Testosterone Gel

[SamwiseLovesLife]

Hi lovelies <3

 

So I got my T date!!! 11/12/17 (Dec 11th)

 

I'll be starting T gel in the UK (unsure of which brand we use here) and wanting any advice from those who've used it.

Best ways to apply? Time of day/location/etc

How long did effects take to begin? What was your timeline for changes?

If you've tried both gel and other forms, which is your prefferred and why?

 

Thank you

 

Also- for anyone on the Ace spectrum, how did you find your libido and desired affected by being on T?

[Philip027]

I almost got a testosterone gel... until my mom found out that my insurance would not cover it and that it was going to cost her 400 something bucks.  She immediately nixed that plan and I ended up going on monthly testosterone shots for a while instead.

 

So I don't have any actual experience with the gel.  Whoops.

 

Quote

Also- for anyone on the Ace spectrum, how did you find your libido and desired affected by being on T?

No discernable effect whatsoever, libido or otherwise.  Maybe I wasn't getting a particularly large dose though.  (I was not trying to transition or anything; I just have naturally low T levels)

[Mezzo Forte]

Congrats on getting your T date!  

 

I never used gels, but I imagine that the best time to apply T is more about the consistency of timing than the time of day itself. Make sure you choose a time of day that you will consistently remember to apply the stuff, like during a morning or bedtime routine. Transference is an issue, so you may want to apply it somewhere that's unlikely to make contact with other people.

 

Right now, I'm actually at the point where I am more enthused about shots than gels, but that's because I have such an extensive anti-acne routine that the last thing I want to think of is adding another daily topical medicine to my schedule. (I wash my face, apply scar cream, and use 4 different acne products on my face/body, all 2x a day.) 

 

I imagine the effects will start up similarly to injections so long as the dosage is right, and if so, the first effects are typically acne (and associated increased oiliness of the skin), libido spike, and downstairs growth/sensitivity. I didn't really get the libido spike, but the other two definitely happened within the first few days. The other effects slowly build over the months, with the next big effect being the voice drop at 3~4 months on T.

 

In regards to libido:

Spoiler

I was 100% nonlibidoist pre-T, and as I said, I didn't really get a libido spike in the early months. Around 8 months on T, I tried masturbating for the first time in my life (not sure why) and discovered that I'm capable of arousal. I'm not certain that I experience libido or not, but if I do, then it really isn't that big of a deal. I guess I'm more open to ideas of certain types of sexual contact, but I don't actively desire it. My asexuality has stayed fairly consistent through my transition even as my relationship with my body has changed.

 

[SamwiseLovesLife]

31 minutes ago, Mezzo Forte said:

In regards to libido:

Ahh interesting! I have slight trouble with an extremely high libido (oh the irony..) hence my GIC putting me on gels. Due to the gel being a daily spike in hormones rather than monthly, the spike is much less extreme and therefore shouldn't affect my mood/libido as drastically as shots would. Hopefully helps not cause as much acne too

[Mezzo Forte]

9 minutes ago, SamwiseLovesLife said:

Ahh interesting! I have slight trouble with an extremely high libido (oh the irony..) hence my GIC putting me on gels. Due to the gel being a daily spike in hormones rather than monthly, the spike is much less extreme and therefore shouldn't affect my mood/libido as drastically as shots would. Hopefully helps not cause as much acne too

I'm lucky that the peaks/troughs of bi-weekly injection doesn't really mess with me. The only thing I notice is that when I've had to go over two weeks without a shot, I would just get really tired.

 

I've heard that gels are far nicer about acne than shots for exactly that reason: you're making the spikes less extreme. Acne definitely fluctuates according to my injection cycle, though I've thankfully got it under control. (That said, I'm getting some extra body acne now that I'm trying to make my morning/evening routines less extreme by slowly weaning off my acne medicine, but compared to how my body broke out when I had to take a steroid over the summer, this is nothing. )

 

Fair warning though: if your libido is already high, it will likely skyrocket on T. Your doctor made a good call prescribing you gel instead of shots, because a lot of guys report that their sex drive/libido goes mad in the early months.

