New trt user looking for opinions and advice

[raulbrudda123]

Hey guys I just recently found out about this website and this is my first post, apologize if I do something wrong. I am 29 y.o 5"10 175lbs not sure what my bf fat is but I'm fairly lean as I work 2 jobs for ups and amazon. I started working out seriously and consistently since April 2022. In around Sept 2023 I did my first ever bloodwork as I am curious to see my level. Found out that my T was 246 the doc was surprised. FYI, I was born and grew up in Indonesia for about 14 years before moving to the states and we ate a lot of soybean products as part of our diet. I researched that soybean kill testosterone which I thought would explain the low T but I am not 100% sure if this is the case. The first 3 pictures are the baseline levels without taking anything. Don't mind the glucose number I forgot to fast.

Doc prescribed me HCG 3x a week I forgot the dose and 1mg anaztrozole 1x a week on Oct 2023. Doc explained that my pituary gland may not be working properly so he prescribed me HCG to try stimulate to see if it works and bring the T level to normal range around 700. However, 2 months later I did a bloodwork and T was 263 so idk if its the HCG that doesn't work or my pituary gland thats fucked up. So doc told me to stop using HCG and hop on TRT. Dec 2023 I was prescribed 200mg TRT 1x a week and 25mg clomip every other day also still taking anaztrozole 1x a week. The last 2 picture was bloodwork done in Feb 2024 and T shoots up to over 2k. I was kinda scared as this is my first time and idk if its too high or what. Contacted doc and told me to reduce the dose to 100mg 1x a week. I don't think I have gyno as I never felt any lump or tingling.

My goal is to just feel normal for now and I feel like being on TRT help tremendously. I still gym consistently 3-4 times a week because of work schedule and spent about 2 hours training. Though in the future I am interested in adding more compounds but I would like to train for another couple of years first while doing research to make sure I'm doing it right.

I am a newborn baby in this steroid drug world. Please share me your knowledge.

Tomorrow I will be doing a bloodwork and will post result here.

 

[Megatron28]

Sounds like you have a great doctor. You lucked out.

I would recommend that when getting lab work, that you get estradiol checked instead of total estrogen and monitor it.

 

[CJ]

Ask your Dr about getting off the clomid and anastrozole, since your dose was lowered, and you show no symptoms of needing it and he didn't even bother to run the proper estrogen blood test, which is the Estradiol, Sensitive, LC/MS

 

[CJ]

Also says that your pituitary might not be working, but doesn't run an LH or FSH test? Kind of ridiculous, in my opinion.

He's just guessing when he could've easily had the necessary information, since he was already running bloodwork.

Is this a primary care Dr, or a TRT clinic?

 

[Wizbang]

Also says that your pituitary might not be working, but doesn't run an LH or FSH test? Kind of ridiculous, in my opinion.

Patient self advocacy is so critical these days, become informed and then expect that they (MD) do what you ask them. On their next visit it should be "lets run more blood and test LH/FSH and Estradiol (Sensitive) so we get a look at the whole landscape" (not telling you anything you don't know CJ) but for the OG poster.

 

[CJ]

Patient self advocacy is so critical these days, become informed and then expect that they (MD) do what you ask them. On their next visit it should be "lets run more blood and test LH/FSH and Estradiol (Sensitive) so we get a look at the whole landscape" (not telling you anything you don't know CJ) but for the OG poster.

It baffles me when Dr's just guess, when they can do tests to narrow it down. Especially when they're already running bloodwork to begin with!?!


... Let's take a drug to mimic LH, without even testing your LH Levels. Let's take drugs to combat estradiol, without testing your estradiol levels.

 

[raulbrudda123]

Thank you guys for your input. On the lab order I saw that there was Estradiol, Sensitive, LC/MS, so when the bloodwork result comes this should be there. I am going to a primary care and this doc is specialize in the bodybuilding weight gain weight lose type, that is probably why he didn't hesitate to hook me up with TRT lol. From what the doc explain to me clomid help my balls to not shrink and stay fertile? would coming off it shrink my balls?

Do you guys mind to explain a little bit about LH/FSH? I looked it up on google but the explanation confuse me. Please explain to me in a simpler words.

 

[CJ]

Thank you guys for your input. On the lab order I saw that there was Estradiol, Sensitive, LC/MS, so when the bloodwork result comes this should be there. I am going to a primary care and this doc is specialize in the bodybuilding weight gain weight lose type, that is probably why he didn't hesitate to hook me up with TRT lol. From what the doc explain to me clomid help my balls to not shrink and stay fertile? would coming off it shrink my balls?

