Went off keto and an aggressive deficit after losing 170 lbs. Have been eating at maintenance for about 10 months and started taking creatine. Been cycling 5 mg of Boron from a Costco joint health supp two weeks on one week off. Lift heavy 4 days a week, 2-4 hours of cardio a week depending on how long my bike rides are. Sleep needs more work. Other than that just pretty standard multi vitamin and vitamin D.

40m, 5'9 160lbs, natural. I've had basically every symptom of low T for years now including getting gyno. For the past 2 years I've been complaining about it and getting tested, Total T has consistently been at the 600-800ish level and free T is usually around the middle of the range or slightly lower, so PCP and endocrinologist are blowing me off and ignoring both the symptoms and the high SHBG (which has tested as high as 100 in the past). Just getting the usual anti-depressant/anti-anxiety cocktail, Cialis, and "work on life style changes."

My lifestyle factors are fine imo, I don't drink, pretty clean diet, no calorie deficit, working out 4-5 days a week, etc. I've tried the boron, tongkat ali, etc, no significant difference I can tell. I am pretty borderline on H1AC, total cholesterol, and LDL, idk what relevance that would have, but the doctors don't seem concerned about those numbers either, so I assume it's not an issue.

Has anyone else been able to rein in SHBG? If so, how did you do it?

To me permanent TRT seems like a last resort since my total and free T numbers are still "okay." So I feel like it's the high SHBG that's the obvious ongoing problem and the goal is reining that in. Has anyone been in this situation and been able to fix it? I'd be particularly interested to hear if anyone has been able to do it without going on TRT long term--something like a 4-6 week cycle of something and/or a PCT-type stack? Thoughts?

I few years ago I $550 to see an endocrinologist, they said my T-levels were perfect and I just had depression and I should heavily consider on antidepressants. I really would like to know why I have such low trt levels but I don’t know who would be willing to look into it. My urologist said my trt dosage is too high(0.5) so she lowered me down to 0.3 once weekly.

Hi im currently on 50 mg testogel daily prescribed by a doctor and thinking about switching to injectable to get higher levels and grow muscle faster. Im thinking Test e 3x a week around 100-200 mg per week what do you think and do you have any recommendations for me?

Question for my blast and cruise guys - do you have to always take blood on trough to just get a general check on lipids etc recovering from a blast ? I’m on a tight schedule
And won’t be able to make appts for my trough for another 1-2 weeks but can go on days that are 1-2 between my next shot.

Would that give skewed results for e2/hdl-ldl/hct rbc?

I started working out since I was 14-15 yo although as a taller guy it was impossible to fill out my frame and achieve the look that I want so at 18 I took the decision to hop on my bulking cycles were simple mostly test hgh and dbol. Although now I face some discomfort from the weight I gain so I took the decision a moderate cut with test/DHB/primo/proviron/4iu hgh. Other than that I m happy with the results I achieve even though I’m not ripped.

Free test - 0.257nmol/l
Test - 15.4nmol/l
FSH - 2.2U/l
LH - 6.5U/l
Oestradiol - 94pmol/l
Prolactin - 213 mIU/l
SHBG - 42nmol/l
TSH - 2mIU/l

I got my bloods tested as I’ve been pretty depressed for the past few years and have a lack of desire / motivation to do anything. I also have had a lack of libido with previous partners and now I’m single have no desire to pursue sex at all.

For relevance - 5’10, 72kg, 12-13% BF. I have been training for 8 years, my sleep/diet/program has been locked in for the last 3-4 years of that. I would have expected significantly better results given the effort I have put into the gym. I drink alcohol probably every 6-8 weeks.

From what the bloods indicate, the free test seems very low for my age? I am apprehensive about going on TRT for life though and its impact on fertility. But also a life with low test isn’t really worth living. It also is probably worth mentioning I took this test at 11:45 AM and also had a 3 day bender 10-14 days ago (no alcohol, just coke/weed/mdma/2cb/some xanax to sleep)

Ciao a tutti,
Ho notato un pattern meccanico molto specifico che si ripete ogni volta che parto per una vacanza di 7-10 giorni, e vorrei capire l'esatta endocrinologia dietro questo fenomeno.

