Great results with TRT

[Cornwellsb]

Hello all. Long story short I had some strange side effects to finasteride starting about 8 or 9 years ago in my early 30s. It was never to the extreme of some of the poor souls here but I had constant ED, constant insomnia, constant fatigue, constant brain fog and tiredness and really just felt strange. I could counter most of these on drugs like adderrall, ambien, Wellbutrin, etc but my life was still not right. About 4 years ago I began a path of visiting Dr after Dr to do hundreds of tests. Probably 20 doctors … none believed finasteride would cause this. I’ve had sleep studies, seen 3 endocrinologists, alergy doctors, brain doctors, etc. While most of my levels were ok, my estrogen was borderline low, and testosterone was 350 which is concidered normal (but only 50 points from being clinically low). The allergist recommended I see a chronic fatigue specialist in New York ( I love in Manhattan) . I tried lots of crazy things with her including dangerous antivirals. Oddly enough she did improve me a little but not enough. The last straw 2 years ago was she ran a hormonal test again and my T was 330 and free T was a little low. I did a little bio hacking and ordered a drug called proviron online. (Not available in the states) but interestingly it increases not only your free T but DHT. I felt amazing on this. I did some further reading and found out that if your testosterone is under something like 425 you can easily get put in one of the 20 or 30 mail order testosterone clinics online that send you a kit, you test and then mail you both injecrable HCG and testosterone bi monthly. So I’ll keep this short, fast forward a little over a year I feel mostly (90%) cured. Testosterone is not for everyone and if you try it, do you own research and use injectable. I used crislers methods and inject under fat 3x a week. My energy level is through the rough and my body looks amazing after a year. My sleep is amazing and my brain feels like it is on super drugs. I’ve gotten 2 promotions since doing this and everyone mentions how confident I seem. My ed is mostly gone but I use cialis just to be sure I’m ready.

FYI I came back across this thread as I just finished a hair transplant in Colombia. I’m sitting in my bed contemplating using fin again but I took one and couldn’t sleep all night. I started googling again and came back across this side and thought I’d share my story. Not going to start on fin again!

[Lostinaustin]

Appreciate you coming back to share. May I ask if you also suffered from reduced genital sensitivity and weakened orgasms?

[Cornwellsb]

well I was fat. I hit about 210lbs but a lot of that was my fault (eating bad) and lack of desire to workout. I live in nyc and most people are fit there so my journey started 4 -5 years ago to just get my body and mind back!

[Cornwellsb]

I’ll post images …

Before

[Cornwellsb]

After the trt in about 8 months

[Cornwellsb]

Genital sensitivity yes. I told my doctor this and he said my cholesterol was too high and put me on statins. My orgasms were always ok and were great but I needed viagra at 32. Statins did not help … I’m still in them but testosterone changed me overnight. Actually overnight is the wrong word, I should stress testosterone takes WEEKS to work if not up to 6. It’s alao an up and down adventure finding what your perfect dose is. Too much and you have high estrogen which makes you feel bad and tired. You can take an estrogen inhibitor but if you drop your estrogen too low it’s even worse. (Exhaustion and no sex drive for weeks)

So if you ever think about going down the testosterone path keep in mind your in for a 6 month ride of blood tests and dosage changes to get “dialed in” as they call it. I choose a low dose every 3rd day and I inject into my leg fat … I only have estrogen issues if I’m on a long vacation for 2 weeks and drink way too much. If I feel like I have an estrogen issue I take a very tiny micro dose of abastozol.

These places that sell you legal testosterone are all cookie cutter places. They want you to inject 200mg a week and take the estrogen inhibitor. I prefer to just make myself feel good and take a dose where you do not need the estrogen blocker (AI).

We have all become experts on trying to fix our finasteride issues … if you go down the TRT path you need to spend hours reading online. There are a million articles.

FYI I also believe the HCG is helping a lot . I think there is talk that finasteride sort of ruins the flow of other hormones. My latest endocrinologist wanted to have me try just HCG 3x a week but I’m not breaking what I’ve fixed so far. (Google HCG … it works interestingly in both women and men)

[Cornwellsb]

Where do you live? I have the exact same problem with alcohol. I’m super sensitive to an AI and even 1/36 of a pill will knock me down. Doctor said he has only seen this twice. (I wonder if it’s related to Fin. Anyway if you are outside of USA you can get Proviron. I just order it from a legit site. I take 1 a day on vacations or party days. Not good if you have MPB but read how it works. Very safe on liver and mixes with alcohol fine. Read on it. Controls estrogen and increases Free T. Great for those days you want to party

[Baz44uk]

Hi mate
I would like to shake your hand for coming back to this forum to share your experience not many guys come back when they find success for themselves.
Right now your post is a ray of light this forum needs to show people blood tests are highly valuable and professional medical assistance is the way forward.
The negative attitude towards doctors is completely understandable but doesn’t mean we have to rule medical help out of the equation.
This is the 3rd positive story of TRT within 48 hours and for myself currently heading in this direction with professional guidance reading posts like this is a dream come true.
Thankyou for taking the time to come back here and breed some highly overdue inspiration.
You have made my day I cant thankyou enough.

