Has anyone ever regretted TRT?

[Airborne Warrior]

My endo on TRT is this Excelmale forum lol. Some very knowledgeable guys on here and it's worked wonders for me.

 

[deBooza]

Hi
You mention in you post "life-long commitment". I look at it as "long-life through commitment".

Started TRT aged 51. I'm not totally dialed in yet as libido is low but do have my 'up' days.
But to live like I was in my pre-TRT state was terrible - I could of been an extra on
'The Walking Dead'.

I can now think straight, make decisions, sleep better, socialize and most of all enjoy living!

TRT for me was/is a life saver.

 

[BigBamBoo]

Yes....I have only been on it for about 8-9 months and right now am having issues that are really making me question starting.

In my case, I do not drink, smoke, use any drugs or medications out side of TRT meds, do not drink coffee, sodas, rarely (as in once every 3-4 months) eat out, etc.

Point to that is I have a pretty “clean” system.

I also had no sexual issues prior to TRT....no E.D., very high libido, ejaculation volume and force was BIG.

Within a month of starting TRT my ejaculation volume and force has dropped to EXTREAMLY low levels so that the feeling of getting off is blah.
And it takes me a VERY long time to get a nut mostly now.

Libido is flat. I can take sex or leave it. Most times I stop my wife when she is giving me head as I can not finish that way now.

I have actually gained body fat since starting. My workouts are solid, and I have maybe made some gains on my dead lifts and bench press....could be I just got back into lifting more when I started TRT. So nothing like “ oh wow” I am yoked now.

So most guys seem to start TRT to help with sexually issues. That was not it for me.

I will be discussing stopping TRT tomorrow with my consult with a Defy doctor.

I have been having VERY high E2 and all that goes with it. Acne, oily skin, pretty sure the sex issues and weight gain are from the high E2.

So....yeah....I am that one guy who is starting to regret it. Maybe after my consult tomorrow things might change.....

Good luck to you. I would try everything else BEFORE starting...thyroid, diet, lifestyle, etc.

 

[MarkM]

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I will be discussing stopping TRT tomorrow with my consult with a Defy doctor.

So....yeah....I am that one guy who is starting to regret it. Maybe after my consult tomorrow things might change.....

I hope in your consult with Defy tomorrow you are able to get it figured out. Best wishes!

 

[BigBamBoo]

I hope in your consult with Defy tomorrow you are able to get it figured out. Best wishes!

Thanks Mark.
I have been with Defy from day one, but have never had that, “I feel awesome now” feeling.

I am willing to give it another 6 weeks (for new labs after any change is made in dose,etc.), but if things do not get better, I am not going to be one of those guys that is willing to spend years trying to dial their protocol in.

We shall see.

 

[DragonBits]

Yes....I have only been on it for about 8-9 months and right now am having issues that are really making me question starting.

In my case, I do not drink, smoke, use any drugs or medications out side of TRT meds, do not drink coffee, sodas, rarely (as in once every 3-4 months) eat out, etc.

Point to that is I have a pretty “clean” system.

I also had no sexual issues prior to TRT....no E.D., very high libido, ejaculation volume and force was BIG.

Within a month of starting TRT my ejaculation volume and force has dropped to EXTREAMLY low levels so that the feeling of getting off is blah.
And it takes me a VERY long time to get a nut mostly now.

Libido is flat. I can take sex or leave it. Most times I stop my wife when she is giving me head as I can not finish that way now.

I have actually gained body fat since starting. My workouts are solid, and I have maybe made some gains on my dead lifts and bench press....could be I just got back into lifting more when I started TRT. So nothing like “ oh wow” I am yoked now.

So most guys seem to start TRT to help with sexually issues. That was not it for me.

I will be discussing stopping TRT tomorrow with my consult with a Defy doctor.

I have been having VERY high E2 and all that goes with it. Acne, oily skin, pretty sure the sex issues and weight gain are from the high E2.

So....yeah....I am that one guy who is starting to regret it. Maybe after my consult tomorrow things might change.....

Good luck to you. I would try everything else BEFORE starting...thyroid, diet, lifestyle, etc.

You never said what made you want to start TRT or what your TT was before TRT? Maybe you didn't really need it.

