Late 40s here, perimenopause-ish. I got hooked up with a local boutique (no insurance accepted) women's clinic a couple years ago and started testosterone pellets after my total Testosterone came back at 4ng/dl. The pellet was just T, no estrogen, progesterone, etc. as those values looked fine.
It was a game changer. Made working out easier, recovery easier, performance gains easier. I'm not a body builder so my goals are different; athletic performance as I age, libido, health, longevity, and vanity. I may not be a bb but I do love looking strong. The clinic offers DEXA scans so I get those 2x/yr and in the first year I gained 10lbs of lean mass. I work out regularly but I wouldn't say I was lifting heavy enough regularly enough to have put on 10lbs of lean muscle mass otherwise.
I'm currently doing my best to learn about injections, cycles, hormone balancing, getting my own labwork done regularly, and all that, because I want off the pellets. Not because they didn't work for me, but because I'm pretty sure injections will provide a more stable experience. First couple weeks after insertion my libido is so high it's an inconvenience, and I have to take too much time off from lower body work to let the incision heal. Then when it tapers off it just sucks.
I have enough bloodwork data now to know what the best 'feels' correlates to in terms of total T and will be aiming for that (200-300ng/dl). Estradiol is always within range on bloodwork, depends on where I'm at in my cycle when I'm tested.
Anyway, TLDR; T only for now. Love it, would recommend it, totally worth a few chin hairs. I've seen women complain about changes to their clitoris. Personally, it has been nothing but a net + for myself and my marriage, and also serves as a marker as to when I've burned through a pellet and levels have dropped.
I imagine as I get closer to actual menopause I'll need to reevaluate things. By then, I hope to be better educated and armed with everything I need to keep my health dialed in on my own.
