Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I've seen the different pros/cons lists about injections vs. patches vs. creams/gels in the brochure at my doctor's office. I'd be interested in hearing from everyone what their personal pros and cons have been with the methods you've used. I am leaning towards injections due to cost and availability, but price isn't an issue. I'd really appreciate hearing everyone's experiences and any advice you guys have.

Hope you get an answer because I asked basically the same thing about two weeks ago haha. They should work about the same as in you get the same dosage and get the same effect, but here's what I know.

creams/gels
Pros: -no 'down' hormonal days
-Works as well as other methods
-easier for people who work with scheduled days
-no shots to give

Cons: have to apply every day and can't have people touch where you applied for 5 hrs. Putting it on shoulders and wearing a shirt probably will take care of that.
-must take shower with every application
-might be messy
-might forget a dose
keeping large supply of gel might be hard
- More expensive

patch
Pros
-Use a patch a day and forget about it
-No down days
-Works with schedules
-Works as well as other methods

Cons
-I've heard that they may give you 2 diff doses for opposite days so it might confuse you at first
-May cause skin irritation
-might forget to use patch or take off patch
-keeping large supply might be hard
-More expensive

Injections

Pros:
-One shot a week or bi weekly or even every 3 months
-Well known brands
-Cheaper out of pocket price, least expensive
-works well and is steady


Cons
-At end of cycle may be down, weekly or biweekly schedule should be worked out with doctor
-Doing shots right can be kind of a pain, and watching out to aspirate can be a little scary
-Supply is in high demand of brands like Nebido or name brands. Price is going up for off brands even with coupons.
-Might forget dose if it's biweekly. May forget exact dosage if on a weekly schedule
-Having to store your supplies for a shot can take up space. Especially if you are like me and need to go 3rd party to get needles and syringes.
-May get side effects from the injections such as swelling.
-Can get shots wrong or break a syringe, stab self etc. Have to buy disposal kit for needles



My own exp:
I'm on injections, I want to switch over to patches. I'm on a weekly schedule since biweekly was giving me rollercoaster hormone bursts. I just don't like the pain of shots anymore, but some people don't have pain at all. I'm just lucky in one leg that it always goes great, the other one is a 50/50 chance and it sucks when I hit a sore spot.

I had Testim gel for a short period of time.  There wasn't anything in the paperwork about having to shower besides saying you have to wait until two hours after application to shower.  It also said that to not have contact with another person unless you wash the area with soap and water (I know that one of the other gels I read about said 5 hours like capenella said)

I do the SubQ shots weekly.  Doesn't hurt and simple to do.  If I had to do IM injections, I may consider the gel, but otherwise the SubQ suits me perfect.

i'm currently on testim and my body is reacting extremely well to it. in one week i have countless changes, but above all, my voice has had a significant drop. ( listen here: http://cl.ly/YLa1 ) i already have facial hair coming in, but i believe that relates to genetics.

yes, it is a pain to apply the gel daily, but i have it down. also there's a lot said that is not true. people are hypersensitive to the "what ifs" but there's honestly no concern. if someone comes in contact with it then just need to wash the part exposed and it's no big deal. the small amount that touches them is miniscule. the only real 'issue' would be if you're intimate with someone.

i typically wake up at 5 or 6 to pee, so i put it on, throw on a shirt, and put a towel in between my neck and the pillow and drift off to sleep. i wake up a few hours later and shower, sometimes i wait until later in the day haha. i read that you need to let it dry for only one hour before having contact with others and two to shower. i normally wait more than two hours to shower because i'm lazy and i'd like to think that allowing it to sink in more helps me. anyway i do hug my family or pet my dogs, but i make sure that my face does not touch them, just as a precaution. i apply the gel onto my shoulder blades, jawline, and wipe the rest onto my neck. i like using the gel because the mental changes haven't been that bad at all and the physical changes happened insanely quickly for me.

i think that starting with the gel is best because...
-the mental changes are A LOT easier. with a smaller (can't say the exact amount, sorry) dosage daily you're leveling out your moods and allowing your body to adjust to the increase of t. after a few months most switch to injections, which is a lot easier to transition to- i was told this by my endo, which was also why i started on gel.
-the confidence boost when i put it on starts my day off right. although it is quite early, i'm still happy to put on something knowing that it's helping me become who i want to be.
-the smell of testim is pretty nice. i've heard that women are attracted to it? lol. i already have a girlfriend, but this could also be a plus for you if you're looking!
-the changes that you're longing to see/hear happen more quickly (with my experience.. you may or may not be the same)


as for the price... without insurance testim is $395 BUT if you go to goodrx and screenshot the coupon (enter in your script) you can buy it for $147, i believe. this gives you 30 tubes. i was completely against gel because of the negative connotations surrounding it, but after experiencing it myself i'm extremely pleased and i wouldn't change the way i'm starting my journey. :)

