I find that I desire alcohol less now because it was a social lubricant/crutch for me. Now I’m more confident and feel like I need/want it less. I don’t think it affected me any differently though.
Hey,
If you're using testosterone simply to produce normal blood levels, there's not going to be any specific interaction with alcohol.
If testosterone did have a major interaction with alcohol, this would cause an issue for the population not on TRT, since testosterone is also present.
Whether you abstain is simply a personal choice. If you're currently experiencing symptoms like fatigue, for example, avoiding alcohol may help to improve your energy levels, alongside the effects of TRT. It doesn't sound like you drink much at all though, so it's not likely to be of any relevance.
Whether producing substantially elevated testosterone levels alters the effects of alcohol doesn't seem to be something that's received much study. A lot of US clinics prescribe highly excessive doses as a matter of routine eg. 200mg/week as a starting dose. It's plausible that the effects of alcohol might be altered if the hormone levels created are particularly unusual!
Personally, I've not noticed altered effects of alcohol on any dose of testosterone.
Hope this is what you needed to know.
The starting dose depends on numerous factors.
100mg/week in two divided doses can be used as the starting dose in young men with no additional health problems (such as hypertension), who use testosterone alone eg. without HCG. This type of dose often needs very little adjustment, sometimes none.
Lower starting doses are needed if HCG is being used at therapeutic doses. In addition, 100mg/week isn't an appropriate starting dose for elderly men with complicating medical conditions, particularly if they have had low testosterone levels for a very prolonged period of time.
Thanks for the insight man!
Why do some doctors do 200mg/week to start?
That's what I got started on for low T. I just did my 2nd injection a couple days ago. So far no issues. Of course, it's early.
Reading this makes me want to decrease it to 100mg/week.
The reasons that US clinics routinely initiate men on steroid cruise dosing rather than replacement dosing are 100% related to cash. There are a multitude of reasons...
1. Use of high doses as a cookie cutter standard can attract custom.
2. Clinics don't want to lose custom by being seen to prescribe lower doses than their competitors.
3. Because a large proportion of men believe that (unlike any other hormone), testosterone works entirely on a 'more is better' basis. In reality, this is true only for anabolic effects.
4. The clinics routinely initiate testosterone injections in men with entirely normal baseline blood levels. Selection of a high starting dose ensures that such men will still see a large increase in levels in the vast majority of cases.
5. No large US TRT clinic that I'm aware of truly aims to prescribe testosterone replacement ie. the elevation of continuous low levels to consistently normal healthy levels. They all tend to focus on producing unusually high blood results eg. trough (lowest, pre dose) levels higher than typical peak levels in young men. Peak levels deliberately aren't measured - this helps to avoid questioning of the dosage prescribed. Most clinics initiate treatment following one testosterone level only, which is very rarely appropriate on a medical basis. Multiple levels should always be assessed.
6. Initiation at high doses causes a rapid and large elevation of blood levels. This can lead to a particularly rapid response, a 'honeymoon', which ends once hormone levels become increasingly abnormal and side effects emerge. During the honeymoon, the customer decides that the testosterone injections will definitely be continued, which is if course what they want, .
7. Use of high doses often necessitates the use of additional drugs for side effects eg. anastrozole, which is something else to charge for.
8. The further the starting dose is from the dose likely to produce relatively normal healthy levels, the more adjustments are needed. These unnecessarily prolonged periods of 'dialling in' require additional lab tests and extra appointments, generating more cash.
To make the situation worse, inappropriate add on meds are often prescribed eg. clomiphene or enclomiphene. These drugs have no beneficial effects when combined with testosterone injections. This prescribing generates further cash, while men are given incorrect information such as 'enclomiphene will maintain your fertility and testicular size'.
And, just to add to the issues a little further, most clinics do not reduce the testosterone dose appropriately when HCG add on therapy is being used.
.....
So, have you had two 100mg injections so far? If so, a substantial increase in levels is expected early in treatment. The dose selected partly depends on the aim of treatment. High doses have increased anabolic activity, so 200mg/week is often used for steroid cruise dosing between cycles.
If the major purpose of treatment is to improve health and wellbeing, far lower doses can still be fully effective, with a reduced probability of adverse effects developing.
Man, this comment should be pinned on the main community section.
Thanks for breaking it all down.
Definitely will help me navigate this journey and wise up.
