HootSnik
New Member
First 8 Week Labs Post TRT Start
I need some advice from the experienced “Brain Trust” on actions to take based on my first labs after starting a TRT protocol.
In early June I was diagnosed with low Free T (Total T was 586-Free T was 5.7) after two consecutive blood tests. The Labs were conducted due to classic symptoms—low energy, E.D., suppressed mood, lack of motivation, and loss of lean body mass.
My family Doctor prescribed injections of testosterone enanthate and together we agreed to start very low, adjust slowly, see if I could preserve some of my natural production, and supplement with T.E. injections to bring the total and free test up in our attempt to alleviate the classic symptoms.
The protocol used: 20 mg T.E. every 3.5 days for a weekly total of 40 mg.
The following are my pre-TRT Labs and my 8 week labs on the noted protocol as well as the LabCorp ranges. Please note that the 5/24 estradiol count was based on the “sensitive” measure but the 8/24 was based on the CLIA measure—Lab error and therefore I don’t trust the notion that Estradiol went down that much.
Labs
May-24 Aug-24
Item Pre-TRT 8 Wk Post TRT LabCorp Range
Hemoglobin. 16.1 g/dL 15.1 g/dL 13-17.7
Hematocrit 46.5% 46.4 37.5-51
Platelets 265 266 150-450
Albumin 4.4 g/dL 4.4 3.8-4.8
Total T. 586 ng/dL 564 ng/dL 264-916
Free T. 5.7 pg/dL 5.0 6.6-18.1
cFT 8.4 9.9
Estradiol 23.6 pg/mL 15.9 7.6-42.6
LH 12.2 2.3 1.7-8.6
SHBG 58.4 44.5 19.3-76.4
Note: Red Cross blood donation July 20 (1 pint). I donate 2x/yr.
So—-as you can see my Total and Free T. actually went down on the 40 mg dose — per Lab Corp. It does appear that I am still producing some natural T. (LH is now 2.3 vs 12.2) but not enough in combination with the TE to bring the Free T up and alleviate symptoms— I have some mood stability improvement and minor improvement in skin moisture but that is it!
I see my Doc for f/u in a couple of weeks and we will be discussing possible courses of action on which I would like input/ideas. The options I see are:
I am trying to find the lowest possible dose which alleviates symptoms and do not mind going slow on adjustments to find my sweet spot.
Your thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated--this is relatively new to me.
Cheers
I need some advice from the experienced “Brain Trust” on actions to take based on my first labs after starting a TRT protocol.
In early June I was diagnosed with low Free T (Total T was 586-Free T was 5.7) after two consecutive blood tests. The Labs were conducted due to classic symptoms—low energy, E.D., suppressed mood, lack of motivation, and loss of lean body mass.
My family Doctor prescribed injections of testosterone enanthate and together we agreed to start very low, adjust slowly, see if I could preserve some of my natural production, and supplement with T.E. injections to bring the total and free test up in our attempt to alleviate the classic symptoms.
The protocol used: 20 mg T.E. every 3.5 days for a weekly total of 40 mg.
The following are my pre-TRT Labs and my 8 week labs on the noted protocol as well as the LabCorp ranges. Please note that the 5/24 estradiol count was based on the “sensitive” measure but the 8/24 was based on the CLIA measure—Lab error and therefore I don’t trust the notion that Estradiol went down that much.
Labs
May-24 Aug-24
Item Pre-TRT 8 Wk Post TRT LabCorp Range
Hemoglobin. 16.1 g/dL 15.1 g/dL 13-17.7
Hematocrit 46.5% 46.4 37.5-51
Platelets 265 266 150-450
Albumin 4.4 g/dL 4.4 3.8-4.8
Total T. 586 ng/dL 564 ng/dL 264-916
Free T. 5.7 pg/dL 5.0 6.6-18.1
cFT 8.4 9.9
Estradiol 23.6 pg/mL 15.9 7.6-42.6
LH 12.2 2.3 1.7-8.6
SHBG 58.4 44.5 19.3-76.4
Note: Red Cross blood donation July 20 (1 pint). I donate 2x/yr.
So—-as you can see my Total and Free T. actually went down on the 40 mg dose — per Lab Corp. It does appear that I am still producing some natural T. (LH is now 2.3 vs 12.2) but not enough in combination with the TE to bring the Free T up and alleviate symptoms— I have some mood stability improvement and minor improvement in skin moisture but that is it!
I see my Doc for f/u in a couple of weeks and we will be discussing possible courses of action on which I would like input/ideas. The options I see are:
- Continue with the existing protocol and hope things get better as time goes by—low probability.
- Drop the T.E. dose to 20 or 30 mg/wk and hope my natural production goes back up more than the effect of my reduction in exogenous T.
- Increase the weekly dose from 40mg to 60 mg which would probably take my natural production to zero but should also bring the SHBG down even more and Free T. up. (Note: my SHBG went down 24% after starting the 40 mg dose). Re-lab in 3 months
- Increase the dose to ??????? And re-lab in 3 months.
I am trying to find the lowest possible dose which alleviates symptoms and do not mind going slow on adjustments to find my sweet spot.
Your thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated--this is relatively new to me.
Cheers
