depo injections v. topical. Which?

[jhondo]

Greetings. The doctor who is overseeing my TRT has given me the choice of either a 200mg. injection of depo test. every 10 days or a pharmacy made topical gel that is supposed to be twice the potency of Androgel, or 100mg to be applied daily.

I used Androgel for a month with no feelable results and was underwhelmed to say the least. I have done one injection of the depo and definitely felt the difference. Finally, I have no experience with the higher dose topical.

I am leaning towards the depo injection every 10 days at this point because I know they work. Like I said, no experience with the higher dose topical but my doctor seems to be quite convinced it will work for me. Any suggestions on which way would be the best? Like everyone else I suppose, I want the biggest bang I can get for what they'll give me.

Thanks folks.

 

[Papa Lion]

definitely go with the test injections... the gel has a poor absorbtion rate and you have to be very careful as to not get it on your wife/girlfriend!! it's also a pain to have to smear gel on your body and let it dry before you can get dressed!! it's really not worth it!! my dad's doc had him on the gel for a while before we finally talked him into the injections.... he had the doc give him one or two and then they gave hime the script for home injects an so he does them and I'll do them for him when I'm around!! anyways hope that helped!!

 

[thelion2005]

definitely go with the test injections... the gel has a poor absorbtion rate and you have to be very careful as to not get it on your wife/girlfriend!! it's also a pain to have to smear gel on your body and let it dry before you can get dressed!! it's really not worth it!! my dad's doc had him on the gel for a while before we finally talked him into the injections.... he had the doc give him one or two and then they gave hime the script for home injects an so he does them and I'll do them for him when I'm around!! anyways hope that helped!!

Agree.

But ... don't laugh at the gels and creams. They work.

 

[mastropiece]

I agree with the injections but I personnally think that with a strong test cream like 4%, giving that to yourself daily will keep test levels up and more even. I think that 10 days is too long for test shot. i would get the test script from the doc and do it myself then split up the dose into every 5 days for hrt. for a cycle, hit it twice a week.

 

[reb8]

While I prefer the injections, if you are on for a long term more than 50% of people who inject have elevated hematocrit and hemoglobin. While elevated levels are ok, depending on how elevated they are you could set yourself up for a stroke or heart attack. If you are one of the lucky ones, the inject wont affect you. Either way, long term hrt requires ongoing blood work.

MH

 

[jhondo]

I agree with the injections but I personnally think that with a strong test cream like 4%, giving that to yourself daily will keep test levels up and more even. I think that 10 days is too long for test shot. i would get the test script from the doc and do it myself then split up the dose into every 5 days for hrt. for a cycle, hit it twice a week.

That's another rub. He refuses to give the script and let me do my own injections. I have to go in and have them given to me. Fortunately there isn't an office visit charge for this - unfortunately I have to take what he gives. If we took 200mg/e 10 days and split it up to 150mg/wk it would equal the same dosage over a month's time and I imagine test levels would be more stable but I don't know if that's how they figure it. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Maybe in the future, I'll look for a doc that will write a prescription but I just paid to have two blood panels done and I can't afford any more in the immediate future, especially like reb said, I will have to have more on a regular basis anyway.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I really appreciate it.

 

[Papa Lion]

even if you decided to talk with another doc, you won't have to get the blood panels done again until they are outdated... just have your other doc forward them over the results!!

 

[jhondo]

Oh, I didn't know. I thought every doc wanted to do their own. That's good news though. I go in today for my shot - maybe I'll just ask for a copy of the results. Thanks for that advice.

What is kind of irritating about the whole office visit for a shot thing is that I'm quite sure he isn't doing it for any moral or ethical reasons...it's because he can charge the insurance company three times as much as it would cost to get the same amount of test from even a pharmacy. AND he doesn't even give the injection, a nurse does. It's basically a whole shit load of profit for him to do absolutely nothing.

I could be wrong about this, but somehow I doubt it.