Arimidex and how I should take it

[steelballz]

My E has been rising 5 PG/ML every time I got a blood panel. My Libido and ed seems to fluctuate as does my anxiety(FYI, I had no anxiety prior to TRT). Currently I am at 44.9 PG/ML and I know that's not terribly high but I have noticed I am hyper sensitive to everything. My endo offered Arimidex. .5mg twice a week. If I recall Bass recommends 24 after my T shot. Since I inject twice a week that works out. Unfortunately I didn't see that until I took the first dose which I did at the same time as my T. Well the next day I felt incredible. I was thinking placebo but I had way to much energy and was way to cheerful for placebo. But the following two days...ugh. I got moody as hell. So maybe following Bass's advice will help but I was wondering if I should take it every other day in .25mg. Also since I am not super high on the E should I take a lower dosage? My endo will test me in 3 months. So I guess the gauges for elevated E is itchy or puffy nipples. Well that doesn't help me since I had surgery on them and have had no feeling or puffiness in them whatsoever since I was 15 years old. So I guess my only gauge is morning wood. Unless someone has another sign.

 

[James]

My E has been rising 5 PG/ML every time I got a blood panel. My Libido and ed seems to fluctuate as does my anxiety(FYI, I had no anxiety prior to TRT). Currently I am at 44.9 PG/ML and I know that's not terribly high but I have noticed I am hyper sensitive to everything. My endo offered Arimidex. .5mg twice a week. If I recall Bass recommends 24 after my T shot. Since I inject twice a week that works out. Unfortunately I didn't see that until I took the first dose which I did at the same time as my T. Well the next day I felt incredible. I was thinking placebo but I had way to much energy and was way to cheerful for placebo. But the following two days...ugh. I got moody as hell. So maybe following Bass's advice will help but I was wondering if I should take it every other day in .25mg. Also since I am not super high on the E should I take a lower dosage? My endo will test me in 3 months. So I guess the gauges for elevated E is itchy or puffy nipples. Well that doesn't help me since I had surgery on them and have had no feeling or puffiness in them whatsoever since I was 15 years old. So I guess my only gauge is morning wood. Unless someone has another sign.

You and i seem to be very similar in our dose, various blood levels, and our response to test. I've been on t about 8 months now, just a couple weeks ago started taking .25 mg arimidex, 24 hours after injection and feel better. I too didn't have these anxiety issues prior to t.

 

[Gene Devine]

Testosterone when injected peaks at about 72 hours after injection. AI's have a 50 hour half life. So, by taking the AI 24 hours after injection both drugs are peaking which is an ideal environment for controlling E2 synthesis.

I doubt your good feeling were as a result of taking the AI within 24 hours; AI's take longer to work and they have no effect on the neurological system.

Be very careful in AI dosage; aromatase inhibitors are very powerful antagonists in men and it doesn't take much to get the effect on E2 management.

Get blood tested 6 weeks after you start your AI and make sure it's the "Sensitive" E2 assay when they run it.

 

[steelballz]

Gene, your advice is rock solid. You have helped me so much but this time I have to disagree. I know I may be one of the rare few but I have poked around and there are others that feel the same as I. As soon as my E was going above 35 I noticed it. So lets just put me in the category of hyper sensitive. I got advice from James who appears to have similar issues. He along with some others advised me to reduce my T. As you know I inject twice a week. I started that because of the mood swings and anxiety. The T reduction helped a little but the anxiousness and panics were still killing me. So now I am on week 2 of Arimidex. I feel it like an hour after taking and wow I am sailing for like the next 12 to 24 hours. I decided to take .25 4 times a week. I took .25 last night and I feel like a million bucks this morning. I will be careful with the dosage. At some point I will back off to .25 twice a week but not sure when other that using the morning wood test. Since I am so hyper sensitive I think I will notice before that happens. I will keep you all up to date on my progress. But so far I consider this a wonder drug. I will ask my endo to see if she can test earlier.

Btw Gene, I have read that some guys feel good with levels in between 10 and 20. Why is that. From what I have read 20 to 35 is ideal and anything above or below puts you in the high risk category.

 

[James]

Steel - I would agree you are probably hypersensitive to these drugs (I know I am). Those reference ranges are simply that (for reference), and we need to stop focusing all of our attention on our numbers and also consider how we feel. I know that sounds like common sense, but I'm not sure everyone does. I've had my E2 at various levels and feel far better when my E2 is between 10-20, and like crap when it's 37 (yet 37 is considered "normal"). Same with Test. Get me around 500 and I'm great, if I get into the 800's, emotionally I'm a mess and here comes some bad side effects. It's about getting to know your body, and that only comes with trial/error. Call it a placebo, but it doesn't really matter what you call it...I feel great within 1 - 2 hours of taking a small dose of Arimidex. Again, I acknowledge the probability that I'm sensitive to these drugs. As for your dose Steel: 1) how you feel, 2) what your numbers show and 3) what your doc says (emphasis on #1) will determine what amount is best for you. I'm only taking .25 AI once a week. Good luck to you my friend.

 

[steelballz]

Well I have an update. I'm roughly on my seventh week of Arimidex. When I first started taking it I felt frikin amazing. Week 4 I noticed some nite wood changes. So instead of taking .25 4 times a week I changed to .25 twice a week. Nite wood is better now. I have to make one very interesting observation. I know when I am in the sweet spot, I feel great, I can lift like a mad man but there is one interesting fact, I have some acne break out. So what is the correlation? Is it because I'm dropping my E just enough and my T is going up? Acne isn't too bad but almost exactly like when I was a teenager. 2 more weeks and I will know for sure my levels.

 

[hondadude]

My doctor also talked to me last visit that he may put me on an anti-estrogen pill my next shot. My E has gone up quite a bit from original. I've take a shot once a week, but have been noticing some libido issues from time to time. Once my I get my new blood work from Friday I will update the number and the outcome

 

[Nelson Vergel]

This study shows that 9 out of 21 men did not have estradiol increases after an injection of testosterone.

Message to all: starting anastrozole without first getting your estradiol measured by ultrasensitive analysis is not smart and may be providing treatment to men who do not need it! Estradiol is our friend, not enemy. There is no reason whatsoever for treating estradiol unless it is high ( probably above 50 pg/mL) and if you have gynecomastia (although some researchers argue that gynecomastia is a deficiency of testosterone to balance out estradiol).

Effect of a single injection of testosterone enanthate on 17β estradiol and bone turnover markers

 

[croaker24]

I wondered - over the long-term - is it inevitable that all men will eventually need to take anastrozole? What if you are extremely lean and maintain that low amount of body fat?

 

[BradWI]

So it's been 2 years since this thread was updated. Is taking your AI 24 hours after injection still a good to go protocol?

 

[James]

24 hours is probably best. Taking with injection is more convenient. I take with injection

 

[Vince]

So it's been 2 years since this thread was updated. Is taking your AI 24 hours after injection still a good to go protocol?

yep, that's still the time to take it