I plan on bringing this up with my doctor at my next blood work visit, but was curious if anyone had experience with this.

I’ve been having issues with feeling kind of crappy about a day before my shot is due. Getting overheated, tired, irritable, etc. Previously when that happened my dose was bumped up a bit, but my dose is already on the upper end of a typical dose so I’m not sure I want to ask to keep bumping it up.

That said, does anyone have experience with dealing with late shot cycle ickyness by doing a 5 or 6 day shot cycle instead of once a week? I’m wondering if a lower dose more often would help reduce the hormonal drop off or just make it happen more often.

I’ve been on gel before but doing it daily is a huge pain and I’d like to avoid going back on it if I can get these damn shots tweaked right.

  • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    4·
    4 months ago

    I’ve been on T for more than a decade and always did every other week on shots and felt miserable like you said. Switched to weekly and it didn’t help much. I switched to daily gel and it’s been good for me now that I have the dosage figured out - had to go up 4x from the base dose. Gel might be a good way for you to go.

  • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    As a cis guy, I’m a bit excited to have some advice to give (not a medical professional so keep that in mind). My situation is that I have a likely-genetic hormonal imbalance and likely either a surplus or more efficient variant of aromatase (the enzyme that converts testosterone to estradiol).

    For treatment, I’ve tried gel, SERM (clomiphene), and testosterone cypionate injection. Like yourself, I found the gel to be a pain - both the daily thing and worrying about exposing my cis-fem spouse to it. Clomid, off-label, is pretty effective for cis-men, though it is not officially approved for the use. What put me off on that ome was that it was less effective that the TRT and only one or two manufacturers are making it now because it is out of patent, which caused me to have trouble finding it several times (super stressful). So, I also switched to injection.

    My experience with injection has been a bit rocky. Initially, I was on 1ml, every 2 weeks. That was terrible and led to mental health issues due to the hormone crash, which took nearly 6 months to diagnose and correct. Then, the dose was split into 0.5ml, every week, and recently bumped up to 0.75ml and a low dose of aromatase inhibitor. The difference from just the increased frequency was amazing. I went from having anxiety/panic attacks every two weeks to mainly just dealing with my “regular” ADHD symptoms (which are also impacted by the hormones, it turns out).

    With all of this said, I have been advised by my doctor that, if needed, we can raise the frequency to every 5 days, if needed (like you are suggesting). There is definitely variation in how individuals’ bodies deal with exogenous hormones. The ideal way to figure out the optimal dose frequency would probably be to have daily labs for several weeks to “map” how your levels are in relation to your doses, make adjustments, and repeat. Now, that could be a bit of a PitA and might not be entirely covered by insurance. So, probably taking trough samples after increasing frequency would likely be a good route.

    Definitely consult with your Dr on increasing the frequency. If you are getting the same dose over time, it’s unlikely to be problematic, as long as you don’t find it too much of a bother. It should just flatten out your levels. I haven’t been on a more frequent than weekly doses but going from every 2 weeks to every week was quite literally life-changing for my mental health. I suspect that it would be helpful.