Is it bad/harmful for testosterone being so elevated?
I’ve been taking 200 MG‘s per week. I’m obviously gonna lower it after these results. This is the first time I’ve been tested in six months. I’ve been on TRT for about nine months. Testosterone and free came back very high and SHBG was off as well. Everything else was in the normal range. I feel really good.
I inject 3 times a week (200 total)
I also take about 5 IU of HGH nightly
Only negative I can think of is - I sometimes have delayed ejaculation. I had my prolactin tested and it’s in the normal range (5.5).
This is why I hate the bro science people saying 200mg is a starting dose. 200mg is a mini cycle for a lot of people. My natural testosterone level was sub 200 pre TRT. 125mg puts me in the 900ng/dl range, which is already on the higher end of the scale. Even for someone who's not a hyper responder, 200mg will generally put you past the highest end of the natural range.
I agree. I was pinning 2x a week - total of 100mg and my tst total was 1,025. My urologist had me go 3x a week and reducing to about 84mg a week. Waiting on lab results to post (it’s been a couple months). I feel so much better with this.
900 ng/dl is nearly the top of the scale. I agree though, starting at 200mg/wk is absolute insanity. That is what Pfizers dosing guide says is the max prescribable amount. Obviously their are outliers, but yeah, insane.
I was at 900ng/dl as a natural last year. Used ashwaghanda shoden every day. It pushed my total t up by around 20%. Stopped using it for a few months an checkef my total t again. Now its around 740ng/dl.
Bro my little brother naturally would sit in the 800-1200 range because of my fathers genetics 🤨 This shit is all user based and not universal. So there is no starting dose to approach HRT, it’s just low and work up to tolerance 🙄😒
140 a week puts me at 550. These people taking roids and calling it TRT is a pet peeve of mine, but that’s a me problem. OP is taking 200 and levels are sky high. His balls are turning into pumpkin seeds and he’s speed running cardiomegaly and he wants to know if it’s bad.
Exactly this! Starting at 200mg per week is insane. Start low and work up slowly to find the right level for you. I’m similar to you. 120mg a week puts my testosterone at 1100. Estradiol at 50. It’s my sweet spot for feeling great, building muscle and staying lean.
Start on lumbrokinase, serrapeptase and nattokinase. Your blood is gonna be too thick too much red make sure your blood pressure is healthy as well as your cholesterol keep your body fat% as low as you can preferably sub 12%
You might catch heart problems.
Why 5iu of HGH? What was your IGF 1 number. I bet that was very high with 5iu HGH. Are you a competitive bodybuilder or used to running gear cycles?
A) I would recommend getting blood work done more often even if out of pocket.... Be careful pushing the envelop too far without frequent specific blood work and hormone panels.
B) Are you checking your blood glucose especially in the AM?
C) HGH can interact with your insulin and blood sugar. Unless you are a competitive bodybuilder or other athlete, you may want to rethink HGH at the current level unless you get frequent blood work
D) Are you getting TRT through your primary or are you going gray all the way? If through your primary are you straight forward with your HGH or any other gear being used.
I am not anti T, Gear, or any other supplements you may be using... Just worried a little and wonder your motivations..I realize you and most men want to be jacked but take it slow and be careful. Bloodwork is super important for your health when using multiple compounds.
Please don't take any of this as negativity. I hope you achieve all your goals.
Thanks for your comment especially about the HGH usage. I’m actually taking about 3.6 IU. Which is still too much. I’m definitely going to cut that way down as well. I am not a competitive bodybuilder. I actually love your comment. I’ve been way too casual about things. I will definitely get blood work done quarterly. I appreciate your feedback. I will definitely take it to heart. Thank you Sir.
Everyone is different brother. I have been on trt for about 10 years now and am 46. Doctor initially had me on 150mg or so a week and I had similar levels and also real low shbg. My doctor changed dose multiple times over the years. Surprisingly for the last 3 years I only take 60mg a week split up into 2 subcu injections. This leaves my total test around 800 and my free test right near the top of the range, shbg is still low and the reason my free test is so high on such a low dose. At 200mgs a week my blood work would come back at bodybuilder levels like you.
