A good reminder is the lifespan of RBC's is about 4 months.  It could take about 6 months after making changes to your routine to see the full benefit in your HCT numbers. Less new RBC's will be produced but until the old crop are completely taken out of circulation you will still have elevated numbers.

I think every Dr gets the same memo: OMG stroke/ prostate cancer/ roid rage - rawrrr!  They just arent really concerned about mens quality of life. Suck it up and just accept a shitty quality of life is their attitude.  That of course would never be suggested to a female patient. Only the best will do for them. Fortunately there are the national clinics a man can go to if all else fails but they are over priced for what they provide IMO.  But I dont need my hand held which might be rare for this stuff.

 
I'm sure that is what it is then.  I'm taking no anti-E at the moment.  I just ordered advanced female hormone profile which will check:

Edit.

My hematocrit levels go from 49 to 52 in one month and then back down to 49 the following month, thats verified by blood work



 

I have 4 or 5 months x 2 where it went up and down like that.





 

My understanding is it shouldnt work like that.

"The aging erythrocyte undergoes changes in its plasma membrane, making it susceptible to selective recognition by macrophages and subsequent phagocytosis in the reticuloendothelial system (spleen, liver, and bone marrow), thus removing old and defective cells and continually purging the blood. This process is termed "eryptosis," which refers to erythrocyte programmed cell death. This process normally occurs at the same rate of production by erythropoiesis, balancing the total circulating red blood cell count."

Unless you have some weird breakdown in your Phagocytosis process, and your Erythropoiesis is stabilized, then  RBC counts should remain consistent. Unless you have internal bleeding.  So it seems to me the most likely cause in order of importance is:

Testing is inaccurate/ you are dehydrated enough to skew results.
RBC creation isnt stabilized.
Internal bleeding.
Your Phagocytosis is whacked. - The most serious issue.

I've been on test for sometime now, got everything dialed in, all good and today my Dr. gets locked up for dealing oxy by the DEA, fuckity fuck fuck! They seized all the offices records so I'll probably need to find a new doc and start from scratch now.
An office of nurses, docs, P.A.'S, and CSR's out of work now too. Damn shame.

Bullshit.  Most meds are studied in male test subjects, and then extrapolated to women.  Female HRT is significantly more difficult to 'get on' and is infinitely less effective.  Women are told that low sex drive and weight gain is just part of aging and part of menopause.  Guys have it easy.

WHAT?



 

I tend to agree. Getting a woman with even moderate hormonal imbalances is like playing with fire in a gasoline soaked suit. When shit goes wrong with women, it goes really fucking wrong.

Look at the divorce rates of women who are menopausal or premenopause. That is the second biggest change a woman will go through right behind puberty.

My dad after 38 years of marriage is in the process of getting rid of my mom. Menopause is a bitch...

Probably be better if he added effective treatment for females.  Many will throw meds at them (possibly from the far side of the room to be safe) but often not at the levels they should be at.  Going through this currently with my wife due to a genetic issue she was previously unaware of.  Doc gave her meds but didn't schedule any follow up labs to even see what effect the medicine is having.  I'm thankful the dr figured out her issue but I would value a more proactive approach.  Around here many will treat women's hormonal issues but not at a level it should be.

 

Lol.

Just shows you that with women, at best you might beat the rap but you wont beat the ride.

Well 27 gauge sucks too... Might try the running hot water over it thing on Monday.  

That said i'm not really noticing much of a difference.  I haven't taken an AI since i started sub q.  Will be interested to see what my panels come back at in a week or 2 when i get them done.

Sucks as in too slow or too painful?  What size syringes are you using?



 

100 mg insulin syringes.  Not too painful, no, barely felt it.  Doesn't load the syringe fast at all.

Question: are there pee strips to test E2 levels?

Was thinking about this last night since there's ketone pee strips etc. Just curious if E2 is measurable in pee accurately.

Don't think there is a strip for E.

Measured my HCT level early this week, at 53.9%... Up from 47.8% a month ago.

Was surprised because it was staying fairly consistent at the lower latter number for a while, and didn't bother to check it.

Then gave blood [1 pint, 485ml] and checked it one day after and HCT dropped to 52.5%

I could immediately see a difference in the capillary after spinning and before measuring the %


Looks like a DIY phleb is in my future...

See my earlier posts, it can take 5 minutes or so.

I'm using a 25 gauge for hCG. Would the same work for T? What do guys normally use?

30 for HCG, fast to fill...

25 for T-C 40 seconds or so to fill.

