# Help With TRT, App coming up



## BlueDog10 (Jan 10, 2022)

I am writing to get some advice for TRT.  I'm 40 years old, and have felt like I have had low test for a few years now.  I have cycled some and always took PCT, but my last cycle was about 10 years ago before I got addicted to IV opiates.  That's when I really noticed my test crash.  Even being clean for the past 3 to 5 years, my test levels have felt low.  I would list the symptoms, but they're all the same that I read on here of people having low T.  I got my test checked at the VA finally, and they put me on the gel for a few months, and it did nothing.  My test actually went down with my last blood draw in Sept. The Dr put my on 200mgs of Cyp once a week, and I have been on that for a couple months and feel the same with all the symptoms.  I have not been put on any other meds.  I have an appointment with a place called Columbus Bioidentical on Wed.  I would like to see a better Dr. that will maybe prescribe an AI or check my estrogen and keep a better check on things and dial things in.  The VA doesn't do much for these type of services.  I am also interested in HGH to help with healing, joint pains, and vascularity as I am sometimes not able to get blood drawn at my appointments due to my veins being gone from the opiates in the past.  Is it unrealistic for me to thing about taking HGH?  I'm afraid they will not want to prescribe it to me.  How do bodybuilders who are healthy get it prescribed to them by a Dr?  Does anyone know of a good HRT Dr. or place to see in Columbus, Oh?  Should I be looking for an HRT Dr or just TRT Dr, or are they the same thing? Like I said, I'd like to see a place that can regulate my better than the VA.


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## Badleroybrown (Jan 10, 2022)

Bro 200mg a week will make anyone with low T feel terrific. It may be another problem. If you feel the same as you did as befor trt I doubt it is estrogen … just my opinion.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 10, 2022)

Badleroybrown said:


> Bro 200mg a week will make anyone with low T feel terrific. It may be another problem. If you feel the same as you did as befor trt I doubt it is estrogen … just my opinion.


Thank you for the reply. It helps to have someone else put the dosage into perspective for me. Maybe it is something else. I wonder what I could have checked or where to look next? Maybe I'm just lazy, but I used to be extremely active. I've tried going back to the gym before trt, and it felt like training with a cold and running yourself into the ground further.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 11, 2022)

I was also wondering how people afford trt and hgh? One place that didn't take insurance said $3,000 for trt for 6 months.  $3,000 to $6,000 for hgh for 6 months. The place I found that takes insurance said it would still be around $200 per month just for trt.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 11, 2022)

I was also wondering. Do I really need to take an AI with my 200mg of cyp a week?


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## Fvckinashman (Jan 11, 2022)

BlueDog10 said:


> I was also wondering. Do I really need to take an AI with my 200mg of cyp a week?


most likely no

 very few people ever need an AI


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## Kraken (Jan 11, 2022)

BlueDog10 said:


> I was also wondering how people afford trt and hgh? One place that didn't take insurance said $3,000 for trt for 6 months.  $3,000 to $6,000 for hgh for 6 months. The place I found that takes insurance said it would still be around $200 per month just for trt.


Holy crap!!!!! That's outrageous! I checked pricing and other info at three online clinics, none were near that. Even the expensive local clinics were nowhere near that. Bro, shop around.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 11, 2022)

Kraken said:


> Holy crap!!!!! That's outrageous! I checked pricing and other info at three online clinics, none were near that. Even the expensive local clinics were nowhere near that. Bro, shop around.


Thank you. Will do. That's just one of the first clinics that popped up in my area that came up when I googled peptide clinics and I have no knowledge of this. I will definitely shop around.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 11, 2022)

Can anyone name any good online trt/hrt places online? There's a lot to weed through just Google good it.


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## Kraken (Jan 11, 2022)

BlueDog10 said:


> Can anyone name any good online trt/hrt places online? There's a lot to weed through just Google good it.


I use TRT Nation. I started about 2 months ago, and after a few more months I may just do it myself. They are $100 / month without HCg and $150 / month with it. Dr. consultations are included, labs are not. They send whatever medication plus alcohol swabs, syringes and needles.


