# STEROIDS FORUM > HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY- Low T, Anti-Aging >  How much test can you take before own production shuts down?

## slimz

Is it possible to up your test levels with sustonan 250 taking it one shot a month(like it was designed for
) without shutting your own production down. What I am trying to do is to raise my levels just a little bit without shutting down my own production. Does anyone know how much test it takes to start shutting down own production?

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## Noles12

Even a low dosage will shut you down. Synthetic testosterone does not supplement natural. Your body sees it as one or the other

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## HRTstudent

"shut down" is relative and it's not an all or nothing type of situation. Upon taking exogenous androgens your body responds within hours. 

Also Sustanon 250 is a poor choice for testosterone repla***ent. And taking it once a month is a very poor idea. Frankly, judging by your wording I feel you should be under the treatment of a trained physician or just avoid this experimentation altogether.

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## Bio-Active

are you considering TRT under a physicians care?




> Is it possible to up your test levels with sustonan 250 taking it one shot a month(like it was designed for
> ) without shutting your own production down. What I am trying to do is to raise my levels just a little bit without shutting down my own production. Does anyone know how much test it takes to start shutting down own production?

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## Gym_

The more you have the more it lowers your own ... 
You body trys to regulate its self so the more you put in the less you produce

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## Vettester

OP, are you saying that Sust was designed to be taken 1x per month?  :Hmmmm: 

I can't imagine in my wildest dreams that anyone would ever take a shot 1x per month, whether it be TRT or anything else. With the exception of Nebido, prolonging anything else would just be an epic failure.

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## havehotasianwife

One of my clients is a old man and gets a shot once a month of something. He gets it at the veterans hospital. Which do you think they would be using only once a month cause I never heard of anything once a month injection

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## Far from massive

Hopefully Testosterone Undecanoate as this is the only ester of testosterone with a half life that will support this kind of dosing schedule. This is usually marketed as Nebido which I do not believe is yet available in the US however maybe the VA has an exception or he is involved in some kind of trial.

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## ecdysone

> Is it possible to up your test levels with sustonan 250 taking it one shot a month(like it was designed for
> ) without shutting your own production down. What I am trying to do is to raise my levels just a little bit without shutting down my own production. Does anyone know how much test it takes to start shutting down own production?


Interesting thought, but the short answer: No

The reason is your natural production is something like 5-10 mg/day, if you supplement much more (±) the HPTA feedback loop will just start ratcheting down your own production. 

Would be a great experiment for someone to figure out how much you could supplement each day but still keep the natural production going.

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## Brickhouse

Very interesting thread.......But I am a bit confused!

I am going on Testo-Gel (A very weak form of Test).......Will this shut my natural Test levels down?

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## steroid.com 1

OP - Why not just consider am hCG protocol to increase natty production.

Brick - Any exogenus test can cause HPTA suppression and why we do BW.

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## pugster

brick , the gels are not 'very weak' , they are just another delivery method and work perfectly well for most ppl , any external test product will shut you down eventually just some faster than others.

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## Brickhouse

> brick , the gels are not 'very weak' , they are just another delivery method and work perfectly well for most ppl , any external test product will shut you down eventually just some faster than others.


I see, thank you. So some AAS you can inject or take orally and be shut down within hours/days, which is the worst for shutting someone down the fastest? And some a bit longer? There is so much to learn about AAS and there was me in my 20's taking 10-15 tabs ed of Dianabol for 8 weeks at a time and thinking nothing of it apart from it making my anxiety worse!!

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## pugster

> I see, thank you. So some AAS you can inject or take orally and be shut down within hours/days, which is the worst for shutting someone down the fastest? And some a bit longer? There is so much to learn about AAS and there was me in my 20's taking 10-15 tabs ed of Dianabol for 8 weeks at a time and thinking nothing of it apart from it making my anxiety worse!!



if i were you i'd stop worrying about every little detail  :Smilie:  , when you get it, take your gel as prescribed, wait a few weeks to see results, then start thinking about whether the dosage needs adjusting etc, you are making yourself stressed atm trying to work out every detail and eventuality  :Smilie:

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## Brickhouse

> if i were you i'd stop worrying about every little detail  , when you get it, take your gel as prescribed, wait a few weeks to see results, then start thinking about whether the dosage needs adjusting etc, you are making yourself stressed atm trying to work out every detail and eventuality


So true.....I am making myself stressed! I am very much looking forward to it yet the shutdown scares me.....But I will do as I am told and take the dose I am recommended!