[Baz44uk]

Please keep the information coming
It’s great to see some sense being talked here and amazing to see the results you have had the photos are a great bonus in showing us the true reality of the amazing degree of success you have had.

I have to go to bed now its early ours of the morning here I have a few questions of my own but they wilk have to wait until tomorrow it would be great if you could reply…

Thankyou for your inspiration

[Cornwellsb]

No problem baz. I saw your other post and replied. One issue I had is while my levels were low it was hard to get most doctors to see this as a problem. Luckily it’s easier to bypass regulations in the US and I pay out of pocket $175 a month for my supplies. I luckily also found some good doctors who believed me (dr Susan Levine in Manhattan is a chronic fatigue specialist but worked to help me figure this out) she ran tests that are not normally run. I found out a lot of interesting things like a high level of Epstein Barr virus and low estrogen and normal T but low free T (she did super sensitive tests)

I was tempted to start Fin again today but decided against it again after reading all this … I’m literally laying in a bed in bogota Colombia at the W hotel recovering from a hair transplant 5 hours ago (super easy btw).

[smphead]

I’m also thinking about TRT, but no doc over here will help my T is still above 300. It scares me to do it on my own. Also i had terrible acne in my teens and likely i will have that again while on T.

In 2016 i spoke with former member TowM8er. He send me this e-mail in 2016
"

Glad to be of help if I can.

First of all, you won’t be able to properly treat the hormone imbalance if you don’t have lab results. This is KEY!!!

I was lucky to have Dr. Goldstein, the foremost expert in the world on sex medicine. I began seeing him in 2012 and have lab results from nine different time periods. It was not possible to tell if treatment ideas were working without lab results.
If you don’t know what to get tested for I would be glad to send you the list.
Keep in mind that everyone has different genetics and not everyone responds to the same treatment methods. Age is also a factor, I’m 50 now. I had suffered many side effects for years and saw 11 different doctors before I even knew it was PFS. I discovered PFS was the cause in 2012 and went to Goldstein right away.

At the time Goldstein thought that bringing up testosterone would subsequently raise DHT, My first lab results showed testosterone at 182. That is the equivalent of a man 125 years old based on the Testosterone chart by age.

So… Over the initial year, my T was jacked up to 1800, three times the norm. And high T comes with its own side effects, irritable, angry, aggressive, anxiety, severe depression. My ex wife had enough.

So I switched gears and began working out and tried the CDNuts natural plan and stopped TRT for 6 months. The results showed my hormones dropped back down to less than optimal levels.
However, many components of CDNuts protocol were helpful with anxiety and depression.

Next, I discovered that LOW DOSE TRT resulted in a much better response. And added Andractim(DHT) recommended by Goldstein, because 5ar was not converting T to DHT. The RATIO OF T TO DHT IS CRUCIAL.
You should begin with lab tests, find a doc familiar with PFS, or at least an endocrinologist who is open to learning about PFS. The lab results should be your GUIDE to recovery. I have NINE sets over the span of 4 years.

[Sibelio]

TRT scares me for so many reasons. First, am I going to lose all my hair, the little I have remaining? Do I have to be on it for life and what will happen if I have to stop for any reason? How am I going to afford it? Will I be even able to get it if I go back to my home country? How am I going to travel with a stack of syringes? Will it give me cancer? Etc, etc…

[Cornwellsb]

Well sibelio. I’m not sure where to start. If your on this site then I’m assuming your struggling with some sort of problem. For me I wanted my life and manhood back and Trt gave me that. I would inject this 5x a day if I had to to feel this way. (You really only have to inject once a week)

Does it cause cancer? There is no study showing that it does. If high testosterone did cause cancer we would have an explosion of 18yo boys with prostate cancer. If it does cause cancer in me in 30 years … we’ll im happy i chose the trt instead of spending my life on these websites looking for a magic pill.

Can you bring it back to your home country? I don’t know but if you are under 430 you can get a US doctor to prescribe testosterone in mail order … there are many. Once you are on testosterone then I’m sure you can find a doctor to treat you. (If you stop taking testosterone your natural T will show under 100 so you would be able to get it in your country any way) in other words if you take t and stop you can easily find a dr who would prescribe after.

Can you start and stop? Yes you just need to also take HCG which I think does wonders for anyone on PFS. This keeps your balls producing hormones and active.

I find it amazing some people are so scared of trying this if it fixes your problems and would rather waist their lives away trying to find some supplement or pill that might fix it. It’s wortj a shot trying. There are famous doctors that thane this (dr crisler) … if I’m going to die in 10 years I’m going out fit and happy and having sex every day (which I do).

Will it accelerate hair loss. No unless you use bodybuilding amounts but who knows … here is me now in my bed in bogota after my hair transplant yesterday https://share.icloud.com/photos/0m9QK8tplQf-xhfvP8odQAQQA

[Sibelio]

@Cornwellsb, can I ask how bad was your PFS before you started TRT? For example, if you have to put a number to gauge the strength of your libido, erections, orgasms? For me libido and orgasms used to be around 15-20% of normal in the first 1.5 years of PFS. In the past half a year they are probably around 5%.