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## MadBret (Jan 11, 2022)

BlueDog10 said:


> I was also wondering. Do I really need to take an AI with my 200mg of cyp a week?


Before you started trt, your doctor should have hopefully got all the baseline blood work done for you. 

If you've been on 200mg a week for at least 6-8 weeks, you should get bloods drawn again and see if anything is out of range. You won't know if you need an ai until you get blood work. 

200mg a week is the high end of trt and would possibly put you into levels that are higher than recommended for trt purposes. 

If you have a doctor that can just prescribe you a 10ml multi-use vial, you can pay cash without insurance for about $35-70 with goodrx. 

Post up blood work from before and current and see if some of the guys who are more experienced can spot anything that stands out. 

Good luck.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 12, 2022)

Kraken said:


> I use TRT Nation. I started about 2 months ago, and after a few more months I may just do it myself. They are $100 / month without HCg and $150 / month with it. Dr. consultations are included, labs are not. They send whatever medication plus alcohol swabs, syringes and needles.


Thank you. I was actually looking at that site.


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## Steeeve (Jan 13, 2022)

Kraken said:


> I use TRT Nation. I started about 2 months ago, and after a few more months I may just do it myself. They are $100 / month without HCg and $150 / month with it. Dr. consultations are included, labs are not. They send whatever medication plus alcohol swabs, syringes and needles.


I was also with this clinic for a while. Cant beat the price but your shit is gonna get real expensive if you let them push you to HGH, peptides, orals, etc though they do offer all those things. About the only place I could get a script for test, deca, and anavar all at the same time for travel.

Regarding your dosage, 200 is a hefty enough dose that should have alleviated low T symptoms. 

Regarding the AI, I wouldn't recommend them at that dosage. IF a client was experiencing aromatization issues at that dose Id immediately pivot them to 2 or 3x a week but keeping the same weekly dosage. Works like a charm to stabilize E2 levels by avoiding the giant peaks and troughs you get in blood serum concentration from once a week dosing.


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## Kraken (Jan 13, 2022)

Steeeve said:


> I was also with this clinic for a while. Cant beat the price but your shit is gonna get real expensive if you let them push you to HGH, peptides, orals, etc though they do offer all those things. About the only place I could get a script for test, deca, and anavar all at the same time for travel.
> 
> Regarding your dosage, 200 is a hefty enough dose that should have alleviated low T symptoms.
> 
> Regarding the AI, I wouldn't recommend them at that dosage. IF a client was experiencing aromatization issues at that dose Id immediately pivot them to 2 or 3x a week but keeping the same weekly dosage. Works like a charm to stabilize E2 levels by avoiding the giant peaks and troughs you get in blood serum concentration from once a week dosing.


Oh yes they are very pricy for other stuff. TRT Nation has me on 2x / week. They sent the pills but the doc told me to not take them unless he told me to.


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## Steeeve (Jan 15, 2022)

Kraken said:


> Oh yes they are very pricy for other stuff. TRT Nation has me on 2x / week. They sent the pills but the doc told me to not take them unless he told me to.


yep. Ive got hundreds of arimidex stacked up from them lolol


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## ftf (Jan 15, 2022)

Do not expect to ever feel like you did before you were a drug addict. Dopamine levels might not ever recover, and I don't think there is a better way to destroy your veins than shooting heroin.

 Forget HGH, it's too expensive to use pharma HGH long term, and it won't give you what you are looking for. I can't see insurance covering HGH unless you have HIV. If Test is helping, stick with that.

 Being happy is something you will have to put intentional effort into. When I figure that one out, I'll write a book. In the meantime, I would suggest eating a healthy diet with good vitamins and keep exercising.

  I haven't committed to TRT yet, but when I cycled, the house stayed clean and when I was off cycle it was a mess and I felt like crap. The point is for someone using test to enhance their life (not referring to pro athletes) ONLY DO WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE. Everything comes with a cost.


