Blood levels, need advice

IamNotShepard · Apr 16, 2019

Hi guys,

So, i've been on 30mg EOD protocol for 46 days excacly and i got my blood levels today:

Total Testosterone: 1212 ng/dL |Range: 250 - 865|
Estradiol (we don't have sensitive test in my country): 44 |Range: 7.68 - 43|
SHBG: 37 |Range: 13.3 - 89.5|
Free testosterone (TruT): 43.45 ng/dL |Range: 16-31 ng/dL|

These are not my completely through levels as i've done them 9 hours before injection (i am doing shots at 11 PM).

I feel good, but not great. I sometimes have problems with libido and i rarely have morning wood. I know i have a LITTLE BIT too much estradiol, even though it's not sensitive test. I don't know what to do from here. I can try injecting 15mg ED to lower my E2, but i want to hear advices from people who have more knowledge than i do.
And yeah, i don't want to take an AI, i know i need to lower my E2 just a little bit, because my libido is there very often, sometimes it just gets a little bit "blurry". Hard to describe really and i do have morning woods sometimes. Thanks for help

P.S I don't take HCG, AI or anything other than testosterone.

Vince Carter · Apr 16, 2019

I'd make a small change to 25mg EOD and see how things are.

CoastWatcher · Apr 16, 2019

Vince Carter said:
I'd make a small change to 25mg EOD and see how things are.

And, if you make this adjustment, be patient. Make this one change, and give your system the required number of weeks for serum levels to adjust.

It’s a step-by-step process.

Systemlord · Apr 16, 2019

I wouldn't make a drastic change in dosage, 25mg EOD is a more reasonable reduction in dosing, 15mg EOD will most likely drop your levels too low.

A 20mg reduction should reduce estrogen nicely. Since you're using the incorrect testing for estrogen through no choice of your own, estrogen is probably a little lower closer to high normal (35).

IamNotShepard · Apr 16, 2019

Thanks for feedback. I've been talking to Sean Mosher and he basically said the same thing. My estradiol is not that high, so i hope that 25mg EOD will be a sufficient amount to drop my E2 where it needs to be. Hopefully my testosterone will still be a little bit over the top range afterwards.

Systemlord said:
Since you're using the incorrect testing for estrogen through no choice of your own, estrogen is probably a little lower closer to high normal (35).

Yeah, i've been told that regular E2 test overestimate estrogen in male's body, so my estradiol could actually be within normal ranges. I am just 1 point over the range in regular.

Vince · Apr 17, 2019

I think your Labs look pretty good. A small reduction in your testosterone injections, as the others recommended. Should be fine. I wouldn't be too concerned about your estrogen levels, they're not bad and you're shpg is in a good range. I would keep an eye on your HCT, just starting trt it tends to rise. You may also want to consider a complete thyroid panel, at least once. TSH, free T4, free T3, and both antibodies.

IamNotShepard · Apr 17, 2019

Vince said:
I think your Labs look pretty good. A small reduction in your testosterone injections, as the others recommended. Should be fine. I wouldn't be too concerned about your estrogen levels, they're not bad and you're shpg is in a good range. I would keep an eye on your HCT, just starting trt it tends to rise. You may also want to consider a complete thyroid panel, at least once. TSH, free T4, free T3, and both antibodies.

Vince · Apr 17, 2019

IamNotShepard said:
Thank you. And yeah, actually i've done thyroid panel as well.

TSH: 2.2488 uIU/mL |Range: 0.3500 - 4.9400|
FT3: 3.191 pg/mL |Range: 1.710 - 3.710|
FT4: 1.091 ng/dL |Range: 0.700 - 1.480|
anti TG: 4.39 IU/mL |Range: 0-4.11|
anti TPO 0.37 IU/mL |Range: 0-5.61|

You're fortunate to have good thyroid levels.

IamNotShepard · Apr 17, 2019

Vince said:
You're fortunate to have good thyroid levels.

Is thyroid problems a common issue among people on TRT?

Loki · Apr 17, 2019

I'd love to know what contributes to morning wood. I seem to always have it the morning after my shot and it slowly goes away until the next shot. Is it driven by High T, does higher E kill it?

Vince · Apr 17, 2019

IamNotShepard said:
Is thyroid problems a common issue among people on TRT?

A lot of thyroid issues mimic low testosterone issues. When someone gets diagnosed with low testosterone, they should check their thyroid to make sure it's not affecting their testosterone.

The interrelationships between thyroid dysfunction and hypogonadism in men and boys. - PubMed - NCBI

Vince Carter · Apr 17, 2019

IamNotShepard said:
Is thyroid problems a common issue among people on TRT?

Guys usually find ancillary problems not related to the TRT, per se.

Vince Carter · Apr 17, 2019

Loki said:
I'd love to know what contributes to morning wood. I seem to always have it the morning after my shot and it slowly goes away until the next shot. Is it driven by High T, does higher E kill it?

I think my experience of my own self seems that and we know E follows T, but my T falls sooner/quicker than my E does (low SHBG) so it can seem that my E stays elevated while T is coming down. I inject daily.

SilverSurfer · Apr 18, 2019

OP, do you take a low dose Cialis every day? Before TRT I would never have morning wood. After getting stabilized on TRT I’d have wood 2 or 3 days a week. Taking 5 mg Cialis daily, I have wood 5 or 6 days a week.

IamNotShepard · May 4, 2019

An update:

I did not make any changes in my protocol and decided to give it more time to see how i feel. 1 week ago i had few days when i felt a little bit worse but for the past 2 days i feel better than i did for a long time. I have morning erections more often and they're pretty strong. I am horny pretty much all day now. So for now things are good. I'll give it time at least until June before i will decide whether dosage reduction is needed or not.

SilverSurfer said:
OP, do you take a low dose Cialis every day? Before TRT I would never have morning wood. After getting stabilized on TRT I’d have wood 2 or 3 days a week. Taking 5 mg Cialis daily, I have wood 5 or 6 days a week.

Thanks for advice, i did not use Cialis but i might introduce it to my protocol.

Appassionato · May 6, 2019

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but there are a lot of practitioners and PhDs these days (Raymond Peat just to name one) who says a healthy thyroid has a TSH sitting at around or below 1.0. I basically have the same thyroid numbers as IamNotShepard and Dr. Saya told me my thyroid is perfectly fine, but I do suffer from cold extremities in winter (feet, hands and nose), especially in a fasted state, so I was curious to know what you guys think.

EDIT: this is a table Nelson posted in one of the sticky about the optimal thyroid levels