Started TRT .... Looking forward (updated w 8/20/18 Labs)

[albert9000]

Hey thanks , all is pretty ok so far.. Still early though. But yes , I will definitely keep updating as time progresses. Do you have a thread started already I can follow as well?

Hey, i appreciate that!

I have not started a post yet but i most likely will once i start trt in a week or so. feel free to PM me as well.

 

[AntCon]

Hey All , Hope all is well.

Im in the middle of my 5th week now and things aren't looking up so far :/.

In the beginning, on my first week, I felt wired and on edge. Some decent energy and some anxiety.

The second week - I was a little bit better in regards to the on edge part, also my energy I feel was better. I did notice I was a little tired / sluggish and minor fatigue the day after injections. But the day after that I was feeling good energy and felt pretty good for the most part. Anxiety and brain fog had some improvement as well.

The third week - I feel was my best week (the best week I've had in a long time). The whole week energy was good. I don't think I was at 100% , I forgot what that feels like anyways, but I felt like a good 88%. Like there was room for some improvement but if I didn't get it I'd be fine. My brain fog was way better and my anxiety was almost non existent. Also my motivation was higher than it's been in the last 3 Years.

The fourth week - I started to feel sluggish again probably about mid-day after first injection and even more the following day. The day after that I felt ok and my energy picked up to an ok level (not great , not bad). Anxiety felt as good as the third week but brain fog took a hit :/..

The fifth week - This week has been rough so far in regards to brain fog and energy. On injection day (Monday morning) I felt ok right after the shot. As the day progressed I started feeling slightly sluggish and foggy. Tuesday (day after injection) I noticed energy and brain fog were slightly worse. Which brings me to today, today was a rough one. Today I feel as I did pre TRT. My energy is hardly there, my motivation is little to none and brain fog is back in full affect.

Sorry if it's hard for you guys to understand and read the way I wrote / described things...

Im not sure what's going on though??? Im just really confused and it sucks. I feel my symptoms didn't have a good pattern throughout the weeks so it's making it hard to pinpoint what could of went wrong each week. Like, why would I feel sluggish the day after injection and better closer to injection?

Anyhow, I'm assuming that at week 3 I had just the right amount of supplemental testosterone and my bodies natural testosterone, and that's why I was feeling good. Would you guys agree?


I have labs ordered and ready to go, do you guys think I should do them on Monday morning? That's the beginning of my 6th week.

 

[AntCon]

I completely forgot to mention , through out all of the weeks my libido has been better than pre TRT. The first two weeks I was really horny all the time, but now it's subsided to a kind of stable medium level.. Not as high as it was 3 years ago before health went down hill. But definitely better than pre TRT.

 

[albert9000]

I don't know a whole lot, as I'm starting TRT next week and we have similar symptoms. But from reading, my guess would be to get labs done. That's really the only way to tell.

Perhaps when you were feeling best week 3, everything was in Order. Now maybe your e2 is too low? I know that HCG can make your e2 rise dramatically.

When I start next week, I am going with no AI or HCG. I will add those in depending on my lab results.

 

[AntCon]

Thanks for the reply Albert,

Yea that's what I'm thinking in regards to labs.. Sucks cause I was hoping I'd be one of the guys that gets dialed in right away. Idk though, guess time will tell.

i think that's smart of you though, I started HCG right away as I want to try and preserve my fertility as best as possible.. I know it's not a 100% guarantee but any chance I can preserve it, I will, since I still want to have more kids.

Bad health and these symptoms suck, so I hope it goes well for you and you get dialed in right away. I'll be cheerin for you bro.

 

[AntCon]

So yesterday and today have been the worst so far since beginning TRT. I had my injections last night and was hoping that it would give me atleast a little boost in mood and energy, but nope. I feel completely drained still, as if my body is shutting down or something and my vision also seems really foggy as well.

Well I'll keep you all updated and will probably be getting labs on Monday , unless suggested otherwise.

 

[AntCon]

This week so far has been better than last week. Energy is better but still not good, but Ill take anything compared to last week.

One thing I noticed this last couple weeks is that my eyes have been bothering me a lot ... Like a burning and foggy sensation.. Not sure if this means my eyes are dry or not, but I've never had this problem before. Anyone experience this on trt before?

 

[Kirk001]

... on a protocol change even long after you've been on TRT for awhile. I always have a worse time by week 3, it's always bad for me. This is when I start doubting everything in life ... Week 4 is magic

Why do you feel worse... is this lowering the dose without increasing injection frequency? So I'm guessing the lower levels of testosterone in your blood make you feel worse, until you adjust to your "new normal"?

 

[albert9000]

Hey bud, any update?

 

[AntCon]

Hey bud, any update?

Hey sorry , I’ve been super busy and neglecting my forum thread.. My apologies... I’ve been ok as of lately, some anxiety and eye dryness still.. My energy is way better than pre trt , but sometimes I’ll have a bad day or two or a few and I start questions everything again.. It sucks, but I can honestly say that for once I have more good days than bad..

I have been experiencing this weird can’t catch a deep breath / air hunger thing. Almost like my body feels like it needs to take a deep breath but can’t. My RBC count in most recent labs which I’ll post below might be the reason , idk though ..?.. Libido is one of the biggest improvements I’ve had since TRT. I feel like I get aroused a little too easy now lol... Too many night time hard ons for no reason haha. I feel like I’m probably back to 80-85% of my old self but still a good ways of improvement to go.

