Hi all, will try and be brief, 43 years old, have been lifting hard for 25 years. Am 185 at 5'9, would have definition if lost 10 pounds but am not "fat." I feel lethargic sometimes and I think everyone does which makes the question difficult.
Your lethargic feeling could be caused by numerous things, sleep, diet, activity level, etc. but at 43yrs old your natural test levels are a lot lower than they used to be, the start going down for everyone in their late 20's and really start going down in your 30's and 40s and every year after. How we take care of ourselves can help or hurt these levels but age inevitably does the same thing to everyone...no big deal, just part of life.
There are clinics popping up where you can get injected with test cyp every 10 days and insurance covers it, go figure. In some circles it is deemed medically necessary but not sure.
In my opinion, there is absolutely no reason on this earth why any male over 40 should not be on hormone replacement therapy. You have the ability to put back in your body what it naturally craves but what age takes away from you. You will feel younger, you will have more energy, less fat, more muscle tissue, a better sense of well being, recover faster, work harder, etc.
I had my test levels taken and the guy said yes you're low, how about a shot of test. Having never taken anything in my life, it kind of scared me but at the same time was exciting.
There's nothing to be scared of, you're injecting something into your body that it is accustomed to, it's not a foreign substance. You have naturally produced testosterone all of your life, now you're producing less, so you're supplementing with testosterone to get your levels back to normal, or slightly higher depending on what you're looking for.
It was a shot of 100 mg of test cyp and within 2 weeks my benchpress had gone from 275x4-5 to 300x6. DB curls went way up too etc etc.. Just crazy the difference in how I felt, so much stronger/younger like I had bloomed or something. It was awesome. I gained like 8-9 pounds also but alot had to be water. Not sure. I only went there the 1 time and never did it again and that was a year ago. I must say, the effects lasted about a month or 6 weeks then I returned to where I was, well, I think I kept a little bit.
I don't want to rain on your parade but that 100mg shot didn't make a difference. If you go to the Dr. and are prescribed testosterone, yes, it will be the best testosterone you can get but it doesn't work the way you described above. To begin, it can take several wks for it to build up in your system before you start seeing any real results.
Something else to keep in mind is the psychological effect. For the first time in your life you had "Steroids" injected into your body, not knowing a lot about steroids, and that's fine, you created a placebo effect. You undoubtedly felt better because of the idea of using steroids, thereby causing you to push harder, having a rush of adrenaline, etc.
When you throw weights around that used to be a struggle, your mind plays tricks on you. Anyway, returning to normal was not fun. Now I am considering getting back into it but unsure if I should. Is that amount enough to give gyno? That would be terrifying and the risk of that alone is enough to make me pass.
Gyno can happen to anyone, there's no way to predict it but it is unlikely to happen on a hormone replacement dose and even if it does, it does not happen over night. There are measures to protect from gyno, there are things you can do if you start to show symptoms early on and if you do, simply talk to your Dr. about it and they will help you out.
Also, I wouldn't be able to do it more than once a month $wise and the blood test and getting the dang prostate thing done, I think prostate is once a year but the blood is every month, no fun.
Long estered testosterone's such as cypionate or enanthate need to be injected at a minimum every 7-10 days to reap any real benefit. Once a month injections is only going to wreak havoc on your testosterone levels, you will be high and low and all over the place and that's just no good.
I have a feeling I will blow up like a baloon if I did this for 6 months and end up looking like an amateur bodybuilder which could be cool if i kept the fat down. The problem to me is the gyno risk and also knowing at somepoint, it has to stop. Going off that stuff could never be fun especially after being on it a while. I know it will transform my physique and I can get huge and feel great. Is 100 units once a month alot? I wish I could find another Dr and get the gel instead (it was a deeeep shot, smarted pretty good) If levels are low enough to have it be beneficial, may consider going back. Just curious general opinions. Thx
No, 100mg is not a lot a lot, in fact it is extraordinarily low. You should be able to find a good clinic that will prescribe 200mg per shot every 7-10 days.
No, you will not blow up like you're saying...it simply doesn't work that way. To begin, your dose, even if you were to run 200mg every 7-10, that is still a very low dose. Secondly, steroids, like everything else in bodybuilding is very diet oriented. If you want to blow up you'll have to eat like you want to blow up...taking testosterone alone will not cause this to happen. There are probably a thousand threads on here that can explain this for you...I know I've written probably a hundred of them.
Gel, it's OK if you're simply looking to get your levels up a little, get back some of your libido if you've lost it but that's about it. Stick with injections. One, they shouldn't hurt, if the person who injected it in you was rough then sure, it might have left a sore spot. If the injection is done properly and it still hurts, try a different area on the body, if your Dr. says there is only one place they can inject, find another Dr. because he's lying to you. Last off, if it still hurts, tell your Dr. and ask him to prescribe you a testosterone with a different ester in it, perhaps you might be more sensitive to some.
Hope this helps.