[LeChat]

7 hours ago, SamwiseLovesLife said:

...I'll be starting T gel in the UK (unsure of which brand we use here) and wanting any advice from those who've used it.

Best ways to apply? Time of day/location/etc

How long did effects take to begin? What was your timeline for changes?

If you've tried both gel and other forms, which is your prefferred and why?...

 

Hi! I'm not trans, but this transman has discussed his experiences between taking T through injections, gels, etc.

 

In this older video of his , he talked about how he'd put gel on his shoulder, in the mornings.

 

In his most recent video , in the beginning, he briefly discussed how he used to apply the gel (and then talks about how his doctor informed him he could take T injections through his nose.)

 

I hope this helps.

 

[SamwiseLovesLife]

11 hours ago, InquisitivePhilosopher said:

Hi! I'm not trans, but this transman has discussed his experiences between taking T through injections, gels, etc.

 

In this older video of his , he talked about how he'd put gel on his shoulder, in the mornings.

 

In his most recent video , in the beginning, he briefly discussed how he used to apply the gel (and then talks about how his doctor informed him he could take T injections through his nose.)

 

I hope this helps.

 

Chase Ross! Any trans guy knows him Thanks for the links x I know the nasal gel isn't going so well for him as he's getting hot flushes

[Mezzo Forte]

4 hours ago, SamwiseLovesLife said:

Chase Ross! Any trans guy knows him Thanks for the links x I know the nasal gel isn't going so well for him as he's getting hot flushes

It's even easier to guess when someone already knows that YouTuber when they list their gender as "YA BOYYY"  

[Guest]

20 hours ago, Mezzo Forte said:

I'm lucky that the peaks/troughs of bi-weekly injection doesn't really mess with me. The only thing I notice is that when I've had to go over two weeks without a shot, I would just get really tired.

 

I've heard that gels are far nicer about acne than shots for exactly that reason: you're making the spikes less extreme. Acne definitely fluctuates according to my injection cycle, though I've thankfully got it under control. (That said, I'm getting some extra body acne now that I'm trying to make my morning/evening routines less extreme by slowly weaning off my acne medicine, but compared to how my body broke out when I had to take a steroid over the summer, this is nothing. )

 

Fair warning though: if your libido is already high, it will likely skyrocket on T. Your doctor made a good call prescribing you gel instead of shots, because a lot of guys report that their sex drive/libido goes mad in the early months.

I don't think i'd be able to survive the libido part   Doesn't the amount of mg cause the amount of acne you get from it? I'd think these two go hand in hand.

 

*Puts Chase Ross on to watch list*

 

Yay for T date @SamwiseLovesLife 

[Mezzo Forte]

1 hour ago, Jayce said:

I don't think i'd be able to survive the libido part   Doesn't the amount of mg cause the amount of acne you get from it? I'd think these two go hand in hand.

 

*Puts Chase Ross on to watch list*

 

Yay for T date @SamwiseLovesLife 

I appreciate that I didn't get hit nearly as hard as I could have in the libido department; what I did get is pretty manageable and makes me feel more in tune with my body.

 

I am uncertain about how much dosage impacts acne, but I imagine there's a correlation. I think hormonal fluctuation is a major factor though, as some people see their acne severely reduce after going from shots to gels. The body does eventually adjust to your dosage after a while though, and that diminishes the acne too. Not counting my allergic reaction/steroid acne madness, My acne was probably at its worst before I bumped up to my current dose, as I was still new to HRT at the time and my skin was getting oily much faster than it does now. The initial dosage jump definitely does spike the acne, but everything levels off after a while.

 

(If you end up liking Chase Ross' stuff, I might suggest looking into his podcast "You're So Brave" with Aaron Ansuini. They bounce off each other quite well and it makes for nice ambience while doing menial stuff like laundry.)

[SamwiseLovesLife]

19 hours ago, Mezzo Forte said:

(If you end up liking Chase Ross' stuff, I might suggest looking into his podcast "You're So Brave" with Aaron Ansuini. They bounce off each other quite well and it makes for nice ambience while doing menial stuff like laundry.)