So you didn’t notice an acceleration of hair loss after you started TRT? You mention bodybuilding amounts… Are those much higher than what you are aiming for? I thought PFS folks need to achieve a much higher levels of T than normal in order to feel benefits.

What exactly is your current regimen/dosing?

Is it possible to achieve some of the effects of TRT by using pro-hormones instead of testosterone, in order to preserve natural production of testosterone? I don’t know much about this but I guess something like cdnuts herbs or something like DHEA, etc?

[Cornwellsb]

They say they gel is more natural than the shots as shots push you into a high peak and trough situation. I just inject more regularly with less dosage to mimic the natural pattern. (I feel better on shots) Keep in mind thst for some people the gel does not work due to absorption rates and such but I think for 90% it’s good. I would still investigate HCG … do some googling on “ trt and HCG” … some people love it and others hate it but for those with PFS I think it’s an interesting addition.

[Cornwellsb]

My PFS was not debilitating but I had what I would call chronic fatigue syndrome. I took fin for 7-8 years and just went down hill. I had worse and worse vision issues which are gone now. I felt like my mind was full of jelly. When I talked strange words would come out of my mouth. I would zone out and stare at things for long periods of time. Always grumpy. I had horrible sleep. Energy level was crap since age 32. I found propeciahelp after trying to figure out what was happening to me.

As for My erections, they were horrible and I could not stay hard during sex but viagra worked for me. Orgasms were fine when I had them … libido was also ok but I think I had an over active libito when young. Looking back at historical tests my T was 450 or so but steadily dropped until under 400 about 3 years ago. My estrogen was always strangely a little low in all my tests

I tried 50+ supplements … amazon loves me. Actually dhea works a little but it’s also going to mess with your hair.

I’ve never heard you need higher doses of testosterone to get better results for PFS but I’m no expert and there may be stories here. Most sites that prescribe testosterone in the US like defy medical are cookie cutter and will try putting you on 200mg a week with an AI to block estrogen. I refused that. I started at 200mg a week and after 4 weeks checked blood levels and testosterone was through the roof 1900 or something. I dialed back to i think right now roughly 130mg a week … I keep my blood test level at 800.

I did not notice haír loss but I’m slowly losing it anyway … just fixed that in Colombia. I’m 44 and not horribly bald so I’m a good Candidate. I had a bald spot I covered with spray and a forehead getting thin.

For my transplant I had the option of shaving or not shaving and on the day I picked a total shave of my head as you get better results. I have a few “lovers” and they obviously know about this transplant. Both want me to keep my head shaved now. Haha

Sibelo what is your current t level and age? What’s your hair loss level at? Are you a candidate for trt?

If you try testosterone you are not going to suddenly see a huge amount of hair fall out. There are other things you can try as I mentioned but they are all mostly injectable (HCG) … you can try oral clomid. It works but it made me feel weird.

[Sibelio]

I actually don’t know my current T levels. I suppose I need to get tested. My hair loss is progressing very fast. I don’t know the stages but my scalp is now visible through the hair all over the front, top and back of my head, and the hairs are very thin and shedding like crazy all over my face. Something happened 3 months ago which has both killed my libido and hair at the same time (and increased acne). The only change I did was started eating a lot of eggs because I moved to a place that does not allow meat in the house. So I guess it is possible that I have higher cholesterol which may translate into higher T and correspondingly DHT. Many people with PFS feel better with low DHT under conditions mimicking finasteride use. If that’s what’s happening I may not benefit from TRT. I guess I have to cut the eggs and see if there is an improvement in symptoms.

[Cornwellsb]

Do you mind posting your age? I think the number one rule is that you should get a blood test before you waist your time on this site. Something in your blood could be causing your hair loss. Make sure you get both a sensitive T and E tests and do not take no for an answer. Wasting more cholesterol will bump your T up but not enough to translate into massive hair loss. I took basically synthetic dht (provirone) which I noticed nothing. Are you under stress? It could be that you are just at a stage where your hair is destined to fall. I had a friend who at 30 just suddenly lost His hair in the space of a year.

[Baz44uk]

Thanks for replying to my posts mate
Really appreciate your time information and positive attitude towards blood tests and seeking help from doctors.
I don’t imagine you went to these doctors crying out PFS at the top of voice could I ask what was your approach and did you mention finasteride ? If yes could you please let us know how this strategy worked out for you.

Thanks again for coming back to this forum its a valuable asset to people here to actually be able to speak to someone that has been in these shoes and overcome all difficulties / symptoms.
I’m sure alot of guys have tried testosterone like myself but in a very underhand way with no blood tests and black market drugs.
It’s easy to shoot down every possible treatment if the treatment hasn’t been administered Inna controlled way under medical supervision.

Thankyou again for coming back to the forum giving us your time answering questions.
I will pm you to grab your email address if you don’t mind mate.

[Cornwellsb]

Most don’t recognize PFS … I did find 2 that will… I have an endo in nyc that recognizes it but no Expert … also a cfs expert in nyc.