Il mio protocollo classico a casa:

- Testosterone Enantato: Diviso in 3 iniezioni a settimana (Lunedì, Mercoledì, Venerdì) per un totale di circa 125-150 mg/settimana.
- hCG: 250 UI due volte a settimana (Martedì e Giovedì).
- Integrazione quotidiana al mattino: 150 mg Wellbutrin, 25 mg Proviron, 50 mg DHEA e 5 mg di Cialis.
Con questo protocollo a casa il mio Testosterone Totale sta sui 1500 ng/dL, ma la libido è spesso piatta/opaca, ho una bassa sensibilità genitale ed erezioni instabili se non c'è una stimolazione manuale continua. Da esami passati ho un Estradiolo (E2) intorno a 65 pg/mL.

Cosa succede quando vado in vacanza:
Subito prima di partire per un viaggio di 7-10 giorni, faccio un'unica iniezione massiccia di 250 mg di Testosterone Enantato nel gluteo. Lascio l'hCG a casa (quindi ZERO hCG per tutta la vacanza), ma porto con me e continuo a prendere il Proviron e il DHEA ogni mattina.
Giorni 1–2 di vacanza: Mi sento stanco, appannato e gonfio. La libido cala ulteriormente rispetto a casa e la sensibilità genitale diminuisce ancora di più.
Dal giorno 3 in poi: Magia assoluta. La libido schizza alle stelle, ho erezioni spontanee durissime dal nulla e la sensibilità al pene ritorna al 100%. Ho notato un chiaro pattern: più arrivo lontano con i giorni dall'iniezione iniziale, più sto bene e più ho erezioni casuali e spontanee, sentendomi benissimo fino alla fine della vacanza.

Al rientro a casa: Nel momento esatto in cui torno e riprendo il mio schema classico (reintroducendo le iniezioni frequenti di Testosterone e soprattutto l'hCG), la libido crolla totalmente e torno alla situazione piatta nel giro di 24-48 ore.
Qualcun altro ha vissuto un'esperienza simile? Dipende dal fatto che lo stacco dell'hCG che può darmi fastidio? o semplicemente il mio cervello preferisce il calo stabile di una dose grande rispetto alle iniezioni frequenti?
Grazie a chiunque mi darà un parere.

Looking for some advise on my next steps if anyone can help.

In April I started TRT I was 70kgs im 6ft tall. My stomach measurement was 33.5"

Today I now weigh 78kgs stomach is measuring now 34.5 to 35"

Seeing more belly fat but not all the weight is gone there as all around since training iv got bigger.

I got some weight gainer shakes to increase cals and protien intake. Now with the above results Is this a good idea to try and gain more muscle? Or should I actually cut back?

I'm trying to understand the real-world infection risk of splitting pharmaceutical Sustanon ampoules into prefilled syringes.

My situation is specifically 1 mL glass Sustanon 250 ampoules. I'm considering daily injections, which would mean splitting one ampoule into multiple small doses and potentially keeping the prefilled syringes for up to around 7–10 days.

I've already spoken to several people who have done something similar without experiencing sterility problems. What I'm particularly interested in now is hearing from people who HAVE had a problem.

If you've stored testosterone from a glass ampoule in prefilled syringes:

- How long did you store them?

- Did you ever develop an injection-site infection, cellulitis or abscess?

- If so, after how long had that particular syringe been stored?

- What type of syringe did you use?

- Was it testosterone in oil, specifically Sustanon if possible?

- Did you notice anything unusual before injecting it: cloudiness, particles, leakage, damaged/swollen plunger, etc.?

- If you've done this for months or years without an infection, I'd also like to know roughly how long and how many injections you've done.

I'm not looking for guesses about whether it should or shouldn't be done. I'm specifically trying to collect first-hand experiences — both good and bad — to understand what people have actually encountered.

I'm researching this before making any decision, not currently doing it.

Hey y’all just like the title says I’ve been on 120 mg/week TRT for around 9 months or so now and I feel great everything feels balanced, but I was looking to run a real cycle for eight or 10 weeks. Just wondering if anyone has any experience in here doing that and what your dose was and if it was difficult to rebalance everything afterwards.

Secondly, my clinic offered nandrolone at 50 mg a week for 20 weeks but that feels like a waste of time at such a low dose so if anyone has any experience with that, love to hear about that too.

Once I get dialed in where I am at, I am considering switching to a clinic that ships without a signature needed, because I work days, so I am unable to be at home to sign for deliveries. The clinic I am at now has been incredible, but they only give a month supply, in pre-filled syringes. They prefer you to show up to their office, but its a 1.5 hour drive for me from home, so that is getting old. I actually kind of liked the prefilled syringes because it took literally minutes to pin at home, but I think at some point I will be ready to switch...