*Slimz*.....Sorry for hijack of thread bro!!

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## Times Roman

ANY Test you take will be offset by a reduction to your natty production.

think of the thermostat in your house. set at 70. you bring in this internal heater and it raises up temperature to 80. your house heater will cut off till it hits the preset temparature (below 70) and kicks the heater on again.

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## yannick35

> One of my clients is a old man and gets a shot once a month of something. He gets it at the veterans hospital. Which do you think they would be using only once a month cause I never heard of anything once a month injection


Don't forget that most medical doctor don't even know how to administrate proper TRT.

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## ecdysone

> ANY Test you take will be offset by a reduction to your natty production.
> 
> think of the thermostat in your house. set at 70. you bring in this internal heater and it raises up temperature to 80. your house heater will cut off till it hits the preset temparature (below 70) and kicks the heater on again.


I don't believe your analogy completely works for most guys on this forum. The problem for many (especially older) guys is their pituitary regulatory system (HPTA axis), which may be thought of as the "thermostat" is 'sticking.' Their lower test concentrations do not trigger the expected compensatory rise in FSH/LH levels, indeed, in most cases these regulatory chemicals are in the normal range. 

The upshot is there should not be a one-for-one offset - one could expect some the exogenous testosterone not to promote much of a regulatory feedback. Not saying I have the slightest idea at what level this would occur, but it might be possible to administer small doses of test without suppression of the natty production in populations with a compromised HPTA axis.

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## bass

> ANY Test you take will be offset by a reduction to your natty production.
> 
> think of the thermostat in your house. set at 70. you bring in this internal heater and it raises up temperature to 80. your house heater will cut off till it hits the preset temparature (below 70) and kicks the heater on again.


LOL TR! hot day in Afghanistan today! i don't think you put enough thought in your analogy! i wish thats how it worked, but we all know the main heater will not kick in when it reaches 69 or below!

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## JohnnyVegas

My heater wasn't producing nearly enough heat on its own. It couldn't possibly bring the temp up to what I set the thermostat for. I had to bring in another, supplemental heater. Wait, do I have this analogy right? Heh.

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## havehotasianwife

This cracks me up  :Smilie:

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## bullshark99

LOL, Bass u said it best! I dont think the heater will kick back in at sub-freezing temps!

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## slimz

Well, sustanon 250 was designed in Europe for the intention of 3-4 week injections from my understanding. So I was just thinking if I take one shot (which will last for about a month) it will slowly give me a little test everyday. I just was not sure if it would be enough to shot down my own production. I have been on and off cycling for about 10yrs. with proper pct each time. Now i have been off test for 1 1/2 yrs. And just recently I felt like my own test came back to somewhat normal levels. Just wanted a little boost without going on cycles again. Now I went to a doc before for bloodwork but the bastard would not test me for test and estrogen levels on my request without a medical reason since I wanted to have my insurance cover bloodwork testing.

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## pugster

'sustanon 250 was designed in Europe for the intention of 3-4 week injections from my understanding'

you are missing the main point , its designed as a repla***ent , not a bolt on therapy, so any amount you inject your body will down regulate to what it considers it needs, your body does not produce a continous rate on top of what you use as an external source.
(i think thats right anyway , someone with more experience can probably explain it better)

tbh ive never used AS before hrt and ive been learning myself over the last 12 months of how it works , it amazes me the amount of ppl that are long term AS users that have very little knowledge of what they have been using /doing , this is not a personal dig just a basic observation reading posts on here.

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## flatscat

I have always understood that it is an all or nothing outcome when exogenous test is added - any amount that mimics anywhere close to natty production will shut down your axis - which would be 3+ mg's a day. I would love to hear/see opinions that contradict this. 

We see this all the time when guys are started on a very low daily dose of gel.

I guess it also depends on the threshold number for saying one is "shut down".

