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OLYMPIC

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Posts posted by OLYMPIC

    4 Things You Don't Know About TRT

    in Testosterone Replacement Therapy

    Posted

    Testosterone replacement therapy is steadily on the rise. The number of men prescribed TRT has tripled in the last decade. But there's still plenty of misunderstanding and flat-out backwards thinking on how it works, what it is, and what it actually involves.

    These are the four most common issues you need to understand before beginning treatment or dismissing the idea altogether. Done right, it may be the most significant and helpful treatments of your lifetime.

    1 – It's Not Cheating

    This is probably the most common, and most incorrect, presumption people have towards testosterone replacement.

    An adult male taking doctor-prescribed hormone replacement therapy to address a diagnosed medical condition and improve his quality of life is no more "cheating" than an adult male taking doctor-prescribed asthma medication to address a diagnosed medical condition and improve his quality of life.

    The TRT patient's medication happens to improve lean body mass, increase libido, and have other side effects we generally consider to be positive. That's okay. People with hypothyroidism taking levothyroxine often see weight loss when their thyroid function is brought back into working order. And people on asthma meds are often able to increase their training intensity because they don't have to worry about, you know, dying during exercise. Nobody's attacking them for "cheating" because those are a simple result of the meds necessary to treat their conditions.

    Of course, we're talking about the general public and not professional athletes who participate in organizations that have specific rules about performance enhancing drugs. For them, cheating is a valid scenario. Potentially. Even in those cases, many sports do have (arguably generous or vague) rules for TRT exemptions for athletes who do have legitimate low T. Unfortunately, these cases are often seen with an asterisk –an athlete exploiting a loophole to gain an unfair advantage.

    We're also not referring to anyone who manipulates their body before getting a blood test in the hopes of influencing the results when they otherwise wouldn't qualify. If you have to temporarily alter your training, sleep, or nutrition in the hopes of skewing your blood labs to come back revealing "low T" in order to get a script written, then understand that you're not going to be on TRT, you're going to be on a low dose steroid cycle.

    That's a dick move and you're exactly the kind of patient who makes doctors reluctant to prescribe hormone therapy to guys who actually need it. If you don't have low T, then you don't have low T.

    2 – TRT Isn't Just About Testosterone

    Believe it or not, it's slightly more complex than "Get doctor's prescription for testosterone, inject testosterone, live happily ever after." There are things you'll need to know, understand, and monitor every one to three months for as long as you're undergoing treatment (which is basically for life). Here's a list:

    Free T

    Total T

    E2

    SHBG

    FSH

    LH

    DHT

    PSA

    TSH

    T3

    T4

    HCG

    If that sounds like too much of a hassle, then you're not ready to responsibly manage your condition. Be an adult and do some homework before you start manipulating a cascade of hormones in your body. The goal is to maximize health and minimize side effects, not vice versa.

    It would be great if we could just rely on our primary physician to handle everything for us. Ideally you'd want to hear something like this:

     

    "Okay Bill, these are the tests we ran. I don't like the look of these numbers, but this is how we'll run the treatment protocol to stay ahead of any problems. Come back in four weeks and we'll see where things stand."

    Unfortunately, that situation is still rare, so you need to be ready to bring your own info to the table. Even under the care of an endocrinologist or urologist, specialists who are up-to-date with the most efficient treatment methods, you are your own best advocate, and the more knowledgeable you are, the better. Cluelessly smiling and nodding (as your doctor describes why your current treatment doesn't warrant the inclusion of HCG, even though know you're having issues HCG could directly address) means you end up receiving inadequate care... and it's your own fault.

    The other benefit of being an educated patient is the ability to intelligently question a proposed course of treatment that doesn't sound right. If your doctor is ready to prescribe a dosing schedule of one injection every three weeks, that should be a red flag and you should discuss testosterone half-lives, blood concentration peaks and valleys, and a pre-emptive rather than reactive approach to side effects.

    Your other option? Don't say anything and just walk into his office on day 21 wondering why you've spent the last week more moody than a 15-year old girl and less energetic than a 95-year old guy.

    3 – It's Not a Quick Fix

    When people think of steroids, they often think of cycles. Use them for a while, then don't use them (or use less) for a while, and repeat until swole. But TRT is not steroids. It's medication. A patient with low T doesn't "do a TRT cycle" any more than a Type 1 diabetic "does an insulin cycle." It's a treatment taken consistently to address a condition.

    Low T doesn't get "cured," it gets managed. It's not like an infection where you're prescribed meds for ten days and you're off of them as soon as your body is healthier and symptoms have disappeared. It's more along the lines of, for lack of a better analogy, diabetes. You have a medical issue causing problems, so you undergo long-term care for that issue. Long-term, in the case of TRT, means forever.

    The symptoms may improve or disappear because you're finally on the right medication to supplement what your body's lacking. It's not because the underlying source of the problem has been resolved. It may take weeks or months to adjust the proper dosing schedule and dial in consistent blood values, but from that point on, you're on a maintenance dose to literally maintain the results.