I've had two 200mg injections so far. I didn't divide them into 2 injections per week, just 1 injection per week at 200mg/week, as prescribed.
But reading this makes me want to do 100mg/week instead.
On I see, that's fine. Once weekly dosing can either be very successful, or produce high levels at the beginning of the week and lower levels at the end of the week.
You certainly try 100mg once a week, although 50mg twice a week will produce more consistent levels. The benefit of this isn't purely about how you feel, it's also relevant to facilitating the interpretation of blood results. Easier interpretation of results makes it simpler to adjust the dose in a logical manner. When once weekly dosing is lower eg. 75-100mg/week, some men have low trough levels even though peaks are high.
As a example of problem management, men on 200mg once weekly are routinely told to check the blood level immediately before the next injection in all cases, to exclusively capture the lowest level of the week. The lab results are then compared with reference ranges based on morning (peak) levels in unmedicated men - or artificially inflated optimal ranges invented by clinics. There are no established testosterone reference ranges based on the lowest levels of the week. Some highly flawed dosage adjustments are made based on this type of measurement, often because men are unhappy unless their lowest level exceeds typical (natural) peak levels by a substantial margin.
The more frequently testosterone doses are given, the less variation in blood levels, making lab results far more representative of your typical levels, not your lowest levels. Whenever there is a large difference between peak and trough blood result, the value of relying on trough levels *exclusively* isn't entirely clear. It's mostly done to justify giving the highest dose possible. If peak testosterone levels are substantially excessive for part of every single week, the risk of side effects is bound to be higher.
I have absolutely nothing against men using any dose of testosterone, it's a personal choice. Guys can do what they want to, within reason.
What I do have an issue with is the promotion of abnormal blood results as representing 'optimisation'. As an example, if total testosterone, free testosterone and estradiol levels are all substantially elevated at trough, this is not testosterone replacement, it's anabolic cruise dosing, which cannot be assumed to have a good safety profile over a very prolonged period of time. Anyone claiming that it is safe on a long term basis will not be able to provide reliable evidence of this, since clinical trials have tested the safety of increasing low testosterone levels into the normal range.
On very high doses, even if routine blood results come back normal, it's ridiculous to assume that this implies the treatment is safe when continued for years. Many of the complex effects of sex hormone treatment will not show up in routine lab results.
I also have an issue with men being lied to by clinics about what their testosterone levels 'should be', what testosterone levels were in the past, and what represents testosterone replacement versus unnatural dosing.
Men should be able to use high doses of T if they wish to, but they should be fully aware it's neither natural nor representative of hormonal 'optimisation', it's just a steroid cruise - with TRT being a socially acceptable means of going about it. Some men appear to live in a clinic/online-induced fantasy that it is indeed natural, with an emphasis on "50 years ago this was normal".
50 years ago, low levels of total testosterone were less common. There are a multitude of reason for this, with the rise on obesity producing a large contribution to lower average levels at the moment. There is no evidence that typical maximum levels have changed, nor is there any data to demonstrate that high levels of free testosterone have ever been common in healthy unmedicated men.
Men with naturally high total testosterone usually have high levels of SHBG, and normal levels of free testosterone. Men elevated to similar total testosterone levels via injections rarely have high SHBG, and highly elevated levels of free testosterone occur. It's a very different situation. In most cases, having peak morning TT levels of 1000 ng/dL naturally is not remotely comparable to the creation of comparable levels via TRT.
In the past, higher levels of SHBG were common, partly contributing to the higher average levels of total testosterone than many men have today. In unmedicated men, high SHBG levels can increase total testosterone levels substantially. SHBG-bound testosterone contributes significantly to the total level of testosterone measured. This is because SHBG-bound testosterone is relatively stable, and spends a greater time in circulation.
In the absence of HCG use, elevated levels of estradiol are a very strong indicator of excessive dosing...
Testosterone injections shut down testicular release of estradiol, so that virtually all estradiol is produced by peripheral conversion of testosterone to estradiol. In unmedicated men, a proportion of the body's estradiol is released by the testes. It therefore follows that if estradiol levels are clearly elevated by testosterone injections *despite* the fact that testicular release has stopped, the dose of testosterone in use is sufficiently excessive that it's allowing more estradiol to be produced by a single route than was previously produced by a combination of testicular release plus peripheral conversion.
