Here we are just over 7 month post Open Heart Valve replacement back in January of this year. If you have been following my journey then you will know I am doing pretty good overall considering I almost died. My Testosterone levels on the other hand are almost non existent as I have been completely off of TRT since early January. My last bloodwork results came in at 1 nmol/L which is lower than some women.
In my last video I talked about hoping on a quick round of Testosterone to get some of my life back as I was really struggling in many areas but my main concern is how that will affect my upcoming bloodwork right before seeing an endocrinologist. My plan was to get on something fast acting that is in my system in and out quickly so I can come off of it about two weeks before and hopefully not affect my bloodwork too much but it will no matter what.
In this video I talk about all of this and go into more detail about what I am doing and how it has affected me.
It's now been over 6 months since my last Testosterone injection back in early January of this year and if you have been watching my channel you already know I had to go down this road because of my Heart issue. As it turns out not dying is more important than aesthetics! My Testosterone has been slowly going down for a while now and it does not look like it will recover any time soon or even at all as this month is my lowest Testosterone level result since I went cold turkey (About the same as a woman's now).
I was in the 4-6 nmol/L and should have been in the 8-28 range to be within normal levels. I am now even lower and I can feel it in some ways but in other ways I think my body has gotten a bit use to the lower Testosterone.
I spell it all out in the video but to summarize... Sex drive sucks, mental cognition has gotten a bit better, maybe, motivation and outlook on life is about the same, body aches are still bad, ability to add muscle has actually improved but so has my workout frequency and intensity.
Next week I have a doctor consult and will be going over my results, my last consult about a month ago we talked about doing one more test to see what my bloodwork shows in terms of Testosterone and if it is not improving then we both agreed perhaps looking at TRT would be a good option. I will let you know how that all goes.
Ultimately I want to do what is best for my health and what also gives me quality of life.
In this TRT Update 5 Months Off TRT Video, I go over some of the key areas that I feel are regulated a lot by Testosterone or the lack thereof and how this is effecting me at my current Testosterone level.
Testosterone Levels - Currently 4.7 nmol (should be 8-28). Getting an update in about a week.
Weight and Strength - Lost another 5 pounds, now down 30 pounds, 175 pounds from 205. Trying to keep any remaining muscle is very difficult, I am not really making any progress anymore, just trying to keep what I have right now, workouts are hard.
Base Energy - Overall I generally have energy throughout the day.
Brain Fog - I am finding it very hard to remember short term stuff, it just disappears from my mind. Regular daily activities require a lot more concentration or I find myself getting off track and not even remembering what I am doing. I struggle to find names and words at times.
Motivation - I have to force myself to go to the gym or even do activities other than walking.
Mood - I am not in a very good state right now. I feel kind of lost and low on ambition.
Recovery - Sore after every workout for several days.
Body Aches - Most of the time I am sore, getting up in the morning, after sitting down for even a short period to time.
Libido - Non Existent, I just don’t even think about it much. The only OK thing is that some of my heart medication acts as a vasodilator which is kind of the same as what Viagra does in terms of increasing blood flow. So my hardware still works but getting things started is a bit tuff as I am just not in the mood most of the time.
In this video I talk openly about what I feel like being off TRT 100% for 4 months. As many of you know I had major heart issues that I became aware of in early January 2023 resulting in my having to have open heart surgery to replace my Aortic Valve and a portion of the artery above it. This was a result of a genetic defect I was born with.
Because of this I stopped all hormone therapy 100% and at the moment I am getting blood work to check on my Testosterone levels to see where they are at after several years of being on TRT. As expected my Testosterone is not very high now being off TRT but surprisingly better than I thought it would be. I will being getting my Testosterone checked out again in a couple of weeks to see where I am at and then have a discussion with my doctor to see what may be the best course of action moving forward...
I also talk a lot in this video about how I am personally feeling and how this is effecting me now that my testosterone is very low as compared to when I was on TRT.
In a world full of fake Natty’s, is being on TRT just an excuse to be on steroids and get all the benefits of steroids and still claim being natural?
There are for sure lots people who should be or need to be on TRT because their bodies just are not producing enough Testosterone to be in what is considered a healthy range.
That healthy range can depend on many things…
Are you a man or woman and yes some women are prescribed Testosterone by their doctors as a means to increase low Testosterone and even increase estrogen in women.
Age is also a factor when considering what is healthy so in other words it is not expected for a 20 year old and a 70 year old to naturally produce the same amount of Testosterone but there are still healthy ranges each age group should be within.
Geography, yes each country will have their own Testosterone range allowances set since each country has their own health system and guidelines in place.
So lets say you find yourself with low Testosterone, your blood-work shows this to be true and you feel the symptoms of low Testosterone which can be a lack of energy, low libido, a hard time recovering from physical activity, fat gain, sleep disorders, depression, erectile dysfunction being the most common. It would only make sense to get this looked into for better over health and well-being! After all being on TRT is a medical therapy much like if a woman is going through menopause and requires supplementation of hormones or even people on specific drugs to help with chemical imbalances to get them back to a more normal state.
Getting more to the topic of this video, why is it that people think that just because a person is prescribed Testosterone by their doctor to get them back to more “normal” ranges, that somehow they are cheating and have super human powers and advantages? I would go so far as to say that most men on TRT would be hard to pick out since being at normal ranges will not make you jacked or give you super human strength. Yes if your Testosterone was really low, going on TRT will help you gain some muscle back and get stronger but it should bring you back to where you normally would have been if your Testosterone levels where in more normal ranges to begin with.
I think the main reason why people get "set-off" when people claim they are on TRT but still claim to be natural, is because many of these So called "Natty’s" simply do not look natural. This is because I would say most of these people while they may be on TRT, are probably also abusing their TRT to some degree by either upping their Testosterone dose or adding other performance enhancing compounds and yes that would for sure take them out of the “Natty” category. No argument here!
I often hear the argument that when a person is on TRT, their levels of Testosterone in their system are more consistent and this can be true since a true natural person will produce small amounts of Testosterone at different times of the day which can make their Testosterone fluctuate from hour to hour. Many people on TRT only get their injection twice per month or even once per month which means right after the injection they will be at their highest levels but right before their next injection they can actually be crashed especially if they have monthly injections so I am not really sure which is worse at the end of the day. Personally I believe that you don’t really feel the effects of Testosterone so much based on exactly how much is in your system at any given time but more as an average over time and that is why it take a good month or so after going on TRT to feel the benefits.
At the end of the day plain and simple if you are on TRT you are not Natty since you are not making the bulk of your Testosterone naturally. That said if you are at normal healthy ranges while on TRT, I feel there is little advantage over a person with similar Testosterone levels making it naturally. Of course if you are taking more Testosterone than you need putting yourself into above average ranges then you will be getting extra benefits because now are you are essentially at body builder levels of Testosterone.
Do what is right for you and don’t worry about what other people think, you do not need to tell people if you are "Natty or Not" but don’t make a video showing your 3 month transformation after going on TRT and call it a Natural transformation, that just adds fuel to the already burning bonfire of calling out Fake Natty's.
All that said if you are interest in finding out if TRT may be right for you, you can checkout the Link Provided to get your blood-work done and if you do end up going on TRT you can save $45 per month with my “GFO40” discount code. This is for US residence only at this time.