Libido - 1 huge leap forward, 5 steps back.

[The slice]

I have always struggled with libido and generally feeling good on TRT.



I am a relatively low aromitiser and have single digit SHBG.



I have tried just about every protocol under the sun over the last 10 years. Over the last year I have been experimenting with lower doses (60-90 mg per week) I have better morning wood with this approach but ZERO libido and delayed ejaculation. I believe the issue with this approach is my E2 just gets too low, bottom 15% of the reference range.



I decided a few months ago to try higher dosages - (250mg / week) I got a minor improvement in energy, sense of wellbeing, a slight improvement in ejaculation but still zero actual libido.



A few weeks ago I stated to realise I was looking a little puffy, bloated and my morning wood was not consistent - I decided to try a small dose of an AI to see if there were any improvements. WOW!!! 12.5mg of Aromasin and the next day my libido was through the roof. I mean insane, for the first time in 10 years I felt sexual desire!!!!! I ordered a blood test as I wanted to get a reading of what my blood work looked like when I am feeling horny.



It was a week before my test arrived and over the course of the following days, the libido dropped. 2 days feeling amazing, 2 days feeling ok, and a few days of feeling just ok. My blood work (now a week after taking the AI) showed my E2 as right at the top of the reference range. I then took another 12.5mg of Aromasin and the effects were nowhere near as pronounced. I took another 12.5mg another week later and I felt like shit. Libido gone, morning wood gone - I did blood work and realised over the course of a few weeks I had managed to crush my E2. It was only just registering on the reference range. (11).







Couple of strategies I am considering:



Moving to test prop daily injections - I have heard of some people responding better libido wise to a more rapid fluctuation as opppsed to a steady release. Perhaps it was the fluctuation of using the AI that cause the improvement?



Lowing my test down to 40mg per week to bring my free test and androgen index within the normal range and adding E2 vaterate to make up for the low aromatisation. My body clearly likes having higher E2



Dropping test all together and running primobolan as my primary androgen alongside exogenous E2



Go back to doing the 210 test. Trying a lower dose of Aromasin and/or using HCG to minimise potential crashing of E2



As frustrating is this has been it does give me some hope that libido is possible - I am not joking, best part of 10 years I’ve had zero sex drive and for those few days it was like being a 15 year old kid again.



Any thoughts, insights or suggestions would be massively appreciated.

 

[M.J]

Thing that worked for me, stop using hcg after three weeks of use, and you get honeymoon period.
It won’t come immediately maybe the next day but give it 4 or a week max it will come.
I have been doing this for years now.
I discovered it because I travel often and. Noticed this keeps repeating and figured approximate cyclical time for it which is 3weeks.

Don’t stop using testosterone during this time, Only stop hcg. That the only thing worked for me.

 

[chriskchris]

I have had similiar experiences. It has been 10-years now that I have been on HRT. Started very early in life with secondary hypo, idiopathic.

To get to your point, it wasn't until the last year that I realized without HCG I do not get good libido. Like you, the positive impacts are very short-lived and cyclical. I believe it is attributable to high E2 as the HCG causes really high E2. I have no idea why cypionate does not work well on its own although like you, have times where it 'works well' if I boost the dose before subsiding and feeling terrible.

Like you I have very low SHBG. Often I have low testosterone but high bio testosterone. E2 is always on the high side of normal but with HCG it can go well above the high side of normal.

So like you, I find it hopeful that we can turn our situations around as I proved this year after 10-years of HRT that sex life can be normalized and all is not lost. The erections I have had in the past year with HCG were the best ever and I didn't need pills. The challenge is to maintain the positive feeling which includes energy levels and gym strength.

So I re-started it all with anastrozole, starting with 25 mg per week and will go by how I feel. Also breaking my Cypionate dose into 2 (50 + 50) as rec'd by many of the knowledgeable members on here for those who have SHBG in a way to mitigate estradiol conversion. Also reduced by HCG dose to 300 miu x 3 rather then 500 miu x 3, which after a couple blood tests have helped lower estradiol.

Can't comment on low E2 as I haven't had that since without low tesosterone but high E2 is the end of your sex life on HRT from my experience.