^ I second this, It's my favourite podcast. Comes out every monday

[SamwiseLovesLife]

On 08/11/2017 at 7:00 PM, Mezzo Forte said:

I'm lucky that the peaks/troughs of bi-weekly injection doesn't really mess with me. The only thing I notice is that when I've had to go over two weeks without a shot, I would just get really tired.

 

I've heard that gels are far nicer about acne than shots for exactly that reason: you're making the spikes less extreme. Acne definitely fluctuates according to my injection cycle, though I've thankfully got it under control. (That said, I'm getting some extra body acne now that I'm trying to make my morning/evening routines less extreme by slowly weaning off my acne medicine, but compared to how my body broke out when I had to take a steroid over the summer, this is nothing. )

 

Fair warning though: if your libido is already high, it will likely skyrocket on T. Your doctor made a good call prescribing you gel instead of shots, because a lot of guys report that their sex drive/libido goes mad in the early months.

I've been talking to the Dr in charge of prescribing/medical appt and she says I have the option and we can discuss on the day. From the things she was talking about (timeline, T levels etc) I am considering taking injections for the first 6 months or so then looking at moving onto gels when the main bulk of my body masculinisisation/hair growth/voice drop etc has happened. I know the pits/troughs of the injections will be more extreme and a pain but I feel this will be worth it for getting a move on with the changes. Then when I am more settled I can move to gels for an easier application and less hormone fluxation. Thoughts?

[apatrickwsu]

... I came to this thread to mention Chase's videos too. Great minds.

[Mezzo Forte]

44 minutes ago, SamwiseLovesLife said:

I've been talking to the Dr in charge of prescribing/medical appt and she says I have the option and we can discuss on the day. From the things she was talking about (timeline, T levels etc) I am considering taking injections for the first 6 months or so then looking at moving onto gels when the main bulk of my body masculinisisation/hair growth/voice drop etc has happened. I know the pits/troughs of the injections will be more extreme and a pain but I feel this will be worth it for getting a move on with the changes. Then when I am more settled I can move to gels for an easier application and less hormone fluxation. Thoughts?

This sounds like a common suggestion by doctors actually, because dosage is easier to figure out for shots than gels since you remove the element of skin absorption from the equation. A lot of doctors feel like shots are faster for the effects, though I think that has more to do with the ease of dosage than necessarily the effectiveness. It's certainly rare for someone to start with gels though, so comparisons are difficult to make.

 

Honestly, for some, the peaks/troughs that come with shots can be a bit psychosomatic. If you expect to feel lower energy when your shot is due, then you're far more likely to experience lower energy than if you weren't anticipating that. I personally have had no issues with bi-weekly shots in that regard. Your T levels keep building so that your troughs end up a fair bit higher than you were pre-T too, so those troughs might not feel as extreme. (Pre-T, I think my T levels were somewhere around 47ng/dL, but now my troughs range between 250-425ng/dL. Never really measured my peaks though, though the first time I did bloodwork before being advised to time them around my troughs, it was over 1200 at maybe 2 months on T )

 

Depending on what you consider the main bulk of the masculinization, you might end up on shots for a while. I was almost 100% read as male by 6 months, but that's definitely far from the end of the masculinization process, especially if you're factoring hair development in the equation, doubly so if you're talking facial hair. (If you know of Jamie Dodger, he didn't start getting viable facial hair until 3 years on T. I'm 18 months on T and while my facial hair had made solid progress, it still has a long way to go before it really gets visible from a distance.)

 

If you commit yourself to six months of shots and then switch to gels, that should work well enough, but if you're waiting to hit certain milestones, the timing to make the switch will get rather ambiguous. Testosterone is testosterone no matter how you take it though, so as long as the dosage is right, you'll get the same effects even if you switch methods. In the end, I don't think it's too much to sweat.

[Philip027]

Everyone had me scared as hell that the T shots were going to turn me into some kind of ravenous sexual beast.  Maybe that's what some people might have wanted out of it, but I sure didn't, so I was quite relieved nothing ended up happening.

