Test Cypionate questions

this is a really tough problem. The endocrine system is like 1000 pin-pong balls connected by strings between them resting on a water surface amongst the waves. Some of up and some go down and effect one another. docs and we look at a few indicators like estradiol, testosterone, estrogen and DHT and think we have a good view of the system. We really don't.

I try to take a look as the system as it works under normal conditions. We can not control all the ping-pong balls but we can watch the few we know and see how they work over time under normal conditions since this is the state where the body has evolved to work efficiently. Androgen levels vary over the day being highest in the morning and wanes over the day to peak again at the morning hours again the next day. Some test to estrogen conversion occurs and some test to DHT conversion occurs. Lots of other intermediates occur. DHEA interconverts to test nd estrogens among other hormones. The adrenals produce mineralogorticoids and glucocorticoids. all these things and more are interrelated and also feed back on the pituitary and hypothalamus.

So we are messing with this process and only become concerned when dickie doesn't want to go to work. So how to fix dickie? Tough to know and a pretty simplistic thought to just take another drug that interacts with the ping-pong balls on the water's surface. Sure we can take dostined 2x a week and a cialis at the week end and that might carry us through the Johnson duty for a good part of the week end for a while that is until the body adjusts and that stops working. Then we try Proviron or masteron for a while and further purturb the system. That works for a while, after adjustment, and then back to little dixon on unemployment again. then we try Pt-141 fir a while. Again it works but who wants to inject and wait 4 hours and then be stuck with a stiff one for hours after the woman falls asleep.

So the wish is to get to where it worked under normal circumstances. well the test level goes up 30-40% in the morning and then back down. Up and down.. up and down over the days. When I had problems years ago I would just go off and 10 weeks later my bits and pieces would work just fine. Of course back then everyone did 12 week cycles with 12 weeks off so impotence was temprary. Now for TRT what to do? How about try to duplicate the normal hormone pattern of test-estroge-DHT so it fits the normalish rhythm of the natural state or there abouts. Now test never really goes to zero. Let's say in our early 20s it fluxuates over the day in a diurnal fashion from 700 in the morning to 500 in the evening. that's where everything works best. So the way to get back on track would logically be to establish a baseline of 500-700 ng/dL and find a way to form an androgen peak in the morning. That would be let's say 100 mg/w testosterone cypionate and 25 mg of Proviron in the morning. Done! This could be your protocol 10 months a year. For 8 weeks at some point during the year you might want to do a little cycle and so you add in Primobolan or Anavar. No nandrolones or trenbolones because they can cause ED during or post cycle. no high dose Equipoise because it converts to estrogen m ore than people thing for some individuals. Stick with non-aromatizable anabolics and androgens. This way you avoid purturbing the endrocrine system excessively and can avoid ancillaries like aromatase inhibitors, SERMs and reductase inhibitors. That's pretty much what I try to do and it works pretty well.

Food for thought,

G
 
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Holy crap, Glycoman, you seem to be a fountain of knowledge. Not to mention a barrel of laughs!! Little Dixon is a disagreeable bastard at times!! Dixon not going to work steady is what started me on this track in the first place. I had thought about cutting it out all together for a while and see what happens when I start back up. But was advised against. Now I'm thinking about it again, though getting back to "normal" isn't all that great a prospect since "normal" wasn't all that hot to begin with. But maybe that's the ticket.

I am going to check out private md.com, thanks for that tip!
 
Thanks for the compliments. Yeah your situation sounds a bit different since you were having the problem before hormone manipulation. Was your testosterone low before starting TRT?
 
this is a really tough problem. The endocrine system is like 1000 pin-pong balls connected by strings between them resting on a water surface amongst the waves. Some of up and some go down and effect one another. docs and we look at a few indicators like estradiol, testosterone, estrogen and DHT and think we have a good view of the system. We really don't.

I try to take a look as the system as it works under normal conditions. We can not control all the ping-pong balls but we can watch the few we know and see how they work over time under normal conditions since this is the state where the body has evolved to work efficiently. Androgen levels vary over the day being highest in the morning and wanes over the day to peak again at the morning hours again the next day. Some test to estrogen conversion occurs and some test to DHT conversion occurs. Lots of other intermediates occur. DHEA interconverts to test nd estrogens among other hormones. The adrenals produce mineralogorticoids and glucocorticoids. all these things and more are interrelated and also feed back on the pituitary and hypothalamus.

