I've been on T a little over a month now, I've been taught to do shots in my thighs for IM but I've been told by other trans guys that the needles my doctor prescribed me are for sub-q shots, in the stomach since they are only 1' long?

I did my shot today in my stomach, happened to be much less painful and I seem to prefer it but is there a difference to injecting sub-q vs IM? Do effects start slower? Does T not register in the body as soon? (I'm very paranoid about these kind of things, hope you can manage my worry!)

I get prescribed two needles, one is for drawing the T out of the vial and one is for injecting. I switch the tips out after getting the T in the syringe. The one for drawing is an inch long, the one for injecting is 1.5". As I understand it, you can really use any needle for subq injections, you just have to be cognizant of how far into the skin you're going. I've seen guys use those very small single use needles like diabetics use for subq injections. With IM, I've never stuck the full length of the needle in my leg and I get along just fine. I would check with your doctor about where they would prefer you to do it.

There is really no difference between IM shots, subq shots, gel, pellets, etc. You'd just need to watch your levels and make changes accordingly. With subq, you may need less T than you would doing IM because T is absorbed differently in fat cells if I remember correctly. That is why you should check with your doctor. That way they can make an appropriate judgment when looking at your levels.

My pharmacist told me that 1 " needles will work for IM if you are under about 180lbs. My doctor originally prescribed me 1 inch needles for IM and it seemed to work okay but I switched to 1.5 inch after talking it over to with my doctor because I was a little over that weight threshold. If you are a smaller guy or have a lower body fat percentage that could be why you were given 1 inch needles.

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