to find the right dose for me. They started me at 140mg/week and after 5 weeks I went from a total Test of 66 to 413 so they upped the dose to 160 mg/week. Their goal is to get me to 700-800 with the blood test being done one week after my last injection just before I get that week’s shot.
 
They prob worrying about other drugs being injected.
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Yes, that’s one of the issues they mentioned, that they have no idea what was put in the syringe or what I might have put in it after it was pre-loaded. The clinic did do a good job in that the labeled each syringe with prescription info.

If you dont have to dont use gel test it sucks.
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Yeah even the doc the prescribed it for me said it wasn’t the right protocol for me since my base Test level was so low and suggested if I did have to switch to it for a couple months to use it before bed since I’ll be sweating so much during the day and there won’t be any chance of getting it on a girlfriend or anything while sleeping.
 
Thanks for the rep.
Yeap the gel is a no no when you have a girlfriend..unless you want her to get a goat tee;)
 
Well I got here just over a week ago and have only managed to get in two workouts, both on my days off. So far I’m so beat up after 12-13 hours on the flightline with the whole workday being around 14-15 hours I haven’t managed to even get in any mini-workouts.

Even if I wasn’t exhausted every workday I still probably won’t go to the gym but rather do work with bands. The closest gym is small, always packed and has very few free weights with no power or adjustable Squat rack. The far gym (about 2k) has a pretty big free weight room with one good Squat rack and even a Deadlift platform. It’s also not been very busy though I’ve already seen two things the irritated the hell out of me even though they didn’t interfere with workouts. Right after I finished Squat the first day a guy went and started doing shrugs on the good Squat rack I’d just finished using. Sad thing he was using less weight than I can Bench and my Bench sucks. Today while I was Squating 3 guys were using the Deadlift platform to do BB curls. They got done as I was getting ready to move over there and Deadlift but it was still irritating to see considering that along the wall was a huge selection of bars just for curling. So far I’ve only spent about 2 hours in the gym but I haven’t seen anyone doing either Deadlifts or Squats. No one I’ve seen there yet looks like they powerlift just bodybuilders with all but two of them having chicken legs.

So far I haven’t been able to use a bench, they’re always in use not to mention that without a powerrack I don’t feel comfortable maxing out and don’t trust anyone I’ve seen there to spot for me. So for the pushing movements I’ve been using the lever machines in the adjacent room and doing more of a bodybuilding style workout for the upper body.

For the workouts I’m doing the whole body in the one day since so far it’s the only day I’m finding the time to lift. I’m eating over maintenance on workout day and below on other days. I bought some protein powder in the PX so I can make sure to get enough protein.

The thing I miss most right now are my chains. Ever since I started using them I’ve loved the way they keep me pushing right through to the end of the lift rather than coasting the last bit. I did bring my bands so I’ll have to start using them pretty soon.

I’ve already noticed a 5% drop in my 1RM Squat and Deadlift starting the day after I got here. I’m pretty sure it’s due to dehydration, lack of sleep and being on my feet all day, at least I hope, since I don’t see a 5% drop happening in just a week. I am now starting to sleep better since I got my own room. My promotion came through the day I got here which put me at a rank where I rate a one man room but it took about a week to find one since they weren’t planning for it. So I hope that getting better sleep will give me more energy to do mini-workouts.

I was able to bring my Test-Cyp with me and the doc at the clinic let me keep it so I can self-inject rather than travel half way across the base to have them administer the shots. Giving myself the shots is easier than I expected, not that I was worried about jabbing myself but I wasn’t sure if I could reach around far enough to get to my glutes.
 
You can pin legs and shoulders as well. Make sure you eat good with plenty of good fats in there and water.
 
vassille said:
You can pin legs and shoulders as well. Make sure you eat good with plenty of good fats in there and water.
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Thanks I may try somewhere else if pinning my backside gets to be a pain. I hate to say it but eating good here is consisting of a lot of protein shakes right now. Typical chow hall fare is high fat and high carb even with many protein sources. Like today the most protein dense thing they had was breaded fried chicken. They seem to have a regular cycle so I’ll eat there on the steak days and maybe other if they are protein dense. But for now I mostly get milk and fruit from the chow hall and get a lot of my protein from powder.

As for good fats they I was able to get some caps but the food sources are limited. I do love to eat olives and there seem to plenty of those so they’ve become a staple.
 
grunt03 said:
Thanks I may try somewhere else if pinning my backside gets to be a pain. I hate to say it but eating good here is consisting of a lot of protein shakes right now. Typical chow hall fare is high fat and high carb even with many protein sources. Like today the most protein dense thing they had was breaded fried chicken. They seem to have a regular cycle so I’ll eat there on the steak days and maybe other if they are protein dense. But for now I mostly get milk and fruit from the chow hall and get a lot of my protein from powder.

As for good fats they I was able to get some caps but the food sources are limited. I do love to eat olives and there seem to plenty of those so they’ve become a staple.
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haha I guess you gotta do with what you have for now;)
olives are good a bit salty if you eat too many but good fat nonetheless
 
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