I'm new to this forum, 52F in menopause. Started TRT last year including weekly T injections. I am a regular at the gym (I'm not ripped or anything, but I love to lift weights). Looking to maintain muscles/strength into my old age so I can maintain my independence. Also am interested in reversing some skin laxity and would love to lose a little more fat. Looking to learn about HGH to see if running at a small amount daily will help me meet my anti-aging goals.
MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
Menopause, HGH and HRT
- Thread starter 930club
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malfeasance
Well-known Member
I am unfamiliar with what doctors prescribe for TRT for females. Could you tell us a little more about what that looks like? You mentioned weekly T - how much? What else is included? What sort of changes has it made for you in the time you have been doing it?
I'm using a tele-med doc and it took about 6 months of adjusting to get things right. I ended up with 50mg of Test C, I inject .35ml a week. I was at .5 mL briefly but started to experience some masculinizing effects (that I don't care to mention even in an anonymous forum) so I took it down to the .35mL. I also take 4mg of oral estrogen and 200mg of oral progesterone daily. I was experiencing some carpal tunnel which can happen from lack of estrogen, and that's gone now. I can also tell that I have more muscle definition from the T. I've thought about bumping up the T to help with building muscle and I have some dutasteride on hand if I choose to go that route but would really like to find another way. Most of the improvement has been with menopausal symptoms (hot flashes, brain fog, aching joints). Getting older is no fun so I plan to fight with whatever my budget will allow.
malfeasance
Well-known Member
Wow, even 50mg seems high to me. But is it 50mg? Or is it higher?
How does .35 ml work out to be 50 mg? 50/.35=142.8 <-- very unlikely concentration
200 mg/ml x .35 = 70 mg
Thanks for replying. So I see estrogen and progesterone.
My wife is less than a decade away from your age, which is the reason for my question.
As for building muscle, I would not raise the testosterone - as 70 or 50 mg a week already seems to me to be too high. Have you tried or looked into or considered anavar? Even 5 or 10 mg does wonders for a female, and without the nasty side effects that females do not want.
How does .35 ml work out to be 50 mg? 50/.35=142.8 <-- very unlikely concentration
200 mg/ml x .35 = 70 mg
Thanks for replying. So I see estrogen and progesterone.
My wife is less than a decade away from your age, which is the reason for my question.
As for building muscle, I would not raise the testosterone - as 70 or 50 mg a week already seems to me to be too high. Have you tried or looked into or considered anavar? Even 5 or 10 mg does wonders for a female, and without the nasty side effects that females do not want.
malfeasance
Well-known Member
Testosterone Dose-Response Relationships in Hysterectomized Women with and without Oophorectomy: Effects on Sexual Function, Body Composition, Muscle Performance and Physical Function in a Randomized Trial - PMC
To determine dose-dependent effects of testosterone on sexual function, body composition, muscle performance, and physical function in hysterectomized women with and without oophorectomy. 71 menopausal women who previously underwent hysterectomy ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
"Mean on-treatment nadir total testosterone concentrations were 19, 78, 102, 128 and 210 ng/dl at the 0, 3, 6.25, 12.5 and 25-mg doses, respectively. On-treatment testosterone concentrations were significantly greater compared to levels reported in healthy cycling women."
malfeasance
Well-known Member
In case that quote was not clear as written by the researchers, even the 3 mg per week cohort had higher levels of testosterone than healthy females who cycle (menstrual cycle, not bicycle) not receiving testosterone injections.
I cannot think of any good reason long term for a woman to be doing 50mg a week, and certainly not 70 mg. These doses are bound to bring on unwelcome but permanent changes over time. These dosages are the lower end of TRT doses for men.
I cannot think of any good reason long term for a woman to be doing 50mg a week, and certainly not 70 mg. These doses are bound to bring on unwelcome but permanent changes over time. These dosages are the lower end of TRT doses for men.
@PeterBond references this study in his article on side effects (hirsutism) in women using testosterone:Testosterone Dose-Response Relationships in Hysterectomized Women with and without Oophorectomy: Effects on Sexual Function, Body Composition, Muscle Performance and Physical Function in a Randomized Trial - PMC
To determine dose-dependent effects of testosterone on sexual function, body composition, muscle performance, and physical function in hysterectomized women with and without oophorectomy. 71 menopausal women who previously underwent hysterectomy ...
"Mean on-treatment nadir total testosterone concentrations were 19, 78, 102, 128 and 210 ng/dl at the 0, 3, 6.25, 12.5 and 25-mg doses, respectively. On-treatment testosterone concentrations were significantly greater compared to levels reported in healthy cycling women."