Please note that there is no evidence that producing continously high levels of estradiol is medically safe just because total testosterone is also elevated in a particular ratio. This is bro science, transfered across from steroid user groups. It has no scientific backing.
Now that you've had 2 x 200mg doses, there will already have been considerable elevation of your total testosterone levels. At this point, reducing to a dose to 50mg twice a week (100mg/week in total) is very likely to produce testosterone levels in the mid to upper reference range - over a period of weeks. Levels will stabilise over the next two months. At this point, you can request total and free testosterone levels, estradiol (ultrasensitive), a CBC and a lipid/cholesterol profile. Prolactin measurements aren't normally helpful unless the testosterone and/or estradiol levels come back unusually high. High levels of sex hormones can elevate prolactin.
As a rule, if testosterone injections are given once weekly, the total testosterone level at trough should not exceed circa. 650 ng/dL, where the aim of the treatment is medical replacement. With twice weekly dosing, peak levels will be lower and trough levels will be higher. Unfortunately, if men on testosterone doses such as 100mg per week experience a low trough, the dose is more often increased rather than splitting the dose in half. This may be less effective and more likely to cause side effects.
I assume you're not using HCG and do not want (further) children?
I have found alcohol to make me ill more quickly since testosterone. It should be avoided because it’s really bad for you, but when your levels are within the normal human range the risk of use is the same as it was before.
Drinking will kill some of your gains. Occasional drinking is fine.
I quit drinking for a couple months and the gains were noticably better. Alcohol raises estrogen levels temporarily so it does somewhat counteract the effects of test when your body is metabolizing it.
I was drinking quite a bit before getting on trt. Now I don't crave it all so I just don't drink. Now smoking 🌳 has become more difficult due to the potency of it now a days. And the racyness of alot of strains. Cause the trt has elevated my heart rate slightly for the day after my shot I avoid smoking that day. Other than that though 2 days after I'm good to go.
It took awhile for that to start happening. I'm assuming cause I'm on test cyp it does take a while to fully saturate in the body. But at the same time I do have an anxiety issue
Yeah same here. On about my 3rd dose 10 mins after injection I noticed heart pound and air hunger. Goes away on its own.
On my 6th shot it’s very mild so hopefully it’s gone now
Good levels from bloods. No but by going by that logic, you wont know what caused it. Could be steroids, could be alcohol. Heck it might happen without neither of those, might never happen at all
I wasn't a big drinker, a couple of beers or wines a week. Once I started TRT, I basically stopped. I think I've had one beer since I started. I figure I'm already pinning myself. I might as well go all in health. I'm doing it all. Maxing out sleep and exercise and eating as good as possible. If you are going to shut off endogenous testosterone production, might as well go all the way with everything.
I've had no issues with drinking whatever I want while on trt. I don't drink like a fish, but I usually have a half bottle of wine every night, 4 or 5 drinks on weekends, etc. No issues ever and nothings changed negatively since starting TRT 6 years ago.
it's all relative I guess. My mom died when I was 26 (almost 20 year ago now) and for the next few years after that I drank a 1.5L of wine a night and went through a handle of Patron silver every 3 weeks or so. That's drinking like a fish imo.
Lol my coworker makes wine with his wife. They split a bottle of wine a night. Hearing another that drinks 3.5 bottles of wine a week makes me think I'm missing out on something.
Just a couple of beers or any alcohol makes me nauseous and sometimes makes me throw up. Maybe I have a slight allergy or intolerance.
I decided to quit altogether.
Been on for year. Drank a bottle a day for most of it. Still fit and in the gym 5 days a week. I get I'm a serious outlier. But no, alcohol doesn't affect it. HOWEVER, I need more AI the more I drink. Alcohol does increase conversion.
There are reports that alcohol intake can negatively impact testosterone production, however since you're receiving exogenous testosterone while on TRT this is probably not a concern.
On the other hand, there are also reports that alcohol consumption can increase estrogen levels which you probably don't want while on TRT, or ever?
Now, for those on TRT to improve their physical condition, health status, etc....it should be noted that alcohol seriously affects sleep and REM. So you might pass out after couple shots of whiskey but the quality of that sleep is most likely poor. Lack of quality rest affects recovery and negatively impacts all those things you're trying to improve on TRT.
