It has been a while since I posted anything, I turned 93 in January, my Urologist has been suggesting that I lower my dosage of Testosterone. Without getting into specifics numbers, my testosterone levels were about 1500 total. I should add that all of other blood markers were within acceptable range, all, no exceptions. Any way I still tried and succeeded in getting it down in 1000 range, I have noticed a drop off in sexual performance and desire, also some joint pain occasionally, so I bumped up my testosterone to about 250 mg per week and I am back. So, my rhetorical question is, maybe you when you get as old as I am, you need a little more testosterone than younger men?
It has been a while since I posted anything, I turned 93 in January, my Urologist has been suggesting that I lower my dosage of Testosterone. Without getting into specifics numbers, my testosterone levels were about 1500 total. I should add that all of other blood markers were within acceptable range, all, no exceptions.
Big mistake getting caught up on TT, free testosterone is what truly matters as it is the active unbound fraction of T responsible for the positive effects.
You stated that you are hitting a TT 1500 ng/dL which does not paint the full picture here without knowing how many days post-injection blood work was done.
Big difference between peak vs trough!
Big difference between one hitting a trough TT 1500 ng/dL and high/absurdly high FT injecting daily vs twice-weekly vs once weekly!
If one is hitting a whopping trough TT 1500 ng/dL and more importantly high trough FT 7 days post-injection then their peak TT and more importantly FT will be absurdly high!
Top it off that if one is hitting a healthy let alone high steady-state/trough FT it would be a given that the majority would have elevated hematocrit unless they were anemic or had lower-end hematocrit pre-TTh.
Big questions here are what is your injection frequency and how many days post-injection were your labs done?
Even then we always want to test at the true trough (lowest point) before your next injection.
Top it off that what is critical here is not just where your trough TT sits but more importantly your trough free testosterone.
You need to know where your trough TT and more importantly trough FT sits on said protocol (dose of T/injection frequency).
Most men on TTh are injecting 100-200 mg T/week whether once weekly or split into more frequent injections as in twice-weekly (every 3.5 days), M/W/F, EOD or daily.
The majority of men can easily hit a healthy let alone high trough FT injection 100-150 mg T/week especially when split into more frequent injections.
Yes some men may need the higher-end dose 200 mg T/week but it is far from common as in rare!
250 mg/week is a whopping dose of T!
If you truly feel great overall minus any sides and overall blood markers remain healthy than I see no issue here.
Do what you feel is best for you!
Any way I still tried and succeeded in getting it down in 1000 range, I have noticed a drop off in sexual performance and desire, also some joint pain occasionally, so I bumped up my testosterone to about 250 mg per week and I am back. So, my rhetorical question is, maybe you when you get as old as I am, you need a little more testosterone than younger men?
In order to truly state such you would have needed to be running a TT 1000 ng/dL for 12 weeks before jumping to any conclusions here as when one is tweaking a protocol (increasing/decreasing dose of T or manipulating injection frequency) it will take 4-6 weeks for blood levels to stabilize due to the PKs (TC/TE) and it is common for one to experience ups/downs along the way especially lower libido as the body is trying to adjust to the lower T levels during the transition (next 4-6 weeks) and even than once blood levels have stabilized (4-6 weeks) it will still take a few more months for the body to adapt to its new set-point and this is the critical time period when one needs to gauge how they truly feel regarding improvement of low T symptoms and overall well-being.
Every protocol whether starting TTh or tweaking (dose of T/injection frequency) needs to be given a full 12 weeks before claiming whether it was truly as success or failure!
IMany still lack the understanding of how exogenous esterified T works and end up tweaking their protocols every 6 weeks because they do not feel good.
Most are left in a constant state of confusion chasing their tales endlessly!