Do you take HCG with your TRT?

[buck]

Exactly. Hcg doesn’t keep your HP axis functioning. If it stop functioning your thyroid, gut etc and nervous system would crash. Test over time will suppress these HP from pulsing LH snd FSH. So taking hcg will only keep this up to keep your NUTS full and possibly allow one to conceive. More than that not sure there is a benefit.

LH and HCG are active on the same receptor. So HCG should stimulate the P450 pathway allowing the body to convert cholesterol to other homes in the chain. Which would seem like a good and healthy thing to keep going to me.

 

[JOKER]

LH and HCG are active on the same receptor. So HCG should stimulate the P450 pathway allowing the body to convert cholesterol to other homes in the chain. Which would seem like a good and healthy thing to keep going to me.

True true but, taking pregnenolone or eating in a way to support thyroid hormone will do the same thing.

 

[buck]

True true but, taking pregnenolone or eating in a way to support thyroid hormone will do the same thing.
[/QUOT
I do support the thyroid. But if I can get my body to make it's own pregnenolone I prefer that as it can help lower cholesterol levels in a natural way. And figure the body is better self regulating then me taking even more tests then I already do and trying to manipulate things to wear I think they should be.

 

[JOKER]

I
appreciate your input. There are many ways to skin a cat. It’s great you know what you want and what works for you. Most don’t! Thanks for the convo.

 

[buck]

I

appreciate your input. There are many ways to skin a cat. It’s great you know what you want and what works for you. Most don’t! Thanks for the convo.

And thanks for yours. What was your experience taking pregnenolone or HCG while on TRT?

 

[JOKER]

And thanks for yours. What was your experience taking pregnenolone or HCG while on TRT?

HCG didn’t do well for me. Not sure why but it fucked my up big time. Mentally I was a mess....with big balls lol. I have kids so said F it, don’t need it. So because of TRT, blasting etc. and I understand physiology and what lack of producing your own test can do to cholesterol, I got my preg and she’s tested. My DHeA was fine and test it every 6ish months. My pregnant started to dip a big so I supplement with preg powder. I can tell you that STeN, which has dhea is an awesome TRT AS imo. Cheers

 

[Cmacchia71]

based on your experience, is TRT better with HCG or without?

Makes no discernable difference...

 

[ThrottleTo]

HCG from 3 places. 1. a supp company. 2. from india, 3rd from china. did nothing for schlonger an nads. Workout wise, helped pump up.Thats it.
Started 500 iu a week. Then to 1,000 iu a week.

 

[Deleted member 106824]

Generally, testosterone therapy (HRT) does not result in significant testicular shrinkage, especially the topicals (Androgel, Testim, compounding). However, all testosterone therapy will tend to shut off the feedback cycle that occurs from the hypothalamus/pituitary to the testes to one degree or another. Essentially, the body says, "Oh! I've got plenty of plasma testosterone" and, therefore, does not pump out as much leutinizing hormone. (The feedback is actually based on estradiol interesting enough, but estradiol rises with increasing testosterone due to aromatization.) Of course, this is why hormone replacement therapy will almost always negatively affect male fertility. Again, though, testicular shrinkage should be minimal if dosed correctly. So based on the amount of testosterone you are using for HRT, HCG may not be needed.
GD

I'm on 120mg TRT (and have used 80mg a lot of the time). My balls are maybe half the size they used to be and I have essentially no sperm.

Ive asked this question before and it seems very split amongst the forums. I would think there has to be benefits to keeping a system like the HPTA active has to have benefits. I finally took the plunge this week. Will be getting bloods in 4 weeks to see where im at.

Any update?

I have seen many guys that have cycled for years(not just stayed om in one form or another) that have recovered the ability to produce test, so they wouldn't have secondary hypogonadism. But I also think that the more parts of your body that you can keep functioning on it's own, is healthy. So I like HCG. As for TRT the only real reason to go that route is that you are unable to make your own T. What many guys call "TRT" is not really TRT. And it seems that many "cruise" on 200mg+ and think that Is TRT because they really just don't want to come off. I saw a study over 10 years ago that showed it would often take over 6 months to recover the ability to produce T. And many wont wait that long. So the only way to know if you can recover is to come off and take care of yourself for quite some time.

I just spoke with a well known HRT doc the other day and he told me he didn't see a point in less than 200mg per week and if people say they feel great on less than that it's probably in their head. crazy

My testicles shrink pretty significantly even on TRT dosages (200mg/week) and it makes me completely sterile. My wife and I want to try for our second child so I decreased my T dose to 125mg/week and started running HCG 500iu EOD. My testicles increased probably 20% in size after only 2 weeks. I'm seeing a little water retention but nothing too crazy. If I was single I would run HCG just for cosmetic purposes, to keep my testicles enlarged, but then again the fact that it makes me sterile might be good too lmao. But since I'm married, I'll stop HCG once I get my wife pregnant.