    TRT patients generally don't taper off or stop treatment because working with the body's hormones is a constant balancing act. Try to raise testosterone, estradiol goes up. Try to lower estradiol with an aromatase inhibitor, it works too well and E2 crashes, starting new issues that need to be addressed, repeat ad infinitum.

    Then add in variables like figuring out how your body responds to gels versus injections, subcutaneous injections versus intramuscular, and weekly versus twice weekly dosing. That all takes time to determine. As much as we might wish it were as simple as, "Start TRT Monday, start feeling better by Wednesday," your gut should tell you it just ain't gonna be that simple.

    Just like with lifting or eating better, plan to be in it for the long-haul. You don't start deadlifting and stop as soon as you pull 225 like you've reached the finish line. You don't start a fat loss plan and stop as soon as you lose a half-inch on your waist. For the best and lasting results, you stick with it and invest time into figuring out the most effective path forward. Short-term thinkers turn out to be long-term losers.

    4 – It's Actually Not As Big A Deal As Most Think

    Yes, TRT is a significant medical treatment that involves recurring blood tests, fairly frequent injections, and a never-ending fight against potentially serious side effects. But that said, it's actually becoming more and more acceptable in the public eye. And that's a great thing.

    Much the same way that lifting weights has become more broadly recognized by mainstream media and the "muscle-bound athlete" myth is mostly extinct, men wanting to be hormonally healthy is seen as less of a mid-life crisis and more as part of a genuine health issue.

    Radio and TV commercials for TRT clinics regularly run during primetime and the negative connotations are slowly dying. People are wising up and seeing that there's more to it than just "testosterone means steroids" thinking. Judgmental Planet Fitness commercials notwithstanding.

    If medical marijuana can overcome vehement opposition to gradually gain nationwide acceptance, it's not unreasonable to expect that TRT will also eventually be seen as just another medication someone is taking, especially if current treatments and publicity stay on pace. This can be helped on two fronts.

    First, by the medical establishment who actually live, learn, and practice 21st century medicine. Doctors need to be educated on the actual risks and benefits of male hormone treatment without relying on the long-outdated textbooks they read circa 1980.

    Every doctor who talks their 26-year old patient out of a blood test because they're "obviously too young to have low testosterone" or who tells a 53-year old "at your age, of course it's hard to build muscle" should be chemically castrated until they learn to appreciate properly functioning hormone levels.

    Secondly, the public's attitude towards TRT can be helped by each individual patient. You have a responsibility to potential patients to do what you can to be a TRT success story and reduce the stigma of male hormone replacement therapy. That means understanding that you're treating a medical issue and not behaving like you're not getting "doctor-prescribed steroids."

     

    Every joke with your buddies about "finally gettin' the doc to gimme juice" and every social media post of you sticking a syringe into your leg with the caption, "Hurts so good" weakens the case for TRT to be taken seriously and encourages the dumb-meathead-using-gear stereotype. You shouldn't want to be that guy.

    The Bottom Line

    It's pretty simple. If you see TRT as just an easy fast-track to finally getting results in the gym, you're going to run into problems sooner rather than later. If you treat TRT like what it is – a medical treatment for a condition that affects your health – you're much more likely to see benefits and you'll help set the stage for testosterone to no longer be something that gets half-heartedly mumbled about at the doctor's office or joked about negatively.

    Testosterone, the hormone and the word itself, should be something all guys (and gals, actually) can be proud of.

    • Like 3

    Is your Growth Hormone real? A guide to find out

    in Insulin & HGH Discussion

    Posted

    10 hours ago, RigPig said:

    This is a good post @OLYMPIC.

    Do you have advice for members on where to look to find places that will allow for GH Serum tests to be pulled?

    I've personally had my Doc request GH Serum, I carried my paperwork to the lab and read it was filled out properly, but had the lab reject the request because there was no underlying medical conditions that warranted a GH Serum test. 

    I tried to argue it with the lab but was unsuccessful. 

    some naturalpaths do but i am speaking to someone who actually can do all thew testing here in canada.he  does exact testing that the big labs do out there. and it would be a domestic sourece,strictly for this board

    • Like 1

    Supercharge Your White Rice

    in Nutrition, Diet and Recipes

    Posted

    Just add a teaspoon of this powder to make your white rice extra nutritious and extra delicious.

     

    They argue that brown rice has more protein, more fiber, and more nutrients than white rice, and that it doesn't raise blood sugar as much. That's all true, but the amount of protein in brown rice is negligible. And if you're counting on brown rice to meet your daily fiber requirements, your bowels are probably already, as we say in the business, "bottled up big time."

    And sure, brown rice doesn't raise blood sugar as much as white rice, but who, other than a small Chinese boy living in the aftermath of the WWII Japanese invasion, exists solely on rice? Most people eat their rice with meat or vegetables, thus ameliorating the blood sugar response.