So we are messing with this process and only become concerned when dickie doesn't want to go to work. So how to fix dickie? Tough to know and a pretty simplistic thought to just take another drug that interacts with the ping-pong balls on the water's surface. Sure we can take dostined 2x a week and a cialis at the week end and that might carry us through the Johnson duty for a good part of the week end for a while that is until the body adjusts and that stops working. Then we try Proviron or masteron for a while and further purturb the system. That works for a while, after adjustment, and then back to little dixon on unemployment again. then we try Pt-141 fir a while. Again it works but who wants to inject and wait 4 hours and then be stuck with a stiff one for hours after the woman falls asleep.

So the wish is to get to where it worked under normal circumstances. well the test level goes up 30-40% in the morning and then back down. Up and down.. up and down over the days. When I had problems years ago I would just go off and 10 weeks later my bits and pieces would work just fine. Of course back then everyone did 12 week cycles with 12 weeks off so impotence was temprary. Now for TRT what to do? How about try to duplicate the normal hormone pattern of test-estroge-DHT so it fits the normalish rhythm of the natural state or there abouts. Now test never really goes to zero. Let's say in our early 20s it fluxuates over the day in a diurnal fashion from 700 in the morning to 500 in the evening. that's where everything works best. So the way to get back on track would logically be to establish a baseline of 500-700 ng/dL and find a way to form an androgen peak in the morning. That would be let's say 100 mg/w testosterone cypionate and 25 mg of Proviron in the morning. Done! This could be your protocol 10 months a year. For 8 weeks at some point during the year you might want to do a little cycle and so you add in Primobolan or Anavar. No nandrolones or trenbolones because they can cause ED during or post cycle. no high dose Equipoise because it converts to estrogen m ore than people thing for some individuals. Stick with non-aromatizable anabolics and androgens. This way you avoid purturbing the endrocrine system excessively and can avoid ancillaries like aromatase inhibitors, SERMs and reductase inhibitors. That's pretty much what I try to do and it works pretty well.

Food for thought,

G

Excellent post!! Its great to see someone with a similar mindset. I've been in the Medical Laboratory field for almost 20 years studying and the body's inner workings in every area of healthy and disease states. I can honestly say that the Endocrine System is one of my favorite for obvious reasons. There are so many variables to consider that it is an endless endeavor of research. Trying to figure out how each compound we use stimulates the body is endless. And, when we add in multiple compounds it just complicates the understanding 10 fold.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience brother. I look forward to reading more from you.....

Austin
 
Being older some days its works better than others, many factors play into it, alcohol for sure, I don't drink and have not for 10 years. Looks good to for next 10. Blood pressure meds to, look at everything you are taking med wise. Also you can get an implant. I no a guy who had one of those. Its not like your 18 any more. Certain blood pressure meds are responsible for a limp noodle.
 
Thanks for the compliments. Yeah your situation sounds a bit different since you were having the problem before hormone manipulation. Was your testosterone low before starting TRT?

Well... that depends on who you ask. According to the urologist I saw the other day, no. 395 is normal. According to the TRT doc, yes, it's low, especially since I presented symptoms. So, make of that what you will. The lab range is 300-1200, which is a huge range. It seems to me that with a range that big, 395 is low. It's above the bottom of the range, but not much. And, like I said, I presented symptoms, not just limp dick: poor sleep, what I used to call "chronic fatigue" and I wouldn't have said I was grumpy, but my wife tells me I was.......
 
Being older some days its works better than others, many factors play into it, alcohol for sure, I don't drink and have not for 10 years. Looks good to for next 10. Blood pressure meds to, look at everything you are taking med wise. Also you can get an implant. I no a guy who had one of those. Its not like your 18 any more. Certain blood pressure meds are responsible for a limp noodle.

I'm not on any meds at all other than those related to this experiment, my blood pressure is perfect (127/80 immediately after 2 cups of coffee) and I haven't had a drop to drink in 28 years. Yes, 28! And I quit smoking in '96. So none of that is causing it! I am going to get my blood sugar checked again, as I present symptoms of diabetes, even though my glucose level was just under 'pre diabetes' level in Feb 13 of 97. I suppose that could have gotten worse by now.....
 
I'm not on any meds at all other than those related to this experiment, my blood pressure is perfect (127/80 immediately after 2 cups of coffee) and I haven't had a drop to drink in 28 years. Yes, 28! And I quit smoking in '96. So none of that is causing it! I am going to get my blood sugar checked again, as I present symptoms of diabetes, even though my glucose level was just under 'pre diabetes' level in Feb 13 of 97. I suppose that could have gotten worse by now.....

yeah bro, smart move getting that looked into asap!
 
This thread is a month old since last update, and I now have a new update. I'm updating this in part so I can use it to keep track of what's happening and when, and partly for feedback from y'all, if you have any, and partly to share my experience for anyone else who might be able to make use of it.

