Testosterone levels will peak 24-48 hrs post injection and I would say peak is closer to 24 hrs. In a perfect world.
too many variables...SHBG, injection dose and frequency, the ester being used, etc etc
Isn't that for cypionate? I've noticed that I feel so tired when I wake up in the morning. Can it be because I inject in the morning everyday and my levels may be low after 24 hours?
do you do sub q or IM injections?This is a very interesting thread, VC. I just switched to Prop myself and I'm also experimenting with things. The first two weeks I tried 25mg of TProp ED only. I stopped taking my AI and also my HCG so that I could see how things felt. I know I still had some of the Cyp ester in me, so the first week was a bit odd and felt my estradiol levels elevated. I don't know for sure if they were, but just going based on feeling and symptoms. During that week, I decided to take an AI EOD at .25mg of Anastrozole. That helped that out.
During the second week, I started feeling more energy throughout the day and less estradiol elevated symptoms. That week I only had to take my Anastrozole once the entire week (early on in the week).
I'm in my third week now and I guess I got too anxious. Considering it was a shorter ester, I decided to modify my protocol to 20mg ED instead of the 25mg ED. Now, I know I should have just kept going with 25mg ED for another 2-3 weeks to let everything settle out, but I'm actually feeling much, much better now. My libido is up tremendously, my night wood is through the roof for 4 days straight (no punn intended), and I'm feeling more energy throughout the day and not feeling tired in the evenings as much like I used to before on Cyp. I also haven't had a need to take my AI either.
Sorry, VC, not trying to jack your thread but it would be interesting to see how you fare with your switch. Just wanted to share my experiences so far and I am VERY pleased with the switch.
Oh, one more thing, there is no pain or discomfort with the injections as others have mentioned before. It's actually a little easier, in my opinion, since it's not as oily as Cyp and not as thick to push through.
I found this plot taken from a research paper.
View attachment 7118
I know that your levels depend on a number of things but if we take this plot as a model, your level peaks about 12 hours after injection and stays high for 12 hours more. But then it drops fast.
Given this injecting at night may be a better idea. And of course ED seems better than EOD. Given that my blood level was low 24 hours after injecting 12.5 mg, and that I still don't feel well on 30mg EOD, I'm thinking of increasing the dose to 17.5 or even 20mg every night.
The two papers are virtually the same. Evidently in 1988 the authors renamed and republished the 1986 version, with minor changes.New thoughts on AI
It was from this study: Pharmacokinetic Properties of Testosterone Propionate in Normal Men (1986)
It was from this study
The research paper is Pharmacokinetic Studies of Testosterone Propionate Using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry/Selected Ion Monitoring, from 1988. There were two subjects, with somewhat different-looking results. The open circles show the exogenous testosterone concentrations:
View attachment 7122
Keep in mind that you need to repeat and sum these curves every 24 hours to get an idea of what steady-state looks like. I expect this would put the peaks at 12 hours post-injection or less. I will try to do this when I have time.
Quite the coincidence that I just did this for the first one before I checked in. Here it is:Please try repeating and summing each graph separately. I'll try doing the same, but not sure what program to use. I think nightly prop injections are the best protocol due to mimicry of natural diurnal variation in young men, but a graph will show if we'd need to add a slower ester to maintain levels at trough.
Isn't that for cypionate? I've noticed that I feel so tired when I wake up in the morning. Can it be because I inject in the morning everyday and my levels may be low after 24 hours?
Quite the coincidence that I just did this for the first one before I checked in. Here it is:View attachment 7479
I assumed an exponential decay on the tail and went out for a couple more days. I have to say these results are pretty disappointing. They suggest that we are not getting much diurnal variation even with propionate. I've speculated before that T acetate might be better.
I ran EOD on the same numbers:This is very interesting and may suggest that injecting EOD is a better option. Coincidentally that's what I just started doing, again.
This plot is of the radio-labeled exogenous testosterone, which is what's important when on TRT; endogenous testosterone would be suppressed. The radio-labeled propionate concentration is interesting, but not essential.... Did you use the plot for total T or the exogenous T? (The latter is not important IMO.)