Bhasin’s lab investigated the testosterone dose-response relationship in hysterectomized women with and without oophorectomy [10]. Women were given a placebo, 3, 6.25, 12.5 or 25 mg of testosterone enanthate weekly for 24 weeks. The Ferriman-Gallwey scoring system, as described above, was used to assess hair growth. Significant differences in the Ferriman-Gallwey score were found in the 12.5 and 25 mg groups:
As can be seen, however, the increase was (very) small. Remember: the scale runs from 0 to 36, and an increase of 1 point is pretty small. Thus it appears that, at least up to 25 mg testosterone enanthate weekly, changes in hair growth are minimal when administered up to 24 weeks. An important thing I’d like to highlight, though, is that the onset of hirsutism is quite slow, taking up to 4–6 months [11]. These results could thus definitely be different if this trial was undertaken longer.
Excessive Hair Growth in Female Anabolic Steroid Users
Anabolic steroids, especially testosterone, causes excessive hair growth in women. Learn how to manage this adverse side effect.
thinksteroids.com
From what I've read, introducing large spikes in serum testosterone (that are typically seen with injections) tends to result in more side effects. This is one big reason why daily application of testosterone gels are preferred. And the dosages are generally no more than 1/10th of the conservative amount used for men as HRT.
Well I’m no expert here and I have to admit I don’t understand how many mg I’m taking a week myself. So the bottle says “test cypionate in GSO (5ML) 50 MG/ML. Inject .06ml once a week. I talked to the Dr and had backed it down to .35 as it was having some masculinizong effects. That was about 4 months ago and I seem to be doing fine, effects reversed. What do you make of that? Perhaps it’s a 50Mg bottle?
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Highly ecto
Member
At .35ml per week you are getting 17.5mg of test cyp a week.
My partner is on hrt, she has been using 3mg of test cyp SQ twice a week for about 10 months, this puts her right at the top of the range.
lnitially she started on 20mg a week which was to much and had her 4X the female limit. She then cut back to 10mg a week which was still a bit much and had her twice the female limit. A true hrt seems to be 6mg a week for her.
She also takes 100mg of Progesterone before bed each night and uses estradiol patches which give her 100mcg of estrogen a day.
Using 20 or so mg of test cyp per week for 2-3 months here and there is probably fine, but for long term your probably better off being closer to 10mg a week.
Thank you, that was very helpful. May I ask how old your partner is?
Very informative studies/articles. Thank you!@PeterBond references this study in his article on side effects (hirsutism) in women using testosterone:
Excessive Hair Growth in Female Anabolic Steroid Users
Anabolic steroids, especially testosterone, causes excessive hair growth in women. Learn how to manage this adverse side effect.
I have not considered Anavar, but could do some research. My thinking was to go with HGH first as it's already something my body produces. Your thoughts?
Thank you. I can't stand gels or creams, I did try them first. Too cumbersome with time you need to put them on vs. when you might shower etc and messy. Injections are easier for me.
Highly ecto
Member
She is 49. Hrt has been a real game changer for her.
Before she started she was 80kg, no energy, no libido and always moody.
Now she is 63kg, good energy, good libido and nearly always in a good mood.
She has done two 8 week anavar cycles in the last 12 months.
She took 5mg a day the first cycle and 10mg a day the second cycle.
Both cycles she had good strength gains, steady fat loss with no noticeable side effects. Bloods were really good after each cycle as well.
Not OP, but I'm female and also on T. It's part of my hormone replacement therapy. I get subcutaneous pellets. The goal is to return testosterone to a normal level for a young woman (not the normal level for a menopausal woman). The dosage is much lower than what a man would get.
I started this in my mid 40s and it was amazing for helping with energy level and feeling of well-being.
I’m new to this forum, too. I had to have a hysterectomy years ago. I am 66 now. I get bio identical hormones from a company called Renew Youth. They draw my blood every 6 months to check all of my levels and then I have a Zoom meeting with their doctor. I am very pleased that I’ve never had a hot flash. I bought what was supposed to be sublingual Anavar but it came in a 50 mg capsule. I need to figure out how to divide it up. I hope this helps.
So you have not tried the Anavar yet? I’m very interested to hear your experience as it’s been mentioned that this might be an alternative to HGH.
Renew Youth offers a form of HGH, but personally it didn’t do much for me. No, I just received the Anavar 50mg capsule. I’m sure that’s too high of a dose for me, so I will need to break open the capsule and divide up the granules/powder. They offered a sublingual so I could place a couple drops under my tongue, but what they sent was a cap.
Sounds complicated to get the right dose that way. Keep me posted on your progress!
