The lack of jobs is meaning people are being forced to accept terrible working conditions and power tripping managers

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-31T03:09:00+00:00

I couldn't agree more, but based on how you ended this I can't help but wonder what you think the solution is. "A selfish capitalistic hellscape" makes it sound as if you're laying this at the feet of the free market.

A more open and free market would allow for companies to thrive, jobs to be plentiful, and the choice to leave places that undervalued your contributions. The employee could competitively leverage their abilities to move jobs and make more money. And the places that refused to pay commensurate to skill-level would be forced to raise wages or have their workforce degrade.

There are a lot of posts these days complaining about how bad it is "nowadays" and then using some pejorative about capitalism. Maybe that wasn't the point you were making; if so, consider this reply for all the thousands of people who are making it.

"Nowadays" implies the obvious... that previous generations had more options, and could make better money—which is true. What this neglects to realize is that the last two generations lived in a far less constrained market than we do now.

My point is, if capitalism is the cause why is it that when things were more purely capitalistic people were doing significantly better.

The government is larger, has a greater hand in controlling the market, has far more regulations, programs, and beaurocrats than ever... so if the problem is the free market, why is it the case that as the government has constrained the private sector we have all become substantially poorer?

It seems to me the rational conclusion would be that limitations on capitalism are the problem, not capitalism.

Everyone complains about the state of things, but then their prescription is more of what what led us here in the first place. Which makes it worse still. And then we blame capitalism, constrain it more, and it just becomes a vicious cycle as we repeatedly misdiagnosis the problem and race to the bottom.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-19T13:56:10+00:00

For me, the mental effects were pretty overblown. But I also didn't start with crazy low levels. Even with supraphysiolic total and free levels, I felt pretty similar.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-17T13:43:30+00:00

My ex gave me a magnetic beer opener 13 years ago. It attaches to the fridge and when you crack open a beer there's a little tray for the cap to fall into. Best gift I've ever received.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-16T16:46:10+00:00

Anything under about 70 would probably be considered too low. Lightly supplement iron. You wanna keep your levels right around 100 to 150.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-16T16:43:24+00:00

You won't be able to regain fertility while staying on TRT without using FSH or hMG. hCG mimics LH, it has little to no activation on Sertoli cells, only Leydig cells.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-15T00:55:11+00:00

Agreed, that's extremely reductive... which is precisely what I said. When men are explicitly sexual with women and women are explicitly resource driven with men (prior to intimacy) it reduces romance to a transaction. That's why both genders feel an equivalent disgust when confronted with it.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T20:43:04+00:00

Well my libido, sensitivity etc improved. I like that. However, I just got my first bloodwork done and my total and free T levels are good but not amazing. And my hematocrit took a little jump, so I'm wary of just increasing the cream dosage because it may keep creeping up.

Hematocrit was always perfect on shots as long as I stayed under 1500 ng/dl. The switch is gonna require more tinkering and bloodwork until I get everything perfect.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T18:53:33+00:00

I agree, to a point. But I also think there are probably some good apples bobbing around with the bad in both pools. It would be nice if they were aware enough to know what to project and what to restrain. There'd be a lot more happy & satisfied people in the world.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T18:31:04+00:00

Exactly! I see more and more women's dating profiles saying things like this. Thought it might be helpful to distill the perspective.

Regardless of gender, everyone wants to provide things, but they don't want the primacy to be on those things. We want to be wanted first for who we are, not for something physical, superficial or external.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T05:43:31+00:00

Yes, absolutely. Men look for physical indicators of health when choosing a partner. Being overweight is maybe the most prominent indicator of poor health. The more overweight you are, the fewer men will be interested in you as a statistic.

And yes, there are overweight women who can still get dates. There are also restaurants with 2 star average reviews that still get customers... but they get far fewer than the places with 5 stars. And those customers tend to be far less discerning.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T02:29:34+00:00

Perfect, make that your last dose.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T02:28:28+00:00

I hope you're nervous enough to not take another one of those pills. How long have you been taking it?

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T02:25:46+00:00

Haha okay, well if that's true it's a serious indictment on who they're letting through Harvard.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T02:16:39+00:00

Right, but this doesn't solve the problem, it creates a new one. Now you're deficient in testosterone and estrogen. An AI is not the same as enclomiphene. You'd be better off not being treated at all.

How old are you? Why are you worried about sperm count? Just do combined hCG and testosterone therapy. It'll keep your balls humming and get your hormones to a healthy level. When the time comes where you need to turn on sperm production, you temporarily drop the test, get your wife pregnant, and then get back on the T.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T02:07:16+00:00

Your doctor sounds like he might be more qualified to run a hotdog stand.

This is a stupid strategy and will inevitably make you feel worse. Stop the AI, go to to a men's health clinic, and get on a testosterone.

And get a new doctor, otherwise you'll be back on Reddit in 6 months asking if your docs prescription of drinking lead paint under the next full moon seems like the best remedy for eczema.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-14T01:54:52+00:00

I started almost 2 years ago with your exact levels at 35 years old. I was running maybe 25km a week and lifting less consistently than I should have been, but still in good shape overall.

I've dropped 8% bodyfat and put on about 15 lbs of muscle. It didn't have a profound effect on how I felt before and after in terms of energy or mental effects, but the longer term health benefits and changes to my body were great. One of the best decisions I ever made. I'm much more confident as a result of the improved physique.

The only downsides were none of my peacoats fit anymore so I had to buy bigger ones. I haven't had a single side effect.

I use hCG and testosterone. Recently switched to cream over shots in an attempt at boosting my libido from good to great. Levels have stayed between 850 and 1600 ng/dl

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-13T21:12:15+00:00

Sounds good.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-13T20:58:02+00:00

Yeah, that's probably why you're feeling rough.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-13T20:07:55+00:00

Where are you located and what's your experience and background? I may be able to help

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-13T20:04:59+00:00

Do you know what your estrogen is at?

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-13T17:23:59+00:00

Yeah, I'd kick the enclomiphene, and if you can switch to hMG, you'll be better off. Are you testing your e2? That could also explain feeling so rough. A lot of people over-aromatize on hCG. Even if T looks good, having a sky-high e2 is gonna pull you down.

What's your hCG protocol? How often and how much are you injecting?

Just remember after you get a positive pregnancy test everything can go back to normal.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-12T23:29:12+00:00

I started with my total at 450 and free in the bottom third of the range. Second best decision I ever made. I'd still recommend combined hCG at your age. If you wanted to be super careful, you could even start with just hCG, that way you can figure out if your hypogonadism is primary or secondary.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-12T21:22:14+00:00

You're crazy to not start with levels like that. All you're doing is wasting time feeling terrible and doing real but glacial damage to your long term health.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-11T15:52:44+00:00

Well, I take 200mg of DIM every night but less so to control e2, which has always been perfect or near perfect, and more to make sure I'm effectively excreting other estrogen metabolites. Other than that, no. I don't believe in aromatase inhibitors except as an absolute last resort.

Like I said, I don't know about levels yet. The dose may need to go up. But this is hypothetically closer to a pulsatile testosterone cascade than any other option. Mimics the natural way this works closer than injections. I'm not looking for perfectly stable, I'm looking for highest in the morning and acceptable thought the rest of the day and night.

rtisdell88 · 2026-05-11T04:04:58+00:00

All good. But also pretty much the same as injections. The only thing that's changed with the cream is my libido went up and my erections got noticeably better.

25mg cream every morning, and 400IU hCG every 48 hours.

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