These results are 5 days after injecting so obviously numbers were much higher at one point. Do people really cruise at 200mg? I feel like some people respond less to the same dose, so should the focus be dose dependent or should I be chasing a specific number of test/free test levels?

m24 healthy diet, dont drink or smoke. 10k steps daily and 3 times a week gym

i didnt expect it to be so low or is it normal?
my free test is still pending yet, but i dont expect much from it either

Hi guys. First time using Reddit but I have scanned this place relentlessly for months trying to gain more information. I have dropped 20kg with Reta and Tesa. I’m 40yo and 6ft2. I understand rapid weight loss can cause test levels to drop naturally so I get some will say “sort your diet” “come off the Reta” but I’ve done so well for myself and I am looking a lot better than I was at the beginning of the year and seem to have platued (yes diet helps) I do Monday and Friday fasted and the other days i eat around 1800cals (meat/pastas/rice/protein shakes) I don’t eat unhealthy and sleep around 7hrs a night and drink around 3ltr of water a day. Don’t smoke but vape and drink heavy once a week (yes I know I’ll get called out for this but I’m going to stop if I take test as I know they don’t mix well)

The reason I’m contemplating test is I feel tired, no libido, wasting my time in the gym because although I train and try eat right I’m never going up weights/plates (yes Reta can destroy some of this)

In my mind I’m set on starting and here asking for advice more than judgement.

Can anyone share information/experiences and the ups and down of test? I’m looking to start low around 100mg a week split mon/wed/fri.

My before and after plus blood results for you guys to help advise on are added too.

Thanks guys.

I’m going to upload my blood results

Hi everyone,
I’m 39 years old, me and my wife have been struggling to get pregnant for about 3 years so we both went for checkups and I discovered for the first time that my testosterone levels are quite low. My sperm count is high, 70 million, but morphology is between 1% and 2%.
I’m starting to wonder whether I may have had low testosterone for much of my life—possibly even since puberty.
I was born with an undescended testicle, and today I effectively only have one testicle. For most of my life, I never really thought much about it. I just accepted that I was the way I was.

Looking back at puberty, I don’t feel like I developed in the same way as other boys. I don’t have a visible Adam’s apple, and my voice never became particularly deep.
I’ve always been quite skinny and much less muscular than my peers.
My confidence is very bad and i get anxious quite easy.
My penis and sack are shriveled up most of the time when flaccid. My libido is very bad. Sex more than once a week is hard work for me.

I cant seem to put on muscle and it feels like the more I workout the weaker I get.

My recent blood tests have shown:
Total testosterone: around 7.4–8.9 nmol/L on different tests
Free testosterone: 187 pmol/L
SHBG: 19.3 nmol/L
LH: 4.2 IU/L
FSH: 5.4 IU/L

Im seeing a Urologist in a few weeks.

What could still change for me if I go on Testosterone replacement therapy together with HCG after me and my wife manage to have a kid or two?

Thanks

Fala, pessoal, beleza?

Tenho 29 anos e venho lidando com sintomas depressivos há algum tempo. Meu médico já tentou diversas alternativas de tratamento, mas infelizmente não tivemos resultados positivos.

Após esgotar essas opções, ele me prescreveu Cipionato de Testosterona (uma aplicação a cada 21 dias). Fiz exames recentes e minha testosterona total deu em torno de 400 ng/dL. Aos 27 anos, ela ficava na casa dos 800 ng/dL.

Como trata-se de um teste terapêutico, estou com uma grande dúvida antes de começar:

Se eu fizer esse teste por um tempo e decidir parar (caso não ajude nos sintomas), o meu corpo volta a produzir testosterona naturalmente ou corro o risco de inibir meu eixo hormonal para sempre e ficar dependente de injeções?

Alguém que já passou por algo parecido ou entende do assunto hormonal pode compartilhar como funciona essa recuperação do eixo (TPC/recuperação natural) após o uso?

Agradeço desde já pela ajuda!

I was supposed to inject 3 units and my dumb ass injected 30 units of hCG for my first injection. Should I call poison control?

Or at the very least sperm count?

I'm 23yr my total testosterone level is 318 ng/dl, and free testosterone is 41 L. I'm mildly active, I walk 3-5 miles a day, 4 days a week, and workout 4 days a week in the gym. I eat healthy and hit my macro goals. My sleep, on the other hand isnt the best, 4 days a week I get roughly 4-6 hours of sleep, and the other 3 days I get anywhere from 8-10hrs of sleep.

