coming up on my 5 year anniversary soon! still no surgeries (between moving cities, changing careers, and the pandemic things got a bit off track) but my body is livable now. the effects stabilized after a couple years, i finished getting my documents changed around that same time, and now i'm just living my life. i always forget to include it in my lists of medication lol, it's just my normal now.
Pretty positive thus far. I am transmasc/nonbinary. I started pretty low with ~10 mg gel about 6 months ago and switched to 20mg test cyp injection about 3 months ago. I just got blood tests that I'm still waiting on, so IDK if I'll need to change dose.
My mood is a lot better. Anxiety is much better. I have had much less joint pain (I'm hypermobile). It's easier to put on muscle. A little bit deeper voice. A little more body hair. My jawline looks more square.
PMDD improved temporarily but it's back. Libido was high for a while but it's leveled off. I gained a lot of water weight when I switched to injections, and it's still a problem. I lost some hair at my temples, which grew back with minoxidil and still doing alright switching to DIY rosemary oil serum. Bottom growth was really painful at first due to adhesion/phimosis. EDIT: I've also got some pin-sized cherry angiomas. My arms are finally almost healed after the gel wrecked my skin.
PMDD is hell, and I really want a hysterectomy with double oophorectomy. My gyno wanted to try Lupron for 6 months as a trial run before surgery, so hopefully that goes ok and I can remove these horrible organs from my body soon.
We seem to be in very similar situations. I've been on 25mg of gel for bout a month. What effects did you get in six months? There are little to no resources for a timeline on this dosage.
I'm a binary trans man, but have been worried about T wrecking my singing voice if I take too much too quickly, yet at the same time I am restless to get all the effects of it.
What did the gel do to your skin?
I also have PMDD. It suuuuuuucks.
Curious about the rosemary oil serum. I have heavy bald genes on every side of my family.
Most of what I listed happened in the first 3 months on 10 mg of gel. I do seem to be more sensitive to gel than the average person. The changes that occurred after the switch to injections are that my voice finally got a little lower, a jump in muscle definition, and my jawline is squaring out more.
The gel just really dried out and irritated my skin, even with moisturizing an hour after application and again after showering in the evening. My arms broke out into lots of tiny pimples and ingrown hairs. It wasn't bad at first but progressively got worse, especially as the weather got cooler/drier. I still have a few healing, and the skin still feels and looks a bit dry. I do have sensitive skin that can take a while to heal.
Have you had luck treating PMDD with antidepressants or birth control? I'm one of the unlucky few that has not responded. I finally found a doctor willing to consider surgery, though she's hesitant to remove both ovaries, and I hope she reconsiders.
There was a study that found rosemary oil as effective as minoxidil. My serum: 2 tbsp of aloe vera gel, like 12 drops of rosemary oil, and a few drops of lavender and tea tree oils, in an empty twist spout bottle. I'm still working on the recipe. I shake it up and apply to my whole scalp after showering, concentrating on my front hairline where I had loss. It's rather moisturizing, so I had to stop using conditioner. I have heard rosemary tea spray is also effective but I haven't tried it.
I suspect I may also be more sensitive to it than others. In my first month I have had increased libido and oilier skin. Gonna wait till April to up my dose assuming all the labs are good. I heard gel changes happen more gradually than injections do.
Antidepressants didn't have much of an effect on it. Currently doing the birth control route but I'm only two months in so it's too early to tell.
I had not come across that info before about the rosemary oil. Looks promising. When I go on a higher dose in April I'm gonna use your recipe. Thanks a bunch.
Honestly, I think it's kind of a myth that gel is slower acting. I know some people don't absorb it well, but I've seen great results on dudes that do. Some of my changes happened really fast, like within a week, bottom growth started, and my hand veins started popping out, before I even started working out.
You're on a pretty normal starting dose and could definitely stay on that dose and still transition if you wanted to keep it slow. Most men increase for more rapid changes, but nonbinary dudes will often stay around that dose or even drop it a bit. Reddit is a good source for trans timelines, and I hope we start seeing more here.
The main difference between topical and injections is that topical converts to more DHT, which acts more on bottom growth and facial/body hair growth, but also male patterned baldness. So in some ways, you might transition faster on gel. Wikipedia has a chart comparing DHT to testosterone.
Do you have a source on the topical/DHT connection? It kind of fits my experience, but I would love to see actual data there, as I am waffling about whether to stay on gel or go back to injections myself.
I started on injected, ramped up until it actually caused me problems (turns out my family history of epilepsy and migraines around puberty is androgen-sensitive, and I started having difficulty with light triggering awful headaches). Sustained at I think 50-60 mg after that, took about two years break and back on injections at 60 until I switched to gel about a year ago. The reason I say the DHT matches my experience is because I had a definite increase in hair growth and possibly bottom growth after switching and getting the dose right. (I had very little bottom growth before, and I still don't really notice it.)
The whole process has been a little frustrating for me. Voice change, hair growth and muscular development were what I most wanted from T, but I turned out to be a tenor, got the genetics for just enough facial and chest hair to make it obvious how little I have, and my ability to get muscle definition is worse than the women in my family still. Like, I feel good on T, but it hasn't been what I dreamed of as far as transforming my body.
"Disproportionate increases in serum DHT are reported after administration of all transdermal testosterone products with the higher DHT/T ratio attributable to the strong expression of 5-alpha reductase in skin structures which foster the conversion of testosterone to DHT during transdermal passage." https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/andr.12357
How much have you experimented with injections? You may want to try alternative esters (e.g. cypionate, enanthate). Some people find subcutaneous better than intramuscular or vice versa. It can also help to increase frequency, like splitting a weekly dose into 2 or 3 times a week. Injecting weekly was giving me issues (e.g. headaches, bad skin) that have resolved since switching to 2x/week.
For facial/body hair growth, I would suggest minoxidil if you haven't tried already. A lot trans guys/mascs have had success with it. Muscle growth might just be unlucky genetics, but many people underestimate the power of a bigger calorie surplus, more protein, and/or a more targeted fitness plan.
Transition can be really frustrating for sure, and for some more than others. I would also recommend a trans affirming therapist or support group if you don't have one already. My therapist has helped me a lot with managing expectations/frustrations/patience.
I did intramuscular cypionate at varying levels for most of my time on T, every two weeks, so not a lot of experimentation except for the dosage. Sounds like I should definitely talk to my prescribing doctor about options, whether I end up switching back from gel or not....
My therapist is actually a nonbinary trans woman, so I'm in good shape there; obviously her personal experience doesn't include T delivery methods, but they also work with a bunch of other trans folks of all types, so there's some tribal knowledge being filtered through there. I still learn more from the community than from medical professionals, though. Many thanks for the information and advice today!
It’s been excellent! I’m on a low dose and I’ve been less anxious, I have the body shape I’ve always wanted, and a cool beard! I am bald-as-all-hell but that was expected with my lineage 🥚 Overall it’s made me much more able of a person