So I have a lot of trouble dialing in my TRT. Started gel with low T of 260 ng/dl and <5 E2 (non sensitive) , undetectable. SHBG of 23. Felt like HELL.
started androgel, felt the best i have ever felt in life after 4 days, this lasted for 1.5 weeks then I lost all my benefits and slowly became anxious, paranoid, amotivational etc again. not as bad as pre-trt but still bad.
Then tried injections. 6 weeks of subq e3.5d 60mg.
Levels: 630 ng/dl Total T, 51 pg/ml E2 (nonSensitive) felt like shit, way worse than gel.
Then went on another gel. Felt very good at first again, which didnt last too long. There were moments where I had high e2 symptoms (oily skin, acne, red flushed face, etc) but felt very good mentally.
Gel stopped working again after a few months. Started injections. I thought, hm, maybe my low shbg was the reason i did better on gel than injections. Thats why I did everyday subq 20mg injections. for 6-8 weeks.
Felt absolutely the WORST. Felt exactly like pre-trt MINUS the panic attacks.
Then switched back to e3.5d subq, 140-150mg but felt like shit again. Thought, maybe SubQ is the problem, lets to IM.
So i just finished 6 weeks of e3.5d 75mg intramuscular. Dont feel good. will get bloods tomorrow but no e2 test (which is useless anyways as i cant get sensitive).
My symptoms really match low E2. Dry skin, dry eyes (at sleep), lethargy, anhedonia, obsessive thoughts, anxiety,depression, no erections except sometimes at waking up. no libido. insensitive penis, small flaccid. thin hair.
So could it be that I could feel better at less frequent, bigger shots to get more aromatization going?
Anyone noticed they feel better on less frequent shots?
So I have a lot of trouble dialing in my TRT. Started gel with low T of 260 ng/dl and <5 E2 (non sensitive) , undetectable. SHBG of 23. Felt like HELL.
started androgel, felt the best i have ever felt in life after 4 days, this lasted for 1.5 weeks then I lost all my benefits and slowly became anxious, paranoid, amotivational etc again. not as bad as pre-trt but still bad.
How long did you stay on the protocol before bailing and where did your TT/FT/e2 levels sit?
Post labs?
Then tried injections. 6 weeks of subq e3.5d 60mg.
Levels: 630 ng/dl Total T, 51 pg/ml E2 (nonSensitive) felt like shit, way worse than gel.
Although your trough TT 630 ng/dL is far from absurdly high seeing as your SHBG is lowish 23 nmol/L (before you started Androgel protocol) and may now be even lower on injections than your FT would be descent and keep in mind that your peak TT/FT/e2 levels will be higher as you are injecting 120 mg T/week (60 mg every 3.5 days).
As you can clearly see your e2 is already high 51 pg/mL.
Although TT is important to know FT is what truly matters as it is the active unbound fraction of testosterone responsible for the positive effects.
It is critical that you not only test TT but more importantly FT and SHBG.
The only way to know where your FT truly sits is to have it tested using the most accurate assays such as the gold standard Equilibrium Dialysis or Ultrafiltration (next best).
Where your SHBG sits will have a significant impact on TT/FT let alone can dictate what injection frequency may suit you best.
Then went on another gel. Felt very good at first again, which didnt last too long. There were moments where I had high e2 symptoms (oily skin, acne, red flushed face, etc) but felt very good mentally.
You only gave your previous protocol 120 mg T/week (60 mg every 3.5 days).....6 weeks then bailed and now on the gel again?
Where did your TT/FT/e2/SHBG levels sit?
Post labs?
DHT let alone the sensitivity of the AR has more to do with acne (genetically prone) than e2.
Gel stopped working again after a few months. Started injections. I thought, hm, maybe my low shbg was the reason i did better on gel than injections. Thats why I did everyday subq 20mg injections. for 6-8 weeks.
Felt absolutely the WORST. Felt exactly like pre-trt MINUS the panic attacks.
2 months on the gel then you jumped back on injections 140mg/week (20 mg daily).
Basically just upped your T dose from your previous injection protocol 120mgT/week (60 mg every 3.5 days) to 140 mg T (20 mg daily) which would be sure to drive your TT/FT/e2 levels up further.
Where did your TT/FT/e2/SHBG levels sit?
Post labs?
Again you only stayed on this protocol for 6-8 weeks.
Then switched back to e3.5d subq, 140-150mg but felt like shit again. Thought, maybe SubQ is the problem, lets to IM.
Now you switched back to injecting 140-150 mg T/week (70-75mg every 3.5 days) strictly sub-q and felt horrible.
How long did you stay on the protocol.....6-8 weeks?
Where did your TT/FT/e2/SHBG levels sit?
Post labs?
So i just finished 6 weeks of e3.5d 75mg intramuscular. Dont feel good. will get bloods tomorrow but no e2 test (which is useless anyways as i cant get sensitive).
Now you switched over to injecting strictly IM same dose T/injection frequency as your previous protocol.
You are only 6 weeks in and have absolutely no idea where your TT/FT/e2/SHBG level sits and you should still be getting estradiol tested even if you do not have access to the LC/MS-MS.
My symptoms really match low E2. Dry skin, dry eyes (at sleep), lethargy, anhedonia, obsessive thoughts, anxiety,depression, no erections except sometimes at waking up. no libido. insensitive penis, small flaccid. thin hair.
You have no idea where your e2 sits and good chances are it will be high on your current protocol as you are injecting 150 mg T/week (75 mg every 3.5 days) as you were clearly hitting high e2 (51 pg/mL) levels on one of your previous protocols using a much lower dose 120 mg T/week (60 mg every 3.5 days) strictly sub-q.
Need to post labs once you get them as you need to know where your trough TT/FT/e2 levels sit let alone SHBG!
So could it be that I could feel better at less frequent, bigger shots to get more aromatization going?
You have absolutely no idea where your E2 let alone SHBG sits and you were hitting a high trough e2 51 pg/mL on one of your previous injection protocols 120 mg T/week (60 mg every 3.5 days).
Need full labs TT/FT/E2/SHBG.
Let alone 6-8 weeks is nowhere near enough time to gauge the effectiveness of a protocol.
Anyone noticed they feel better on less frequent shots?
Comes down to the individual and many factors come into play.
Most on trt are injecting twice weekly (every 3.5 days), M/W/F, EOD, or daily.
Sure some are using once-weekly injections but it is not as common.
Do you see the common theme here?
Only giving a protocol 6-8 weeks before bailing and tweaking things (dose T/injection frequency, injectable--->transdermal, sub-q--->IM)
Not getting full labs done on every protocol.....TT/FT/E2/SHBG let alone other blood markers such as RBCs/hemoglobin/hematocrit.
Unfortunately, this is a complete mess!