Hey everyone,
Been on and off trt for 5/6 years now, came off for a year in 2020 to get pregnant for my son and came off at the end of last year to get pregnant again. We are half way through the pregnancy now so I am jumping back on.
My dose had always been a vial of sust 250 once per week injected into the thigh or glute.
Since I’ve been off and out of the trt circle for a while, I had a few questions.
Is this still a sound protocol that I’ve been prescribed?
Is there a better injection frequency/style? I’m still using the long needles and going deep into the muscle?
I’m 10 days in so 2 injections and feel a bit bloated, this may be diet/sickness but could it be from the trt or is that too early?
My blood work was:
Total test 2.85 ng/ml ref range 2.79-8.16
Free test 52.1pg/ml (1.83%) ref range upto 2-3%
Sensitive Estradiol <20 pg/ml ref range <20-47
Any advice or pointing in the right direction of new articles/studies would be much appreciated.
My goals from the trt are two fold. Firstly quality of life/libido/mood/energy and secondly to lose fat as im starting to participate in triathlons
Is this still a sound protocol that I’ve been prescribed?
No, and it never was.
This is overkill.
The majority of men would never even need what would be considered the high-end TRT dose of 200 mg/week to achieve a healthy let alone high trough FT level.
Most can easily achieve such by injecting 100-150mg T/week especially when split into more frequent injections.
Is there a better injection frequency/style? I’m still using the long needles and going deep into the muscle?
Nothing wrong with starting out injecting once weekly but the downfall is that there will be a significant difference in the peak--->trough and blood levels will not be as stable throughout the week which can have a negative impact on mood, energy, libido/erectile function and recovery.
Regardless some men will do well injecting once weekly.
More common to split your weekly dose and inject twice weekly (every 3.5 days) as this will clip the peak--->trough and blood levels will be more stable throughout the week.
Some may even go with injecting lower doses more frequently as in M/W/F, EOD, or even daily.
Most men are injecting strictly IM (shallow/deep) or subcutaneously.
Need to find what suits you best.
The majority of men on TRT are using 27-31G (various needle lengths) LDS insulin syringes (fixed needle) to draw and inject the oily solution.
No need to use 22-25G needles let alone switch out needles to draw/inject.
One of the main advantages of using an LDS insulin syringe for trt is that there will be minimal waste of medication due to low-dead space let alone you draw/inject using the same needle (fixed).
Numerous benefits of using an LDS insulin syringe (fixed needle) as injections are virtually pain-free, minimal trauma to the tissue, minimizing any waste of medication, easier for many to measure accurate doses when injecting lower volumes, and you can draw/inject using the same needle to boot.
“Fixed insulin type syringes have no void space at the point where the needle joins the syringe, and so are known as Low Dead Space Syringes, which is sometimes abbreviated in the literature to LDSS. They are made like this so that the full accurate dose is delivered, and there is no waste”
I’m 10 days in so 2 injections and feel a bit bloated, this may be diet/sickness but could it be from the trt or is that too early?
Bloat/water weight is expected and there is a good chance you are going to hold a lot on the absurd dose of T you are starting out on!
Although excess e2 can play a role in water retention (bloat/puffiness) it is not solely to blame.
Androgens increase the retention of electrolytes.
The use of exogenous androgens will result in the retention of sodium, chloride, water, potassium, calcium, and inorganic phosphates.
Bloating/edema can be common in some and to what degree depends on many factors.
Most of the initial increases in weight gain on trt are water-related whether extra-cellular/intra-cellular.
Many men on trt can gain 5-15 lbs of water weight within the first month.
The majority of gains when first starting trt are due to extra-cellular water (between the muscle and skin) which shows up as bloat/puffiness and intra-cellular water (inside the muscle cell) which will make the muscle look fuller and harder due to increased glycogen stores.
My blood work was:
Total test 2.85 ng/ml ref range 2.79-8.16
Free test 52.1pg/ml (1.83%) ref range upto 2-3%
Sensitive Estradiol <20 pg/ml ref range <20-47
You are missing important blood markers such as SHBG and CBC which include critical markers RBCs, hemoglobin, and hematocrit).
Again need to tread lightly on that absurd dose of T you are starting out on as not only will it put your TT, FT, and estradiol through the roof but more importantly it is going to drive up your hematocrit.
Any advice or pointing in the right direction of new articles/studies would be much appreciated.
Use the search function.
The forum is littered with such!
www.excelmale.com
Selecting the Devices There are many different syringes and needles, suiting many different procedures. It is important to choose the needles and syringes carefully according to the type of injection to be administered. For example, the length and gauge of the needle and type of syringe must...
www.excelmale.com