And if you are having high E2 issues, then it seems like you should reduce E2. One of two ways, change your dosing (amount or schedule) or take an AI.

 

[Deleted member 16042]

Not a regret per se, more that I wish I had been educated enough about TRT before hand to realize that the doc that put me on TRT didn't know the subject matter well and put me on a bad protocol.

The take home point is educate yourself before starting TRT in order to know whether your doctor knows WTF they are doing.

 

[BigBamBoo]

You never said what made you want to start TRT or what your TT was before TRT? Maybe you didn't really need it.

And if you are having high E2 issues, then it seems like you should reduce E2. One of two ways, change your dosing (amount or schedule) or take an AI.

I started TRT because I was just feeling “slow” and unmotivated.

I am just shy of 50, self employed (lots of stress), and my mother just passed away, etc.
So looking back on it, I think I was just in a funk over life at the time.

My TT prior to TRT was 600. But I have really high SHBG (75) at the time of starting, now down to 60.
My Free T was 10 and my E2 was around 17.

I did lower my dose from 80mg of TC and 500iu of HCG twice a week down to 60mg of TC and 300iu of HCG twice a week.

It lowered my E2 from 75+ to 73+. My TT at the 80mg dose was 1000+ and FT was 28.

On the 60mg dose my TT is 940 and my FT is around 19.

I am not willing to take an AI.

 

[dd340]

I started TRT because I was just feeling “slow” and unmotivated.

I am just shy of 50, self employed (lots of stress), and my mother just passed away, etc.
So looking back on it, I think I was just in a funk over life at the time.

My TT prior to TRT was 600. But I have really high SHBG (75) at the time of starting, now down to 60.
My Free T was 10 and my E2 was around 17.

I did lower my dose from 80mg of TC and 500iu of HCG twice a week down to 60mg of TC and 300iu of HCG twice a week.

It lowered my E2 from 75+ to 73+. My TT at the 80mg dose was 1000+ and FT was 28.

On the 60mg dose my TT is 940 and my FT is around 19.

I am not willing to take an AI.

Hopefully they will get you off hcg and get you dialed in without it. Once that is done, maybe consider going back on hcg.

 

[BigBamBoo]

Well I am secondary so. Not sure I want to let my nuts shut down.

Will know more tomorrow hopefully.

 

[DragonBits]

I started TRT because I was just feeling “slow” and unmotivated.

I am just shy of 50, self employed (lots of stress), and my mother just passed away, etc.
So looking back on it, I think I was just in a funk over life at the time.

My TT prior to TRT was 600. But I have really high SHBG (75) at the time of starting, now down to 60.
My Free T was 10 and my E2 was around 17.

I did lower my dose from 80mg of TC and 500iu of HCG twice a week down to 60mg of TC and 300iu of HCG twice a week.

It lowered my E2 from 75+ to 73+. My TT at the 80mg dose was 1000+ and FT was 28.

On the 60mg dose my TT is 940 and my FT is around 19.

I am not willing to take an AI.

When I was 43 23 years ago my TT was 376 and free T ranged from 4.7-7.5. I went on TRT when I was 57, and went off TRT for a couple of years when I was 62. My TT on TRT was as high as 902 ng/dl, and when I quit TRT TT declined to as low as 326 ng/dl. My FT has been as high as 28.4 pg/ml (6.6-18.1) on TRT.

I only went off TRT to increase my sperm counts as on TRT my sperm count was zero, I recovered to near normal in a about 6 months.

When I first went on TRT at age 57, it was all pretty great. Maybe the best sex of my life, and I lost 35 lbs from 190 > 155 in 8 months and my BP went down.

Even off of TRT my weight stayed pretty much down though I did gain back to 168.

The second time around for TRT doesn't seem as great, but it's only been 11 weeks on TRT, I do feel better and I think because of my previous experience I have higher expectations.

POINTS:
1) I never had as good TT or FT as you did. So maybe you didn't really need TRT.
2) TRT has always been a very positive experience for me.
3) Being off of TRT isn't terrible, though I do lose interest in sex and working out is not nearly as productive, but my mood is OK. Though my wife says I am in a much better mood and don't get as angry or snap at her as when I have low T.

