Sorry for the delayed response, but yes I think I am having a side effect. While my test is still >1000 and estradiol's are in a good range, my libido has dropped off. Reading about clomid, it appears long term use (I've been on for >1 year) can cause that.

Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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If I was born with Pulmonary Stenosis and had an angioplasty done when I was 7 years old, is TRT still a safe option for me? I have never had any complications from it other than the medical procedure, was never held out of contact sports and have always had good check up when visiting the cardiologist. Had my bloodwork done a while back and my test was really low. Have done my best to correct everything I could since then "lifestyle" wise, but I still just feel constantly tired with a brain fog I can't seem to shake, as well as low libido.

Began working out regularly for the first time since HS and have dropped a lot of weight by eating better and regular exercise, I am down from 256# (I know, pathetic) to 210#. Still don't feel normal after making these changes over the last year. I need to get my bloodwork done again to see if the weight loss and lifting has upped my test any, but I still don't feel like it energy/sex drive wise. One of my good friends started TRT a year and a half ago and swears it has changed his life 1000% for the better.

Work as operator in the production side of O&G with a 9 day on 5 day off schedule. Up at 4 am to leave by 5 and home at 6:15 every day. Have two young kids that I feel like I have no energy to play with when I get home at the end of the day and it pisses me off.

I am 6'1.5" with 18% BF according to the InBody 270 scale at our work gym. Do I need to lose more weight before considering TRT so my body doesn't convert the exogenous test to estrogen/estradiol? I have read that if your body fat was too high that your test would be converted. Admittedly, I have only done some research, but it is overwhelming taking it all in and trying to wade through the BS that is Reddit. Looking for opinions from a community I trust a little more on whether I would be a good candidate for TRT or if I should avoid it since I have a heart condition.

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As long as you don't have right ventricular enlargement or excessive residual pulmonary stenosis you should be fine.

Thanks KD. Appreciate the input.

2girlsdad said:

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Sorry for the delayed response, but yes I think I am having a side effect. While my test is still >1000 and estradiol's are in a good range, my libido has dropped off. Reading about clomid, it appears long term use (I've been on for >1 year) can cause that.

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What's your dosing regimen? Outside my wheelhouse, but have you talked to your doc about cycling the clomid? perhaps 3 months on, one off? Test > 1000 is pretty dang high. How has the ratio of testosterone to estrogen changed?

2girlsdad said:

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Sorry for the delayed response, but yes I think I am having a side effect. While my test is still >1000 and estradiol's are in a good range, my libido has dropped off. Reading about clomid, it appears long term use (I've been on for >1 year) can cause that.

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In all seriousness, i'm debating if this is a bad thing. How are energy levels? one of the attractive things about getting on T therapy is tackling big projects around the ranch.

I wonder how cycling would do? couple months on couple months off.

My energy is great, recovery is better than before clomid, and I'm probably the leanest/strongest combo that I've ever been.

I can't say for certain the libido dropping is only due to clomid. Before clomid, I had a surge when taking a few supplements (I mean obvious surge that my wife would attest to). I think it was Maca, Ashgwanda, tongkat ali, and a few others I don't recall. Thinking about gettinf back on those to see if it inproves the libido.

Ran mine a few days ago. Waiting on all the results but T was at 221 ng/dl
60 yo, active 4-5 trips to the gym weekly,
Overweight but cant seem to loose it, Vitamin D was also low.
Hopefully I will get all results back tomorrow

Username checks out

Indeed

After reading this thread I said screw it and decided to give clomid a try. Previous T was 450. 50's, in pretty good shape and work out regularly.

2 months in. Haven't checked levels yet. I probably put on 10 lbs of muscle. I used to hit the gym just to maintain. But now i'm building muscle, the great feeling.

I noticed that things don't bother me like they used to. When my wife's crazy comes out it doesn't phase me. I think that's comforting for a woman. Anyway, that aspect has been good for our relationship. I used to get overwhelmed about all the projects around the place. Now I can't wait to get off work and get to it.

Overall very positive experience.

I've been supplementing testosterone for 9 months now and have been able to burn off 30 pounds of fat and add 15 pounds of muscle. Feels great but I've been fighting back acne and some hair loss. Trying better acne soaps take finasteride to hold onto my hair but overall I really like the results and transformation in my body and energy levels. Haven't had caffeine once since starting. Not once.

Let us know if you get a libido drop a few months in (like I experienced).

My urologist said that after long term use for some people your testosterone will still show high, but the low testosterone symptoms can come back.

Did you get off Clomid and go to TRT? I'm considering doing this…

I'm still on it. I don't want to do TRT if my body still has the ability to make the testosterone. I will say now that I've picked bjj back up, I can tell having higher T helps me with an evening class, 5.5 hours of sleep (not every night, just twice a week), up at 0330 to lift in the 90% range on squat/bench/deadlifts.

Overall I've been getting more sleep, taking some other supps which worked in the past, so I'll see how I feel in terms of libido in a few months.

2girlsdad said:

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I'm still on it. I don't want to do TRT if my body still has the ability to make the testosterone. I will say now that I've picked bjj back up, I can tell having higher T helps me with an evening class, 5.5 hours of sleep (not every night, just twice a week), up at 0330 to lift in the 90% range on squat/bench/deadlifts.