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## Icy110 (Jan 18, 2022)

ftf said:


> Do not expect to ever feel like you did before you were a drug addict. Dopamine levels might not ever recover, and I don't think there is a better way to destroy your veins than shooting heroin.
> 
> Forget HGH, it's too expensive to use pharma HGH long term, and it won't give you what you are looking for. I can't see insurance covering HGH unless you have HIV. If Test is helping, stick with that.
> 
> ...


Don't take the above post as the final word, you definitely CAN feel as good or even better than you did before you became an addict. I'm 14 months clean from a 5 year IV Heroin/Fentanyl addiction and started TRT just over 2 months ago and I feel absolutely amazing.

You've had 3 to 5 years clean - that's enough time for your brain to recover (at least somewhat) and if your issues are due to Low T you should feel a massive difference in most aspects of life once your dose is dialed in.

200mg once per week is an odd protocol from what I've seen - I started at 120mg/week and moved up to 150mg/week injecting twice per week to keep the levels more stable. I'm not as knowledgeable as some of the other guys on this board but if I'm recalling correctly being on too much Testosterone could also make it so that the benefits of TRT are slightly diminished but you definitely should have noticed a "honeymoon period" where you would have been feeling amazing - if you didn't get that there could be something else going on.

I have an ongoing log on TRT for Opiate Induced Hypogonadism that you can check out to see what my journey has looked like so far - from what I've heard from others in recovery on and off this board they've had similar experiences with TRT.

Hope you start feeling better soon and congrats on staying clean!

Edit: As ftf said, happiness is a whole other thing - TRT may not make you happy if you weren't already a happy person. I've always been pretty jolly so TRT just enhanced that, but if you're not in a good place in your head TRT is not necessarily going to fix that.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 21, 2022)

Ok. So I went to a trt clinic to get blood work done, and as I expected, my estrogen is through the roof!! Whoever said estrogen can't be high taking 200mg of cyp per week is high. Lol. They said my estrogen levels are 200% higher than they should be. I believe normal range is around 20 to 40 whatever they measure estrogen in. Mine is around 95. I could feel the estrogen raising. I'd have energy and increased libido, and I could feel it all declining with time. So I'm going on arimidex. I can't remember the generic name. I'm also being put on hcg. The VA doesn't even test for estrogen. Currently I feel lethargic as he'll and terrible. I ordered some arimidex domestically as I do not feel like waiting for the script. It sounded like it'll take a couple weeks to get here. I hope this post helps other people in my situation.


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## Mprtz (Jan 22, 2022)

Anastrozole. Suggest you split the tablets and start with no more than 1mg / week and retest.


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## notsoswoleCPA (Jan 22, 2022)

Mprtz said:


> Anastrozole. Suggest you split the tablets and start with no more than 1mg / week and retest.


I would start with even less than that @ 200 mg per week.  Half a mg per week of anastrozole is all I need on 180 mg of prescription strength cypionate.  I needed more when I took hCG, but anastrozole never really worked that great at reducing hCG estradiol spikes.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 22, 2022)

notsoswoleCPA said:


> I would start with even less than that @ 200 mg per week.  Half a mg per week of anastrozole is all I need on 180 mg of prescription strength cypionate.  I needed more when I took hCG, but anastrozole never really worked that great at reducing hCG estradiol spikes.


I'm waiting on my script to come in for the anastrozole, generic for arimidex I believe they said, and see how they tell me to dose it. They were going to put it in with my cypuonate and take both at same time, but I opted for pills so dosage can be adjusted and I won't have to get new cypionate when the dosage is adjusted.


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## notsoswoleCPA (Jan 22, 2022)

Plus, I try to time the AI with the testosterone spike, 24 to 48 hours post injection.  IDK if that makes a difference or not, but that is how my latest protocol was designed by my doctor, so I just stuck with it.


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## BlueDog10 (Jan 25, 2022)

notsoswoleCPA said:


> Plus, I try to time the AI with the testosterone spike, 24 to 48 hours post injection.  IDK if that makes a difference or not, but that is how my latest protocol was designed by my doctor, so I just stuck with it.


Thank you. I'll remember that.


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