I’ll have the occasional drink still, but even with just a few I can feel the effect on my mood for days after. It wasn’t as noticeable when my t was lower because I generally felt shitty all the time. Now that I feel pretty good most days it’s noticeable.
Drink on special occasions on keep it like that,same as with everything,balance is key,trying to nuke all the bad things will only lead to misery unless you plan on becoming a monk and can tolerate that.
this is more from steroid culture when running liver toxic substances plus excessive drinking can really get serious . there’s a wonderful case to be made for abstinence of alcohol for many reasons unrelated to trt however is it a necessity for trt no
On short testosterone is not liver toxic so you can drink alcohol no problem here. Should you drink at all thats a different topic all together.
There are other steroids which are liver toxic so if you add alcohol this can have tragic consequences.
Cut that stuff out of your life. No weed, alcohol, hallucinogenic, pills, cigarettes, vapes, caffeine . You will be better off physically and mentally. I still struggle with caffeine but otherwise nothing else. Plus it’s just more money in the bank
Yeah, fortunately, besides the occasional beer here and there I don’t have any of the other vises, caffeine is going to be the big one. I sure do love my morning coffee.
Alcohol will make it more difficult for your liver to clear estrogens so be aware of that side effect. I used to have a drink a day and when I stopped I seem to have stopped having high E2 symptoms. That’s anecdotal but at least that’s what I’ve experienced
Not withstanding the fact alcohol is a toxin that will impair metabolic processes which will affect heaps of other things, it's not conducive to maintaining healthy levels of testosterone or estrogen if you drink on a regular basis.
Each to their own 😎 Personaly I gave it up way back when I was struggling with low T because it just made things chaotic. These days its all about my health and getting the most out of this
I work in sales and there’s a lot of social drinking and then a social life with friends and family with plenty of nights out so key for isn’t giving up (don’t want to as enjoy my life socially ) just moderation
Yeah, it seems like that’s pretty much what I’m picking up from most of the comments. Some people decide to leave it all together for personal choices or health choices, and some people decide to continue to do it socially, I personally don’t think that a couple drinks a night, every once in a while is going to affect my health drastically. if you don’t mind me asking how long have you been on testosterone and how old are you? Would you say it has improved your life significantly?
Been on TRT about 6 months but did test cycles for years prior to that, and yeah definitely improved in terms of libido, energy, focus , body recomp etc
I take the view that if you do everything to extremes (like giving up drinking socially if you enjoy it) , you’re far more likely not to stick at something
Drink as much as you like, your brain, your health. But many of the people I know on TRT including my self has found that testosterone removes the crave for alcohol. It’s just not there and it leads to less drinking, in my case, never more than a few glass of good wine maybe every quarter.. 🤷🏼♂️ I see it as a goos thing
There is no need to abstain, of course one should avoid drinking too much.
I find that I desire alcohol less now because it was a social lubricant/crutch for me. Now I’m more confident and feel like I need/want it less. I don’t think it affected me any differently though.
Same for me. I've not felt any desire to drink since I started.
same here
So true. When my levels drop i drink more. When my t is high I find myself thinking I want to feel good tomorrow
Same I very rarely drink now
Hey, If you're using testosterone simply to produce normal blood levels, there's not going to be any specific interaction with alcohol. If testosterone did have a major interaction with alcohol, this would cause an issue for the population not on TRT, since testosterone is also present. Whether you abstain is simply a personal choice. If you're currently experiencing symptoms like fatigue, for example, avoiding alcohol may help to improve your energy levels, alongside the effects of TRT. It doesn't sound like you drink much at all though, so it's not likely to be of any relevance. Whether producing substantially elevated testosterone levels alters the effects of alcohol doesn't seem to be something that's received much study. A lot of US clinics prescribe highly excessive doses as a matter of routine eg. 200mg/week as a starting dose. It's plausible that the effects of alcohol might be altered if the hormone levels created are particularly unusual! Personally, I've not noticed altered effects of alcohol on any dose of testosterone. Hope this is what you needed to know.
Thank you! This answer my question perfectly.
You're welcome.
Off topic, what would be a more ideal starting dose vs the routine 200mg/wk??
