So I did my blood work at the utmost trough...I usually inject Friday am around 7:00 am and I did this blood work Friday 7:20 am.
After the blood draw, I resumed my scheduled injection.
So I selected some key panels to share...
I'm wondering if there is a way to estimate what my Peak TT & Free would be? Still waiting on E2 to come in from Quest.
I went back on TRT 10 months ago & changed protocols a few times. These labs were after 10 weeks at current protocol (listed below). Also, hoping HCT & Hemo slowly lowers over time (currently not donating).
Any best guesses? Thx in advance
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You are injecting 130 mg T split (65 mg every 3.5 days).
If you are injecting at 7 am Friday then your following injection should be Monday at 7 pm if you want to be precise as in every 3.5 days or 84 hrs.
The best time for labs on such a schedule to test true trough would be Friday morning at 7 a.m.
You had your blood work done right around this time.
As you can see you are hitting a very high-end trough TT 958 ng/dL and with a somewhat lowish SHBG 23 nmol/L your trough FT would be high.
Unfortunately, you never tested your FT using what is considered the most accurate assay the gold-standard Equilibrium Dialysis.
Quest let alone Nelson's
discounted labs offers this assay.
Not sure why you would not jump on this as it is not that expensive, especially through
discounted labs.
Even then if we take your high-end TT 958 ng/dL, somewhat lowish SHBG 23 nmol/L, and Albumin 4.2 g/dL then your cFT using the Vermeulen linear law-of-mass action would be very high as in 27.8 ng/dL.
Keep in mind as of now cFTV tends to overestimate somewhat when compared against the gold-standard Equilibrium Dialysis so your trough FT may very well be somewhat lower.
Even then it would still be very high.
As you should very well know your peak TT, FT, and estradiol are going to be higher.
You are hitting a high-end trough TT 958 ng/dL and a very high trough FT.
Not sure if you are injecting strictly sub-q or IM but I would bet your peak TT is around 1400 ng/dL and FT would be through the roof!
Regardless if you feel great overall on your current protocol minus any sides and blood markers are healthy then I would not change a thing.
Yes, your hematocrit and hemoglobin are just over the top end but not really high, and if you are not experiencing any negative symptoms then I would not be too concerned.
Most doctors in the know would not recommend donating or lowering your T dose unless your hematocrit hits 52-54%.
Yes, there are some who prefer not letting it get too far past the top-end but again whether one is experiencing any negative sides comes into play.
The shit kicker here is that you and many still fail to understand that where your hematocrit sits 6-10 weeks in let alone 6 months is not a given where it will stay as hematocrit will increase within the first month of starting TRT or tweaking a protocol (increasing dose of T) and will take anywhere from 6-9 months and in some cases up to one year to reach peak levels.
You are only 10 weeks into your protocol and your hematocrit is just over the top end of the reference range it will most likely continue to rise in the coming months so just be prepared for this as things may be worse off in the long run due to you running a very high trough FT level.
www.excelmale.com
This needs to be stressed!
Patience is key when tweaking a protocol (decreasing/increasing T dose).
*It has to be noted that the largest increase in hematocrit levels is seen in the first year after initiation of testosterone therapy. On the other hand it is expected that a decrease can take a similar amount of time. Especially when taking into account that the lifespan of a erythrocyte is 120 days. Hence, interventions to lower hematocrit levels should be evaluated after 6 months and a decrease can be expected until 1 year after the intervention.
