I suffer from low T and after a long time of not even being taken seriously by the doctors I found an endo who offered to put me on TRT. But where I live TRT means you can choose between T gel, and 2 different T injections, either 250mg every 3 weeks or 1000mg every 3 months. Both injection options suck imo. I am really not keen on getting such a huge 1000mg injection into my ass. I bet that this is also risky and hurts a lot. But the smaller 250mg injection also sucks cause it causes huge spikes. At first your T is over the top and after 2 weeks you're already below normal again. T gels would be the best solution but I dont know if they really work or if they are just a waste of time. For example absorption seems to be an issue. And what I also worry about is the safety of the delivery system. I mean those gels contain all kinds of chemicals. Who knows if it's even safe to smear this stuff on your skin over a long time? What also worries me is that the gels are in a sacchet which has a thin plastic foil layer on the inside. This means that the gel which contains alcohol is in direct contact with this plastic foil. What if this plastic foil contains harmful xenoestrogens which then leak into the gel? I really cannot imagine that the pharma companies which produce those gels pay attention to such details. After all I read that even those plastic tubes which are used for infusions contain harmful plasticizers! I really dont know what to do. Every time when I apply the gel to my skin I think about wether the wrapping is safe. But all T gels are wrapped like that. They all come in a small aluminium sacchet and they all have a thin plastic foil on the inside. There's also 1 gel which comes in a container but this gel absolutely sucks. I tested it and it's totally oily and doesn't absorb. All other gels are in sacchets.
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SIED Moderators: Genetic Freak | Serotonin101
Anyone here who is using T gels successfully?
- Thread starter ksam
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Congratulations for doing your homework.. I would agree the accepted dosing protocol for injectables seems more concerned about convenience for medical personnel rather than the patient... We have advised to dose half the amount with a more frequent injection schedule, to achieve more stable blood concentrations...
The gels have about 7% bio-availability, therefore accurate dosing seems to be an issue...
I have recently read about xenoestrogens as contaminates, this does give cause for concern, I'm unsure if big-pharma would leave themselves open to litigation regards leaching of packaging into product, but anything is possible nowadays....
I have recently been made aware of a different approach to TRT, which is based around duplicating the bodies natural release patterns of hormones, testosterone (no ester) + DHEA dissolved in sesame oil to bypass/reduce hepatic metabolism in the liver... Testosterone as powder taken evening, DHEA taken twice am, 3 hrs apart...
Androgen Supplementation During Aging: Development of a Physiologically Appropriate Protocol,
Urbanski HF, Sorwell KG, Garyfallou VT, Garten J, Weiss A, Renner L, Neuringer M, Kohama SG, Rejuvenation Research. April 2014, 17(2): 140-144
ABSTRACT
Men show an age-related decline in the circulating levels of testosterone (T) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS). Consequently, there is interest in developing androgen supplementation paradigms for old men that replicate the hormone profiles of young adults.
In the present study, we used old (21–26 years old) male rhesus monkeys as a model to examine the efficacy of an androgen supplementation paradigm that comprised oral T administration (12 mg/kg body weight, dissolved in sesame oil) in the evening, and two oral DHEA administrations, 3 hr apart (0.04 mg/kg body weight, dissolved in sesame oil) in the morning.
After 5 days of repeated hormone supplementation, serial blood samples were remotely collected from each animal hourly across the 24-hr day, and assayed for cortisol, DHEAS, T, 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), estrone (E1), and 17β-estradiol (E2). Following androgen supplementation, T levels were significantly elevated and this was associated with a more sustained nocturnal elevation of T's primary bioactive metabolites, DHT and E1 and E2. Plasma DHEAS levels were also significantly elevated after androgen supplementation; DHEAS levels rose in the early morning and gradually declined during the course of the day, closely mimicking the profiles observed in young adults (7–12 years old); in contrast, cortisol levels were unaltered by the supplementation.
Together the data demonstrate a non-invasive androgen supplementation paradigm that restores youthful circulating androgen levels in old male primates. Because this paradigm preserves the natural circulating circadian hormone patterns, we predict that it will produce fewer adverse side effects, such as perturbed sleep or cognitive impairment.
Hello, thanks for your suggestions. The biggest problem is that my endo who is against anything which he doesn't know will not simply prescribe me T injections. He will either want to inject himself or he will want my GP to do the injections. This means that even if I could do subq injections then it wouldn't be possible for me cause my endo would notice it. I also don't think that we have cypionate here. I'm in Europe and we only have enathate. Does this make a difference? The cyp is in small bottles which are reusable. You can draw from them various times. But the enathate is in small glass ampoules and it's not meant to be opened and then stored. This isn't hygienic and probably also not safe. We also have T in pills. It's called Andriol but I think this isn't used anymore. I never heard of someone using Andriol for TRT. You need to take the pills 3 times a day with fatty foods to get proper absorption. :/