I also want to say that so far, I have gotten more reliable, better, more thoughtful and more accurate information from all of you than I have from any of the various doctors I've seen over the course of the last year or so. This is despite the fact that this isn't even a "Testosterone Replacement Therapy" forum and in general not the focus of discussion here!! This fact blows me away. That bodybuilders who use steroids are more educated via "underground culture" on hormones and the effects on the body than most doctors seem to be is absolutely flabbergasting to me. I mean this not as a slight against bodybuilders ( I consider myself an amateur member of this crowd) but rather as an observation of the poor education in the medical community in general and the general mindset of doctors who seem to think they know it all with absolute certainty but in fact are completely, totally and unarguably wrong! In addition to that, most of the docs I've seen have completely blown me off, told me I'm essentially going down the wrong road and that my ED issue is totally unrelated to hormones. My comments that follow demonstrate that these doctors are full of shit.

I hope I have just met the exception to this rule. I had a doctor appointment Friday with a "new to me" doc. He's a DO that my wife had been going to years ago and whom she really liked. She told me he's in shape, works out and would probably understand where I'm coming from. As it turns out, he told me he's been into bodybuilding and powerlifting since he was 15 years old (and is now 55, or thereabouts) - it shows. He took the time to listen to my concerns, heard me out as I described my progression through the last 10 or so years and the last year or so of trying to find a solution to all of this. He isn't necessarily on board with HRT, and in fact made some of what I consider to be "alarmist" statements vis-a-vis steroid use, but ultimately told me he intends to be as open minded as possible and help me find a solution that works. He took blood samples and ordered a very comprehensive panel, and heeded my request to add a test that I felt he left out. I was very impressed with this, as so far I've gotten blown off when making this kind of request. So we shall see. I have only had the initial appointment, and we'll see what he says on follow up. I did ask him for his thoughts and while I didn't necessarily like his answer at the time, on reflection I'm actually pretty happy with his response: "I need information to have thoughts." Meaning, he wants to wait until he has my bloodwork results back before forming an opinion. So far, so good.

That said, he didn't seem overly concerned with diabetes as an issue. I will probe him about this in depth on follow up, as my fasting blood glucose level (after 12 hours of fasting and being literally ready to pass out in the office from hunger - I had an apple, orange and some chicken with me in the office and the instant the nurse pulled the needle from my arm I ate) was 99, which is the very top of the range. But we'll see what comes of it.

Meanwhile, I've been turned down for TRT by the place I set myself up with back east, now that I've moved back to NJ from NV (that's another long story that I won't get into here). The result of that is that I had my last shot 13 days ago. My last bloodwork was drawn 6 days after the previous week's shot, and came back with a test level of 1277, which is higher than it's been (had been cruising around 850 on TRT). No explanation for the increase, no changes whatsoever in protocol. My last shot I took an extra boost of HCG the day after the shot, because I had it in the fridge and couldn't bring it with me on the plane, so I suspect my test level was higher following that, maybe 1350, 1400.

This is where it gets interesting: The higher test level generated some side effects, namely pretty bad acne. However, my dick went back to working pretty normally. No viagra needed and had morning wood on several occasions. So I concluded that my body just wants more Test than the typical TRT people are willing to maintain. Then, of course, I haven't had a shot in 2 weeks. My acne is clearing up, so I gather that between the 7 or 8 day half life of Test Cyp and the disappearance of the only negative side effect of taking test, my level has decreased significantly. Other symptoms confirm that this is the case (poor sleep, scatterbrain, etc.). No idea where it is (bloodwork results from Friday will give some sort of a gauge how fast it dropped off), and I assumed that dick function would be zilch since I was not prepared to stop the TRT and have very little in the way of SERM or AI on hand. Well, this morning my sexy wife climbed back in bed after having coffee (I was still in bed, having slept like crap) and Mr. Dicky decided to go to work, in spite of what I assume are rapidly dropping test levels and probably rapidly rising estradiol levels.

So, for all the doctors who say ED is not related to hormone levels or balances, or whatever, I say, "BULLSHIT"!!! The ONLY thing changing is my hormone levels and the amount of work Mr Dicky is willing to do is changing along with those levels. Not in any way that makes any sense to me, but the two are OBVIOUSLY related. Probably nobody will fully understand this, this goes back to the thousand floating ping pong balls Gman was talking about...

All of this leads me back to the idea I had several months back, which is to cycle on and off Test, even though my dose has been much lower than a typical cycle. I'm willing to listen to this new doc I'm seeing; I think I'm going to like him and he seems very thorough and knowledgeable. But regarding cycling on and off and ending up being denied treatment, I have a small order on its way from LP and barring any real convincing arguments from Doc, cycle is exactly what I'm going to do.
 
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