The only regret I have is that I didn't start TRT at age 43 instead of age 57. I knew something must have changed to cause me to slow down so quickly, and I saw several different doctors at the time trying to figure out what was wrong. But all the tests at the time can back as "normal". As I said, my TT at age 43 was 376 ng/dl, low normal, not terrible but not enough for me to feel good.

 

[joszt01]

I had my thyroid treated successfully for years, but i still had low t symptoms. Started trt and ots changed my life in 3 months! Only regret is not starting sooner

 

[ERO]

Yes, I regret it. Wasted a ton of money over the years with no difference in how I feel. I did not have unrealistic expectations, either.

 

[MarkM]

Yes, I regret it. Wasted a ton of money over the years with no difference in how I feel. I did not have unrealistic expectations, either.

Bummer! That's terrible. How long on TRT?

 

[ERO]

Bummer! That's terrible. How long on TRT?

6 years. I have every low SHBG (high single digits to low teens), so now that I understand the ramifications of that, I get why it has not helped me at all.

 

[MarkM]

I'm sorry you have not had success with TRT. Do you inject daily?

 

[ERO]

Yes, and all that does is help me keep more stable T & E2 levels. It doesn't make my body "see" the T and use it, though. It literally feels like I am injecting water. Been working with Defy Medical for years, and taking thyroid meds - they all feel like water as well.

 

[Jonny]

I do. im on trt about 4 years the only change is like 10% more energy, and messed up hormones so what am i going to do? not trt for 4 weeks than start pct with clomid and taurine and see how it goes, than if needed try Hrt with deca and please before commenting read about studies thanks.

 

[Dave B.]

Hi guys

I'm almost at the point where my endo, after long discussions, is at least open to trying TRT.

He gave a long talk though that he has a lot of patients in his practice that were prescribed TRT by doctors who were not really looking into other causes, and now they are stuck with a "life-long commitment", they regret it now (or don't want to commit to life-long treatment) and he is busy trying to restore their f*cked up hormonal axis.

I'm curious what your symptoms are, your age, and what exactly is "fked" up about your hormones?

Look, it isn't all that mysterious. For example, my wife's body isn't producing Thyroid. This is a common medical issue with females. She has been taking synthetic thyroid for like 20 years now. It is a "lifelong therapy" so what. Once you are beyond the age of 35 or 40 a lot of people get health problems that are age-related and aren't ever going away such as adult onset diabetes, metabolic syndrome, low thyroid, low testosterone, you name it.

I was having a mixed bag of symptoms. I was a vegetarian who exercised, and was not clinically obese, or clinically depressed, or anything like that, yet I felt 70 years old some days with no energy. I wasn't fat but I had a growing belly that I'd never had in my life and shrinking muscle mass in my shoulders/arms especially. I was "average" by most health markers but guess what, most health markers doctors use are calibrated on people who are sick as hell or have diseases, so they are the lowest common denominator. Being "borderline unhealthy" by most physician standards means you are already sick.

They ran some tests and found out my overall T was low, and my Free T was almost zilch, with high SHBG. For whatever reason, my body wasn't making enough testosterone. Go figure. So guess what, introducing the testosterone back into the system makes me feel better.

If you have low T, you need to bring your levels up to normal. It isn't rocket science. You'll feel better.

If you do NOT have low T, you have other health problems and TRT is not going to help you. It isn't just something you "try" for no good reason.

 

[JimGainz]

I definitely do not regret it. There are times when I think about potentially going off – but then I am reminded about how crappy I felt. From what I understand, any free testosterone level below 10 is a potential candidate - and certainly anything below eight is almost an automatic ticket to TRT based on conventional standards now. Although I had a total testosterone rating that ranged between 425 and 585 – my free testosterone hovered around 6.8 to 7.5. Not good. What this meant for me was no morning wood at all – chronic fibromyalgia type pain, brain fog, tired, losing muscle mass , etc. all of these problems are now corrected. I also had low thyroid and I’m now on T3 medication. Fixing the thyroid was almost as life-changing as getting on TRT – but in no way would I go back off TRT and just see how my thyroid fixes things. Overall, on my protocol I feel better than I have in over a decade. So no reason to change anything. My only fear is that Insurance may make it harder to obtain these drugs, or the government might start cracking down on TRT clinics – imposing more legislation and making everything less available. But for now, I am enjoying a new lifestyle, as well as some decent muscle gains