Thanks again Prof Bush and Michael for the link, I'll take the accuracy with a grain of salt, I'm not relying solely on these ponderings to ensure proper blood results as I am going to write my own lab order and have the results sent to my office prior to any bloodwork for him so not leaving it to chance. So no worries on the accuracy front.
I am certain that 5 weeks out from my last 500 mg injection would be plenty of time to return to the proper levels, Id be shocked if they were over 1000ng/dL I am betting around 400-600ng/dL for myself. But its so easy to check beforehand for a bit of peace of mind and just sheer curiousity.
For background some may wonder why I never went back for the secod bloodwork after starting the testosterone and increasing my dose to 100mg/week.
Well, I had already been on 100mg injection every second week of test cypionate with only slight improvement in "feeling terrible" department and I was just grew impatient with the lack of progress and the far less than aggressive "standard approach" to therapy starting with the lowest amount needed and taking a slow timetable to do this.
I was suffering from near debilitating fatigue, depressed mood, depressed affect, poor cognitive function and decreased verbal ability, zero sex drive of which complaints from my new wife is what prompted me to get tested in the first place (we werent intimate before marriage) and she was even upset and wondering if the marriage was a mistake etc...And a variety of other dysfunctions, if you see a list of hypogonadism, I had nearly the complete list.
When my initial bloodwork came back, for perspective the normal reference range is 250-850ng/dL, mine was below the cutoff for listing and was displayed as simply <20ng/dL. No wonder I had been having so many symptoms (that I ignored for far too long).
So I was chomping at the bit to get back to feeling good again and since I had researched that it could take up to 3-6 months to recover my cognitive function once my testosterone is back in the normal range. I decided to up my dose 400mg/week then 500mg. Not for some aspiration to look like Mr Universe, but to ameliorate my human condition/psyche. To that end, it worked amazingly well, its amazing actually to look back how I got along or even function before testosterone replacement. The 1000mg/week I had recently been taken was short term for some experimentation and some muscle building. Although overall, there was not much improvement over 500mg/week dose but with some back acne and some other sides. I have an unlimited supply of testosterone so that is not an issue for the higher dose but who needs additional side effects with little return to balance the scale.
Well for what its worth in terms of making a useful thread for others in the future. I'll post my bloodwork in 3 weeks, both the unofficial bloodwork I'll do and also a few days later, the official bloodwork for my primary. And just for real-world nformational purposes, if I decide to increase my dose up past my TRT dose after this bloodwork, I'll redo my bloodwork every week or 10 days to see how it goes up. Or if its recommended to increase my TRT dose, I'll stick with that, get it retested and may fiddle with my dose and do bloodwork after that. I regretted not tracking my blood levels when I started so this will give me a fresh opportunity and Ill post it here. And some may ask why even include your primary physician in this if you are going to do my own thing anyhow. Thats a valid question, in my case, this is a valid medical condition and since testosterone is a controlled substance, I must follow a modicum of proper procedure so I am able to demonstrate for legal, medical, insurance or other reasons why I am taking a controlled substance. As I frequently travel overseas, it's also necessary. I have had to chuckle at all the "how do I fly with my gear" threads I've seen for guys who don't have a valid prescription and I dont find this bloodwork stuff a pain in the butt either, to the contrary it's very interesting and easy to do.
Cheers
