Advice on quitting testosterone

Does anyone have experience with tapering of testosterone? I have been using androgel 1.62 2 pumps for 1 month. Can I quit cold turkey? Or should I go down to 1 pump?

I'm not sure if the test is revving my symptoms, but the last week they have come on really strong. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You shouldn't have an issue after only 1 month but I guess it depends why you were put on it in the first place. I believe tapering will just make it worse but you should investigate further with the professionals on this forum before you make any decisions and / or consult an Endocrinologist; preferably one that specializes in HRT:

 

https://forums.t-nation.com/

 

Good luck.

 

 

My endo believes I have hypogonadism. Not sure if I had this before benzo withdrawal or not. I was 2.5 months in wd when I started androgel. I don't believe I felt this bad when I started trt. Just wish I wouldn't have tried it, but that's water under the bridge now. Thanks for the reply.

I went through the exact same thing and was stuck on TRT for 1.5 years. I ended up feeling worse in many ways. I believe my low testosterone was due to the Benzos and other meds I was put on. So, I'm not a doctor but my experience was pretty crappy on TRT and I should have listened to all of the people here who told me that it was because of Benzos. The problem with withdrawal, is you don't want to believe it's withdrawal so you do all kinds of ridiculous things that you wouldn't consider in your right mind... I was in fact in denial and still am to some extent.

 

Anyway, you may be in fact testosterone deficient but based on research and talking to the right people in the right forums, you can make an educated decision for yourself as to whether or not you want to continue. The guys at T nation will want a blood work update most likely to see where your levels are at. But you can give them your story whatever it is and they are pretty knowledgeable and helpful if they can be.

Did you ct or rapper? Thanks for the info! I'll try t nation too.

I CT'd as the advice I was given from people in the know said that tapering could be worse in the case of TRT because your still providing Testosterone so your brain is still thinking it doesn't need to try to start producing on it's own. And  This is a different perspective than BZ withdrawal so I'm just going to try to get through it. I don't feel great but I haven't felt great for so long, it's hard to tell what it is at this point. Anyway, do your research before you do anything and make a decision based on that.

 

 

Thanks!

Got results from blood test May 17th lab. Here is my testosterone and iron:

 

TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL, LC/MS/MS

303

250-1100 ng/dL

TESTOSTERONE, FREE

27.3 L

46.0-224.0 pg/mL

TESTOSTERONE,BIOAVAILABLE

58.5 L

110.0-575.0 ng/dL

SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOBULIN

49

10-50 nmol/L

ALBUMIN,SERUM

4.7

3.6-5.1 g/dL

 

IRON, TOTAL

211 H

50-180 mcg/dL

IRON BINDING CAPACITY

383

250-425 mcg/dL (calc)

% SATURATION

55

15-60 % (calc) 

My testosterone is lower and I'm not sure what my iron was. What do you think?

I would post this in a different forum. Pretty sure nobody here is qualified to form an opinion in regards to hormone / testosterone treatment.

Which forum? More than anything was looking for someone who had a similar experience after jump or while on benzos.

Wrong forum - please go to "Other Medications"

Does anyone have experience with tapering of testosterone? I have been using androgel 1.62 2 pumps for 1 month. Can I quit cold turkey? Or should I go down to 1 pump?

 

Yes, I quit it using androgel cold turkey because it made me feel like s**t for 3 weeks I was using it.  Felt so much better afterwards, no withdrawal from it whatsoever.  These synthetic things can really mess with you, not worth it!  I was not myself on it.

I did quit and I think it really affected me. But I recently found out my cortisol is over 3x the high limit. Supposedly, cortisol can depelet testosterone. Need to figure out how to lower that before I try testosterone again. Maybe T will come back naturally. Thanks for the reply!

I did quit and I think it really affected me. But I recently found out my cortisol is over 3x the high limit. Supposedly, cortisol can depelet testosterone. Need to figure out how to lower that before I try testosterone again. Maybe T will come back naturally. Thanks for the reply!

Interesting... Would love to know more on this... My T has been low post accident.. So it could be anything... Probably opiates/antibiotics/gabapentin..

I feel my cortisol is high too... Curious if there is a connection to the Adrenal glands...

 

 

 

 

 

obviously i am not a man but i can say - for sure - that taking vitamin C will both lower cortisol and raise testosterone - so there is a natural solution.  if you have histamine issues - some vitamin C forms can cause problems - i take TwinLabs 500mg crystalline vitamin C capsules - in the beginning i only took half a capsule - after a week i increased to 1 - always take it at night as lowering cortisol at night can at least help with sleeping.  at some point i was able to take 2 per day.  i wasnt trying to increase testosterone but needed to get my cortisol down since it was 6X upper limit at night.

 

 

also - Seriphos is a safe supplement to take for lowering cortisol - it works wonders for sleep - although depends on where you are - in acute - not sure anything helps with sleep but once the glutamate and adrenaline surges start to settle - it can definitely help

Thanks SSR... that fits with few oranges i ate... (and i dont think they r that high in vit C..??)

 

Ssr, do you know anything about iodine supplements? I've been using a basal thermometer to check my temp right when I wake and at 2pm. Your morning temp should be around 97.7, mine is 95.45 to 96.5. Afternoon temp should be over 98 afternoon I'm getting just to 98. Supposedly low iodine cause this. I'm thinking about trying Nature Way Kelp. Is this something that will cause revving?