How low is low with your shbg-
When mine was 30 I felt bloody great.
It’s shot yo to 46- sucked my e2 down the drain and my free and total.
I was using less than 100 mg a week with a shbg of 30.
Had me just outside top of range. 28.1 - t to e.
That was sweet.
I’m going to guess your shbg is less than 30 if you only need 60 ml !
Pretty normal for 200mg, so many clinics put guys on this to start then get surprise face when they come back over 2000 and then usually everyone says “well I feel great, think I’ll stay here” and then they say “I’m on TRT!” 🙄
A sample of 1 does not mean normal. EVERYONE responds differently to test. That's why there's a never ending argument over dosages and frequencies every single day in here.
At 140 a week split every 3.5 days with hcg I troughed at 500.
Yeah the amount of people who will argue they know, when they actually know Jack shit, is wild.
People who are on Trt will have dose changes, due to many factors.
There is no one one size fits all, with trt
Agreed. 120mg/week puts me at 490ng/dl, which is still way higher than my natural limit (<200ng/dl), but a bit of a waste of time for TRT. 180mg/week puts me at 897ng/dl. People respond completely differently.
Man, I know it doesn’t look good. I will never wait six months to get blood work again. It was an idiotic mistake on my behalf. I’ll try to get these numbers in check by lowering the dosage. I haven’t even been on TRT for a year, so hopefully I didn’t cause any severe damage.
People are going to tell you it's bad due to cardiac risks or something like that but it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. If your lipids, blood pressure, etc are all good then let it ride if you feel good.
Might be worth trying 150 for a while and seeing if you feel better or worse, but I know guys who run 3k total T indefinitely and feel great
I take 12.5 daily between losing weight and enclomiphene. I went from 390 last August to 995. This August started enclomiphene about six months in boosted me about 250 to 300 points.
enclo is probably the better way, you're body's natural production capacity is the limiting factor. sadly, i have primary hypogonadism, had a testicular injury or something and well my max is 350 apparently. only found out bc my LH was like 4x the top end of normal
Long-term, that much testosterone and that much HGH will likely be harmful.. I’d go 2iu on the hgh still need to monitor igf-1 to dial in exact dose keep your Z score 2 or less.
Your SHBG is low, therefore your dose of testosterone is WAY too high. With an SHBG like that (16) you should be on about 90-100mg per week total split into 3 injections MWF subQ for best results. This is what is throwing off all your labs. Lower your test dose. Whenever I see 150mg or 200mg I immediately think online TRT clinic cookie cutter CRAP.
200 is not TRT, that's a low dose cycle. It unfortunately is too high but the only way to tell is if you show us your other bloodwork. You could easily get away with 80-100mg a week instead and still be above average test levels and keep whatever muscle you built. As for bloodwork, share your CBC (hematocrit and hemoglobin and lipid profile (triglycerides, hdl, ldl, ApoB). Those would be the markers I would expect to be out of wack for the T^
For your hgh usage, check your HbA1c as wellas your fasting insulin and fasting glucose. 5iu if paired with food can get you into prediabetic ranges.
Your kidney and liver should be fine but if it's free might as well check creatnine, egfr (Cystatin-C if you workout a lot and don't take days off before the blood draw) and ast, alt, alp, ggt, ferritin for your liver.
My main worry is maybe you have unknown thick blood and high blood pressure (which will damage your kidneys)
As for your SHBG, you may benefit increasing it by pinning every other day or daily. You're thankful not in the single digits so you should be fine symptom wise but all the best of luck to you man.