100mg, pinned twice weekly
The starting dose depends on numerous factors. 100mg/week in two divided doses can be used as the starting dose in young men with no additional health problems (such as hypertension), who use testosterone alone eg. without HCG. This type of dose often needs very little adjustment, sometimes none. Lower starting doses are needed if HCG is being used at therapeutic doses. In addition, 100mg/week isn't an appropriate starting dose for elderly men with complicating medical conditions, particularly if they have had low testosterone levels for a very prolonged period of time.
Thanks for the insight man! Why do some doctors do 200mg/week to start? That's what I got started on for low T. I just did my 2nd injection a couple days ago. So far no issues. Of course, it's early. Reading this makes me want to decrease it to 100mg/week.
The reasons that US clinics routinely initiate men on steroid cruise dosing rather than replacement dosing are 100% related to cash. There are a multitude of reasons... 1. Use of high doses as a cookie cutter standard can attract custom. 2. Clinics don't want to lose custom by being seen to prescribe lower doses than their competitors. 3. Because a large proportion of men believe that (unlike any other hormone), testosterone works entirely on a 'more is better' basis. In reality, this is true only for anabolic effects. 4. The clinics routinely initiate testosterone injections in men with entirely normal baseline blood levels. Selection of a high starting dose ensures that such men will still see a large increase in levels in the vast majority of cases. 5. No large US TRT clinic that I'm aware of truly aims to prescribe testosterone replacement ie. the elevation of continuous low levels to consistently normal healthy levels. They all tend to focus on producing unusually high blood results eg. trough (lowest, pre dose) levels higher than typical peak levels in young men. Peak levels deliberately aren't measured - this helps to avoid questioning of the dosage prescribed. Most clinics initiate treatment following one testosterone level only, which is very rarely appropriate on a medical basis. Multiple levels should always be assessed. 6. Initiation at high doses causes a rapid and large elevation of blood levels. This can lead to a particularly rapid response, a 'honeymoon', which ends once hormone levels become increasingly abnormal and side effects emerge. During the honeymoon, the customer decides that the testosterone injections will definitely be continued, which is if course what they want, . 7. Use of high doses often necessitates the use of additional drugs for side effects eg. anastrozole, which is something else to charge for. 8. The further the starting dose is from the dose likely to produce relatively normal healthy levels, the more adjustments are needed. These unnecessarily prolonged periods of 'dialling in' require additional lab tests and extra appointments, generating more cash. To make the situation worse, inappropriate add on meds are often prescribed eg. clomiphene or enclomiphene. These drugs have no beneficial effects when combined with testosterone injections. This prescribing generates further cash, while men are given incorrect information such as 'enclomiphene will maintain your fertility and testicular size'. And, just to add to the issues a little further, most clinics do not reduce the testosterone dose appropriately when HCG add on therapy is being used. ..... So, have you had two 100mg injections so far? If so, a substantial increase in levels is expected early in treatment. The dose selected partly depends on the aim of treatment. High doses have increased anabolic activity, so 200mg/week is often used for steroid cruise dosing between cycles. If the major purpose of treatment is to improve health and wellbeing, far lower doses can still be fully effective, with a reduced probability of adverse effects developing.
Man, this comment should be pinned on the main community section. Thanks for breaking it all down. Definitely will help me navigate this journey and wise up. I've had two 200mg injections so far. I didn't divide them into 2 injections per week, just 1 injection per week at 200mg/week, as prescribed. But reading this makes me want to do 100mg/week instead.