    Lastly, brown rice does have more nutrients, but in a cruel twist of nutritional fate, they're largely made unavailable to your digestive system because of the presence of phytates that bind up minerals and inhibit digestive enzymes.

    Still, I get it. While white rice doesn't cause bloating and is usually fortified with vitamins, it's still pretty much just fuel without a lot of nutritional redemption. It would also be nice if you didn't have to worry about whether you added enough meat, vegetables, or oil to it to negate its blood sugar response.

    I figured out a way to fix all that, though. It also makes the white rice taste delicious.

    Almond Flour: Just Add a Spoonful

    First, cook your rice like you normally do. If it's convenient, turn it into a resistant starch, as I explained in Eat Rice Without Getting Fat.

    Then dole out however much you want to eat into a bowl or onto a plate. Now add at least 1 heaping teaspoon of almond flour to the serving of rice and evenly mix it in. You may, of course, need or want more almond flour, depending on how big a shovelful of rice you just dumped into your serious-eatin' bowl and how almondy you want it to taste.

    As I mentioned, it makes the rice taste nummy, so much so that you might be tempted to forgo whatever soy or teriyaki sauces you'd planned on dumping onto it and eat it as-is.

    But more importantly, the almond flour supercharges your rice. It turns what's pretty much just a bowl of easy-digesting energy food into a super food. Almonds, and ipso facto, almond flour, boost heart health, discourage cancer, and contain a host of minerals, vitamins, and polyphenols.

    Almond flour also reduces post-meal glucose levels. By adding it to your rice, you'll lower its ability to raise your blood sugar. And, unlike whole almonds, almond flour doesn't contain any nutrient-binding phytates (like those you find in brown rice), so there isn't anything to prevent your digestive system from horning in on the flours' nutritional bounty.

    If there's a drawback to almond flour, it's that it's high in omega-6 fatty acids, but that's true of pretty much all nuts, except macademia nuts, walnuts, and coconuts. Just make sure you get lots of omega-3 fatty acids through seafood or supplements to offset any increase in omega-6 intake.

    You could, of course, use a flour made from one of the low omega-6 nuts I just listed, but they contain a lot more fat and/or a lot more carbs than almond flour

    • Like 1

    Hello Hello

    in Introduction

    Posted

    22 hours ago, DownToEarthDave said:

    Hey all,

    Nice shiny new forum! I was a member over on NM, didn't post much in the last year due to having no time for anything other then trying to run my business. With fall around the corner work starts to slow down, and more time to focus on the gym and all the other great things in life. Good to be here!

    Glad you joined us sir 

    • Thanks 1

    Hello Again

    in Introduction

    Posted

    On 8/26/2018 at 6:40 PM, Carbone said:

    Hello,

    Well I waited for the smoke to clear after NM. 

    Looks like this is the new place to be. I had only been around NM for 9 months but I enjoyed by stay. Its nice to see a lot of the same people are coming over to NL. Same handle as before.

    Good to be back.
     

    Carb

    Welcome to the fam bro 

    Nouveau

    in Insulin & HGH Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Rocky said:

    I did the same thing with peptides (ghrp6 and Cjc no Dac) and it ended up becoming useless. I got so scared I never tried it with the gh cause it’s so expensive 

    honestly I leave gh at room temperature just because I use a mini fridge and the temperature sometimes changes. The gh is worth more than the fridge lol 

    its good to hear it still works becuase at least you know it’s not a peptide 

    ? I remember you stood up for me a while back. So I’ll support your forum    

     

    Unfortunately I probably can’t do the testing as much as I did it before. It was fun while it lasted though. I would draw bloods twice with each requisition. I would pretend I told the person at the blood lab to do the hgh test on another day.

    So I could get away with hgh tests. 

     

    I’ll be viewing forums from time to time. I’ve been busy for once lol 

     

     

    Ima shoot you a pm bro. Glad you still remember our history. You are a good man sir 

    • Like 1

    Hey

    in Introduction

    Posted

    56 minutes ago, Rooter said:

    Hi Everyone,

    I was on NM for a while (~2015). I posted a bit here and there, but was never super active. Glad to see the board's back 

    welcome to the board,hopefully you can get more active and post ?

    cars and trucks etc...thread

    in Suggestions

    Posted

    35 minutes ago, ElectricRocker said:

    In the general section since most here enjoy taking about the automobile world, can we get a section dedicated to this stuff? Would eliminate clutter in certain threads as this would be dedicated to those who want to talk about their toys. Just a thought. 

    Cheers 

    you can make it sir,ill pin it. that way its your thread ?

    • Thanks 1

    Ghrp6

    in Peptides & Performance Enhancing Drugs

    Posted

    23 minutes ago, musclebeauty said:

    I have been using ghrp2 which i love it great peptide and yes you dont get the hunger pains...

    theres also anew ghrp6 with all the benefits minus the appetite increase

    I prefer ipamorelin,best of the lot in my opinion

    • Like 1
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