Seems to me it you simply stop it can take a very long time to get back to pre-treatment levels, no? Surely a good reason for all the trt docs on the forum to suggest a restart protocol?
In general recovery of the hpta will come down to dosage of testosterone/AAS used, duration of use, type of AAS used whether T only or T+AAS or T + multiple AAS), age of the individual.
Older men would tend to have a more difficult time recovering than younger men.
Higher doses and a longer duration of use will have a greater negative impact on the recovery of the hpta.
Use of nandrolone or trenbolone will have a greater negative effect on the recovery of the hpta.
On average most men on trt are injecting 100-200 mg/week of testosterone only and the duration of use can be anywhere from months to years depending on whether the individual continues trt indefinitely or decides to come off such as in your case.
Use of pct will in no way prevent the crash following hpta recovery it will just speed up the recovery process and minimized the length of being in a hypogonadal state.
The main goal of pct is to not only increase LH production which will stimulate the Leydig cells in the testes to produce endogenous testosterone (ITT) but most importantly making sure the testes are responsive to the LH stimulation as in many cases when on trt or steroids if no hCG was used during this time than the Leydig cells become dormant and the seminiferous tubules shrink which results in testicular atrophy due to shutdown of the hpta and LH/FSH production. This results in the Leydig cells no longer producing endogenous testosterone and the Sertoli/germ cells no longer producing sperm.
Use of hCG when on trt or steroids should aid in the recovery process when coming off as it mimics LH and will keep the Leydig cells active (producing some degree of ITT).
Even without the use of a pct, the natural production of LH will kick in fairly quickly but natural endogenous production of testosterone can take much longer as the critical aspect of the recovery process is the responsiveness of the Leydig cells in the testes to the LH.
No one can say exactly how long it will take you to recover let alone how you will feel during the transition.
Some men on trt choose to stop cold turkey (no pct) and recover okay with some bumps along the way whereas others may struggle before things get better.
Others choose to implement a pct which may make the transition much quicker/smoother but again everyone is different as again there are numerous factors involved.