Depending how my next appt goes with Dr. Saya in a few days I might be changing my protocol.

Thanks for checking in.

Posting labs under this post. =]

 

[AntCon]

7/16/18 Labs -

 

[AntCon]

8/20 Labs -
I added thyroid and Free Estradiol. Also have concerns about the high RBC Count , Hemaglobin, Hematocrit , and Absolute Eosinophils. :/

 

[Systemlord]

Speaking for myself, in my experienced when estrogen was too high for me, I also felt like I needed to take a deep breath far too often and was estrogen related. Things I associate with high estrogen, chest tightness, chest soreness and having to breathing deeply.

Low SHBG men can have normal estrogen (20 pg/mL) levels and free estrogen can be much higher since low SHBG men tend to have an overabundance of free hormones. My point is an estrogen of 30 pg/mL while not high for a midrange SHBG man, can be high for a low SHBG man since more hormones are free and unbound.

Free estrogen must be sky high in the same way free testosterone is very high. You shouldn't be targeting high normal testosterone testosterone. High CBC results are also indicating levels are too high.

A dosage reduction is definitely in order, Dr. Saya has you covered.

 

[AntCon]

Speaking for myself, in my experienced when estrogen was too high for me, I also felt like I needed to take a deep breath far too often and was estrogen related. Things I associate with high estrogen, chest tightness, chest soreness and having to breathing deeply.

Low SHBG men can have normal estrogen (20 pg/mL) levels and free estrogen can be much higher since low SHBG men tend to have an overabundance of free hormones. My point is an estrogen of 30 pg/mL while not high for a midrange SHBG man, can be high for a low SHBG man since more hormones are free and unbound.

Free estrogen must be sky high in the same way free testosterone is very high. You shouldn't be targeting high normal testosterone testosterone. High CBC results are also indicating levels are too high.

A dosage reduction is definitely in order, Dr. Saya has you covered.

Thanks for the in depth response. It really is relaxing knowing you’ve dealt with similar symptoms. I figured they might of been caused by the high CBC related results, never even thought of estrogen causing. So thanks for that insight as well.

My Free Estrogen is more than double the top of the range. So I bet that’s playing a big part. (I have those labs posted as well, not sure if you noticed them)
Do you think along with lowering my dose, I would probably need to start doing more frequent injections ?

 

[albert9000]

Hey sorry , I’ve been super busy and neglecting my forum thread.. My apologies... I’ve been ok as of lately, some anxiety and eye dryness still.. My energy is way better than pre trt , but sometimes I’ll have a bad day or two or a few and I start questions everything again.. It sucks, but I can honestly say that for once I have more good days than bad..

I have been experiencing this weird can’t catch a deep breath / air hunger thing. Almost like my body feels like it needs to take a deep breath but can’t. My RBC count in most recent labs which I’ll post below might be the reason , idk though ..?.. Libido is one of the biggest improvements I’ve had since TRT. I feel like I get aroused a little too easy now lol... Too many night time hard ons for no reason haha. I feel like I’m probably back to 80-85% of my old self but still a good ways of improvement to go.

Depending how my next appt goes with Dr. Saya in a few days I might be changing my protocol.

Thanks for checking in.

Posting labs under this post. =]

Sorry to hear you aren't 100% yet but it looks like you're making progress! more good days then bad is great. And i would say 85% your old self is fantastic. I recently started TRT. Will be 4 weeks for me soon. no improvement yet but labs so far look good. ill make a post at 6 weeks.

Hows your derealization?

 

[AntCon]

Sorry to hear you aren't 100% yet but it looks like you're making progress! more good days then bad is great. And i would say 85% your old self is fantastic. I recently started TRT. Will be 4 weeks for me soon. no improvement yet but labs so far look good. ill make a post at 6 weeks.

Hows your derealization?

Yea definitely , better than worse is always good.

Cool, Do you have a thread I can follow? Definitely interested in following your journey as well.

As for the derealization , I’d say it’s 95% gone.. I still feel it sometimes when I’m outside for some reason, but even outside for the most part it’s gone.. I feel like each year it’s gets a little bit better. My vision still feels out of wack but hopefully that eventually gets better too. Are you experiencing derealization too?

 

[albert9000]

Yea definitely , better than worse is always good.

Cool, Do you have a thread I can follow? Definitely interested in following your journey as well.

As for the derealization , I’d say it’s 95% gone.. I still feel it sometimes when I’m outside for some reason, but even outside for the most part it’s gone.. I feel like each year it’s gets a little bit better. My vision still feels out of wack but hopefully that eventually gets better too. Are you experiencing derealization too?

I have not started a thread yet but ill be sure to let you know when i do. Yes! i have pretty bad derealization for the last 1 year. Also diziness. 95% is great. when did you notice it start to improve?

 

[Charliebizz]

I know for me trt always lowered my already borderline low cortisol and I had a lot of the negative symptoms you described from it. Low dose lexapro actually helped boost my cortisol making me feel better on trt. But I myself am a low shbg guy and was way to hard to feel consistent on trt. I went off again. I’m trying to treat low rem sleep with a cpap to see if it helps at all in the hormone department if not I may revisit trt but with way lower dose.