There’s a lot of talk nowadays about microdosing testosterone replacement therapy. We all know that testosterone is an essential hormone in both men and women, and as we get older there’s a decline in our production (from testes in men/ ovaries in women). Biochemically, there’s also a conversion process that’s supposed to happen from adrenal gland hormones but in our modern stressed culture, the adrenal over-produces stress hormones such as cortisol. We don’t produce the basic building blocks for sex hormones.
I’ve seen many men even in their 30s who for some reason have very low levels. We can’t say that they’re in primary testicular failure (equivalent to a sudden early menopause in a woman) because the overall hormone profile does not indicate this, but testosterone levels are definitely low..
Characteristically the men may feel that they have less energy, perhaps less ambition, and definitely a problem in keeping up muscle mass. Libido might or might not be dwindling. According to age, they may have developed fat around the abdomen more than they used to!
MICRODOSING TRT (TESTOSTERONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY)
So, what does microdosing mean? It simply means that we use the smallest effective dose to achieve the outcome – which is having stable testosterone levels. Also, we do that in the most effective way which for some people maybe injections and some creams or gels. (The testosterone transdermal through the skin method is equally valid and, in many cases, better.)
Pharmacokinetics is a very complex subject but means that once we give a drug such as an antibiotic or injection, they all have individual times of getting absorbed into the system, reaching the peak blood level and then the body eliminating them from the system. That’s where some antibiotics are given once a day, twice, or even three times a day.
With testosterone replacement therapy we have of course the short-acting testosterone which comes to its peak in a few days and may last for two to four weeks. The longer acting can be more useful however they take one month to peak and can last for three to four months.
HOW MICRODOSING TRT HELPS
However, the peaks and troughs can be quite dramatic as you see from this graph of long-acting testosterone. This isn’t what we will call ‘physiological’, as of course in the normal biological state the testes are producing it on a daily basis So for some people it’s a good idea to give small DOSES – MICRODOSE – on a more frequent basis. Especially in the beginning of TRT we need to give more to get the levels up to normal and then we give less when we maintain these levels.
As with hormones and women, the point is not to give them superhuman levels so that they can develop enormous muscles, but to give them levels that are normal and physiological. In this way, they won’t have side effects and with proper testosterone replacement therapy monitoring of course levels of minimum, ‘trough’, and maximum, ‘Peaks’, should be done on a regular basis.
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