Testosterone for HRT cycling

[dano79]

I just picked up my prescription from the pharmacy. It's 1cc of 200mg testosterone a week. i'm to take it for six weeks, then off for four.

This kinda sounds odd to me, those seem to be pretty high doses, and what is with the cycling. I am going to be seeing him tomorrow to learn how to give myself shots. Should I be concered here? I'd like to be as informed as possible when I go in tomorrow morning.

Thanks

[earthdog]

Yes you should be concerned. TRT should not be cycled. 200mg per week will likely take to you twice the top of the normal range, and then when you go off, you'll crash for a month and feel terrible. Not a good thing. Why your doctor would want to put you on this emotional and physical roller coaster is beyond me.

[dano79]

YIKES! Now I'm freaking out.

[Weatherlite]

Is this why you're considering Dr. Noble?

First, find out what his reasoning is behind this. Second, if you absolutely can't convince him to change it I'd wait it out until I saw a doc who doesn't cycle....maybe telling him that BB'ers cycle would dissuade him. If you can't wait til you get a new doc perhaps you would consider doing the 100mg/week and just keep doing it during the weeks you are supposed to be "off" without telling him.

[dano79]

Yes thats the reason I was asking about Dr. Noble, but I am asking my doctor about things first. I really need to know what his plan is, because it sounds insane. What do you mean my BBers?

[coz]

Yeah TRT should not be cycled, and the dose is about double what would be needed to get you near the top of normal range.

I think Weatherlite is referring to Body Builders, who often cycle their testosterone, followed by PCT & time off - but this is not how TRT should be done..

[BigRagu]

as they all said hrt should not be cycled...... if u do this u risk alot of things....a few things depression high estrogen and so on........ and u will feel horrid even worse then u did b4 u started........ and shots take 5 weeks to even out this will never give it a chance............

200mg a week is crazy....... u should be on 100mg a week to start and see where that takes u......... i believe SWALE likes to give a 200mg shot the first time then 100mg shots after......... i suggest taking 100mg a week instead of the 200 he said an don't cycle it........... u will thx us later..... i would seriously have a talk with this guy...............

[mranak]

Originally Posted by coz

...and the dose is about double what would be needed to get you near the top of normal range.

We can speculate this to be true for dano79, but we cannot say for certain until we see blood test results. Yes, 100mg is a good starting dosage as that is about the right dosage for most men. And yes, it does make sense to optionally front load at 200mg. But I for one need about twice the 100mg dosage in order to get my serum testosterone to the top of the normal range.

[dano79]

Mranak, do you take 200mg a week? I had my first shot today, they gave it to me in the office and showed me how...it was 200mg.

I asked about the cycling. He says he tells all of his patients to do this. Typically 2-4 weeks. He also mentioned, If I do start to have problems while I'm off, I am to stop waiting and just take the shot. He also uses the 200mg for alot of patients.

I'm still a little worried about the 200mg. I am going back for blood work in six weeks. Some of you have advocated not following my dr's advice and do my own thing, are you sure thats wise? Shouldn't a doctor know what I'm doing?

Also, when I was on the gels, my hemoglobin levels began rise alot, should I be even more worried about this if I'm on the shots?

[jawbone]

I take 200mg/wk too.
If gels raise your H and H then inj will too.
Only way to know what is what is by follow up testing.

[LiquidGib]

IMHO, you should not have started therapy with this doctor. If he uses 200mg for alot of his patients then that suggests that he does not adjust the dose on a per patient basis. As you may know, everyone is different and reacts differently to a specific amount of T and most find 200mg/week to take T to supraphysiological levels. His protocol on cycling HRT further reinforces my belief that this doctor does not know how to administer true TRT. If I were you, I would try talking to him and see if he is willing to learn or try to find a doctor who knows what he is doing.

[dano79]

I was told that he has treated hundreds of patients with this condition. I don't know if he treats all at the same levels, I just know that I am not the only one. The only thing I know about is taht with the gels I had zero improvement. I was also told that adjustments would be made after I have tests done in a month. A member of the H2 board mentioned to me that he had an indepth interview with him and he told him he prefers to keep patients within the normal range. I hope that is what he plans to do with me as well, and if I exceed it on my next test, it will be lowered.

I talked to my PCP yesterday, and he said he wants nothing to do with this. He is the one who tested my several years ago and my levels came back at top of the charts. But he says, even though I have suffered a drop of 60% from what I was, I'm still in the normal range and would not consider treating me. AGHH!!

[Weatherlite]

Technically yes you should tell your doctor everything you're doing. However, with some you run the risk of them refusing to continue to treat you because of their pride and stubborness...that's why I recommended finding someone else and only going with this doc if he was your only option. Maybe you should print out the sticky at the top of the threads titled "TRT: a recipe for success" and let him know that the protocols mentioned are from a doc considered by many as one of the top in the field.

Good luck!

[dano79]

The doc was actually recomended to me by someone on the H2 board. He said he has had success with him. He told me that the doctor is a reasonable guy. If thats the case, I'll be seeing him in a month to be retested. If my labs are out of wack (too high) I'm pretty sure he would want to take them down. If not, I'll let him know that I don't feel comfortable with it.

As for the cycling. I might try it once, just to show that I'm also willing to work with him. He told me that if I start having problems during my off period, I'm to go back on the shots. If that does happen the first time, I'm going to tell him that I don't think cycling off works for me.

[LiquidGib]

sounds good, good luck!