ResearchSafe

HCG on TRT and noticeable estradiol rise – anyone else see this?

Posted by quinn_swims in Safety & Side Effects - 4 points, 4 comments.

I’ve been running 500 IU HCG twice weekly alongside my TRT for about six weeks. For me it seemed to keep my testicular size stable, which was the main goal. Around week three I started feeling a bit bloated and noticed mild breast tenderness that wasn’t there before. I got bloodwork done and my estradiol had jumped from roughly 20 pg/mL to about 45 pg/mL, while my total testosterone stayed in the target range.

Comments

  • elle_z: Yeah this happened to me too, took me by surprise actually 😅 i was on 250iu twice a week (so half your dose) and still saw e2 creep up after about a month, the nipple thing was the first clue lol. For me cutting the dose down and being more consistent with the timing helped a lot, like i was sloppy with days before. Anastrozole is the usual answer people reach for but i tried to avoid it, my sleep already suffers if my e2 drops too low. What does your trough bloodwork look like, are you testin
  • quinn_swims: Mine was drawn about 72 hours after my last pin, so close to trough I think. Your point about consistency is fair, I was doing monday/thursday but some weeks shifted by a day or two. Cutting dose to match yours is interesting since you still saw the rise on 250iu. At what number did your e2 actually settle after you lowered it?
  • fasted_scientist: Yeah the timing thing matters more than people reckon ngl. Trough draws (day before the next pin) gave me a more honest picture than mid-cycle ones, the numbers can swing quite a bit depending on when you go. And cheers for not jumping straight to anastrozole, loads of blokes reach for it the second e2 ticks up without even checking trough first. What were your actual trough numbers before you tweaked the dose?
  • quinn_swims: Yeah my trough was the 20 pg/mL baseline before I started HCG, that was drawn day before my next test pin. After six weeks on HCG the repeat trough came back at 45, so almost more than double. I have not actually tweaked HCG dose yet, I am still on 500 IU twice weekly and considering dropping to 250 twice a week instead of reaching for an AI.

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