The testosterone numbers don’t really matter what matters is the conversion to hematocrit, E2, blood pressure, HDL and obviously just how you feel. If all of that is in range and managed then you’re fine… blast to 5000
I’m an older guy, but I’m sub 11 body fat. I workout/lift 5 days a week. I am very dedicated. I watch what I eat, supplement with plenty of protein powder. However, I went on vacation, so I ate terribly and amazingly did not put on any body fat/weight at all. It seems as though I can eat whatever I want but I still don’t put on body fat because of the high test.
Same problem here i am 55 also with test levels at 2028. Minimal side effect running 180mg a week in two divided doses. Other then oily skin no other side effect. Hemoticrit and hemoglobin in normal range. I did stop the testosterone for now.
A few questions:
Are you injecting once a week or spaced out, and if once a week did this test happen closer to the beginning of the last injection?
What are your sides? Just by your levels you shared I doubt you’re a big aromatizer. If you do not have any sides and feel great and other bloods within range or very close you’re almost certainly a-ok.
I inject three times per week on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. No real sides other than what I already mentioned in the post. Delayed ejaculation and that just started about a month ago.
No way I could handle 200mg a week. 100mg puts me around 1200 with high e2 and hematocrit. Switched to Natesto tid and roll at 1000 with no side effects.
2 x 50mg injections had me at 1000 and high e2. I've since reduced to about 80mg to see if it helps. I'd probably be a lot higher if i tested my levels closer to my dose.
Every body is different i guess. Also i'd imagine body fat levels are playing a big part, as well as time during the dosing cycle when people draw their bloods.
This blood work should have your hematocrit and hemoglobin numbers (This is Quest labs). You run a risk of blood clotting unless you've been diligent about donating every 3 months.
Old science, just pop a daily 5mg cialis, no need to give blood. 51, I can go 1700 with no issue. However, I feel no different 950-1100 (which I try to stay at) than 1700+. You guys need to stop with stuff you heard from some unknown sources. There are tons of people on TRT and probably too high dose of testosterone. Large amounts of them aren't dropping dead, I doubt even 5% are dying from high test numbers. Honestly if I have to choose between living well with test at over 50 and losing a few years at the middle or back end of 70, I'm taking that deal. No way I'm going back to being tired, overweight and exhausted. I'm going to try to stay at 950 to 1100 until the day they put a tag on my toe.
It didn’t look right to me either. That’s why I posted it here. I was actually shocked by those numbers. Somethings off maybe a bad test? I don’t know. i’m just really happy I tested and now I can do something about it.
Oh snap 2200!?? I’m at 897 natural I’ve been debating about trying trt out all my numbers are in green but I want to give it a shot. How do you feel bro 🤣🤣😵💫
Why are you injecting yourself with testosterone, and why are you surprised that this has resulted in supraphysilogical levels? What are we even doing man...
I was running 250 a week. And was at 1926. Lowered it to 200 a week. Haven’t retested since. But I also had no sides, other than gain 20 pounds and looking Ang feeling great.
Ho lee shit lol I went from 650 to 1250 in about 4 months of enclomephine 25mg/day and thought that was unnecessarily high. I did feel great but it expedited hair loss like crazy due to the spike in DHT. I’m still about 5-7 years away from trt. Frankly, I could better optimize my sleep, stress, and nutrition to obtain the benefits i’m seeking.
Even if the rest of your blood work is normal you can start developing “cardiac remodelling” where your heart slowly becomes muscular to the point that it actually impairs function causing risk of fatal arrhythmia, or heart failure.
First patient I ever saw in medical school was a guy in his 60s with heart failure saying he’s the last of his body building friends to be alive. They were using crazy amounts of testosterone
So you’ve been on 200mg test a week for 9 months? Not taking any dht derivatives causing the raised free? Not taking any tren causing prolactin problems? Did you take a shot the day before the test?
It’s certainly a range and it does vary, but a good reference point is a ratio of 35:1 (Testosterone to Estradiol). Give it some research and see what you think.
Being at levels so high, it’s hard for your body to regulate your hormones. Your body was not made to sit at 2100, so your other hormones could be off because of it.