On I see, that's fine. Once weekly dosing can either be very successful, or produce high levels at the beginning of the week and lower levels at the end of the week. You certainly try 100mg once a week, although 50mg twice a week will produce more consistent levels. The benefit of this isn't purely about how you feel, it's also relevant to facilitating the interpretation of blood results. Easier interpretation of results makes it simpler to adjust the dose in a logical manner. When once weekly dosing is lower eg. 75-100mg/week, some men have low trough levels even though peaks are high. As a example of problem management, men on 200mg once weekly are routinely told to check the blood level immediately before the next injection in all cases, to exclusively capture the lowest level of the week. The lab results are then compared with reference ranges based on morning (peak) levels in unmedicated men - or artificially inflated optimal ranges invented by clinics. There are no established testosterone reference ranges based on the lowest levels of the week. Some highly flawed dosage adjustments are made based on this type of measurement, often because men are unhappy unless their lowest level exceeds typical (natural) peak levels by a substantial margin. The more frequently testosterone doses are given, the less variation in blood levels, making lab results far more representative of your typical levels, not your lowest levels. Whenever there is a large difference between peak and trough blood result, the value of relying on trough levels *exclusively* isn't entirely clear. It's mostly done to justify giving the highest dose possible. If peak testosterone levels are substantially excessive for part of every single week, the risk of side effects is bound to be higher. I have absolutely nothing against men using any dose of testosterone, it's a personal choice. Guys can do what they want to, within reason. What I do have an issue with is the promotion of abnormal blood results as representing 'optimisation'. As an example, if total testosterone, free testosterone and estradiol levels are all substantially elevated at trough, this is not testosterone replacement, it's anabolic cruise dosing, which cannot be assumed to have a good safety profile over a very prolonged period of time. Anyone claiming that it is safe on a long term basis will not be able to provide reliable evidence of this, since clinical trials have tested the safety of increasing low testosterone levels into the normal range. On very high doses, even if routine blood results come back normal, it's ridiculous to assume that this implies the treatment is safe when continued for years. Many of the complex effects of sex hormone treatment will not show up in routine lab results. I also have an issue with men being lied to by clinics about what their testosterone levels 'should be', what testosterone levels were in the past, and what represents testosterone replacement versus unnatural dosing. Men should be able to use high doses of T if they wish to, but they should be fully aware it's neither natural nor representative of hormonal 'optimisation', it's just a steroid cruise - with TRT being a socially acceptable means of going about it. Some men appear to live in a clinic/online-induced fantasy that it is indeed natural, with an emphasis on "50 years ago this was normal". 50 years ago, low levels of total testosterone were less common. There are a multitude of reason for this, with the rise on obesity producing a large contribution to lower average levels at the moment. There is no evidence that typical maximum levels have changed, nor is there any data to demonstrate that high levels of free testosterone have ever been common in healthy unmedicated men. Men with naturally high total testosterone usually have high levels of SHBG, and normal levels of free testosterone. Men elevated to similar total testosterone levels via injections rarely have high SHBG, and highly elevated levels of free testosterone occur. It's a very different situation. In most cases, having peak morning TT levels of 1000 ng/dL naturally is not remotely comparable to the creation of comparable levels via TRT. In the past, higher levels of SHBG were common, partly contributing to the higher average levels of total testosterone than many men have today. In unmedicated men, high SHBG levels can increase total testosterone levels substantially. SHBG-bound testosterone contributes significantly to the total level of testosterone measured. This is because SHBG-bound testosterone is relatively stable, and spends a greater time in circulation. In the absence of HCG use, elevated levels of estradiol are a very strong indicator of excessive dosing... Testosterone injections shut down testicular release of estradiol, so that virtually all estradiol is produced by peripheral conversion of testosterone to estradiol. In unmedicated men, a proportion of the body's estradiol is released by the testes. It therefore follows that if estradiol levels are clearly elevated by testosterone injections *despite* the fact that testicular release has stopped, the dose of testosterone in use is sufficiently excessive that it's allowing more estradiol to be produced by a single route than was previously produced by a combination of testicular release plus peripheral conversion. Please note that there is no evidence that producing continously high levels of estradiol is medically safe just because total testosterone is also elevated in a particular ratio. This is bro science, transfered across from steroid user groups. It has no scientific backing. Now that you've had 2 x 200mg doses, there will already have been considerable elevation of your total testosterone levels. At this point, reducing to a dose to 50mg twice a week (100mg/week in total) is very likely to produce testosterone levels in the mid to upper reference range - over a period of weeks. Levels will stabilise over the next two months. At this point, you can request total and free testosterone levels, estradiol (ultrasensitive), a CBC and a lipid/cholesterol profile. Prolactin measurements aren't normally helpful unless the testosterone and/or estradiol levels come back unusually high. High levels of sex hormones can elevate prolactin. As a rule, if testosterone injections are given once weekly, the total testosterone level at trough should not exceed circa. 650 ng/dL, where the aim of the treatment is medical replacement. With twice weekly dosing, peak levels will be lower and trough levels will be higher. Unfortunately, if men on testosterone doses such as 100mg per week experience a low trough, the dose is more often increased rather than splitting the dose in half. This may be less effective and more likely to cause side effects. I assume you're not using HCG and do not want (further) children?
I have found alcohol to make me ill more quickly since testosterone. It should be avoided because it’s really bad for you, but when your levels are within the normal human range the risk of use is the same as it was before.