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## HRTstudent

> I have always understood that it is an all or nothing outcome when exogenous test is added - any amount that mimics anywhere close to natty production will shut down your axis - which would be 3+ mg's a day. I would love to hear/see opinions that contradict this. 
> 
> We see this all the time when guys are started on a very low daily dose of gel.
> 
> I guess it also depends on the threshold number for saying one is "shut down".


being shut down is not all or nothing.... there are varying degrees. Any amount will impact natural production, but the degree to that depends on how much exogenous T is administered as well as physiology differences.

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## JohnnyVegas

> being shut down is not all or nothing.... there are varying degrees. Any amount will impact natural production, but the degree to that depends on how much exogenous T is administered as well as physiology differences.


Since most of us (on TRT) take more exogenous test than the body would produce on its own, I think it is safe to say that we will all shut down. We counteract that with HCG to a certain extent, but that is really for testicular atrophy rather than keeping production up. 

I have read that 200mg/wk will result in shut down in as little as two weeks. Not sure how it would work with 100mg/wk.

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## flatscat

> being shut down is not all or nothing.... there are varying degrees. Any amount will impact natural production, but the degree to that depends on how much exogenous T is administered as well as physiology differences.


So you say. I am not buying it at this point.

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## steroid.com 1

> I have always understood that it is an all or nothing outcome when exogenous test is added - any amount that mimics anywhere close to natty production will shut down your axis - which would be 3+ mg's a day. I would love to hear/see opinions that contradict this. 
> 
> We see this all the time when guys are started on a very low daily dose of gel.
> 
> I guess it also depends on the threshold number for saying one is "shut down".


Couldn't be explained any better.

hrt - Please provide something supportive of varying degrees of shut down. I have always been under the belief that any increase in serum levels over what the body is used to producing (especially in hypogonadal men) will induce HPTA shutdown to a pretty significant degree. 

I do understand that some men will not shut down 100% and there are variances here but for the most part they are close to shut down if not shut down.

I think the challenge here, beyond LH/FSH assays, it's hard to determine if a man is shut down besides the neg sides that come with it like testicular atrophy and other symptoms.

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## dikow

> I have always understood that it is an all or nothing outcome when exogenous test is added - any amount that mimics anywhere close to natty production will shut down your axis - which would be 3+ mg's a day. I would love to hear/see opinions that contradict this. 
> 
> We see this all the time when guys are started on a very low daily dose of gel.
> 
> I guess it also depends on the threshold number for saying one is "shut down".


Perhaps this "low daily dose of gel" you mention is still higher than what the body naturally produces, hence why problems could happen.

I think the key is to administer daily a micro dose that is smaller than what your body would produce naturally. I will do this experiment with a T Cream 50mg/mL , using only 0.1ml a day (5mg of T daily). 

However, 5mg is still higher than my natural production, but with the cream the absorption rate is around 10%, so only 0.5mg of T would be going to my system daily. I will start the experiment with this very low dose and up the dose every 3 months, to assess any progress in terms of T supplementation instead of the traditional replacement.

Any thoughts/comments/warnings on this approach bros? Please let me know before I start the experiment.

I hope that with T micro dosing I can get more benefits than those T Boosters!

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## EDCG19

Bumped old thread..

Also. What's the point of adding in very low test and still wanting to not affect your natural levels. It doesn't really work that way, either take a moderate TRT dose or stay away from this stuff. Your blood work dictates what you need to do or add in...

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

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## dikow

> Bumped old thread..
> 
> Also. What's the point of adding in very low test *and still wanting to not affect your natural levels.* It doesn't really work that way, either take a moderate TRT dose or stay away from this stuff. Your blood work dictates what you need to do or add in...
> 
> Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk


I do indeed want to affect my natural levels, that's the whole point of supplementation instead of replacement. I just don't want to overdo on this to the point my natural T is shutdown.

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## Bio-Active

> I do indeed want to affect my natural levels, that's the whole point of supplementation instead of replacement. I just don't want to overdo on this to the point my natural T is shutdown.


You rally need to start a new thread. You can't supplement test. Whatever you out in your body will know and just reduce your endogenous production to match what it was before. There no point unless your going to do enough to make your levels higher then your natty level. It's just the way it works

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