Hey, guys, its me again, harassing you all for information!

So, I started T on 9/9/14 at one quarter dose of gel.  I then changed to Depo Testosterone brand (cotton oil) for 4 weeks.  During that time I had some crazy itchy skin going on.  Mainly on my arm, but if I scratched any other area, I would get crazy itchy on that area, too.  I ruled out laundry soap and body soap.  It was still going on.  I called my T provider and asked to switch to the sesame seed oil T, as I read that people can be allergic to the oil T is in.  That was two shots ago.  I STILL have the itching, now on the sesame oil.  It sucks and I was afraid to call to tell them because I have this fear I will have to go back to the gel (which I really don't want to do, for a couple of reasons).  I finally decided I had no choice but to call them.  So, I have an appointment on Tuesday evening.  The nurse I talked to on the phone said that she hadn't heard of this before, but try not to worry too much.  That it may not mean I have to go back to the gel or anything.  I hate the idea of taking an allergy medicine like Benadryl every day in order to take T.

Anyway, since this physician is out of network, I have to pay $90 for each visit (that is based on their sliding scale fee  ).  Moreover, I am sure I will not reach my deductible by year's end, so I won't get any money back for it.  I will probably eventually switch to an Endo in my area (who is in network), but I wanted to go to a center that specializes in trans people to start.

Anyone else ever have this?  Again, it is not at the shot site.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I tried a simple google search and nothing about itchiness came up from the injections, but with testim it said it can cause itchiness. Is this where you applied the gel? Maybe it could be a side effect from changing over to a different form of t when your arm/wherever you applied it was use to the gel? Maybe the injection caused some sort of reaction with the gel and needs time to 'disperse' I'm not sure. I'm just throwing some stuff out there.

Hi Brett, do you also get crawling sensations around your body with those crazy itching? Also when you say if you scratched other areas on your body do you mean that they weren't itching but start right after you make contact?

I got itchy things that were like mosquito bites for some reason for a bit, but they went away. Do you get that?

Thanks for throwing things out there to try to help me figure it out, guys.

Wolfy, it is not where I applied the gel.  That was on the shoulders and it was like 6 weeks ago.

Makipu, it isn't crawling sensations, no.  Yes, you are correct when you describe it as the area is not itchy, but if I touch it, it becomes itchy.

Edge, there is nothing visible on the skin, but the desire to scratch is just like a mosquito bite...the desire to scratch is always present and then if you scratch even a small amount, you are crazy itchy.  I think that it is slightly less itchy today, but that is probably because my shot is due tomorrow, so it is getting out of my system. 

Hey guys, just wanted to follow up.  What the itching is, my doc doesn't know. Said that I could have some sort of eczema that just happened to start at the same time. Said that sometimes people can have these symptoms when they start a lot of different medications and says that half the time they just go away. Suggestion she made was to take an antihistamine (of any sort) and see what happens. Well, I found some left over Allegra in my cabinet and started taking one a day and it worked!  So nice to have relief. I suppose at some point I will try to go without it and see what happens.

I had the same thing happen to me and it eventually got better....guess what it was? Hair growth hah. Is it a sort of prickly itch that you don't notice much unless you think about it or itch elsewhere?

It's the same sort of itch I've been getting since I started to grow my goatee instead of staying clean shaven.

Quote from: Sebryn on November 10, 2014, 02:09:02 PM
I had the same thing happen to me and it eventually got better....guess what it was? Hair growth hah. Is it a sort of prickly itch that you don't notice much unless you think about it or itch elsewhere?

It's the same sort of itch I've been getting since I started to grow my goatee instead of staying clean shaven.

No, it is an intense terrible itching that I always feel is there..right below the surface.  Then if I scratch the spot, it gets crazy intense.  I know what you are talking about.  I wish it was that!  I'm just glad it is manageable now because it was all day every day!

I was having a problem with itchy welts at my injection sites (doing sub-q) and it turned out I was allergic to the benzyl alcohol preservative in the cypionate.  I switched to enanthate, where the manufacturer was using chlorobutanol as the preservative, and no more itching.  I would guess that if I was doing IM instead of sub-q that it would have been more of an itchy area rather than a welt on the surface.

Quote from: Amadeoamante on January 11, 2015, 03:52:57 PM
I was having a problem with itchy welts at my injection sites (doing sub-q) and it turned out I was allergic to the benzyl alcohol preservative in the cypionate.  I switched to enanthate, where the manufacturer was using chlorobutanol as the preservative, and no more itching.  I would guess that if I was doing IM instead of sub-q that it would have been more of an itchy area rather than a welt on the surface.

Makes sense.  I'm glad you found some relief.  As I had hoped, I was able to scale back on the Allegra and now rarely have to take it.  I finished up the sesame oil type T I mentioned above, and went back to the cotton oil T (I had a lot left over), two shots ago and have had no problems.

My experience with itchy skin is mainly hair growing. My face, super itchy but no rash. Also, same with my legs and they are getting hairer. I was already hairy, but now it's like more itchy, again I have no rash....for me personally I haven't even contacted my dr. I don't  feel the need to since I don't get itchy within 1 hour of my shot...so my conculsion is hair growing, when I looked today at my legs/thighs I saw new hair sprouting. My hair is already super long and I can see the baby hair.

I've had a similar itch on my legs and I found that applying lotion whenever the itch came on (the skin was dry as well) made it go away eventually. I don't think it had anything to do with the T.

i have the same thing? and i'm also on depo. my skin is always super dry and i'm constantly itchy.

Quote from: ryanjoseph on January 20, 2015, 06:48:15 AM
i have the same thing? and i'm also on depo. my skin is always super dry and i'm constantly itchy.

I would use lotion (they make men's lotion now), regularly.  If you are still itchy, maybe you are having a slight allergic reaction like me.  I only take the Allegra 1-2 times per week now.

It could be because of hair growth. I had really itchy skin when new hairs were growing on my arms, legs, pretty much everywhere haha