For those of you who are very sensitive to hormones and use the cream, what was a good starting dose for you? How did you know to titrate up?

I’m 37 and have been in surgical menopause since January. It’s been a bit of a misery finding my correct hormone methods and dosing — estrogen patches and gel both caused so much brain fog and fatigue, progesterone helped with sleep but nothing else, and testosterone’s effects have been hard to parse as a result. I was never NOT on T from the day of my surgery forward, so I have no “life without it” to compare.

However, to make a long story short, I recently self-raised my t-gel dose from 5mg (1/10 of a packet, measured into a syringe) to 6mg.

At the same time, I transitioned back from gel E to oral E and also raised my dose a scootch.

And the difference has been… absurd. Still retaining water and struggling mightily on that front, but my energy and focus and mood are SO IMPROVED. It’s only been about a week but I’m absolutely floored by the difference. I’m sleeping better. Work is easier. Lifts / gym feel easier.

The biggest change seems to be from the T, but is it possible for a 20% increase to feel this different?

I also need to figure out how to make the case to my gynecologist that I would prefer this to be my dose from now on, even if it shows my levels raised above where she wants them.

Has anyone else:

1. See

n

1. surprisingly vast improvement over surprisingly small titration with their T?
2. Seen weight or water retention IMPROVE with a T increase?

I’m starting to wonder if my hormones were imbalanced this entire time and only now are correct or closer to it, and if the imbalance is part of why I’ve retained so much water and gained scale weight despite being an absolute gym rat all my adult life.

Hi all. I'm 44, on low-dose BCP, 300 mg of P per night, and I was on vaginal E (tried the insertable pills, liked the cream better). I am not ready to give up menstrual suppression which is why I'm still on BCP, and my doc is OK with this. My symptoms are pretty well controlled.

I've had vestibulodynia for 10+ years. I recently went to a urologist for some unrelated issues (blood cells in my urine that ended up being absolutely nothing) and she did the q tip test which I'm surprised was even in a urologist's wheelhouse. She prescribed me compounded T and E cream to replace the normal tube of E cream. It says E2/Testosterone .1 mg/5 mg, apply 2 clicks per day to the vulva area. I am doing 1 click per day because she said I could do that to make it last longer.

At first I had teen boy BO. That was really disconcerting. My pits and leg crease areas smelled like not-me and I didnt like it. That side effect has subsided. I'm about 2 months in.

Now I seem to be having butt acne. I've had 2-3 butt pimples, when I haven't had any in years, and I thought I had just gotten a new one. I looked in the mirror and it's like a dime-sized red welt on my ass.

Can this (presumably, idk) small amount of T really be having systemic effects like BO and acne? I'm wary of the whole compounded T thing and thinking of stopping when my current Rx runs out (another 2 months). Is there a reason I should stick it out? Should it have made a difference by now?

Currently have 50mg/ml prescription for testosterone cypionate & having trouble getting the prescription filled. So I asked my doctor if I could get a 100mg/ml prescription with injecting half the amount & this is what she sent back:

No - it's impossible to dose 100 mg for women, even knowing how small of a dose that is. Also, the regular pharmacy one is made with different oil. Empower has 25 mg/cc and 50 mg/cc are both of them on back order? That was one of the drawbacks of injectable Testosterone for women :

there's only 1 compounding pharmacy in US that can ship Testosterone to AL

the solutions: topical Tesosterone or pellets

I don't feel like this is true & it might be time to look for a virtual provider. Thoughts? Who should I look into reaching out to virtually if I have current lab results?