01dragonslayer
Administrator
TRT OR 'ROID CYCLE?
Here's a question I recently received:"Would 250 mg. of testosterone a week be considered testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) or a low-dosage cycle? Would you recommend taking something to regulate estrogen with it?"
Well, 250 mg. of testosterone a week doesn't qualify as testosterone replacement unless you used to be lead castrati for the 17th century Vienna Boy's Choir. It's definitely a low-dose steroid cycle, but I can see why you're confused.
More and more TRT docs are starting their patients out at 200 or more milligrams of testosterone a week and automatically starting them on something like the drug Arimidex to regulate estrogen.
This practice isn't exactly criminal, but it is kind of smarmy. Most doctors, when they're prescribing drugs, try to start you out on a low dose of a drug to see how you respond. That allows them to call an audible and increase the dosage if needed.
Not so with most TRT docs. They wink and give you an amount of testosterone that's more suited for TRT in a bull moose or lowland gorilla.
As far as reducing estrogen, it shouldn't even be attempted unless you're manifesting symptoms like itchy or puffy nipples, depression, moodiness, or an anemic sex drive because having the right amount of estrogen is crucial to male health. Too little estrogen, though, and you get funky arteries, brittle bones, achy joints, and run a risk of heart problems.
TRT should start at about 100 mg. a week and be given in bi-weekly (twice a week) subcutaneous injections (not intra-muscular).
Giving the shot subcutaneously (in the lower abdomen with an insulin needle) appears to lead to less aromatization (conversion to estrogen), as does giving a shot twice a week instead of once a week (it lowers the testosterone spike you'd get from a single injection, thus automatically leading to less conversion to estrogen).
Noted TRT specialist Dr. John Crisler, who pioneered these seemingly unorthodox methods, even believes that subcutaneous testosterone injections give you more bang for the buck, even suggesting that 80 mg. of testosterone given sub-Q works as well as 100 mg. given intramuscularly, which is all the more reason to give Arimidex based on symptoms rather than dosage.
If, however, you're paranoid about estrogen, you can eat more cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts) or take resveratrol, a polyphenol that has a whole host of effects, including regulating estrogen.