NP put me on 200mg of test per week — is that normal?

Gr33dyOctopus

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Went with Talon Wellness and she pushed hard to upsell me on things I already own. I was interested in pharmaceutical grade test but not at a ridiculous price. i picked up 5 2500mg bottles from a reasonably trustworthy ( non Chinese) vendor, with a current janoshik coa that matched the bottle and cap exactly, for 165 all in including shipping.

when i looked online at what talon charges, it came out around 160 for a 2000mg bottle? Thats a serious gap in price, is pharmaceutical grade really that much better?!?!
 
Same story.

Also, 200 is probably more than you need. 150 puts me at 1250-1300 total. And estradiol sitting in the 60’s. Absolutely get bloodwork done at the 6-8 week point.
 
no sensible NP would do that for plain TRT, unless you told her you are already running gear (which it sounds like you did).

Oh well. Arimidex it is — just pin that then
 
lastresort said:

no sensible NP would do that for plain TRT, unless you told her you are already running gear (which it sounds like you did).

Oh well. Arimidex it is — just pin that then
every TRT mill hands out that kind of dose. and yeah, for genuine TRT that is far too high for the average guy.
 
Gr33dyOctopus said:

Went with Talon Wellness and she pushed hard to upsell me on things I already own. I was interested in pharmaceutical grade test but not at a ridiculous price. i picked up 5 2500mg bottles from a reasonably trustworthy ( non Chinese) vendor, with a current janoshik coa that matched the bottle and cap exactly, for 165 all in including shipping.

when i looked online at what talon charges, it came out around 160 for a 2000mg bottle? Thats a serious gap in price, is pharmaceutical grade really that much better?!?!
My pharma grade runs $30 per 1000mg. Cheaper options exist, but I like MCT and that pushed the cost up. Also, that doctor just handed you a beginner blast rather than TRT. Welcome to the club!
 
I began with 100mg pinned twice weekly and my levels blew past into the 1100 range. Since then I have dialled it back and sit around 843, taking 75mg Monday and 87.5 on Thursday.

It took a fair bit of tinkering to land on that.

The bigger dose brought no symptom relief at all, and it pushed my hematocrit past 50%.

We are all different, I get that, but unless the goal is to go supraphysiological I would begin lower. In my case I got lucky — no aromatization, and estradiol stayed mid range.
 
cheers guys! yeah what I read said the same, that 200 is way too high as a starting point. Jesus H Christ, I reckon I will run it at 150 then. I had actually begun before the script came through and mood and energy have both been great. I know that is meant to be placebo since I should not feel anything yet, but free test came back around 30, so I am fairly sure I am feeling it.

Plan is to stay at 150, get more bloodwork done, and schedule another Talon wellness visit around the 8 week mark. Reckon that sounds about right to you fellas?
 
oh shit. I have been on my best behaviour, but have I screwed up with Zippity again? What is going on with this? I have not even said a bad word about any of the grifting vendors in ages?
 
Gr33dyOctopus said:

oh shit. I have been on my best behaviour, but have I screwed up with Zippity again? What is going on with this? I have not even said a bad word about any of the grifting vendors in ages?
Possibly the thread simply belonged in a different section — he tends to want these in AAS.

Probably no need for the woodshed treatment.
 
I am on 225mg test cyp, prescribed TRT. My doc put me on 200mg to start and raised it because I lift seriously and he is fine with me sitting at the top of the normal range provided my other markers hold up. Fairly big guy, and I have been using gear for years.

To the op, pharma grade gear is clearly the safer bet. I ended up on TRT after a source I had used for 5 years suddenly started shipping bunk. I understand the price gap though — if the test is legit you will be alright.
 
For 5 years I have been paying about $250 per 10 weeks, bouncing between Viking and TRT Nation, and I finally decided to just go UGL full time. Having a prescription for travel always appealed, but I have not been anywhere for longer than a week at a stretch, and it is not as if I cannot just put 1ml in my butt cheek at once when I need to.

