I appreciate you being so specific and I appreciate your help. I guess what I’m trying to say is that even though my program seemed to be very casual and not scientific, it was always like that for years and I never had an issue. I started off at 50mg per week split shots and my test levels and hemocrit were high and even at 100mg per week and higher sometimes and my hemocrit never exceeded that low 50 range and all my other levels were in the range I stated above…. Again…. NEVER a problem regardless.
I THINK around the time I changed testosterone brands I started to get that itching. Over the course over several months while still taking that other brand I tried donating, super low dose, AI, iron and lots of other stuff - even allergy and blood doctors. I stopped for 6 weeks and it took every bit of those 6 weeks for the itching to go away but it did go away.
After 6 weeks I got a new pharma brand and tried a very low dose of test amd BAM!!!!! was itching within 3 days. Waiting a week and tried a different brand again and super low dose and BAM still itching and maybe worse.
For the past YEAR that I have been dealing with this I have been trying ti retrace my steps about when the itching started, what I did differently and when. I knew I changed brands but wasn’t sure when. I thought insulate my natural balance with the blood donation or just developed a new allergy. Once I called I talked to the doctor and the pharmacy and found that ALL Cyp was suspended in cottonseed I was very upset and discouraged. But then I spoke to the compounding pharmacist and then told me the last time I ordered from them seemed to align with when my itching started and he explained the different preservatives that are INSIDE the cottonseed oil I started to have some hope that I have this figured out.
So here I am….1 week into a new test start after a 6 week break and I’m itching. Obviously I’m stopped. I called my new doc and got the script from the compounding pharmacy that I used to use without issue. I just didn’t know if I should stop for another 6 weeks and then try again? Just stop till the itching stops? Pharmacist said to just give it a week but I’m scared it won’t be a true test if I’m still itching.
I appreciate you being so specific and I appreciate your help. I guess what I’m trying to say is that even though my program seemed to be very casual and not scientific, it was always like that for years and I never had an issue. I started off at 50mg per week split shots and my test levels and hemocrit were high and even at 100mg per week and higher sometimes and my hemocrit never exceeded that low 50 range and all my other levels were in the range I stated above…. Again…. NEVER a problem regardless.
Glad you cleared that up!
You clearly had borderline low ferritin on your labs from 2023.
Still going to stress the point that if you were hitting a high TT 1000-1300 ng/dL on a whopping 200 mg T/week and this was at the true trough (7 days post-injection) then your trough FT would be high/absurdly high which would not only have you clearly overmedicated but would be a given that you would most likely end up struggling with elevated hematocrit if you were following such protocol indefinitely!
There is no cruising on TTh as we are using therapeutic doses (100-200 mg) of T here.
Blast/cruising is for the steroid abusers!
Going to be a big difference in ones hematocrit injecting 50-100 mg T/week vs 200 mg T/week.
Your trough/steady-state FT is going to be much higher as the dose of T is increased and it is a given that increasing the weekly T dose will drive up your FT which will result in driving up the hematocrit.
There is no free lunch here when you drive up your trough/steady-state FT levels too high as it is pretty much a given you will run into sides!
Most men that run sensible trough/steady-state FT rarely have let alone struggle with high H/H, RBCs unless the hematocrit was already high-end pre-TTh due to underlying issues (smoking, COPD, OSA, asthma, cardiovascular issues).
Key here is trying to find a protocol (dose of T/injecting frequency) that will result in achieving a healthy trough FT which will provide relief/improvement of low-T symptoms and overall well-being while at the same time keeping overall blood markers healthy and minimizing/avoiding any potential sides!
Sad fact of the matter is many are caught up on that more T is better sheep mentality bulls**t!
Everyone seems to think that they need to be hitting 1000/1000+ ng/dL trough TT levels with a high/sky-high FT!
Pure nonsense!
Always need to pay attention to your injection frequency and trough FT level achieved.
Big difference between one hitting a high FT injecting daily vs twice-weekly vs once weekly!
Your peak TT/FT (8-12 hrs) post-injection let alone during the first 2-3 days of every week is going to be sky-high if you are running a high trough FT injecting once weekly!
As I have stated numerous times on the forum running too high a trough/steady-state FT can be just as bad in many ways as running too low a FT especially when it comes to libido, erectile function and mood!
Going to be hammering the shit out of your dopamine 24/7 here!
For the past YEAR that I have been dealing with this I have been trying ti retrace my steps about when the itching started, what I did differently and when. I knew I changed brands but wasn’t sure when. I thought insulate my natural balance with the blood donation or just developed a new allergy. Once I called I talked to the doctor and the pharmacy and found that ALL Cyp was suspended in cottonseed I was very upset and discouraged. But then I spoke to the compounding pharmacist and then told me the last time I ordered from them seemed to align with when my itching started and he explained the different preservatives that are INSIDE the cottonseed oil I started to have some hope that I have this figured out.
Yes the most commonly used carrier oil (cottonseed) is used in big pharma/generic TC but even then TC can still be compounded using a different carrier oil.
You need to try and pinpoint the preservative here!
My reply from an older thread:
*Regarding big pharma, generic or compounded injectable T there is no secret recipe as they are all manufactured with:
- an
esterified T (prodrug) whether (propionate/enanthate/cypionate/undecanoate or mixed esters)
- a
carrier oil (vehiculum) such as (sesame, cottonseed, castor, peanut, grapeseed)
- an
excipient such as:
Benzyl Alcohol
• Solubility enhancer
• Oil viscosity reducer
• Local anesthetic
• Preservative
Benzyl Benzoate
• Solubility enhancer
• Solvent
Ethanol
• Solvent
Chlorobutanol
• Preservative
• Weak local anesthetic