Quote from: palexander on November 03, 2014, 08:50:28 PM
i'm currently on testim and my body is reacting extremely well to it. in one week i have countless changes, but above all, my voice has had a significant drop. ( listen here: http://cl.ly/YLa1 ) i already have facial hair coming in, but i believe that relates to genetics.

yes, it is a pain to apply the gel daily, but i have it down. also there's a lot said that is not true. people are hypersensitive to the "what ifs" but there's honestly no concern. if someone comes in contact with it then just need to wash the part exposed and it's no big deal. the small amount that touches them is miniscule. the only real 'issue' would be if you're intimate with someone.

i typically wake up at 5 or 6 to pee, so i put it on, throw on a shirt, and put a towel in between my neck and the pillow and drift off to sleep. i wake up a few hours later and shower, sometimes i wait until later in the day haha. i read that you need to let it dry for only one hour before having contact with others and two to shower. i normally wait more than two hours to shower because i'm lazy and i'd like to think that allowing it to sink in more helps me. anyway i do hug my family or pet my dogs, but i make sure that my face does not touch them, just as a precaution. i apply the gel onto my shoulder blades, jawline, and wipe the rest onto my neck. i like using the gel because the mental changes haven't been that bad at all and the physical changes happened insanely quickly for me.

i think that starting with the gel is best because...
-the mental changes are A LOT easier. with a smaller (can't say the exact amount, sorry) dosage daily you're leveling out your moods and allowing your body to adjust to the increase of t. after a few months most switch to injections, which is a lot easier to transition to- i was told this by my endo, which was also why i started on gel.
-the confidence boost when i put it on starts my day off right. although it is quite early, i'm still happy to put on something knowing that it's helping me become who i want to be.
-the smell of testim is pretty nice. i've heard that women are attracted to it? lol. i already have a girlfriend, but this could also be a plus for you if you're looking!
-the changes that you're longing to see/hear happen more quickly (with my experience.. you may or may not be the same)


as for the price... without insurance testim is $395 BUT if you go to goodrx and screenshot the coupon (enter in your script) you can buy it for $147, i believe. this gives you 30 tubes. i was completely against gel because of the negative connotations surrounding it, but after experiencing it myself i'm extremely pleased and i wouldn't change the way i'm starting my journey. :)

Thanks for the information! Everything besides injections are out of my range of knowledge so it's good to get someone who actually has used it. All info I can give is purely from having read from others who have used it and compiling that info. Is it one dose in one tube? 150 is still sort of expensive for a months supply sadly. I wouldn't advertise that it works faster or give that hope out to people since IMO all T methods work just about at the same rate, and it's based on genes. Glad your transition has gone so smooth.

Quote from: campenella on November 03, 2014, 10:55:20 PM
Thanks for the information! Everything besides injections are out of my range of knowledge so it's good to get someone who actually has used it. All info I can give is purely from having read from others who have used it and compiling that info. Is it one dose in one tube? 150 is still sort of expensive for a months supply sadly. I wouldn't advertise that it works faster or give that hope out to people since IMO all T methods work just about at the same rate, and it's based on genes. Glad your transition has gone so smooth.

Same question as campenella here. Is it a one dose per tube type deal?

Quote from: campenella on November 03, 2014, 10:55:20 PM
Thanks for the information! Everything besides injections are out of my range of knowledge so it's good to get someone who actually has used it. All info I can give is purely from having read from others who have used it and compiling that info. Is it one dose in one tube? 150 is still sort of expensive for a months supply sadly. I wouldn't advertise that it works faster or give that hope out to people since IMO all T methods work just about at the same rate, and it's based on genes. Glad your transition has gone so smooth.

Quote from: ftmax on November 04, 2014, 04:51:31 AM
Same question as campenella here. Is it a one dose per tube type deal?

yeah, i know! that's why i said "-the changes that you're longing to see/hear happen more quickly (with my experience.. you may or may not be the same)"
thank you!

it depends on what your endocrinologist puts you on. some are on two, some are on one, and others are on half of a tube daily. i've seen all of those on youtube.

I'm on IM injections, and that's all I've been on so I can't speak from experience about anything else. For me, pros and cons of injections are these:

Pros
Cheaper
Only have to inject weekly or bi-weekly (for IM) which is better for me because I don't have to keep up with it daily

Cons
Injections can be a problem if you have fear of needles/shots
May forget or do it late since it's every week or two
You can have soreness a few hours or a day after you inject which can last a day or two

For gel I see having to do it every day as a con (getting to do it biweekly is what I like a lot about injections), but if you get mood swings and stuff the constant levels the gel gives would be better. For some reason I've never had any mood swings the day before/of my shot so that's not an issue for me. And as mentioned the gel can be much more expensive.

I don't know much about patches at all. There is also the option of T-pellets (implanted under the skin every few months), but I'm not experienced with that either, though I would like to switch to those if I can since you can have them put in only every 3 months or so. A con of that would generally be price, and you have to go to a Dr's office to get it done. Also it'd probably be harder to adjust the dose.