Every consult, I can tell you, is a very brief run through of blood markers, a nudge to donate blood so hematocrit stays in check, then a pitch for addons. They deliberately time your labs at trough so the test numbers do not come back sky high, which helps them justify the 200mg a week.

5 years of reading my own labs has taught me which markers actually matter, so ordering my own bloodwork is not an issue. On top of that, EoD injections and grey sourced HCG suit me better, and as my body fat has come down the need for an AI has dropped off sharply.

If you can keep yourself in check and rarely need a prescription along for travel, there is not a lot of reason to stay with the mills.
 
Gr33dyOctopus said:

cheers guys! yeah what I read said the same, that 200 is way too high as a starting point. Jesus H Christ, I reckon I will run it at 150 then. I had actually begun before the script came through and mood and energy have both been great. I know that is meant to be placebo since I should not feel anything yet, but free test came back around 30, so I am fairly sure I am feeling it.

Plan is to stay at 150, get more bloodwork done, and schedule another Talon wellness visit around the 8 week mark. Reckon that sounds about right to you fellas?
I would begin at 100 and get your E2 checked before increasing anything. Estrogen sides can get ugly. With that one, safer is better. EOD has always been my recommendation as well. My own estrogen spiked on a once weekly schedule and settled back into range once I moved to EOD.

Pharma is not automatically better. Solid UGL works fine, though batches can vary and oil quality can mean more PIP. When insurance covers it, go pharma; when it does not, tested UGL will do fine.
 
Pete369 said:

For 5 years I have been paying about $250 per 10 weeks, bouncing between Viking and TRT Nation, and I finally decided to just go UGL full time. Having a prescription for travel always appealed, but I have not been anywhere for longer than a week at a stretch, and it is not as if I cannot just put 1ml in my butt cheek at once when I need to.

Every consult, I can tell you, is a very brief run through of blood markers, a nudge to donate blood so hematocrit stays in check, then a pitch for addons. They deliberately time your labs at trough so the test numbers do not come back sky high, which helps them justify the 200mg a week.

5 years of reading my own labs has taught me which markers actually matter, so ordering my own bloodwork is not an issue. On top of that, EoD injections and grey sourced HCG suit me better, and as my body fat has come down the need for an AI has dropped off sharply.

If you can keep yourself in check and rarely need a prescription along for travel, there is not a lot of reason to stay with the mills.
Blood donation is outdated thinking and ought to be a last resort. You will probably wreck your ferritin just to get a brief drop in hematocrit. Managing it through dose and hydration, plus ancillaries such as fish oil and possibly low dose aspirin where appropriate, is the better route.
 
5byfive said:

Pete369 said:

For 5 years I have been paying about $250 per 10 weeks, bouncing between Viking and TRT Nation, and I finally decided to just go UGL full time. Having a prescription for travel always appealed, but I have not been anywhere for longer than a week at a stretch, and it is not as if I cannot just put 1ml in my butt cheek at once when I need to.

Every consult, I can tell you, is a very brief run through of blood markers, a nudge to donate blood so hematocrit stays in check, then a pitch for addons. They deliberately time your labs at trough so the test numbers do not come back sky high, which helps them justify the 200mg a week.

5 years of reading my own labs has taught me which markers actually matter, so ordering my own bloodwork is not an issue. On top of that, EoD injections and grey sourced HCG suit me better, and as my body fat has come down the need for an AI has dropped off sharply.

If you can keep yourself in check and rarely need a prescription along for travel, there is not a lot of reason to stay with the mills.
Blood donation is outdated thinking and ought to be a last resort. You will probably wreck your ferritin just to get a brief drop in hematocrit. Managing it through dose and hydration, plus ancillaries such as fish oil and possibly low dose aspirin where appropriate, is the better route.
Donating a couple of times a year does not bother me. No negative effects that I can feel, and there is something satisfying about tracking my donation to a hospital and being told through the app that I helped save someone.