Are you on an AI and still getting the water retention?

 

[gnosis]

Yes I use 500 iu 3x weekly.

I got that dosing plan from this study. Pretty interesting read.

Definitely a noticeable difference with atrophy. I didn't say that I was using it because I wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining things, but my girlfriend mentioned the size difference within the first week.

I may have been atrophied pretty much my entire adult life because my levels were so low.

 

[John99Test]

My testicles shrink pretty significantly even on TRT dosages (200mg/week) and it makes me completely sterile. My wife and I want to try for our second child so I decreased my T dose to 125mg/week and started running HCG 500iu EOD. My testicles increased probably 20% in size after only 2 weeks. I'm seeing a little water retention but nothing too crazy. If I was single I would run HCG just for cosmetic purposes, to keep my testicles enlarged, but then again the fact that it makes me sterile might be good too lmao. But since I'm married, I'll stop HCG once I get my wife pregnant.

Wanted to follow up on this. Any luck on getting the wife pregnant? How are things going? I'm in a similar situation is why I'm asking. I've always wondered if I could lower my T dose to 125mg, run some HCG and knock up my wife.

 

[Gators]

Interesting and informative thread, thank y’all!
Just about to start back on TRT, feel like crap, suspect test is around 200, where it naturally is. The 10mg / wk seems much more effective at keeping the E sides at bay, vs bigger doses less frequently. I’ve used 100mg in the past, 1x a week, sure seems like my nuts shrink and nips hurt pdq with the bigger dose. Will try the “emeric” protocol.

How would I know when I need to use a serm, or hcg, without bloods, often hard for me to do as I travel for work a lot. Would the hurting nips and small balls go away as my body adjusts to the exogenous T? I can talk all day about soil or plant science, but a lot of the science in this thread is over my head.

 

[Deleted member 106824]

Are all of you guys who are using HCG using recombinant HCG or urine derived HCG?

This is what REAL "TRT" is supposed to be.
Stick to this protocol and your balls will fluff back up as will your reproductive system come back to where it was pre therapy.

That....is not true lol. Even on 80mg and low-normal levels of T without an AI my balls are much smaller.

 

[Ares]

TRT for the past 10 years. HcG with TRT for the past 5-6 (year round, not cycling). I would say the HcG is beneficial. I feel great and my balls grew back! When I was on straight TRT my balls shrunk big time. When I would bust a nut, they would pull up into my abdomen (even with the shaft of my penis) and would hurt like a MOFO until they finally relaxed and dropped back down. That has not happened since HcG began.

What is your dosage of HCG? Somewhere in 500-1000 iu per week?

 

[xpoc]

What is your dosage of HCG? Somewhere in 500-1000 iu per week?

yes 500 twice per week.

 

[buck]

250 2X a week.

Low-dose human chorionic gonadotropin maintains intratesticular testosterone in normal men with testosterone-induced gonadotropin suppression - PubMed

In previous studies of testicular biopsy tissue from healthy men, intratesticular testosterone (ITT) has been shown to be much higher than serum testosterone (T), suggesting that high ITT is needed relative to serum T for normal spermatogenesis in men. However, the quantitative relationship...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[sting]

My dr wont prescribe it regardless.

 

[Vanilla Thunder]

I've done 500 2x / wk since I started on HRT, and I like the hcg, I feel good on my hcg days and it keeps my balls and loads totally normal, plus I haven't totally ruled out kids one day but it gets less and less likely. For you guys who go to clinics, what are your Dr.s doing about the compounding pharmacies no longer being able to produce hcg? Last month we were sent an extra two months worth, so I have some to mix and use until June I guess, but I haven't heard of the plan after that. I've heard of some places switching to kisspeptin.

 

[Deleted member 106824]

I've done 500 2x / wk since I started on HRT, and I like the hcg, I feel good on my hcg days and it keeps my balls and loads totally normal, plus I haven't totally ruled out kids one day but it gets less and less likely. For you guys who go to clinics, what are your Dr.s doing about the compounding pharmacies no longer being able to produce hcg? Last month we were sent an extra two months worth, so I have some to mix and use until June I guess, but I haven't heard of the plan after that. I've heard of some places switching to kisspeptin.

Is this a national issue? I've not heard anything about this. Is it due to the pandemic, or is it a legal issue?

 

[Vanilla Thunder]

Is this a national issue? I've not heard anything about this. Is it due to the pandemic, or is it a legal issue?

It's national. Nothing to do with coronavirus, it's the FDA re-classifying hcg as a "biological product" ...which then to manufacture requires a biological license...which most compounding pharmacies don't have.

https://bioprocessintl.com/bioproce...hese-four-drugs-once-theyre-deemed-biologics/