Stopping TRT. my journey, thoughts.

[horse hearsay]

So a few years ago, I had my tesosterone check (was 31) and it came back at 165 TT. Due to various symptoms, I figured I should supplement. Now I'm at a point that I'm beginning to think I should try and see how my body acts without it. I recall taking the test toward the end of my day, after eating, probably training too hard (retardedly) that week, and not sleeping well.

The variables at the time I was tested have me reconsidering things, given my pre and post experience. When I started taking the meds (test cypionate), it's not like it helped recovery at the gym, or with sleep, or with depression (though it did seem to help some, maybe). Heh, it didn't even feel like it did much. After awhile though I looked back and thought, maybe the changes have been fairly subtle, but its hard to tell if i can attribute it to trt or other changes in my daily/weekly pattern.

What did change things at the gym was.... carbohyrdates (and probiotics + digestive enzymes). Lots of carbohyrates. My God, that added so much power.... and body weight. I guess I'm weird that I feel better when I eat a lot of bread, if not primarily white bread - with some meat. To heck with rice. I feel this contributed to my bench that went from 315 to 405 - during a specialization period - in about 1 year. Over a year and change later, I was close to a 500 lbs bench - just about a month or so ago, then I had a twinge in my peck and had to back off. That's where I'm at currently - recovery/deload. And I have felt better not training as much. More energy and what not. This has me wondering about my training routine and other variables.

It didn't seem like I had issues gaining strength prior to treatment, in part due to muscle memory - in a span of less than 6 months of training i went from 135ish bench to 295x3 if i remember right. This reminds of something I heard about i think earlier this year: I guess some people dont walk around with very much total testosterone and still carry an impressive amount of muscle - there's a video that mentioned a bodybuilder by the last name of Meadows that had a 'lower' score, and still was able to make an impressive frame. Methinks the number range might be a bit more indicative than something really absolute.

It does seem like I have some digestive issues however. Avoiding coffee and staying within a consistent diet of meat, bread, water, milk, eggs seemed to help. Prior (and sometimes when I indulge myself) I'm on the crapper multiple times a day - pretty annoying. I wonder if IBS (assuming that it is this) can play a role in hormone production. I'd figure it does, so my probiotic protocol and digestive enzymes will defenitly be ongoing after i come off.

I am on the nightshift, so I reckon that's probably a significant contributor to my plight. Not leaving my job though. My health isn't that important. I'd supplement before quitting. So i do the best I can with keeping my schedule consistent, even on my days off. I use to cycle back and forth sometimes (between days and nights), but that screwed with me too much.

I feel it's worth a try to see where my natural testosterone is now (after a few months of stopping).

Advice/thoughts would be appreciated.

(my first post on the site btw)

[Jonathon Sullivan]

I would neither initiate nor terminate this therapy except under a physician's supervision. And I've met any number of individuals who've been on T and reported that discontinuation was....unpleasant.

This is not for the board. This is for your doctor.

[ChessGuy]

"My health isn't that important"

Yes it is. Very much so. Please follow Sully's advice and have a checkup done by a doctor.

[Bestafter60]

I just posted my experience coming off TRT on the Elderly forum in a discussion about sleep. Stopping is not pleasant. My level dropped to 35 before I restarted. Reading your post it occured to me that perhaps you were being "underserved". My doc originally took me from about 180ng/ml to 700 and maintained me at that level. How's about yours? Benefits hard to ignore at that level, which is close to the middle of the "average" level. Email me if you want to know more about what I mean by "not pleasant".