SHBG questions

[English]

OK, got that, so in terms of higher dose, i guess that would be 1mg a day then right?

[entropy]

I'm not sure if Jel will agree with me here but going by what he said, if I were you i'd stop the a-dex entirely for maybe a week, pay attention to how I feel during that period and then restart at a higher dosage. Maybe 1 mg EOD until I pass the sweet spot, then .5 mg e3d or so and see how I feel. That's just how I'd approach it.

[Jelisej]

I'm not sure if Jel will agree with me here but going by what he said, if I were you i'd stop the a-dex entirely for maybe a week, pay attention to how I feel during that period and then restart at a higher dosage. Maybe 1 mg EOD until I pass the sweet spot, then .5 mg e3d or so and see how I feel. That's just how I'd approach it.

Yeah, this is exactly what I ment, you explained it better than I did .

[English]

Cool, thanks guys, i thought something like that, but i want to be sure when taking this stuff, i recently noticed my joints popping way more and making a different sound, so perhaps i went too low already. Also - and this brings me back to the days on PH describing mementary changes in genitalia! - My balls are suddenly bigger and firmer, they were pretty big anyway!
Obviously this points to high T from lowering E, and as i have already said, i am feeling considerably better.
The only downside is that i am not fully recovered, but i guess it will take time for AR's etc. to upregulate/recover etc.
As advised, i will now stop the AI and monitor, if E did get slightly too low, then no doubt i will hit a sweet spot on the way back up. I will start it again at 1mg ED in a week.
I have learned something though, that lowering E and raising free T definitely happens on 0.5 ED or lower.
I have booked another blood test in 3 weeks time as i reckon i will be about right then. Will be very interesting to see results, particularly as so far every blood test i've had i've told my girlfriend my predicted results before i got them, based on how i felt, and i've been almost bang on each time thus far.
Thanks again for advice guys - it is appreciated

[English]

Hey guys, just an observation after viewing the bloods of another guy who had high SHBG (44) and High E (90). He took Letrozole 2.5mg ED (high dose) and it took literally 4 months before SHBG got down to 26. Months 1, 2, 3 and 4 his SHBG was 40, 37, 34, 26 and E was 90, 60, 60, 24, respectively. In this time is T rose from about 25 and peaked at 51 pmol at one point (about 60% over range!)
So is this typical? - not the T, but the slow and steady decline of SHBG over a period of 4 months?
I am encouraged by this because i am feeling better, no doubt, and if things are likely to improve for another 3 months, fucking brilliant.
Any comments on this? Is this guys steady progress normal etc?

[entropy]

Hey guys, just an observation after viewing the bloods of another guy who had high SHBG (44) and High E (90). He took Letrozole 2.5mg ED (high dose) and it took literally 4 months before SHBG got down to 26. Months 1, 2, 3 and 4 his SHBG was 40, 37, 34, 26 and E was 90, 60, 60, 24, respectively. In this time is T rose from about 25 and peaked at 51 pmol at one point (about 60% over range!)
So is this typical? - not the T, but the slow and steady decline of SHBG over a period of 4 months?
I am encouraged by this because i am feeling better, no doubt, and if things are likely to improve for another 3 months, fucking brilliant.
Any comments on this? Is this guys steady progress normal etc?

Hey man. Obviously, in our situation nothing is certain but I would hazard a guess and say "yes, that does sound pretty typical". Will your shbg stay down after stopping the adex? Maybe but it's unlikely to stay down where it is right now as your e will rise again.

I can only say what I'd do in your situation which is to finish the adex and observe for a few weeks and see whereabouts you level out. At which point I'd consider adding res100 or possibly aromasin in an attempt to keep it low or at least try and maintain a more favourable T-E ratio.

[English]

Thanks entropy, i'm cracking on as advised, it is just nice to know if a longer time frame for SHBG going down is fairly typical as with the example i gave. Mindset is all important as you know, and it is helpful to feel that things can and are fairly likely to improve (if it is typical for E and SHBG to take a while to lower, even on AI's) Right now i'm virtually recovered mate, so knowing that it gets better over months before plateauing is pretty bloody exciting.
Long term, i've noticed many guys with E issues get by on super low doses of AI's, sometimes even 0.2mg of let once a week is enough. It appears that getting E and SHBG down first without crushing is the tricky bit, maintenance looks a bit easier (unless you want the exact sweet spot all the time of course, which let's face it, the average Joe almost never has anyhow)
After what i've been through, i don't mind one bit using aromasin super low dose once or twice a week for as long as i need it. Hell it can even be cycled if ones body gets used to it etc. At the maintenance doses that are often necessary, the side effect profile appears zero, or at least at a point where you can't notice any.
I'm gunna give Res and Dim a miss, because -and i've mentioned this a few times - both appear fairly potent anti DHT's to me given their ingredients. It's not just me saying that. I've no doubt it's possible to recover while using them (cd did), but common sense tells me it is gunna be easier to avoid the more potent anti DHT compounds in one's diet when there is an easier, cheaper side effect free alternative. I continue to work hard on diet and lifestyle, so i'm not relying solely on this, it is just an important brick in the wall. Hopefully my plan will still hold water in 6 months!

[Jelisej]

It is impossible to give you an correct answer for your question as SHBG is a difficult hormone to deal with, inadequate levels of SHBG (low or high) always suggest that something is wrong, but it does not tell us what is wrong- there are lot of contributing factors that influence it and one of them is E2, so keeping E2 in check will improve things, but how much it depends on other factors (fT3 levels, insulin levels, growth hormone, androgen hormones, liver function).
At the moment only thing you can do is to continue improving your lifestyle and wait, monitor and then act accordingly.
It is just impossible to guess how your HPTA is going to react, there are lot of different scenarios both good and bad, we will see in future.
If things improve than you may consider Clomid restart, as that could help improve things further.

[Cdsnuts]

Thanks entropy, i'm cracking on as advised, it is just nice to know if a longer time frame for SHBG going down is fairly typical as with the example i gave. Mindset is all important as you know, and it is helpful to feel that things can and are fairly likely to improve (if it is typical for E and SHBG to take a while to lower, even on AI's) Right now i'm virtually recovered mate, so knowing that it gets better over months before plateauing is pretty bloody exciting.
Long term, i've noticed many guys with E issues get by on super low doses of AI's, sometimes even 0.2mg of let once a week is enough. It appears that getting E and SHBG down first without crushing is the tricky bit, maintenance looks a bit easier (unless you want the exact sweet spot all the time of course, which let's face it, the average Joe almost never has anyhow)
After what i've been through, i don't mind one bit using aromasin super low dose once or twice a week for as long as i need it. Hell it can even be cycled if ones body gets used to it etc. At the maintenance doses that are often necessary, the side effect profile appears zero, or at least at a point where you can't notice any.
I'm gunna give Res and Dim a miss, because -and i've mentioned this a few times - both appear fairly potent anti DHT's to me given their ingredients. It's not just me saying that. I've no doubt it's possible to recover while using them (cd did), but common sense tells me it is gunna be easier to avoid the more potent anti DHT compounds in one's diet when there is an easier, cheaper side effect free alternative. I continue to work hard on diet and lifestyle, so i'm not relying solely on this, it is just an important brick in the wall. Hopefully my plan will still hold water in 6 months!

Res is NOT anti DHT

[entropy]

Res is NOT anti DHT

Agreed. I've been using it few weeks now and it definitely doesn't feel like there's anything remotely anti dht in there, I'm really enjoying it actually.