Warning for Men on TRT: Low Ferritin is Bad

[Weasel]

I stopped trt cold turkey 8 months ago after 10ish years. My ferritin was always in the 30s on trt. I used @FDV70 protocol numerous times and had great success increasing ferritin, but it would crash again within a month or so. I just had it tested again after 8 months off trt and it came back at 113, almost 4x what it was on trt.

Not sure where I will go from here as trt certainly had its benefits for me in the motivation and mental health departments, which have all became very clear being off for 8 months. I was really hoping sleep would improve, it has but not to the point I was hoping.

 

[realdeal1977]

I stopped trt cold turkey 8 months ago after 10ish years. My ferritin was always in the 30s on trt. I used @FDV70 protocol numerous times and had great success increasing ferritin, but it would crash again within a month or so. I just had it tested again after 8 months off trt and it came back at 113, almost 4x what it was on trt.

Not sure where I will go from here as trt certainly had its benefits for me in the motivation and mental health departments, which have all became very clear being off for 8 months. I was really hoping sleep would improve, it has but not to the point I was hoping.

I'm at the same point. With the low Ferritin, I felt significantly worse than with low T.

I've been on enclomiphene for 2 months, and am worried what things will be like when I come off of it. My Free T is about 75 on enclomiphene. It was 150 on 140 mg of T Cyp. If I go off, I'm afraid it is going to drop even further causing issues.

I was planning on after I get the Ferritin back up around 100, to test either T Cream only, or HCG only, to see if that will impact Ferritin. There isn't much information out there about that. I do know for sure that T Cyp injections crashed my Ferritin in only 2-3 months.

 

[Weasel]

@realdeal1977
For reference, my Total T at the very best was 471 using clomid or enclomiphene. Last test was 501 without anything. I’ve no idea where my FT sits currently though. No idea why this is happening but if I could find a way to add a couple hundred more points to that I’d be very happy guy.

Honestly stopping cold turkey was not bad at all for me. I really didn’t even notice a difference the first 4-5 months. Now I certainly notice a lack of motivation for just about everything. Not terrible but it’s there. I can feel spells of depression creep up every now and then as well. Anxiety overall has improved and I can rationally think about things instead of knee jerk reactions.

 

[realdeal1977]

@realdeal1977
For reference, my Total T at the very best was 471 using clomid or enclomiphene. Last test was 501 without anything. I’ve no idea where my FT sits currently though. No idea why this is happening but if I could find a way to add a couple hundred more points to that I’d be very happy guy.

Honestly stopping cold turkey was not bad at all for me. I really didn’t even notice a difference the first 4-5 months. Now I certainly notice a lack of motivation for just about everything. Not terrible but it’s there. I can feel spells of depression creep up every now and then as well. Anxiety overall has improved and I can rationally think about things instead of knee jerk reactions.

Interesting.

I only look at Free T. My SHBG is super low so even at a current Total T of 250, Free T is 75-85 typically. If my Total T gets up to 900 for example, my Free T is usually over 300 which causes all sorts of issues. At 140 mg of T Cyp my Free T was about 600 with Free T at 200-225.

 

[Devcon]

If you take curcumin it can cause iron and ferritin deficiency also.

 

[realdeal1977]

If you take curcumin it can cause iron and ferritin deficiency also.

I wish that was my problem.

 

[Devcon]

I wish that was my problem.

It also suppresses hepcidin production which so does testosterone. So I would imagine that it would not be wise to take curcumin if you’re on testosterone.

 

[DorianGray]

If you take curcumin it can cause iron and ferritin deficiency also.

Interesting. I have high iron and low ferritin. Still looking for an answer to that problem.

 

[Devcon]

Interesting. I have high iron and low ferritin. Still looking for an answer to that problem.

Same here

 

[t_spacemonkey]

been donating a lot in a year and it is around 70. sometimes I do double donation.

 

[Devcon]

been donating a lot in a year and it is around 70. sometimes I do double donation.

Seems like yours is staying in a decent range for donating so much. Do you take any supplements?

 

[t_spacemonkey]

Seems like yours is staying in a decent range for donating so much. Do you take any supplements?

yeah quite a lot. not sure what would keep it up other then iron tbh

 

[realdeal1977]

With my Ferritin rising rapidly after stopping T injections, is there anything else I could do to raise T without taking T directly? A peptide? Anything else?

 

[Devcon]

yeah quite a lot. not sure what would keep it up other then iron tbh

From what I’m reading here vitamin c helps

 

[Devcon]

yeah quite a lot. not sure what would keep it up other then iron tbh

How much iron do you take per day?

 

[t_spacemonkey]

How much iron do you take per day?

25mg this brand

 

[t_spacemonkey]

From what I’m reading here vitamin c helps

ironically I do not take any vit C supplements

 

[Devcon]

25mg this brand

I just bought the emerald labs brand of the same iron two days ago. Hopefully it works for me. Thanks

 

[Weasel]

ironically I do not take any vit C supplements

Vit C raises hgb/hct but not Ferritin. It actually hurts ferritin as it suppresses hepcidin from my understanding.

 

[Devcon]

Vit C raises hgb/hct but not Ferritin. It actually hurts ferritin as it suppresses hepcidin from my understanding.

So I guess we need to figure out all the supplements and foods that suppress hepcidin production. We know testosterone does.