Overall I've been getting more sleep, taking some other supps which worked in the past, so I'll see how I feel in terms of libido in a few months.

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Does it cause hair loss?

Turning 20 caused my hair loss...been shaving since so no comment.

aggiesundevil4 said:

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I've been supplementing testosterone for 9 months now and have been able to burn off 30 pounds of fat and add 15 pounds of muscle. Feels great but I've been fighting back acne and some hair loss. Trying better acne soaps take finasteride to hold onto my hair but overall I really like the results and transformation in my body and energy levels. Haven't had caffeine once since starting. Not once.

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What level of T are you trying to maintain? I'm thinking 700-800 would be fine - i wonder if that would be less side effects. Just enough to stay in shape and increase energy without looking all juiced up.

At first the place was trying to get me up around 1000, but I kept reducing the doses over time to get to minimum effective dose, and have been on a dose 30% lower and hovered around 600….but Still fighting bacne and hair loss.

thinking about stopping it for a while now that my body is in much better shape to see if I can produce enough on my own no that my fat is lower and muscle is higher. Will try to focus on the right vitamins and keep lifting weights and see what happens. If I drop below 300 while doing that stuff then I'll have to decide what to do long term.

If you are worried about that red swollen feeling - that's actually an estrogen issue and your testosterone doc should put you on a tiny dose of anastrozole to drop estrogen down to normal which gets rid of all the water retention and bloating.

Not really a worry, just don't want to make it too obvious.

I am concerned about hair loss. Are you genetically disposed to hair loss already? Is the T exacerbating the issue or is this something new?

MosesHallEnforcer said:

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Yeah all those things are precursors to T production. If you're in your 30's eat steak and eggs, liver pills, lift heavy and voila!

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I do all those things and my T is 208. Not always true.

Yes, definitely predisposed - I was on finasteride before to hold on to my hair, which has worked great, but the effectiveness of it reduces while on supplemental T because there is just a lot more DHT circulating in the blood…finasteride blocks about 70% of DHT but if there is a ton more of it floating around the hair loss risk increases in some people. My neighbor has been on T injections for literally 10 years and hasn't lost a single hair on his head.

New to this thread but was wondering how effective (if at all) the over the counter test. boosters are-brands such as Weider, GNC, etc?

TIA!

Anyone tried fenugreek, ashwagandha, vitamin b complex and magnesium and zinc? I read some clinical studies that seemed supportive of it helping naturally boost T

I've tried ashwaganda before and take zinc, vitamin D, magnesium(l-threonate), and bcomplex daily. I'm in my late 30s and have been between 750-850 since I started getting blood work done after Covid.

Anecdotally, my sex drive went through the roof for the two months I drank ashwaganda tea. It was distracting before I took it and I stopped because my wife was starting to get annoyed. I never had my test levels run while on it so I have no idea what impact it had there.

Pepper Brooks said:

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I've tried ashwaganda before and take zinc, vitamin D, magnesium(l-threonate), and bcomplex daily. I'm in my late 30s and have been between 750-850 since I started getting blood work done after Covid.

Anecdotally, my sex drive went through the roof for the two months I drank ashwaganda tea. It was distracting before I took it and I stopped because my wife was starting to get annoyed. I never had my test levels run while on it so I have no idea what impact it had there.

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I've been on TRT for over a decade and also add the above supplements but had never heard of ashwaganda. Do you have a rerecommended amount / dose or just make some tea.

austinAG90 said:

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I've been on TRT for over a decade

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If I may ask, what was your experience?

Any side effects?

Farmer_J said:

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austinAG90 said:

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I've been on TRT for over a decade

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If I may ask, what was your experience?

Any side effects?

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No real side effects that I can think of. Supplements help and I've never had to use any blockers a some do. I have to keep on shot schedule or my number go way low and takes time to recover.

I just take a pill - the clinical study said 500 or 600 milligrams was the dose, but there are lots of doses and options to buy from because it helps women with anxiety and mood too. I've been on these supplements for a week now and I'm really impressed with my energy and positive mood.

Two satchels in some water. I honestly bought it on accident from the same brand I buy my green tea from and looked into it after the… side effects.

I'm due for blood work soon and have always gone through Ways2Well. I'm considering working through someone else as I don't feel like I get the same level of service I used to since they have blown up.

Anybody have any experience with some of the other virtual/online offerings? Blokes, Core Medical Group, etc.

Very late to this thread but here is my experience with Clomid from a couple of years ago:

It worked amazingly fast and raised my testosterone from about 550 to 900 in about 6 weeks. I was only taking about 8 mgs/day. I would cut the 50 mg pill into 6 shards and take one a day. I felt great. My libido and stamina increased and I was completing P90X workouts on schedule (I'm late 50's). Then all of a sudden my hair started noticeably thinning. If a cool breeze picked up I could feel it on my scalp. I discontinued Clomid and after a few months it grew back.

So what did you do since then? Just deal with low T? I stopped taking T injections 6 weeks ago because I felt my hair started thinning, but now my delayed onset muscle soreness is super annoying and libido has reduced…so I was thinking clomid might be a good plan b that may have less strong side effects.

I also see that you started at 550, that's a number I wish I had. Last year I was at 285/299 for my tests when I got started.

I was off my shots for about 3 months earlier this year due to travels and not being able to get back into doc. Finally got blood work done, was at 130. Not good.