velvetstag5 said:How are you dosing the therapy since you aren't under medical supervision, and how long do you plan to stay on it? Are you checking your levels with lab work, or just going by how you feel? It honestly sounds a little too simple to me. Are there side effects, and have you looked into why American doctors tend to avoid this approach compared to what's done elsewhere in the world?
That's a lot of questions!
And I'll take it for as long as I can. 😁 I monitor certain parameters that might get messed up (like lipids, hematocrit, and other stuff). Generally, you can feel the mental effects when hormones are out of whack (like high estrogen or being extra emotional 😁), but obviously, you can't just rely on vibes. It's not even slightly simple because if you don't know what you're doing (or if you're just following protocols written by the manufacturers of drugs covered by Medicare), you could end up feeling worse than when you started. I spent hours and hours watching videos and reading books. Generally, in the European Union, there isn't much history regarding hormone treatment. The United Kingdom is a bit ahead of the rest, but they aren't in the EU anymore 😁. In the US, it's kind of hit & miss. Since it's Hollywood there (where you think actors bulk up 50 pounds in three months just because they have trainers and chefs 🤣), bodybuilding... well, they've dealt with this and are way ahead of the European Union. Of course, TRT clinics started popping up like mushrooms after the recession, and you can make some serious money there. Just like with opiates, amphetamines, and all that crap, availability is way higher and the criteria are looser. There are way more specialists now because the population is aging and "baby boomers" don't want to walk around without energy or dealing with erectile dysfunction. Why do our doctors avoid it? Because they don't know any other way, and once you start, it’s supposed to be for life. It's much easier to just prescribe an SSRI because the profits are bigger and they make new ones every year. Testosterone was synthesized by a Nazi scientist and it's ultra cheap to produce. Even for bodybuilders using ten times the dose, testosterone is the smallest part of their cost. The problem is when you use high doses, you don't just need the test, you need like 100 other things to fight the side effects, not to mention the other stuff people mix in (like veterinary drugs for muscle building 🤣). Testosterone used to be used for depression before (which, in my experience, actually makes sense).
Anyway, enough about the good stuff. What are the negatives?
When you use an external hormone source, your own production shuts down.
There are fertility drugs, but it's known that people can end up infertile after years of use. So, an ideal candidate should probably handle their family planning first. If you don't want kids, it acts as a contraceptive. 😁 Your red blood cell count rises, so you have to watch your hematocrit and donate blood periodically. Like anything else, if you abuse it, you can have consequences for your cardiovascular system, and who knows what else.
For me, it was an easy choice. Either lose the best years of my life feeling like I'm 80, with zero energy or drive because of medical dogma, or take matters into my own hands. I tried everything naturally, but nothing helped. Now I feel like a teenager again. If I had just bowed my head and let the system swallow me up, I'd probably be on all sorts of psychoactive substances right now.
When you actually have some energy and drive for life, I guess everything else just becomes easier to tackle. I don't even really crave recreational drugs anymore, I've started eating way better, I'm getting out more for some fresh air and sun, and I'm slowly cutting back on the smoking... It's like one thing just kind of pulls the others along, maybe.