Transitioning from clinic to TRT self-management

[TheWestern]

I've been lurking this forum for years, actually signed up as a member in 2020 but have never posted. I was diagnosed with low testosterone around that time at 36yo (around 290 ng/dl) with fairly severe fatigue, end of day body aches, poor sleep, inability to gain mm mass. I signed up with a well known and respected TRT clinic and found that I responded well to testosterone; with no other lifestyle changes I lost body fat, gained probably ten pounds of muscle, the fatigue was gone, the body aches were gone, several chronic injuries I'd had since the military back in 2004 hurt less for the first time ever. My provider at the clinic worked with me quite a bit to dial in my dosing. At the high end I was pinning 30mg of test a day and 10mg of nandrolone decanoate (low SHBG led to daily injections). This reduced my chronic injury pain to almost zero, but I had high hematocrit and over time some symptoms of polycythemia, with high BP (150/100 mmHg range).

Increasing water intake and donating blood helped with the hematocrit. Being consistent with cardio helped with the BP. Since I had a baseline that provides good results and seems sustainable, I decided to source my own hormones, since the clinic I was using was quite expensive. I also wanted to try a low dose HGH regimen (2iu/day) which would have been about $800/mo from that clinic.

My interests are more long term functionality/health/anti-aging than bodybuilding, I do a full blood panel every six months. I'm interested in other compounds that might not have been available from a TRT clinic but may be effective for my goals.

Here to read and learn. I work in healthcare, on the clinical care side of things, and since starting this journey I've been amazed at how little hormones are considered by most healthcare professionals, and how little they seem to know or be interested in HRT (I was obviously guilty of this in the past as well).

My goals are to find the combination of compounds that is most long term sustainable, with the fewest health side-effects, and gives the greatest effect.

Thanks all for what you've already contributed to my journey.

 

[avablanch86]

Welcome brother! Primo and test work very well together and can give you a new boost as well. It takes a little longer to see effects but very low sides.

Could also try mast, I personally like this as it’s cheaper and still gives you hard look and has very slight anti estrogen effects. This works well for me as I like to avoid taking AI.

Other AAS like deca, NPP, tren, those the most common are 19-Nors. Which comes with there own side effects.

I would first ask myself what you want for yourself and body and then find a suitable AAS that fits the need.


Now this is all assuming you run test along side.

Regards

 

[TheWestern]

Welcome brother! Primo and test work very well together and can give you a new boost as well. It takes a little longer to see effects but very low sides.

Could also try mast, I personally like this as it’s cheaper and still gives you hard look and has very slight anti estrogen effects. This works well for me as I like to avoid taking AI.

Other AAS like deca, NPP, tren, those the most common are 19-Nors. Which comes with there own side effects.

I would first ask myself what you want for yourself and body and then find a suitable AAS that fits the need.


Now this is all assuming you run test along side.

Regards

Thank you! I'm not a bodybuilder, I like to look good but much more than that, I want to function well. Not injure myself, recover quickly from injury, feel strong and healthy, brain works well, good energy. Finding that sweet spot and maintaining it for as long as possible is the goal, aesthetic advancement is an added bonus if it comes.

I've lifted weights quite a bit in the past, but really struggled to put on strength and muscle. I'd be curious to see how that has changed since starting HRT. My diet is 75% clean, I'm not counting macros or anything like that since I'm at a comfortable weight (220lbs @ 6'5"). Lots of low-level cardio is how I exercise right now but I do plan to get back in the weight room soon, at which time I will dial in my diet more for my goals.

I know this forum mostly revolves around serious bodybuilding, but that is where the experts are, so despite my goals being a little different I hope to learn a lot.

 

[avablanch86]

Thank you! I'm not a bodybuilder, I like to look good but much more than that, I want to function well. Not injure myself, recover quickly from injury, feel strong and healthy, brain works well, good energy. Finding that sweet spot and maintaining it for as long as possible is the goal, aesthetic advancement is an added bonus if it comes.

I've lifted weights quite a bit in the past, but really struggled to put on strength and muscle. I'd be curious to see how that has changed since starting HRT. My diet is 75% clean, I'm not counting macros or anything like that since I'm at a comfortable weight (220lbs @ 6'5"). Lots of low-level cardio is how I exercise right now but I do plan to get back in the weight room soon, at which time I will dial in my diet more for my goals.

I know this forum mostly revolves around serious bodybuilding, but that is where the experts are, so despite my goals being a little different I hope to learn a lot.

That’s good information you provided. You are on probably one of if not the best forums to not only research different drugs but also have real life feedback. There are some serious bodybuilders, some more gym rats (like myself but I have competed) and the more average person who likes to stay in shape but not go crazy.

Whatever you are looking for, I’m sure you can find something on this board.

Remember, AAS is just one direction you could go. If you are dealing with injuries that limit your ability to exercise, there are peptides (BPC-157, TB-500, FRAG, etc) that have pretty proven lab and real world results for healing chronic and acute injuries. These are not steroids and often come with much less side effects.

