Natural testosterone increase after cycle??!!

[Mike01979]

I have been lurking and reading on this forum for about a year now (albeit passively), it is a great source of info.

I am 35 yo and have been lifting seriously for around 4 years. I used to be fat and managed to lose a lot of weight, now I am around 15% bf with the lowest I have been around 12% bf.

I find it extremely hard to build muscle naturally. Last year I decided to measure my testosterone and sure enough, my results were lower than the lowest recommended threshold, but not by much. My doctor said it is not necessary to be on trt.

Since then, I decided to give AAS a try, to hopefully put on a few pounds of muscle.

I got both dbol and test prop, but decided to start with a dbol only cycle in order to better control any side-effects, since I had no clue how I would react. I know an oral-only cycle is supposed to be "far from optimal" or "wrong" etc.. but I wanted to make baby steps.

Just before the cycle starts, I have done another Total testosterone bloodwork, and the result came fairly similar to the one I had done a few months earlier, clearly below the recommended values.

I took dbol for 6 weeks, at 40mg per day. I gained around 10kgs in total, half of which is water since I put them on in the first week.

On the 4th week of the cycle I felt that I got shutdown. My nuts became noticeably smaller, and I had difficulty maintaining erections.

At the end of the cycle, on the day after my last dbol pill, I have done another total testosterone bloodwork, and indeed a week later the results came, and I had almost ZERO testosterone. I was fully shutdown.

Of course I have done a PCT, consisting of Nolva and Clomid, however after 4 days I decided to stop the Nolva and stick with Clomid at 50mg ed.

2 weeks into PCT, I felt that my libido returned and that my nuts got their original size. So I decided to make another testosterone bloodwork, and here came the big surprise, my results came better than the average!

Remember my natural test levels are normally below the lowest recommended range, and now suddenly I am close to the upper limit!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!

During the dbol cycle my strength was increasing, and I was expecting that after the cycle I will lose some of this strength. But that did not happen and I kept making progress 4 weeks after the end of the cycle.

I lost the water I was storing on dbol, but I kept 5kgs (11 lbs?) and no fat gain. This may not be huge, but for me it is a blessing. For the fist time I can see a clear split between my shoulders and triceps giving me an improved figure.

The question is: is it normal to have a natural testosterone increase after a cycle? this seems to contradict a lot of the current post-cycle expectations.

I will do another testosterone bloodwork in another 2 weeks (yes many bloodworks but I tend to be very anal and fact-oriented) to make sure test levels are still ok after I had stopped Clomid for a while.

For my next cycle I am planning to do a dbol + prop cycle.

Does any of you have an opinion on the reason behind the rapid natural testosterone increase I had? Is it the Clomid? Is it just a temporary rebound? Is there a way to maintain it?

Is it normal?

 

[Zinergy]

If you were on clomid the reading are false. Clomid acts as LH so your test will be elevated quite a bit until you stop clomid. Well it's not false but it's elevated from clomid and will return after stopping.

Take another panel 4 weeks after stopping clomid.

 

[buddhabuilder]

It is possible to raise your natural levels by increasing the quality of your BMI. Less fat and more lean muscle leads to this, and it can be done without gear. zinergy is spot on here, and I would wait at least 4 weeks after PCT for bloods to really know where your at. As a side note, you should have a better idea of an appropriate PCT if you've been studying here.

 

[Mike01979]

I had the feeling it was too good to last. So I guess the party will be over soon and will be back to my old test levels.

I am aware of the different pct options but since I had pharmaceutical clomid and nolva, I preferred to keep it simple and see if they would lead me to good recovery.

I guess I react well to Clomid since in 2 weeks I was fully recovered and more. I am not sure I would get more benefits by using additional compounds. If on my next cycles Clomid becomes less efficient I will surely look into optimizing my pct.

 

[stevesmi]

zinergy is correct.

do some research on how SERM's work and you will understand how they manipulate your numbers. unfortunately when you stop taking them and wait a few weeks your numbers will begin to drop lower and lower and actually in a lot of cases become lower than they were before!! before they settle back up to normal levels. its like a roller coaster as long as you mess with hormones and these hormone affecting drugs this will happen . .

this is why you need to be running a natural T booster to get you through the rough patch and not just depend on SERM's for pct. hope that helps

 

[Mike01979]

Thanks for the replies. I guess it makes sense.

Do you believe it helps to tapper down Clomid over a long duration such as to avoid an abrupt fall of test below the normal levels?

 

[Nelson Montana]

Thanks for the replies. I guess it makes sense.

Do you believe it helps to tapper down Clomid over a long duration such as to avoid an abrupt fall of test below the normal levels?

This is why clomid is useless. Once you stop,you're back to square one. Get some unleashed and pf postcycle and start some real recovery.

 

[stevesmi]

Thanks for the replies. I guess it makes sense.

Do you believe it helps to tapper down Clomid over a long duration such as to avoid an abrupt fall of test below the normal levels?

no because the half life is so long anyway that if you taper it down its only going to linger in your system in small amounts.. but it has to be out of your system totally first

 

[Jbranken]

This is why clomid is useless. Once you stop,you're back to square one. Get some unleashed and pf postcycle and start some real recovery.

I can agree with this. I've ran my last two pct's without a SERM and not only did I feel better, but I recovered just fine on natty t boosting stacks alone. The only real good a SERM does is blocking E from creating breast tissue but this can easily be achieved with aromasin, which also helps boost natty T levels

 

[stevesmi]

the SERM idea on the surface seems like a great theory. but its only a bridge as you taper away the hormones in the system.

notice the SERM strategy Is after a 12-20 week cycle running SERM's for 3-4 weeks. does anyone really believe you are fully recovered from a 3-5 month cycle after ONLY 3 or 4 weeks on a SERM? ummmmm.. no! but the fools gold is when guys run bloods and see their LH at 10 and their T at 1000 so they assume 'hey i'm recovered so let me hop on another cycle"

I see that all the time and people wonder why they have to go on HRT at 25 years old

another mistake is using hcg in pct.. WRONG!! hcg suppresses LH and FSH prolonging recovery and since it boosts T levels again people think they are recovered because they neglect testing their LH when they do bloods *more fools gold* . so if anything you should use hcg WHILE the hormones are tapering away and then hop on natural supps to provide your bridge for 8 weeks while your body is recovering to full functionality. T stack Rx is a perfect supp for that because it covers you from A to Z. http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/a...-before-test-stack-rx-came-along-1257623.html