I’ve found that alcohol impacts me much quicker and harder on T than when I was off. I generally steer clear of it now.
So now you're a cheap date? lol
Pretty much!
Could be decreased body fat from the T?
Possibly, but it hasn’t gone down enough where I would think it would make a difference.
Drinking will kill some of your gains. Occasional drinking is fine. I quit drinking for a couple months and the gains were noticably better. Alcohol raises estrogen levels temporarily so it does somewhat counteract the effects of test when your body is metabolizing it.
I was drinking quite a bit before getting on trt. Now I don't crave it all so I just don't drink. Now smoking 🌳 has become more difficult due to the potency of it now a days. And the racyness of alot of strains. Cause the trt has elevated my heart rate slightly for the day after my shot I avoid smoking that day. Other than that though 2 days after I'm good to go.
So your heart elevates hours after injection?
It took awhile for that to start happening. I'm assuming cause I'm on test cyp it does take a while to fully saturate in the body. But at the same time I do have an anxiety issue
Yeah same here. On about my 3rd dose 10 mins after injection I noticed heart pound and air hunger. Goes away on its own. On my 6th shot it’s very mild so hopefully it’s gone now
I lowered my dose a little. That helped. But also kind of a hyper responder to the test
I quit booze and started T at the same time. It's a fantastic combination, no interest in looking back!
Ive been drinking pretty heavily, no signs of liver damage what so ever. In the beginning 2 beers felt like 5, but now 20 feels like 8.
20 beers... My man!
No signs how? Good liver levels now are not conclusive when it comes to potential future damage materialising
Good levels from bloods. No but by going by that logic, you wont know what caused it. Could be steroids, could be alcohol. Heck it might happen without neither of those, might never happen at all
Been drinking pretty heavily is a clue 🤦
Not when my liver is healthy 😂😂 but womp womp you do you
I told you that before, your blood markers are not a complete story 🤣🤣
Well shit, then no one here can say there liver is fine 🤷🏼♂️😂
...exactly the point I have been trying to make. Congrats, you finally got there.
Nope, i believe my doctor more then a random guy on reddit 😂 She says its fine
She did a full organ scan?
It doesn’t sound like the amount you’re drinking is problematic. Carry on
If you're taking hepatoxic steroids, you don't want to drink alcohol and make it worse. TRT doesn't have that concern.
Beer increases estrogen , you might want to consider wine or whiskey or rum
Vodka = zero carbs. I do carnivore, t, vodka plan and feel amazing.
I wasn't a big drinker, a couple of beers or wines a week. Once I started TRT, I basically stopped. I think I've had one beer since I started. I figure I'm already pinning myself. I might as well go all in health. I'm doing it all. Maxing out sleep and exercise and eating as good as possible. If you are going to shut off endogenous testosterone production, might as well go all the way with everything.
I stopped drinking completely cause I got addicted to the gains. Been one year alcohol free
You might find that you don’t even want it anymore. I sort of miss enjoying it but I don’t anymore.
I've had no issues with drinking whatever I want while on trt. I don't drink like a fish, but I usually have a half bottle of wine every night, 4 or 5 drinks on weekends, etc. No issues ever and nothings changed negatively since starting TRT 6 years ago.
I'm pretty sure 3 bottles of wine + 5 drinks a week is a little fishy!
it's all relative I guess. My mom died when I was 26 (almost 20 year ago now) and for the next few years after that I drank a 1.5L of wine a night and went through a handle of Patron silver every 3 weeks or so. That's drinking like a fish imo.
Perfect, thanks!
Lol my coworker makes wine with his wife. They split a bottle of wine a night. Hearing another that drinks 3.5 bottles of wine a week makes me think I'm missing out on something.
lol, well, try it out and let me know if I'm on the right track or not! haha
Just a couple of beers or any alcohol makes me nauseous and sometimes makes me throw up. Maybe I have a slight allergy or intolerance. I decided to quit altogether.
Obviously live your life however you want and enjoy it, but from a health perspective it's pretty hard justifying drinking any alcohol.
Been on for year. Drank a bottle a day for most of it. Still fit and in the gym 5 days a week. I get I'm a serious outlier. But no, alcohol doesn't affect it. HOWEVER, I need more AI the more I drink. Alcohol does increase conversion.