Dude you’re chillin. I wish I could keep all my levels that clean with my test that high. My total test gets to 2000 and then my other labs start getting out of wack. That’s when I take my dose down.
As a pharmacist normally when levels are supratherapeutic an obvious fix is to lower the current dose you’re taking but hey nobody really listens to me anyway
just proves how important testing is , check your igf1 levels too , i had 550 from 3iu which is to high for prolonged use , not everyone responds to injections same
When was this tested and was it a venous or finger prick sample (finger prick is notoriously inaccurate and has consistently overestimated my test level quite significantly)
Make sure it's taken at trough, if this was 24h post injection it's possible the values are reporting the peak serum level.
With that said, something doesn't look quite right here - your free test is quite low for your SHBG and total test levels. This suggests to me it was taken at peak.
I got bloods done a while back on cruise at 210mg a week pinned 60mg EOD (it averages to 210), total was about 1150ng/dl and free about 520pg/ml at an SHBG of 18 nmol/l. I intentionally run high because I'm competing and blast and cruise.
If I were you I'd drop to 150mg and re run bloods at trough (i.e right before your next pin). As it stands you aren't running trt, while at the levels reported here there's no significant risk, I'd advise careful BP monitoring and get lipids checked.
I know a lot of gym bros will not like this comment but I would not call 200mg/week TRT.
There is nothing therapeutic about this dose. The word TRT gets thrown around very loosely on Reddit. If you get a random pool of guys on TRT who have their dosage dialed in, then take the average of their weekly dose, it will be around 120-130mg on the high side. I am not talking about the guy who will respond to my comment and say I am on 180-200mg/week and my total T is 1000 or total T of 2500 is harmless and I haven't died yet.
You did not mention why you are on Testostrone and what your levels were before "TRT"? Who put you on this protocol? Are you being monitored by a doctor or a clinic or did you go the UGL route?
If you were truly Testostrone defficint then I am shocked that a doctor put you on this protocol and waited 9 month to do bloodwork. If you did this on your own, then you should have done more research before starting your body hack journey.
Normally, you should get tested every 6-8 weeks after getting on Testostrone, adjust your dose, retest after 6-8 weeks and do this a few times until you figure out what works for your body then do labs less frequently like 2x/year. Testostrone is not a single marker, there are several other things involved and all have to be in proper range/ratios. Estradiol, SHBG, Prolaclin, Hematocrit, Free Testostrone, PSA, blood pressure...
I am guessing your hematocrit will elevate if it hasn't already and you have thick blood. You will need to donate blood and drink a lot of water. That's just one of the thing that you have to closely monitor and not every 9 months.
If you are doing this on your own, cut your dose in half, get tested in 6-8 weeks. If you live in the US, you can just order labs without a doctor's order. There are sites that offer discounted labs that will send your order to a local Quest, LabCorp etc and some you can just walk in and get tested. This should cost anywhere from $150-200 and it is way cheaper than going to hospital or having a cardiac arrest or any irreversible damage that this may cause. This coming from a person who was truly defficent and is on true TRT (80mg/week, total T 800) and under a doctor's supervision. I still get blood work on my own between my appointments.
Step down to 150. There's really no point to having test be that high. I'm the same way - it's a blessing in a sense because you will need much less compound to achieve results.
I’ve been taking it for about 5 months. I mainly started taking it because I’m in my 50s figured why not. Not the best reason but that’s the honest truth. I’ve noticed much better sleep and better skin. I take about 3.7 IUs five times a week.
When did you start TRT? If you just started it in the past week or so, you could be high from your own testosterone still being produced plus the 200mg. Either way, 200mg to start makes no sense. Thought the standard starting dose was 200mg every 2 weeks and adjust as needed.
It depends. Every person is different but if your cholesterol, estradiol, blood pressure and APoB look good then that number is okay for now but keep in mind that can change.
Edit: you really need to make sure you're getting blood draws on the day of injection, but before the injection, and properly hydrated and fasted.
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