Sorry
@Texas432, for taking so long to get back with you. But I just didn't want to give a vague generic Bro Science response. I deep dived your numbers Total test 1580, SHBG 50.3, Estradiol 76.8 and Free Test 339.6. They're on the high side, ie: above clinical range. But this doesn't make them bad nor create concern. They're actually quite good when it comes to a well-balanced panel of hormonal markers, the ratio between the 4 is exceptional. It screams you're a hyper-responder, be proud of this, not many guys can declare they're a hyper-responder to testosterone like what your labs show.
Now to address your question:
"I felt my sweet spot was 120mg so I stayed there, split dosed at 30mg S and Wed. I feel good, no issues. I’m wanting to really recomp my body, cut fat and build muscle but safely but I’m wondering how to do it. Is it ok to double up or add a little more trt and monitor my levels or maybe add primo e or mast e to help? I’m looking for a protocol to try and tweak."
You're doing so well at 120mg I wouldn't change that dose; it's a very safe place to be and a good starter dose that gives you a lot of room to build upon. Now if you want to tweak it a little bit for experimentation reasons you can. Go back and read
@Zion's post #2, he provides a lot of good knowledge about adding in another compound on top of the Test. Because your labs are good and you just want a little tweaking to complement a recomp. You can add in a little bit of Proviron or Masteron to adjust your SHBG and E2 numbers down a little, which will automatically raise your Free test as well. But like Zion mentioned, steppingstones, your numbers are in a good place, so you don't want to skew them too much, and then ruin your labs and you feel like shit. Zion is right about 500mg being a good starting dose for most, but you're not most being a hyper-responder. You benefit from lower doses so take advantage of this. I understand why Zion recommends 500mg, but now we know through your lab work that you respond well to exogenous hormones, at least right now in the beginning, that could change down the road. Take advantage, ride it out, then you may want to double it up as you go, i.e.: next round maybe 300mg, then skip 500mg and go to 600mg, or try 500mg and see what you think. Your body, your choice, you're doing it right by getting regular labs while at the same time going on how you feel. Follow both your labs and your intuition. The key factor that most don't do is regular lab work, string a few labs together and follow the trend of the sign waves of your markers, paying attention to the ratios between all 4 of them. Albumin is another marker I would pay attention to, but it's not critical or influential like the other markers. A higher Albumin number means more "bioavailable" testosterone, not necessarily more Free Test, but weakly bound Test that can easily be turned into Free Testosterone if needed.
Draw backs to adding in another compound, like a DHT (Mast, Provi, T-bol, Primo), is your lipids will take a hit. This is the pros and cons of adding multiple compounds together, with every action there will be a reaction. With the good comes the bad, ie: unwanted side effects. You don't want to crush your E2 and SHBG, make sure you slowly titrate your dosages up or down. The one thing that never gets explained is why people get these side effects when doses are too high or changed drastically. Your body deals with exogenous hormones differently than endogenous hormones. Your body can control endogenous production, but it can't control exogenous hormonal levels for obvious reasons. You're in control of the amount of exogenous hormones in your blood serum, your body can't do anything about this other than balance out the other endogenous hormones like SHBG and E2 to create homeostasis in the body. When you have a blood serum level at 1580 ng/dL of testosterone; your body is going to try and bring homeostasis by raising all other hormones to bring everything back into balance. But what happens on the back end is your exogenous levels of hormones, ie: Testosterone, drop drastically compared to your endogenous hormones with how your body regulates these hormones. This is where the side effects kick in, your ratios get thrown off and sides arise like bloat (water retention), acne, mood swings, libido gets effected, etc. If you feel good, don't freak out if your E2 levels are above the normal range, your body is just balancing out your hormones to maintain homeostasis.
With your current labs being what I would call good with the ratios, maybe you want to tweak it a little bit to create more Free Test. You could add in the Masteron or Proviron, even Turinabol, all three regulate SHBG and E2 freeing up some extra Test. At low mg's you'll get a little change in your lab numbers in the favorable direction creating more Free Test for muscle building purposes. But keep in mind, E2 is required for higher IGF levels in the body, very important. Be careful with Primo, Primo can really kill your E2 levels and screw up your lipids and it will have no effect on lowering your SHBG levels to create higher levels of Free T at your current dose. Even though Primo is classified as a DHT, it falls into the catagory of a SARM; Mast, Provi, T-bol fall into the catagory of a SERM. Where this is important is staying at your current dose while creating more Free T by lowering your SHBG. Another PED that can drop E2 levels is EQ, but I don't necessarily recommend EQ, especially for TRT. Out of all the compounds mentioned, Mast, Provi, T-bol, Primo and now EQ, EQ is the harshest on blood markers with having a negative impact. EQ is great, in fact one of the best compounds for putting on lean muscle mass alongside Test, but it will blow up your BP and hematocrit levels beyond what your TRT Doc will feel comfortable with. Turinabol falls into this category as well, but it will not have the impact that EQ will. EQ and Turinabol both raise Red Blood Cell levels in your blood, causing your hematocrit to go up along with BP. Not a big deal for younger healthy guys, but for older guys like us, it could be a big deal, it is for me. I live at altitude and my hematocrit is elevated by default along with I have to manage my BP. I've experimented with EQ, but I don't use EQ for this reason. Never tried T-bol, but T-bol will bring your SHBG down a little bit, hence lowering your E2 as well. But T-bol won't even come close to crushing your E2 like Primo and EQ can. Keep in mind, lipids will always take a hit from any DHT. EQ or its pharm name Boldenone is unique, it is not classified as a DHT or 19-nor, as it does not convert to DHT through 5-alpha reductase. Instead, it's reduced to dihydroboldenone (DHB), which has its own distinct androgenic profile.
Now this is where I would start first with staying at your current dosage while freeing up a little more Test for recomp purposes. Go to micro dosing ED or EOD injection frequency. This will blunt the spikes in your blood serum levels which is causing your SHBG and E2 to be slightly elevated above the normal range. By blunting the hormonal spikes you'll get a little more bang for your buck with your current dose, or any dose for that matter. With ED or EOD dosing the amount of the dose will be lower causing less of a spike, hence your body won't elevate your SHBG and E2 as much to compensate, creating more even blood serum levels. The effect from this will be a higher Free Test level number with your current dosing protocol, which is what you want. I would do this first before adding another compound to your Test only base. Like Zion said, one step at a time, one adjustment or compound at a time. Just like Zion covered, you then can pinpoint what's going on and what caused what to change. Do this first, but as for a compound to add in, I'm a Mast fan. I like how Masteron gives me a feel-good bump and libido increase. Masteron is my favorite add-on to a Test base. FYI, I've been off since November because I'm trying to get a legit script for HRT. But they won't give it to me till I get my hematocrit down below 50. Once I get on HRT I will definitely be going to ED or EOD injection frequency to keep my hematocrit down by keeping the spikes down. Blunting exogenous hormone spikes also keeps hematocrit levels down, not just SHBG and E2.
Cheers, Tyler
Note:
Your next labs are this coming Friday, April 17th. Consider switching to an ED or EOD injection frequency leading into your next set of labs a month from now to see what kind of an impact it has on your numbers. I'm curious to know if your SHBG and E2 will drop a little, into the upper normal range, causing your Free Test number to go up as well.