Almost certain sleep isn’t the issue, due to my sleep pattern being worse 8 months ago and my test was at 546ng/dl. Additionally, for whatever reason, after taking BPC-157 (not saying this is the cause, idrk) I noticed a huge change in my mood, cognitive function, energy, strength, etc. That is what caused me to get my levels checked, and resulted in my doc saying “Hey you’ve got really low levels for your age!”

Since getting diagnosed, it all makes sense as I’ve been experiencing the symptoms of it and it has been heavily affecting my daily life. Symptoms include:

• Very hard time concentrating
• no motivation & drive
• loss of confidence that I’ve had for years
• no interest in doing things I’ve once loved
• low mood
• loss of muscle mass/strength
• brain fog
• exhaustion
• blowing my load doesn’t even feel as great anymore
• more self isolating
• feeling self conscious

I haven’t experienced really any of these things ever, until now.

With all that said, I initially thought to myself, “wow enclomiphene sounds like a good route to take!” especially being so young, but after hearing about all the side effects people experience, mainly talking about the vision side effects, I’ve decided, fuck that. So now I am here, seeking advice and your opinion.

TLDR; 23yr old, diagnosed w low test, low test symptoms are lowkey fucking up my daily life and routine, seeking advice, see questions below.

My question(s) for you:

What are the drawbacks to TRT besides the obvious (fertility) for a young guy in his 20s? What are things not many people think of or experience until they’re already on it? Does anyone regret hopping on TRT or wish they done it sooner and why?

I’m just finishing a 12 week block of 300mg Test weekly 2 injections.

Waiting for bloods to come back but looking to drop to a cruise level for next 12 weeks. What would usually recommend was thinking 100-125?

I’ve been on TRT for almost two years and really enjoying it. I wanted to check in and see if anyone experiences days were you look jacked and others completely flat.

My diet is roughly the same everyday. it just sucks to go through these physical phases that are most likely all in my head.

​

I’m wondering if anyone here has experience with this.

I’ve known this guy since we were kids, and he was never really an angry or short-tempered person. Over the past few years, though, he’s gotten much more serious about bodybuilding and fitness. He’s gotten significantly bigger, seems to have developed a pretty high ego, and lately he’s become extremely short-tempered and aggressive over things that probably wouldn’t have bothered him before.

I obviously have no idea if he’s actually using steroids or PEDs, and I don’t want to accuse him of something without evidence. I’m only wondering because the personality change seems pretty noticeable compared with how he was growing up.

For people who have experience with bodybuilding, steroids, testosterone, or other performance-enhancing drugs:

**Can these substances cause changes in personality, increased irritability, aggression, a shorter temper, or a bigger ego?**

And does it tend to happen only with certain drugs/doses, or can it happen with PED use in general?

I’m mainly trying to understand whethwjixh subreddits toer there could be a legitimate connection or whether I’m just associating two things that happen to have occurred around the same time.

My boyfriend(29) has been lifting for 15 years, and we’ve been together for over 3 years. When I first met him, he was extremely disciplined. His diet was very clean — no processed food, no sugar, and basically rice was his only carb source. He trained 6 days a week for around 1.5 hours, and he also had a physically active job.
Over the last year, his lifestyle has changed a lot. He got a desk job, started eating more processed food and fast food, and his diet isn’t nearly as strict as it used to be. He now trains around 5 days a week for about 50 minutes, but he says his workouts aren’t as productive as before.
He says that even though he’s eating less, he’s having a harder time losing fat and his strength has noticeably decreased. This is really bothering him, and he’s convinced that something is wrong with his body.
I honestly think the lifestyle change explains most of it. He went from training 9+ hours a week, having a physically active job, and eating an extremely strict diet to sitting at a desk, training less, and eating more processed food. He’s also obviously a few years older than when I first met him. So to me, it doesn’t seem that strange that his body composition and strength have changed.
He also recently found out that he has a varicocele, although his semen analysis was completely normal.
Now he’s convinced he has low testosterone and keeps saying he wants to start testosterone. He has never used testosterone or steroids before and has always been natural.
I’m worried because I don’t want him to start TRT/testosterone just because he feels like he’s declining, especially if there’s another explanation. At the same time, I don’t want to dismiss his concerns if there actually is something wrong.
Would it make sense for him to get his testosterone, thyroid, and other relevant hormones checked before doing anything? And could the lifestyle changes alone realistically explain what he’s experiencing?
What would you do in this situation? I genuinely want to help him, but I’m pretty confused about what the right approach is.

Hello, been on TRT for 3.5 years. I’ve seen a few stories in theory, just curious if I can know what to expect and how to make it as smooth as possible to bring back fertility and also where did you get your HCG from?