testosterone replacement and it's effects

[silverfern]

First of all I am new to the forum and want to say hello. I have been using andronderm patches to boost my testosterone levels for about 6months now. Even though I have been using the patches I haven't seen any big improvement in testosterone levels. Even though I have been training hard I just can't seem to tone up or feel even half the man I used to feel when it comes to running. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or suggestions for me or is this normal. Thanks in advance.

[Mr.X]

Silverfern, welcome to IS. Glad to have you here

TRT patches are not that effective for HRT because of the low-dose testosterone provided. Your body naturally produces 7-10mgs of testosterone / day, that's 49-70mgs /week. The patches can barely replace your natural testosterone levels, much less give you extra results.

If you want result from your HRT, I suggest weekly testosterone injections.

[Mr.X]

Btw...you are doing this via your doctor I assume?

[silverfern]

yeah by my doctor. I am just getting frustrated at the limited results even though I am working out harder than ever.

[silverfern]

btw...will my doctor even go for the weekly injections?

[Mr.X]

btw...will my doctor even go for the weekly injections?

That really depends on what he thinks of your situation. When was the last time you had a blood work done?

[djsf]

I agree with Mr.X. I would talk with your doctor and mention that you don't feel the TRT is working that well. It might be because the patch is not being applied correctly, or it could be just too low a dose. It is a reasonable request to have your doctor investigate this. TRT usually comes with regular bloodwork to find out how it is working. Request to have your test levels measured again to find out. Based on the outcome of that (s)he can up the dose or switch from patches to weekly or every other week injections.

Another possibility is your natural test production has shut down. If your doctor dosed you so the androderm + your own test put you in the middle of normal, then you may have fallen back to the low end of normal with your own test production shut down. In that case you might want to do a round of HCG every couple months and/or up the testosterone dosage enough to put you back in the normal to high normal range again.

[silverfern]

thanks guys. Last time I was checked I was still really low but in the normail range just. Still feel terrible though. I'll get back into him and see what he suggests and maybe ask him about injections. Thanks again.

[silverfern]

This is probably stupid of me to ask but djsf, what is HCG?

[djsf]

Human Chorionic Gonadatropin. Gonad="testes" and tropin="grow", so literally, it's "grow your balls back medicine". You can impress your doctor by knowing all about it before you go in for your next checkup. Do a google search for Human Chorionic Gonadatropin or go to the steroid profiles page of this site, there is a section all about it: http://www.**********.com/steroids/profiles/hcg.htm

HCG is a steroid user's best friend. It completely and almost magically reverses testicular atrophy doe to AAS use. TRT patients usually also need HCG, not all doctors know to prescribe that. The protocol is generally to take 5000-10000iu's by doing 5-10 1000iu shots every other day. It is injected subcutaneously into a skinfold pinch in the belly area or abdomen. It's a very easy and painless injection to do. HCG is usually taken with nolvadex at 20-40mg/day. You will find example protocols you can use by researching "post-cycle therapy" (PCT).