<blurt out loud mode>

Are any of you guys taking vitamin D?

Or vitamin D3?

</mode>

When my blood first got tested about 6 weeks ago, they did check for D levels.  I will have to find the paperwork.  They were low, but still in whatever the commonly accepted range is.  However, where I am going for T didn't even bring up the D issue.  I asked about it lije 2 or 3 weeks in.  The "doc" said they recommend taking like 10,000 I.U.'s per day.  (???)

My GP tried pushing vitamin D or D3 on me about 5 years ago.  I started on it, but never stuck with it.

Back on topic...sorry...years ago when I was first injecting T into my upper thighs at home, they prescribed for me two separate needle gauges.  I will have to take a look at them again to be sure.  But Walgreens fucked up and gave me two different syringes (one is like a pink color, the other is a green color).  I think what the doc was picturing was drawing from the vial with the thicker needle and then taking that needle off and screwing on the thinner needle.  As it turns out, the two sizes were not capatible, like thread wise.  So I ended up jabbing my thigh with the thicker needle.

I had blood drawn for labs last Monday.  I should have some more numbers for ya'll this Monday, the 9th.

Yes I'm on vitamin d as well.  20,000 iu per dr orders.  As well as a sublingual methyl b 12   and a host of other items.

Ok. Thanks. Maybe I'll try the 30 gauge for the hCG. The 25 isn't bad, but I'd be fine with a smaller needle.

Yep, for S-Q, either is fine, and, since the viscosity of HCG is so low, the 30 ga is less intrusive and works well.

Thanks for the replies on the vitamin D.

Is there a particular maker or brand of D or D3 that you like?

OMG.  I know Im some piss ant on the internet, but jesuz dont do that. Its not going to kill you and your nuts arent going to fall off but at best its stupid and unnecessary. Please tell me these yahoos are at least pulling labs before they tell you guys this stuff. I doubt it though.

For all the people saying what is this wanker on about, maybe do some research. I doubt your Dr is.

http://gettingstronger.org/2012/11/why-i-dont-take-vitamin-d-supplements/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4160567/

 
Mine did and does.  Every 3 months for first year then every 6 months unless needed sooner for some reason.  I work nights and rarely see the sun.  And my levels were in the critically low range.

I have no idea which part killswitch was replying to.

Rare people have to take a boat load of D3 but typically most people dont.  Keep pulling the labs and when you get to  32 ng/ml go to maintenance doses.

The 10k IU's of d3  day.  I added some links in my previous post.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(13)70165-7/abstract

Low serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) have been associated with many non-skeletal disorders. However, whether low 25(OH)D is the cause or result of ill health is not known. We did a systematic search of prospective and intervention studies that assessed the effect of 25(OH)D concentrations on non-skeletal health outcomes in individuals aged 18 years or older. We identified 290 prospective cohort studies (279 on disease occurrence or mortality, and 11 on cancer characteristics or survival), and 172 randomised trials of major health outcomes and of physiological parameters related to disease risk or inflammatory status. Investigators of most prospective studies reported moderate to strong inverse associations between 25(OH)D concentrations and cardiovascular diseases, serum lipid concentrations, inflammation, glucose metabolism disorders, weight gain, infectious diseases, multiple sclerosis, mood disorders, declining cognitive function, impaired physical functioning, and all-cause mortality. High 25(OH)D concentrations were not associated with a lower risk of cancer, except colorectal cancer. Results from intervention studies did not show an effect of vitamin D supplementation on disease occurrence, including colorectal cancer. In 34 intervention studies including 2805 individuals with mean 25(OH)D concentration lower than 50 nmol/L at baseline supplementation with 50 µg per day or more did not show better results. Supplementation in elderly people (mainly women) with 20 µg vitamin D per day seemed to slightly reduce all-cause mortality. The discrepancy between observational and intervention studies suggests that low 25(OH)D is a marker of ill health. Inflammatory processes involved in disease occurrence and clinical course would reduce 25(OH)D, which would explain why low vitamin D status is reported in a wide range of disorders. In elderly people, restoration of vitamin D deficits due to ageing and lifestyle changes induced by ill health could explain why low-dose supplementation leads to slight gains in survival.

It was literally the post directly above mine.

 

Not any more, when my labs were first run 2013 my doc pointed out how low my D was, now I take 50,000 D-3 IU every week.

It's cheap at the pharm on RX and you can't get that strength OTC

He said 90% of his patients here in NE Pa have a Vitinin D deficiency

The cloudy sunless days account for most of it, the lack of D in the foods is now becoming a problem around the country.