I’ve taken quite a few compounds myself so feel free to ask any question or create a thread. You’ll be surprised how generous members here can be with their experiences

 

[UncleBuns]

My interests are more long terrm functionality/health/anti-aging than bodybuilding, I do a full blood panel every six months. I'm interested in other compounds that might not have been available from a TRT clinic but may be effective for my goals.

My goals are to find the combination of compounds that is most long term sustainable, with the fewest health side-effects, and gives the greatest effect.

For these goals do real trt. Not trt+, not high end of range. TRT with total and free in normal range. You could add HCG if you like it, some don't. Could add GH at max 2iu nightly. This is all that will fit your goals and criteria.

If you want to do things which are lower risk, have lower possibility of side effect, and enhance yourself you can, but generally speaking, the more you chemically enhance yourself the more risk and possible negative health effects you expose yourself to. There's no free lunch. Every chemical enhancement has a trade-off. Generally, dosage matters a lot for health effects and side effects.

A lot of people will tout various peptides as no risk and side effect free. But in truth they are research chemicals so nobody really has a definitive answer on most of them.

The greatest effect will come with the greatest risk. The lowest risk combination you can do will have lower effect, but since you need TRT simple true trt will give you a huge boost from your baseline. Basically anything above true replacement and the risk first reward starts changing based on dosage and time.

 

[TheWestern]

For these goals do real trt. Not trt+, not high end of range. TRT with total and free in normal range. You could add HCG if you like it, some don't. Could add GH at max 2iu nightly. This is all that will fit your goals and criteria.

If you want to do things which are lower risk, have lower possibility of side effect, and enhance yourself you can, but generally speaking, the more you chemically enhance yourself the more risk and possible negative health effects you expose yourself to. There's no free lunch. Every chemical enhancement has a trade-off. Generally, dosage matters a lot for health effects and side effects.

A lot of people will tout various peptides as no risk and side effect free. But in truth they are research chemicals so nobody really has a definitive answer on most of them.

The greatest effect will come with the greatest risk. The lowest risk combination you can do will have lower effect, but since you need TRT simple true trt will give you a huge boost from your baseline. Basically anything above true replacement and the risk first reward starts changing based on dosage and time.

Definitely agreed about keeping T in normal range. My polycythemia symptoms didn't appear until my total slipped above 1000. Nandrolone did more for my chronic injury pain than T did by itself, by far. At 10mg a day it turned the volume way down on ankle, knee, low back. At that dosage whatever side effects there may be seem very tolerable - if there are other compounds that are effective at low dose to supplement T, I'm all ears. I've tried oxandrolone and it was effective but I don't like that it's an oral due to liver stress, and I don't want to cycle on and off if possible.

I've started (as of two days ago) on 0.5IU of HGH nightly, I'll increase by 0.5IU every two weeks until I'm at 2IU, then I plan to run that forever. I don't know if it's placebo effect but the sleep the last two nights has been incredible.

 

[SpaceGhost]

Welcome brother! Primo and test work very well together and can give you a new boost as well. It takes a little longer to see effects but very low sides.

Could also try mast, I personally like this as it’s cheaper and still gives you hard look and has very slight anti estrogen effects. This works well for me as I like to avoid taking AI.

Other AAS like deca, NPP, tren, those the most common are 19-Nors. Which comes with there own side effects.

I would first ask myself what you want for yourself and body and then find a suitable AAS that fits the need.


Now this is all assuming you run test along side.

Regards

If I start TRT at 100-150mg per week, what would I have Primo at if I wanted to run that alongside it?

 

[UncleBuns]

If I start TRT at 100-150mg per week, what would I have Primo at if I wanted to run that alongside it?

When you start trt, the wise thing to do is just the trt. Pick a dosage, pay attention to and even write down your experience with it and how you feel, energy, mood, side effects, etc. and about 6 weeks to get full blood panel and see where all your levels are at including your health markers and at least major hormones. Based on Labs hold steady if everything looks the way you want and carry on for a bit and get labs in another 6 weeks to verify. If those labs look good then start tinkering with other things if you want. If you don't like the initial labs and change your test dosage or injection, frequency etc. Then hold steady on that and repeat the process. You need to get your trt dialed in before you start adding any other things.

This is all true if you're actually going to do trt. You want to get this sorted out right now so you don't have to deal with it later and if you add another compounds right away, you have no idea what your baseline protocol is. You will not know what your ideal true trt dosages and if you get side effects or issues you will have no idea what it's due to. You are likely to chase side effects and Chase your tail down the road needlessly. Dialing in trt is also when you can figure out what your test dosage is and if you need an AI and what the ideal AI protocol is for you. Figuring that out when multiple compounds are in the mix is a pain in the ass and then you will have no idea what your trt protocol should be.

If you don't plan to stay on TRT and are just going to blast and then come off then let er rip.