I Replace All My Hormones. Here Is What I Learned

[GelatinGoblin]

Keto doctor taking growth hormone vs me eating a Ray Peat inspired diet.

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Looking great man, Hope there are no negative consequences down the road

Just do TRT theory

 

[koreus]

No, a nuisance but a tiny tradeoff.

Thanks, good to hear. I suppose it is ground already covered by diabetics.

Another question, a bit of a strange one: how often do you poo?

I worry that with hormone replacement it would be easy to fall into the wrong balance leaning into constant energy and stimulating the sympathetic nervous system over rest and digest. With the wrong balance bowel movements may not be frequent enough to prevent intestinal petrifaction / infection / overgrowth.

 

[thingsvarious]

Thanks, good to hear. I suppose it is ground already covered by diabetics.

Another question, a bit of a strange one: how often do you poo?

I worry that with hormone replacement it would be easy to fall into the wrong balance leaning into constant energy and stimulating the sympathetic nervous system over rest and digest. With the wrong balance bowel movements may not be frequent enough to prevent intestinal petrifaction / infection / overgrowth.

Lol no. I poo every day like 2 times. With LOW thyroid or cortisol you are constipated. Also regarding your SNS -fear it is just wrong! My HRV did not decrease much.

 

[koreus]

Lol no. I poo every day like 2 times. With LOW thyroid or cortisol you are constipated. Also regarding your SNS -fear it is just wrong! My HRV did not decrease much.

Amazing results! You're making me consider finding an endocrinologist who will agree to do HRT along the same lines. The problem is I have raised Alanine transferase so not sure it would be safe. I hear corticosteroids are not good for a damaged liver.

 

[thingsvarious]

Amazing results! You're making me consider finding an endocrinologist who will agree to do HRT along the same lines. The problem is I have raised Alanine transferase so not sure it would be safe. I hear corticosteroids are not good for a damaged liver.

Cortisol is the LAST hormone I´t touch. Often if all others are adequate, cortisol takes care of itself. All the other hormones (thyroid, androgens, IGF1) will certainly be good for organ health.

 

[thingsvarious]

Amazing results! You're making me consider finding an endocrinologist who will agree to do HRT along the same lines. The problem is I have raised Alanine transferase so not sure it would be safe. I hear corticosteroids are not good for a damaged liver.

I don´t think hormones are bad for liver enzymes. HC is certainly not that great bc the liver gets a disproportionate load, but in general, not much detoxification needed and rarely do liver enzymes rise. What is more, IGF1 is great for the liver, and all other hormones (other than HC) elevate it

 

[thingsvarious]

Unfortunately, these endocrinologists who go to full hormonal optimization/replacement the way I do are incredibly rare. Anti-aging doctors sometimes do so

 

[PhoenixGaia]

This is insane. I am genuinely impressed. Hoping for clinical trials on this

 

[Ihor]

@thingsvarious Hi, you are doing interestesting things, I want to ask about Fludrocortisone.

- How safe is fludrocortisone in general and in what doses?
- Do you take it through low aldosterone or renin and can you take it without testing these two?
- What are the benefits you get from it and how much has it changed the game compared to other substituted hormones?

 

[Lokzo]

I tried 1mg of Hydrocortisone a few days back.

Can't really say I noticed much... Will repeat the experiment in a few weeks time at 2mg.

 

[Llta123]

I'm in my mid-twenties and my latest levels were: 14 nmol/L total testosterone, 44 SHBG. Having done everything I can think of to try to improve my health, I don't think I can raise these numbers more naturally. My biggest issue is non-existant libido. Do you think TRT is justified here?

 

[PhoenixGaia]

I'm in my mid-twenties and my latest levels were: 14 nmol/L total testosterone, 44 SHBG. Having done everything I can think of to try to improve my health, I don't think I can raise these numbers more naturally. My biggest issue is non-existant libido. Do you think TRT is justified here?

I an unqualified fanboy but this does seem a tad low to me.. With total t and SHBG you should be able to calculate your free t, just google "free testosterone calculator"

 

[thingsvarious]

I an unqualified fanboy but this does seem a tad low to me.. With total t and SHBG you should be able to calculate your free t, just google "free testosterone calculator"

You are correct. Calculating free T yourself is much more accurate than

I'm in my mid-twenties and my latest levels were: 14 nmol/L total testosterone, 44 SHBG. Having done everything I can think of to try to improve my health, I don't think I can raise these numbers more naturally. My biggest issue is non-existant libido. Do you think TRT is justified here?

I think it might be certainly worth a try!

 

[PhoenixGaia]

You are correct. Calculating free T yourself is much more accurate than

I think it might be certainly worth a try!

Thank you. What I dont understand is the difference between testing free T and bioavailable T. What do you recommend?

 

[golder]

I tried 1mg of Hydrocortisone a few days back.

Can't really say I noticed much... Will repeat the experiment in a few weeks time at 2mg.

Can you keep us posted on the results of this please Lokzo?

 

[golder]

I want to share my journey with hormone replacement because I believe it might be useful to others.

Beacuse hormones are extensively talked about here on RPF, I do think that others might benefit from some of the stuff I learned along my way.

I am a medical student in my last year. I replace all of my hormones. I have been doing this for some years now.