I grew up on the jersey shore, sunny most of the time, in the summer I swan every day, winter went skiing, a lot of Vitimin there for sure.



https://www.google.com/#q=vitamin+d+deficiency    



 

http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/illnesses-linked-vitamin-d-deficiency/

My D was 34 (30-100). I started taking 4,000iu a day. They say symptoms don't start until 10-15, but I think idea health is up above 50. That's what I'm reading anyway.

When my first lab came back at 34, I started taking 4,000iu. But I found a chart that listed how much you needed to take to raise you Vit D a certain amount. If I took 6,000iu, it got me up to 55-60 ish iirc.

Not sure where you got that idea, bro.  http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-263553-bio-tech-pharmacal-d3-50-50000-iu-100-capsules.  I have a bottle in the cabinet.  Probably cheaper through your insurance though.
If you read the studies I linked there isnt proof that theres a growing problem that is corrected through d3 supplementation.  Its correlation that high 25oh lab results prove anything concretely.  If it does prove something its hypothesized that its a marker for existing good health and not a factor on its own. Even if it is proven that 25oh is legitimate as people claim then you have to determine what is the optimal level.  So in suggesting that people maintain 32 ng/dl 25oh lab results Im being Very conservative and using the most widely accepted metric to measure sufficiency.  Personally Id be happy between 20 - 25 ng/dl.  But even that is probably meaningless in any significant context. I used to run high 25oh levels and I dont anymore for various reasons. People are going to do it anyway but IMO you arent accomplishing anything of value and you are actually causing harm in several ways. I repeat IMO as this issue is still very poorly understood. But then most of health and nutrition is. Even TRT which we are all discussing here.

Sufficiency is rated as between 20 - 50 by the various authorities. With 32 being the most widely accepted standard. You were probably fine before. And as I said, thats if any of this means anything at all which it might not. Personally if Im not seeing symptoms then I doubt I will worry about it.  I take CLO every day and that should give me enough to maintain 14 - 20 ng/dl blood levels during the winter.  The rest of the year I try to get 20 mins of full sun a day.  That should be fine.

For the high d3 users are you also taking vitamin A?  Theres a correct ratio of A/ D3 you want to maintain.  I think its 8/1. Thats part of the problem with mega dosing.  Not many people understand all the cofactors and the synergy.  The body wants balance at all times.  It doesnt want one nutrient through the roof and everything else deficient.  That just creates more stress on an already stressed system. It takes a ton of research to find effective supplementation AND not create further damage in the process.  I say this after two years of extensive research and I make my supplement protocol from scratch. Tons of placebo effect and misguided well intentions going on in the supplement world. Ive changed my protocol hundreds of times, and I will probably change it thousands of more times throughout my lifetime as more research surfaces.

Sufficientcy for T is also rated between 250 and 950 by various authorities. My doctor told me I was fine at 285.

I'm a contractor and am in the sun hours every day and my D was still 34. I also am around a pool three days a week for eight months of the year. I just came in from mowing without a shirt (Nov in Ca is nice! ). Sunlight isn't always converted to D efficiently. I've read where 45 min of sun every 60 days is sufficient for a healthy person. But D levels can still be under optimum regardless of sun exposure for some people.

With as much info out there regarding D helping T levels, I'm trying to keep my D intake high(er). If someone found something where D made you T go down, I'd quit taking it. Because I didn't hav symptoms of low Vit D. But I do have symptoms of low T. The end goal is to get T to a level to make the low T symptoms go away. So I take D.

Theres probably several other supplements that would have a bigger impact on T levels than D3.  But we are probably getting a bit off track at this point.

Got labs back from the tests my endo ran this week:
T=763 (348-1197 ref range)
E=44 (8-43 ref range)

He is suggesting I go back to the 1/2 50mg pill per day because my E is high. I think I'd prefer to get back on the EstroDIM stuff I was taking and ran out of. My last test showed me at ~660 so the 50mg is definitely continuing to make improvements. I don't particularly want to regress if I can help it.

I think I'll get back on the EstroDIM and in a month or so, go get my own labs done and see where I'm at. That Male Hormone Panel at privatemdlabs has some of the stuff I want to test for except FSH and SHBG. The "Male Ultimate Anti-Aging" test has what I want, but it's ~$327 instead of $176. There is a "Hormone Panel with F&T Testosterone, SHBG and Thyroid" that runs $226 but it doesn't have IGF-I that I want (but could add for $72 bux).

What pill of 50Mg ?
 

My guess is Aromasin.  25mg is a common dose.