madman
Super Moderator
Wow brother I apologize if that came off rude. I was honestly asking if you were a doctor. I have read a lot of your posts and you seem really knowledgeable.
Truly sorry. I understand your point about switching from one extreme to the other. Question should I perhaps inject my 100mg for the week and then the next day start the low (14mg) every day subq injection? Wouldn’t this be a better option than waiting until I’m trough to start the ED Subq injections? Really want to switch to sub q, after 4 years of IM my ass is torn up lol. My basic labs / set up:
SHBG - 22 (on the lower side)
Test - 1500 ( on the high side) - was running 160mg week but because so high doc recently lowered to 100 week
E2 (LC “sensitive”) - 63
No apologies needed.
Hard to say where your trough TT/FT levels sit on your current protocol (100 mg every 6 days) without labs but regardless you would be better off waiting until 7 days post-injection than switching over to injecting 14mg daily.
Highly doubtful you are going to crash come week's end.
As you can see when you were injecting 160 mg/week your TT 1500 ng/dL was very high but more importantly if your FT was tested (which is critical) then it would have been very high as your SHBG is only 22 nmol/L.
Not sure when your labs were done but keep in mind that peak TT/FT/e2 will be highest at (8-12 hrs) post-injection/during the first few days.
When you switch over to the daily protocol be prepared to experience ups/downs during the transition as your hormones will be in flux during the weeks leading up until blood levels stabilize (4-6 weeks).
Get labs done to see where said protocol (dose T/injection frequency) has your true trough TT/FT/e2 levels let alone hemoglobin/hematocrit.
It is critical when testing to use the most accurate assays for TT/e2 (LC/MS-MS) and FT (Equilibrium Dialysis or Ultrafiltration).
Many make the mistake of using inaccurate assays/calculated methods which can under/overestimate.
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).
Even then as I have stated numerous times on the forum once blood levels stabilize it will take another 2-3 months for the body to adapt and this is the critical time period when one should truly gauge how they feel overall regarding relief/improvement of low-t symptoms.
Too many make the critical mistake of jumping the gun at the 4-6 week mark if they do not feel well not understanding that it will take the body time to adapt to those new levels.
These tend to be the same individuals that get caught up in that never-ending merry go round tweaking their protocol frequently only to end up endlessly searching for that so-called optimal protocol.
The most accurate assays for FT (ED/UF) can be purchased through Nelsons discounted labs.
Either assay will suffice!
1 Testosterone, Total and Free (NO Upper Limit) plus Hematocrit
2 Testosterone, Total, LC/MS and Free (Equilibrium Ultrafiltration)
Let us know how everything works out.