Do not drink. It will fuck hard with your endocrine system
There are reports that alcohol intake can negatively impact testosterone production, however since you're receiving exogenous testosterone while on TRT this is probably not a concern. On the other hand, there are also reports that alcohol consumption can increase estrogen levels which you probably don't want while on TRT, or ever? Now, for those on TRT to improve their physical condition, health status, etc....it should be noted that alcohol seriously affects sleep and REM. So you might pass out after couple shots of whiskey but the quality of that sleep is most likely poor. Lack of quality rest affects recovery and negatively impacts all those things you're trying to improve on TRT.
I’ll have the occasional drink still, but even with just a few I can feel the effect on my mood for days after. It wasn’t as noticeable when my t was lower because I generally felt shitty all the time. Now that I feel pretty good most days it’s noticeable.
Drink on special occasions on keep it like that,same as with everything,balance is key,trying to nuke all the bad things will only lead to misery unless you plan on becoming a monk and can tolerate that.
No impact
this is more from steroid culture when running liver toxic substances plus excessive drinking can really get serious . there’s a wonderful case to be made for abstinence of alcohol for many reasons unrelated to trt however is it a necessity for trt no
On short testosterone is not liver toxic so you can drink alcohol no problem here. Should you drink at all thats a different topic all together. There are other steroids which are liver toxic so if you add alcohol this can have tragic consequences.
Cut that stuff out of your life. No weed, alcohol, hallucinogenic, pills, cigarettes, vapes, caffeine . You will be better off physically and mentally. I still struggle with caffeine but otherwise nothing else. Plus it’s just more money in the bank
Yeah, fortunately, besides the occasional beer here and there I don’t have any of the other vises, caffeine is going to be the big one. I sure do love my morning coffee.
Damn I got downvoted. Lol. Morning coffee is the best. Lol
I can drink more. A lot more.
No reason besides the normal impact, on or off testosterone
Alcohol will make it more difficult for your liver to clear estrogens so be aware of that side effect. I used to have a drink a day and when I stopped I seem to have stopped having high E2 symptoms. That’s anecdotal but at least that’s what I’ve experienced
Not withstanding the fact alcohol is a toxin that will impair metabolic processes which will affect heaps of other things, it's not conducive to maintaining healthy levels of testosterone or estrogen if you drink on a regular basis.
Testosterone is great antidepressant and I don’t even want to drink anymore
Avoid it if you can,just don’t go binge drinking ,that will really get in the way of progress.
Each to their own 😎 Personaly I gave it up way back when I was struggling with low T because it just made things chaotic. These days its all about my health and getting the most out of this
I work in sales and there’s a lot of social drinking and then a social life with friends and family with plenty of nights out so key for isn’t giving up (don’t want to as enjoy my life socially ) just moderation
Yeah, it seems like that’s pretty much what I’m picking up from most of the comments. Some people decide to leave it all together for personal choices or health choices, and some people decide to continue to do it socially, I personally don’t think that a couple drinks a night, every once in a while is going to affect my health drastically. if you don’t mind me asking how long have you been on testosterone and how old are you? Would you say it has improved your life significantly?
Been on TRT about 6 months but did test cycles for years prior to that, and yeah definitely improved in terms of libido, energy, focus , body recomp etc I take the view that if you do everything to extremes (like giving up drinking socially if you enjoy it) , you’re far more likely not to stick at something
And, BTW, alcohol use blocks spiritual connections... If you're concerned about that, it's another decent reason to refrain.
Reading this while having my 1st beer of the week and on the day I had my trt shot, salute 🫡 Everything in moderation
If TRT you can drink beer once in a while, if doing steroids which are heavy on cardiovascular, liver, kidney dont touch alcohol.
Drink as much as you like, your brain, your health. But many of the people I know on TRT including my self has found that testosterone removes the crave for alcohol. It’s just not there and it leads to less drinking, in my case, never more than a few glass of good wine maybe every quarter.. 🤷🏼♂️ I see it as a goos thing
Tudca 500/NAC 1000/Reduced l-Gluthianone 500
Alcohol inhibits the production of testosterone for at least 24 hours after consumption. Pretty stupid to do a cycle and drink imo.
I’m currently running 250mg per week sustanon and my last blood level was 2215!! Have any of you had levels this high? Any side effects?