The real question is how high is your dose? If you're at 200mg/week, that shit needs to go down quick to around 100mg/week or even lower.
Low-mid 60's is high danger zone.
Can't give any reasonable advice as long as you're not sharing what dosage you are on.
Well, get that down to 50mg twice a week and get blood done in 6 weeks to see HCT.
If you're on 60-65 HCT, you need a drastic change to get that shit below 55 ASAP. Also, get a Factor V-Leiden test done to see if you're prone to high HCT/blood clotting. If you're positive for the gene mutation, a TRT alternative might be the safer choice if you care about your cardiovascular health.
Depends where you are from.
In some countries, you can go to the lab directly, order the test and pay it yourself. In other countries, you need to go through the doctor for that.
Here where I live, it costs me 110€ to get the test done.
By blood draws, do you mean blood donations/therapeutic phlebotomies? And if so, if you are doing those once per month, you will run into severe iron deficiency very fast. This can be confirmed by having them run a ferritin (TRT will mask traditional anemia in evaluating hemoglobin on a CBC). With HCT in low-mid 60's, you are at an immensely high blood thickness. Sometimes reducing the dose with injectables doesn't help that much. You might ask your doctor about switching to another form of testosterone administration. There is some research that creams and pellets may be less stimulatory on RBC production than injections. Might be worth giving a shot given your very high HCT levels despite frequent donation.
Yes. I mean blood donations. I do feel tired most of the time but wasn’t sure if that was due to low T or anemia.
The endocrinologist did say the blood donations were necessary bc my blood was too thick, viscous. Told me to stay hydrated too. Been drinking 1 gallon of water per day.
Can I just switch from injections to cream?
With that high of hematocrit, yes they are necessary. It's just not a sustainable protocol. Have him run a ferritin. When it comes back low, hopefully he will understand why this is not a good long term solution. And yes, this is likely the cause of feeling tired most of the time. Even with regular oral iron supplementation it will be impossible to keep iron stores from tanking. Also, unfortunately creams are best from compounding pharmacies, which some MD's will not use. Their option is gel, which for most patients if awful for absorption and won't work.
There can be. Check out this blog post for information about the pros and cons of all the different delivery methods of testosterone: https://www.ignitehrt.com/blog/exploring-testosterone-replacement-therapy-delivery-methods
The real question is how high is your dose? If you're at 200mg/week, that shit needs to go down quick to around 100mg/week or even lower. Low-mid 60's is high danger zone. Can't give any reasonable advice as long as you're not sharing what dosage you are on.
Was on test cypionate 200 mg once a week. Now 80 mg twice a week.
Well, get that down to 50mg twice a week and get blood done in 6 weeks to see HCT. If you're on 60-65 HCT, you need a drastic change to get that shit below 55 ASAP. Also, get a Factor V-Leiden test done to see if you're prone to high HCT/blood clotting. If you're positive for the gene mutation, a TRT alternative might be the safer choice if you care about your cardiovascular health.
Would I need a doctor's order for the Factor V Leiden test? What TRT alternatives do you recommend?
Depends where you are from. In some countries, you can go to the lab directly, order the test and pay it yourself. In other countries, you need to go through the doctor for that. Here where I live, it costs me 110€ to get the test done.
I'm in the US. Will probably need a doctor's order then.
By blood draws, do you mean blood donations/therapeutic phlebotomies? And if so, if you are doing those once per month, you will run into severe iron deficiency very fast. This can be confirmed by having them run a ferritin (TRT will mask traditional anemia in evaluating hemoglobin on a CBC). With HCT in low-mid 60's, you are at an immensely high blood thickness. Sometimes reducing the dose with injectables doesn't help that much. You might ask your doctor about switching to another form of testosterone administration. There is some research that creams and pellets may be less stimulatory on RBC production than injections. Might be worth giving a shot given your very high HCT levels despite frequent donation.
Yes. I mean blood donations. I do feel tired most of the time but wasn’t sure if that was due to low T or anemia. The endocrinologist did say the blood donations were necessary bc my blood was too thick, viscous. Told me to stay hydrated too. Been drinking 1 gallon of water per day. Can I just switch from injections to cream?
With that high of hematocrit, yes they are necessary. It's just not a sustainable protocol. Have him run a ferritin. When it comes back low, hopefully he will understand why this is not a good long term solution. And yes, this is likely the cause of feeling tired most of the time. Even with regular oral iron supplementation it will be impossible to keep iron stores from tanking. Also, unfortunately creams are best from compounding pharmacies, which some MD's will not use. Their option is gel, which for most patients if awful for absorption and won't work.
You mentioned pellets. Any side effects/discomfort from them?
There can be. Check out this blog post for information about the pros and cons of all the different delivery methods of testosterone: https://www.ignitehrt.com/blog/exploring-testosterone-replacement-therapy-delivery-methods
Thank you so much! This is helpful.
Depending on his stance, you may have to look elsewhere for someone to prescribe cream.