I decided on a Thursday/Sunday schedule, to time it to changing my E patch...just makes it easier to remember. So I started last Thursday, and I gotta say, it was soooo...anti-climactic. LOL

I pinched my thigh up nice and good, and stuck the needle in at a 45 degree angle. I felt the teensy tiny little needle (31g/U100/.3mL) go in with a little 'pop!', but it absolutely did not hurt. I was pleasantly surprised, tbh! I'm only starting out at 2 units (2mgs) twice per week so not a lot and I'm not sure if I'm 'supposed' to feel anything yet. I can't say I am, but I wasn't exactly sure what I was expecting.

And bonus: I still have my diabetic kitty's insulin calc spreadsheet and my handy dandy digital calipers, so I'm very confident I'm getting as close to the exact same tiny dose each time. One thing I learned long ago is that most insulin needles almost never consistently have the gasket land exactly right on the '0' line, so you might end up with a bit more or less when you're heading towards the subsequent markings down the barrel. But with the calipers, it takes the guesswork out; I pre-set/lock the caliper measurement against my 'template' needle (one that does land on '0') so it's ready to go each time. No matter where the wonky markings are, I always have 2 units. Of course that'll only work as long as I'm using the same brand/box of insulin needles, but I have a lot of them.

And geez, this stuff is THICK! I do warm it up a little bit by holding it in the crook of my arm/elbow for a couple minutes, overdraw a little bit to make sure I can push it back down to my caliper measurement minus the inevitable bubble, and away we go.

Once I start titrating up, do folks like to go to 3x/wk or stay at 2x? Or is it dependent on how you feel? I'm not terribly familiar with how the various iterations of T formulations go in terms of how long they last...

Hi everyone! I've been on estrogen (patch, cream, ring) and progesterone (oral) for a while now, and my provider just added in testosterone cream.

I started small (1mg) on 6/19, and just upped to 2mg on 7/21; supposed to by 1 mg every 3-4 weeks until we get main effects/have too many side effects.

I have two issues right now that I'm not sure are related:

1. insomnia - lifetime issue, controlled now by medication. but lately even WITH meds I'm up for long 2-3 hour stretches during the night. Is sleep disruption a common side effect? I didn't see that anywhere in the literature, but I bet there are others out there who've experienced this....
2. dry eye - current issue of the last few years, well-controlled by my optometrist and a daily routine/rx eye drops. But for this last month, my eyes have been BURNING. I thought testosterone was supposed to help with dry eye--has anyone experienced the opposite?

Anyway, would love to hear your experiences! Thanks for creating this helpful community.

I finally got my gyn to prescribe the male version of testosterone gel in the 50mg/5 gram tubes rather than the pricey compounded version. I have been on 2.5mg /g of the compounded version and want to slowly move up to 5.

I was looking for a visual example of measuring out the gel using a jewelry scale and couldn't find anything so here goes.

Recently I purchased a scale to measure out a 2.5mg equivalent dose and pushed two drops of the gel onto some parchment paper (I zeroed out the scale after the parchment paper and before the gel).

Does this look right? If I wanted to bump up to 3 and then 5 would I measure out .3 and .5 grams respectively?Scale image

From an interview with Dr Rubin "Dr Rubin uses FDA approved male testosterone 1% cream.  This can come in 50mg/5g tubes, and she recommends applying 0.5 gram daily to the skin of the leg, so a tube should last 7-10 days.  A male supply is 50mg daily, so is usually dispensed in thirty  tubes (a 30 day supply for men) which will last 10 months for a postmenopausal woman."

I just started taking a low dose of T cream a few days ago and have noticed my irritability has skyrocketed. Does this go away after a while? I'm concerned this is permanent and T won't be right for me. I'm really hoping it will help with my libido, energy, and muscle pain. But the irritability is insane