Background & some q's - advice appreciated!

[GreenRhino]

Hi guys, Great to be on here. '1st post', but far from a noob My teen heroes were Haney, Strydom, DeMay etc. I used to be on this board a long time ago-met Big Ron personally back in 2005 etc. I'm now 39.

I'll try & remain brief as possible. 18 months ago, wife diagnosed with uncommon, super-aggressive cancer, which quickly developed into late stage. Her naturally low immune system combined with a brutal lengthy regimen of Chemo & Radiation sent her to hell: 76 hospital/ER stays & 4 surgeries, Concurrent to this, a lot of other horrendous life experiences took place, we were robbed, multiple serious insurance claims, defrauded, 3 businesses shut down, her loss of job & career, unable to receive any medical leave/sick pay, billed over $500K for Cancer treatment... & other horrid stuff. For two pretty laid back ppl, it felt like the universe was seriously aligned against us.

As sole caregiver, and wage earner, my stress levels shot to another dimension. (gee, you think?) I got really sick myself. Cortisol levels went haywire & I dealt with 2 bouts of Pneumonia, stomach ulcers, daily nausea, getting flu 3-4 times a month, severe tendonitis, inability to heal etc while dealing with all the above. A few months ago after my wife completed Cancer treatments, we could start focusing on my health.

Went to Dr, did labs. Came back pretty bad. Cortisol levels were 350% higher than her typical patients. Immune system destroyed. She said I had the immune system of an advancing HIV patient. Was informed my T-levels should have been around 350-400, mine was at 85. for someone that carried decent size & strength, I was a shell, out of shape, overweight, stressed & depressed. She prescribed me 200mg IM every two weeks of Test-E in late 2013, that acted as the primary motivator to get back into respectable former self. Test-E is working, but I know I'm still far lower than where I should be.

I was a beta tester for ALRI PH & PCT back in the day, so, I'm not a noob. but never did any real AAS cycles, stacks etc. I'm not sure which way to tread now in terms of an effective strategy that would boost my low T, & add to my current regimen to gain more appealing size, strength & endurance beyond where I was pre-Cancer days. My concern is my Dr is 'conservative' so I want to find a balance with a more potent AAS regimen than she is prepared to offer, yet keeping it 'sensible'. Perhaps you may recommend I talk with her, perhaps you may suggest I bypass that option? I know I can't outright ask some of the questions I want to ask-as per board rules etc, & I DO know how to use the search function However, if anyone has any insights, old threads, forum posts etc you think could be beneficial for me to check. i'd not a 'leech' type forum person, so I would genuinely appreciate any discussion here! -Cheers!

[BodyMachine]

You are on the road to recovery. It sounds like you are still a bit out of shape. Brother focus on eating healthy, working out, and maintaining a balanced lifestyle. Once u get in the best shape of ur life naturally, then consider AAS. The 200mg Test-E should be sufficient to keep ur values where they need to be, maybe if anything, ask for a once a week dose of 150

[GreenRhino]

Thanks for the reply, agreed, definite room for improvement naturally. As you'd imagine, after such a health ordeal, we're eating pretty clean-organics, super greens, the usual suspects in terms of nutrition the typical committed lifter has on hand etc. I was going to get ISSA certified 6 years ago, so again, not a noob by any stretch. I'm questioning how effective 200mg of Test-E once every two weeks is in a low T individual, when, it appears common place for a non low-T individual who lifts and wants to add size would use 250mg a week? When you mention once a week 150, do you mind expanding upon that? Cheers.

[BodyMachine]

It's common practice to issue 250mg every two weeks for trt. I personally do not agree with it because that's too long between shots and your hormone levels aren't as stable. It would be much better to receive an injection weekly and 150 because I'd give a bit more test to raise ur levels further. Ask your doc for blood work the day before ur current inject cycle to see where u are at. It's the only real way to know how ur body metabolizes the test-e and can adjust accordingly. Regardless I still think a weekly inject is needed.

[GreenRhino]

That's interesting because after doing this for a while, I felt really deflated, like I was crashing around the 11th or 12th day each time. I've since read that it lasts around 10.5 days, so what you shared really does make a lot of sense, thanks, appreciate that. Next time I use it I'll try 150 a week and see how that works out.

[Big Chiro Flex]

All good advice here. Stick with your TRT and focus on diet, and getting healthy!

Supps: Probiotics, a good multi, extra vitamin D3, a good superfood powder. You don't need "bodybuilding supps" right now. You don't even need extra gear really, (although 200mgs a week never hurt anybody). Your focus should be getting healthy and adjusting your lifestyle to fit that.

[GreenRhino]

Thanks Flex, late last year I underwent a full detox & cleansing program that included Probiotics (Dr Natura) that I felt was beneficial. Flushing junk out of my system still with a regular green tea multiple times a week. I appreciate the common theme I'm hearing here, build a good foundation, get back to feeling great, THEN add to a solid foundation.

One question I had. when my Dr prescribed me T she said it would help reduce weight, I've dropped a clothing size in the last 6 weeks, which I'd think was more to do with diet & exercise, yet I was always under the impression that androgen steroids added bloat? Can anyone shed any light on this? Cheers.

[BodyMachine]

In significant doses they add water because test converts to estrogen. The amount one takes during trt is small and the estrogen conversion is thus small (See E2 in blood work), hence nothing to worry about. As a whole, AAS does rev ur body's metabolism, inducing muscle growth thereby causing one to lose weight assuming they work out and eat decent

[galeniko]

man, hrt will not fix any of these issues.

look, injecting steroids is not a good start for a healthy life goal, however it feels good.

i think you want to feel good, if were honest.

health and steroids dont go sooo well together, make no self delusions about that.

when ppl say trt-hrt, its just meant as descriptions to use gear and downplay the risk"its just trt".

they come with sides, potential sides, and long term effects which can be no good.

if you only want to try 1 cycle, simpky forget it, do not do that.

if you want to stick to it, no problemo, keep it a ssafe as possible.

[GreenRhino]

Thanks Galineko, I appreciate your thoughts. I would like to think I'm a little more aware of steroids than perhaps how I'm coming across.... I read Duchaine's work at least 15 years ago to doing some strong PH cycles & PCT years ago. I'm very aware of the SE's involved with AAS: gynecomastia, hair loss, acne etc etc. By nature, I'm a solid researcher, & fully aware of why I'm on this forum.

In a nutshell, I've trained for 25 years, yet never experienced the end results Like I aspired to. When the whole TRT situation came along it was like crossing a chasm-while I could have done oral's... but I don't want to place undue risk on my liver etc, Tom Prince was a good wake up call in that regard for me. The natural step instead of orals was IM. Now that I'm comfortable in self administering & I'm observing a degree of benefit, I am 100% committed to taking my body up to a level, that has never manifested in the last 25 years.... I'm sensible by nature, no desire to get into GH or Insulin etc. With all the advice here, I concur, I still estimate I have 3 months of good solid training & diet to get back to where I should be. Thanks for your input!