The main annoyance is the Red Cross pestering me constantly to give more often, and yeah, stick to their schedule and your ferritin will absolutely take a hit.
 
DO NOT — and I will say it again — DO NOT begin at 200mg weekly.

These clowns running the TRT mills genuinely do not care whether you are well.

The right approach is to begin low, find out whether anything shows up in the way of side effects, and only then go higher.

This is what 125mg weekly does for me

f7382985550e9367d638639f990b7f4a9f5b8aba7e48eee624a8462e23115075.webp


I respond strongly to test, and piling on more is NOT going to add much size or strength, because the number of androgen receptors you have is the limiting factor.

Going higher only buys you worse sides — elevated e2, worse lipids, higher blood pressure.

When you began the GLPs you did not jump straight to 10mg , you went low and titrated up. TRT works the same way.
 
sfkid said:

DO NOT — and I will say it again — DO NOT begin at 200mg weekly.

These clowns running the TRT mills genuinely do not care whether you are well.

The right approach is to begin low, find out whether anything shows up in the way of side effects, and only then go higher.

This is what 125mg weekly does for me

View attachment 232

I respond strongly to test, and piling on more is NOT going to add much size or strength, because the number of androgen receptors you have is the limiting factor.

Going higher only buys you worse sides — elevated e2, worse lipids, higher blood pressure.

When you began the GLPs you did not jump straight to 10mg , you went low and titrated up. TRT works the same way.
For TRT you are right, but piling on extra test will keep adding size and strength well past 200mg. Your androgen receptors can soak up grams of gear each week — not that this is healthy or wise, and yes, side effects shift with dose — but you will 100% put on far more muscle and size at 500mg test versus 200mg. That part is well documented.
 
Redz said:

sfkid said:

DO NOT — and I will say it again — DO NOT begin at 200mg weekly.

These clowns running the TRT mills genuinely do not care whether you are well.

The right approach is to begin low, find out whether anything shows up in the way of side effects, and only then go higher.

This is what 125mg weekly does for me

View attachment 232

I respond strongly to test, and piling on more is NOT going to add much size or strength, because the number of androgen receptors you have is the limiting factor.

Going higher only buys you worse sides — elevated e2, worse lipids, higher blood pressure.

When you began the GLPs you did not jump straight to 10mg , you went low and titrated up. TRT works the same way.
For TRT you are right, but piling on extra test will keep adding size and strength well past 200mg. Your androgen receptors can soak up grams of gear each week — not that this is healthy or wise, and yes, side effects shift with dose — but you will 100% put on far more muscle and size at 500mg test versus 200mg. That part is well documented.
This is very much individual, and full of nuance. It is not settled science.

Take one example , you could inject grams of test and if free test sits low, nothing happens. shbg behaves the same way.

The variables here are endless.
 
sfkid said:

DO NOT — and I will say it again — DO NOT begin at 200mg weekly.

These clowns running the TRT mills genuinely do not care whether you are well.

The right approach is to begin low, find out whether anything shows up in the way of side effects, and only then go higher.

This is what 125mg weekly does for me

View attachment 232

I respond strongly to test, and piling on more is NOT going to add much size or strength, because the number of androgen receptors you have is the limiting factor.

Going higher only buys you worse sides — elevated e2, worse lipids, higher blood pressure.

When you began the GLPs you did not jump straight to 10mg , you went low and titrated up. TRT works the same way.
how is it possible that what counts as normal differs that much?

cee39c78706cb6fbc377136be8574ff72e002b226515d5a1afbe050b613f33ea.webp
 
Skidude said:

Gr33dyOctopus said:

oh shit. I have been on my best behaviour, but have I screwed up with Zippity again? What is going on with this? I have not even said a bad word about any of the grifting vendors in ages?
Possibly the thread simply belonged in a different section — he tends to want these in AAS.

Probably no need for the woodshed treatment.
ahhhh ty, that might be it... I figured this was the right spot to post it, still new to the hormone therapy world.
 
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