My TRT Testosterone Replacement Therapy Experience

Folks, 

This one will be a bigger story to let you fully understand my background. 

1. My Youth: Started with Levothyroxin.

Since I was a child between the age of 7-10 I needed to start Iodine as my Thyroid had a slightly sub-function. My mum detected it as I was sometimes rasing my head and swallowing, this is a typical indicator hat something with the Thyroid is worng. With time the Iodine wasnt enough and I switched to the hormone levothyroxin. Today I´m 34 Years old and I need 100 mikrograms per day to have an optimal functioning TSH Level. 

So far so good, if I´m leaving this medication away I feel sluggish and tired. 

2. TRT Start at age 33. 

During my 20`s I was checking my T levels every 2-3 years, they have been in a range between 400-600ng/dl contsantly. As you can see a critical total Testosterone level is reached below 350ng/dl. 

 By the end of 2020 during the beginning of Covid (No vaccination at that point) my total Testosterone levels drop to 260 ng/dl. I felt very tired and every sport session was feat. At that time i was running and doing Chalestenics on a open gym in the park. My levels didnt improve from December 20 to March 2021, so I decided to go to the doctor and started the Nebido injections. 

The first injection felt amazing the brain fog and tiredness went away completely I was sleeping better and I stand up sweaty in the mornings. I felt energized and the sex drive was enormous even that wasnt a problem before, but everything else. Another thing I noticed was the improved blood flow in the pelvic area and also the penis, it seems like my erections are thicker and overall much more blood, vascularity. I gained about 3kg of muscle mass and lost some fat (and water). I need to say sometimes I feel even bigger without TRT due to the water in the body and TRT shouldnt be considered as a muscle gain opportunity or reason to start. 

Only Pros? 

No, not at all.

1. My Ferritin levels which have been a bit above the scale rose even further so I decided to donate blood every 6 months. 

2. blood pressure rose so that my sleeping quality wasnt as good as in the beginning. 

3. Dropping levels during the 5-8 week of the next Nebido injection have been each time a difficult phase. 

4. sperm quality decreased drastically. 

What have been my countermeasures? 

1. I started to inject Nebido every two weeks (1ml) so I eliminated point 2 and 3 above mentioned. 1ml Nebido every two weeks is really on the low side but this is a proper TRT which equals your physical levels, when I hear anything above 140mg Testosterone per week this is always supraphysiological and will lead to problems longterm. 

2. I stopped TRT for 5 months and did sperm kryokonservation just in case that TRT would destroy the natural ability of the testicles to produce Testosterone. I really dont believe that at such small doses there is any big risk but I just wanted to be safe. 

Conclusion: 

Testosterone Replacement Therapy isnt the selffullfilling solution to all your problems. It can help if you are really on the low side and if all other circumstances have been checked. I just believe in my case my hypothalamus which wasnt already functioning right due to the thyroid issue also did not produce enough LH and FSH which lead to not sufficient Testosterone levels.

This is my recommendation if you have Thyroid issues than check these levels its more likely that you will have Testosterone issues as well. 

If you have levels below 350ng/dl and if you have symptoms the TRT will outweigh any risks if its done with a low dose as possible. 

I like to drive myself even to low T levels to feel the medication and how it helps me, if I overdrive I dont get any benefits from it just high blood pressure, higher ferritin levels and I feel like I´m not myself in the skin. The ideal range for me is 950-1100ng/dl. everything else it too much, the scale says it and you feel it in general if you are connected to your body. 

I do belive if I would have less stress in my life and would be a beach boy laying in the sun I would be able to maintain normal Testsoterone levels without Nebido. I will definitely try to come off TRT again and take rest to reactivate the hypothalamus-ptuitary-testicle axis for about 2 times a year. If I will ever feel like its not necessary anymore I will not use it anymore. 

If you decide to start TRT alway take care of: 

1. hemoglobin A1C

2. Blood pressure & kidney labs

3. cholesterol & heart status

4. Iron deposition & red cell labs

5. PSA prostate results

Written by Rob from
phanger.net