Interesting. I would have expected more differences in cyp vs prop just knowing how differently the esters behave and clearance time, etc. What motivated you to move to creams? Are you doing scrotal ones or arms/back?
I started my TRT experience many years ago with Androgel. It failed to raise my levels much but helped with some subjective quality of life stuff. My doc at the time pulled me off of it and put me on cyp which I've been on ever since. Part of me wishes I'd stayed with it as I think chasing numbers is kind of a losing game. I may lower my dose for a bit and see how I do. I have had blood levels in the past that were considered optimal for both TT, FT, and E and I didn't feel great.
Honestly I've never felt fantastic on injections, but testosterone helped return my libido and erection quality and that has been worth it. At the same time, I've gained a steady 20lbs and have looked "soft" the whole time, whether my E2 has been normal, normal-borderline-high, low, and crashed through the floor. I suspect it's something about the T itself and likely the ester as other guys have reported similar kinds of things.
I went through a few years before getting on TRT where I had no nocturnal erections, low libido, and difficulty maintaining erections. I'm 38 now and don't want my sex life to decline or have roadblocks, so I'd have to see what the creams would mean for my wife and I. What cream are you going on? What's the application frequency and location?
Any other thoughts on what I've mentioned?
On prop, I don’t really like my E2 to free T ratio. I can’t get my free T past mid range, yet my E2 was in the 70’s on my last bloowork. To get my E2 in the 70’s, my total T usually has to around 1800. Right now total is around 1000. But my dose is pretty high. So I don’t really want to raise my dose anymore to improve my free T. Plus it’s getting a little costly, since prop is more expensive, and it’s only 100mg/ml instead of 200mg/ml like cyp and enanthate. Im on the equivalent of almost 200mg/ week of cyp. Prop also can leave my thighs a little sore from the injections. The other reasons I want to switch to creams is because I haven’t really felt much different on prop than cyp. I still have quite a bit of brain fog. Libido is good, but definitely could be better. And I’ve just heard so many good things about creams. I also like the fact that if you want a stronger libido, you just apply more cream to the testicles than other areas. And I like the fact that I wouldn’t have to inject myself. I don’t mind the injections all that much, but I think I’d much prefer to just rub a little cream on my body.
I’m very worried about hair loss, so I’m not going to let DHT go too high. There’s many guys on the fb group I am apart of, which consists of many members on creams, that have reported not having any hair loss on TRT until they raised their DHT too high with scrotal applications, and then saw things improve when they stopped applying it to the scrotum. So my plan is to apply it to areas like the back of the knees, tops of the feet, front of the neck, and possibly armpits, and then see where that gets my T levels, and DHT levels. If T levels look good, and DHT isn’t too high, I’ll probably apply one click to the scrotum, along with applying the other clicks to the other areas I mentioned, and see how much that brings up my DHT. On cyp and prop, my DHT is usually at the top end of the range, or slightly over. Around the 90-100 mark. So I’m interested in seeing how libido is when I raise it a little past that. Don’t want to go too crazy though, to avoid the risk of any hair loss. But I like the fact that I can manipulate DHT and libido just by where I apply the cream. It’s a nice flexibility to have, imo.
The cream is a 20% concentration I believe. It’s 50mg per click, and a click is a 1/4 ml. I plan on trying both once per day, and twice per day applications. Many men do well on twice per day it seems, but someone on here said everything clicked when he went to once a day, from twice a day, so I’d like to see if I notice any differences between the two.