Do you guys mind to explain a little bit about LH/FSH? I looked it up on google but the explanation confuse me. Please explain to me in a simpler words.

The pituitary makes LH and FSH. LH, aka luetinizing hormone, stimulates the testicle to make testosterone. If he ran an LH/FSH test, he'd know if your pituitary was doing its job. Instead, he assumed that it wasn't, and put you on HCG, which mimics LH, and therefore would stimulate the testicles.

The problem is, what if your pituitary is fine, and the problem is your testicles? He could've easily discerned that by running an LH/FSH test.

Google HPTA axis. Hypothalamus, Pituitary, Testicular(or gonadal) Axis

 

[CJ]

Yeah, Clomid and HCG combo is used for fertility, but I only know just enough to not be helpful with that.

I do know that Clomid has some undesirable side effects, though. And I also believe that HCG raises aromatization, which is the metabolism of Testosterone down to estradiol. So then he puts you on another drug, Anastrozole, to knock down the estradiol conversion. But Anastrozole fucks up your HDL/cholesterol markers.

It's a vicious cycle, bud. You don't get something for nothing. Many wait until they want to conceive to go through the HCG/Clomid restart, or they have sperm frozen.

 

[Megatron28]

I think the doc did check for primary vs secondary hypogonadism by running the hCG and anastrozole in the beginning. When there was no improvement in Total Testosterone resulting from this, he knew to move on to prescribing TRT.

I don’t think checking LH and FSH at this point would have indicated a different treatment after running this test. Had there been an improvement in TT, more testing could have been done to get to the root cause. What’s the point though if the hCG and AI didn’t work?

Like I said, other than not checking Estradiol instead of Total Estrogen, I think this doc was pretty thorough. Way better than most out there.

 

[Megatron28]

Yeah, Clomid and HCG combo is used for fertility, but I only know just enough to not be helpful with that.

I do know that Clomid has some undesirable side effects, though. And I also believe that HCG raises aromatization, which is the metabolism of Testosterone down to estradiol. So then he puts you on another drug, Anastrozole, to knock down the estradiol conversion. But Anastrozole fucks up your HDL/cholesterol markers.

It's a vicious cycle, bud. You don't get something for nothing. Many wait until they want to conceive to go through the HCG/Clomid restart, or they have sperm frozen.

The doc was doing AI Monotherapy (with the added benefit of hCG). This allowed him to determine if it was primary or secondary hypogonadism. He was basically priming the testicles with hCG and LH from the pituitary to see if they could still do their job.

 

[raulbrudda123]

June 2024 blood work is here. Been cruising trt since Feb 2024 100mg 1x a week brought my test to normal range and life been great no issue so far. I have appointment to see the doc in 2 weeks and I will ask him if I can be off clomid and anaztrozole, maybe ask if I can be on hcg again since it has less side effect.

The plan for now is to just cruise with the trt dose I am in since my condition is so much better now mentally and physically. I do plan on increasing the test dose in the far future and hop on gear. I need to do more research until I'm ready because I don't want to fuck shit up. I am glad there are people that are very knowledgeable in this field in the forum.

 

[CJ]

June 2024 blood work is here. Been cruising trt since Feb 2024 100mg 1x a week brought my test to normal range and life been great no issue so far. I have appointment to see the doc in 2 weeks and I will ask him if I can be off clomid and anaztrozole, maybe ask if I can be on hcg again since it has less side effect.

The plan for now is to just cruise with the trt dose I am in since my condition is so much better now mentally and physically. I do plan on increasing the test dose in the far future and hop on gear. I need to do more research until I'm ready because I don't want to fuck shit up. I am glad there are people that are very knowledgeable in this field in the forum.

When was this blood drawn in relation to when you took your previous testosterone shot, how many days after your last shot?

 

[raulbrudda123]

When was this blood drawn in relation to when you took your previous testosterone shot, how many days after your last shot?

I always inject on Monday and this bloodwork taken Saturday so 5 days

 

[CJ]

I always inject on Monday and this bloodwork taken Saturday so 5 days

You're running a pretty hefty dose for true TRT, still being at roughly 1,000 ng/dl five days later. You probably peak around 1500 ng/dl. You're a good responder to the drug, in terms of blood levels.

Welcome to TRT+, your level is higher than most 21 year old males.

 

[buck]

Seems you can stop the clomid and anastrozole. And just lower you dose of T if needed which would still put you in the top end of the range at least.