TRT as you get older

I just wanted to ask the forum if they have had any experience using TRT as they get older. From my fundemental understanding as you get older your T levels decline with age. It seems only logical that if you can replace this then you would, however, I just wonder about the drawbacks and dangers of this.

Have their been studies of showing how likely the long term side effects are?

And I'm not talking about the typical evangelic user, or doctors making their careers off it. I mean real independent studies. I'd be curious to read them, as I'd be skeptical about artificially tinkering with the endocrine system.

Same as taking steroids Phone Post

From my understanding steroids are not bad. You just need to have strict medical advice when using them and not some guy down the gym. The same with TRT I would imagine.

I'm very interested into people's experience with them that's all. Phone Post

One thing I have concerns about is if you go on them are you on them for life? Does your hormonal system crash if you go off them?

banco - One thing I have concerns about is if you go on them are you on them for life? Does your hormonal system crash if you go off them?

i believe it does...but if you are using them for the right reasons, your system has already crashed so i dont see that as being much of a problem. id be more worried about the other potential side effects from synthetic hormones

OneScoup - Have their been studies of showing how likely the long term side effects are?

And I'm not talking about the typical evangelic user, or doctors making their careers off it. I mean real independent studies. I'd be curious to read them, as I'd be skeptical about artificially tinkering with the endocrine system.

There are studies correlating it with improved blood lipid profiles, I believe reduced mortality rates as well.

<quote>banco - One thing I have concerns about is if you go on them are you on them for life? Does your hormonal system crash if you go off them?</quote><br /> The basic premise of going on TRT and introducing exogenous testosterone, is because your body is producing inadequate levels of testosterone- so this should not be an issue if you go "off," since your body wasn't producing much to begin with. If you crash when you go off, you probably shouldn't have been on in the first place.

Got on it at 40 after doc said T levels were low.

Made me sterile :-0 and we wanted 1-2 more kids.

Took me 6-7 months for my sperm count to go from zero back to normal after I stopped doing it.

My son is 5 months old now :-)

Might go back on it later, might not - didn't see any HUGE benefit from it, and there were quite a few drawbacks. Will post more details if you need them.

^ I'm interested to hear the drawbacks bro.
Please post them Phone Post

Not anything really bad other then the zero sperm count (which in my eyes was HORRIFICALLY FUCKING BAD given that I wanted more kids). I got put on the gel, which I suppose 99% of guys on here will tell you is ineffective in their experience, and they would exhort you to get the injections.

And honestly, that does address the negatives, although the injections have their own issues.

With the gel, it smells. It has a very distinctive odor that fades after an hour or two for the most part, but every now and then I'd run into someone who'd pick up on it and ask what it was - curiously enough, it was always guys, never women, and they all assumed it was some kind of cologne. A couple guys liked it and wanted to know what it was so they could get it. No one seemed bothered by it or found it unpleasant (or at least no one told me if they did).

Also, the gel is transferable for a while, maybe 30-120 minutes or so - meaning you damn well better not give your wife or kid a hug during that time, especially if your shirt is off.

Also, it's sticky - I couldn't put a t-shirt on for 10-15 minutes until it dried, and even then it would stick to me. And God forbid I'd do something that made me sweat, it would re-stick to me after that.

Positives were that it picked up my sex drive a bit, went from 2x a week with the missus to 3x (married 10 years, been together 12, I guess that's about average, LOL).

I also started lifting, following Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" program. I got stronger than I ever had been in my life...but 6 months after I quit using it, I went back to the gym, and a few months after that, I hit the same numbers and then went a bit higher, so I wouldn't say it had any appreciable effect. And honestly, guys that juice are getting a WAY higher T level than I ever had from that gel, I wasn't expecting much from it even after reading the actual journal articles that documented a ~5 pound LBM gain after 6 months.

Didn't effect energy level or fatigue, or any other physical issues.

In the grand scheme of things, simply hitting the weights had a far better effect on me. I don't plan on ever getting on it again - I have pretty solid insurance, and that made the gel $30 a month (it was $240 a month without), but to me that was just thirty bucks pissed down the drain. Supposedly the shots are cheaper, but you also have to go every week or two weeks, and I've heard that it's more up and down (i.e., the last couple days before your next shot are sucky).

Funny note - I had to go see a doc about the fertility thing - my wife and I were trying for kid #3, and had no dice after 6 months of trying (first two happened pretty quickly). I knew TRT could affect fertility a bit, so I asked my doc for a referral. Sure enough, my sperm count was zero while I was on that shit. 3 months later, I had a few weak little swimmers, and 3 months after that I was good to go. I asked the fertility doc why this wasn't used as male birth control - "It picks up your sex drive, gives you some more muscle, lots of guys report feeling better, AND it acts as birth control? What's not to like?" ;-) He chuckled and said all that was true, but it only had the fertility effect on 50-80% of guys, and even at the best case scenario, 20% of dudes were still fertile, making it a pretty crummy form of BC given the rotten odds...

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