What I take. But what works for me might not work for others.

• TRT: Test Cyp (50mg subQ 2x/week), HcG (250iu subQ 2x/week),
  
  
• cortisol: cortisone acetate (20mg/d HC equivalent) (split into 4 daily doses)
  
  
• thyroid: 1.25 grains NDT + 6.25mcg T3 (a few hours later in the day)
  
  
• GH: 0.5iu genotropin pfizer (aiming for IGF1 of 250) prebed
  
  
• fludrocortisone 01.mg/d morning
  
  
• melatonin: 0.25mg sublingual prebed

Everyone is different, but the target range I aim for is in the upper tertile of the youthful reference range. Just falling somewhere within the reference range is not “optimal”. The reference range covers 95% of the population. Certainly more than 5% of the population have hormones bad enough to warrant intervention.

This is how I look now vs. then. Before and after 4 years of replacing my hormones. - Imgur.

I am aware that this is rather uncharted territory, esp. in a DIY kind of way. As a medical student in my last year I am well aware of the risks. But to me the cost-benefit analysis is a no-brainer. If I had to, I would sign a contract to rather live 10 more years with my new vitality and then die instead of living to one hundred with the dreadful state I was in before.

I do extensive blood tests (complete hormone panel, metabolic health, general health) around every 3-4 months. I would´t dare doing anything (not even starting) without it.

Other stuff I do: keto/paleo, HIIT, weekly rapamycin, a bunch of supplements (all of them together less worth than a slight alteration in hormones), some exercise every day, sleep around 6h (wake up refreshed without alarm -before HRT I needed 8+).

After years of studying, researching, experimenting, testing I did a writeup about some stuff I have learned along the way.

My goal with all my writing is to point people into the right direction to remove biological shackles allowing them become the best version of themselves and live life fully.


Had I known what I know now, it would have saved me lots of time, money, happiness, effort, researching, experimenting. And suffering. I hope some of you find value in it . Enjoy.

How To Fix Your Hormones: The Ultimate Guide


I am open for any feedback and criticism.

I am sure some of you are quite knowledgable and experienced and might give valuable feedback/criticism and point out blind spots or other stuff I didn´t think about. What are your thoughts on all this? As I am in my mid twenties, do you think this is sustainable for decades?
For questions/feedback you don´t want to post here my email: [email protected]

Pardon the novice/naïve questions. Really really enjoyed your podcast with Lokzo, great temperament/ethos/ambitions/curiosity:

1) Do you have any thoughts on transdermal test rather than IV? I'm a touch needle phobic and I just have the intuition (rightly or wrongly) that a smaller dose and slower absorption topically rather than subQ would potentially raise E2 less? I already have high estrogen.
2) Is the pre-bed melatonin safe long term? I know Peat doesn't tend to look on it favorably, but I had a fantastic sleep on it last week at 0.5mg and wanted to know your thoughts.
3) Why the 0.1mg fludrocortisone first thing in the morning rather than the cortisone acetate that you spread throughout the rest of the day?
4) When do you take your 1.25 grains NDT? What brand? Why the isolated T3 shortly thereafter? I heard you mention that you think T3 alone is a lot more dangerous, so I was surprised you don't do something like 0.75 grains in the AM and then say 0.5 grains in the PM?
5) I notice on this post you mention you take pre-bed GH, but on the podcast you said you have far better sleep quality (according to aura) when you have the GH in the morning?
6) I have an inverted diurnal rhythm or cortisol where I feel like it 'picks up steam' throughout the day, so the morning is incredibly slow and sluggish, but the evening is productive but result in late nights. Would cortisone acetate in the mornings (or fludrocortisone?) work to start correcting this imbalanced rhythm? I know your replacement protocol is effectively aimed indefinitely, but in your expertise, do you think there is a chance of resetting this pattern and then titrating off whilst maintaining the new schedule? Thank you very much, really appreciate your insights.

 

[thingsvarious]

Thank you. What I dont understand is the difference between testing free T and bioavailable T. What do you recommend?

I recommend getting total T and SHBG and albumin. Much more useful than free T or bioavailable T

 

[PhoenixGaia]

I recommend getting total T and SHBG and albumin. Much more useful than free T or bioavailable T

Okay and then use a calculator, right?

 

[Callmestar]

@thingsvarious Hi, you are doing interestesting things, I want to ask about Fludrocortisone.

- How safe is fludrocortisone in general and in what doses?
- Do you take it through low aldosterone or renin and can you take it without testing these two?
- What are the benefits you get from it and how much has it changed the game compared to other substituted hormones?

Also interested to here answers to these questions on Fludrocortisone. I'm considering taking it as I suspect there may be an issue with my Aldosterone.

 

[thingsvarious]

Also interested to here answers to these questions on Fludrocortisone. I'm considering taking it as I suspect there may be an issue with my Aldosterone.

-Fludrocortisone is pretty safe in low doses (0.05mg -0.1mg). We produce around 150mcg of aldosterone per day (depending on many factors).

- I do not test for renin-aldosterone ratio. I just make sure I get enough potassium and that my blood pressure is fine (currently 115/60).

- Depends on how much your hypocortisolemic symptoms are due to hypotonia and dysautonomia, so very individual. Personally, I have much less brain fog.