 

Again though, could just be that I was given a much lower dosage compared to people actually trying to transition. 

[AussieIsAce]

i used to apply TestoGel (i think it was called) on my best friend, cause he had to put it on his back, but its best on the arm or stomach i believe (its absorbs better) but he would get rashes so if it was on his back he couldn't scratch himself. Also on the back he knew nobody would be affected by the Testosterone from contact. 

Also i would use gloves so that i didnt get into contact with the gel.

 

I think it worked much better than the Shots i was giving him in his ass because that was one every 3 weeks and he would get so moody because of the hormone irregularity so this way he gets his T everyday and is way more balanced. 

 

I bought him a spatula which he now uses to apply the gel, he puts it on the face of the spatula and rubs it onto his back that way. i thought it was kinda genius of me. 

 

Good Luck kid with your transition!! i hope you find the joy and clarity you deserve. 

[SamwiseLovesLife]

On 10/11/2017 at 1:12 PM, Mezzo Forte said:

Honestly, for some, the peaks/troughs that come with shots can be a bit psychosomatic. If you expect to feel lower energy when your shot is due, then you're far more likely to experience lower energy than if you weren't anticipating that.

Good point! I don't think you're wrong, though in the UK the shots are every 4 weeks so the peaks/troughs may be more obvious, I'll find out!

 

On 10/11/2017 at 1:12 PM, Mezzo Forte said:

Depending on what you consider the main bulk of the masculinization, you might end up on shots for a while. I was almost 100% read as male by 6 months, but that's definitely far from the end of the masculinization process, especially if you're factoring hair development in the equation, doubly so if you're talking facial hair. (If you know of Jamie Dodger, he didn't start getting viable facial hair until 3 years on T. I'm 18 months on T and while my facial hair had made solid progress, it still has a long way to go before it really gets visible from a distance.)

Yeah I watch Jamie's stuff too. I think I'm going to just see how inconvinient the planning/remembering my next shot is to see if I ever want to jump onto gels

 

On 10/11/2017 at 1:32 PM, miettaisace said:

I think it worked much better than the Shots i was giving him in his ass because that was one every 3 weeks and he would get so moody because of the hormone irregularity so this way he gets his T everyday and is way more balanced. 

This is a worry I have. The shots being so far appart will certainly make a hormonal change from week to week, I've had more than enough of that having a menstrual cycle

 

On 10/11/2017 at 1:32 PM, miettaisace said:

Good Luck kid with your transition!! i hope you find the joy and clarity you deserve. 

Thanks!

[Mezzo Forte]

4 hours ago, SamwiseLovesLife said:

Good point! I don't think you're wrong, though in the UK the shots are every 4 weeks so the peaks/troughs may be more obvious, I'll find out!

 

Yeah I watch Jamie's stuff too. I think I'm going to just see how inconvinient the planning/remembering my next shot is to see if I ever want to jump onto gels

Wow, four weeks sounds absurd! I've heard of guys opting for weekly shots because the biweekly peaks/troughs were too much. I imagine that if you start off with that frequency though, you will adjust to it the same way I adjusted to biweekly, so that injection schedule could work decently enough for some people. For travel reasons, I'm definitely interested in slow-releasing forms of testosterone though, and I may eventually look into stuff like testosterone pellets to see if I can get around the worries about traveling with needles and whatnot.

 

I set an automatic alert on my phone for my shot days, and doing them myself actually makes it much more convenient than when I had to go to the healthcare center every time for my injections. Right now, I rather like the infrequency, especially now that I'm pretty adjusted to doing my own shots. I think you'll figure out quickly enough what feels best for you though!  

[SamwiseLovesLife]

14 hours ago, Mezzo Forte said:

I set an automatic alert on my phone for my shot days, and doing them myself actually makes it much more convenient than when I had to go to the healthcare center every time for my injections. Right now, I rather like the infrequency, especially now that I'm pretty adjusted to doing my own shots. I think you'll figure out quickly enough what feels best for you though!  

Good idea Yeah I definately plan on injecting myself after the first one, way less hassle

Only 27 days to go