Fiancee going through perimenopause. Advice?

[malfeasance]

Wow, ok. Like I said, I have been completely unsuccessful on the 0.3 cc syringe, due to how narrow it is. The oil just won't move. Insulin and growth hormone are watery and do just fine, but it seems like oil based products just sort of stay wherever they are and do not move no matter which way I tip it and tap with my finger like a doctor on some TV show in the 1970s . . .

 

[malfeasance]

That raises another (stupid?) question though - are the shots subcutaneous?

 

[220]

That raises another (stupid?) question though - are the shots subcutaneous?

Depending on injection site they are either shallow IM or subcutaneous.

 

[Grey Spartan]

Grey Spartan, 10mg of Test C
10/200= .05 I assume you are backfilling a small insulin syringe?

That is correct. 29G x 1/2" needle to pin either shallow IM (in delt or leg) or subcutaneous

 

[Nunya]

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.

 

[malfeasance]

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).

That seems really high, like about three-four times as high as it should be. You are getting to the lower end of the male range.

You are not concerned about long term, unwanted but permanent changes from running that high?

female range is 15-70mg/dL

 

[Nunya]

That seems really high, like about three-four times as high as it should be. You are getting to the lower end of the male range.

You are not concerned about long term, unwanted but permanent changes from running that high?

female range is 15-70mg/dL

Not really. I've been under the care of a physician at the clinic I've been going to, getting regular bloods, nobody there bats an eye. The number is closer to 300ng/dl closer to insertion, and I don't need it to be THAT high. Things feel pretty spot on around 250ng/dl. I've been at it for nearly three years with no unwanted/permanent changes. Even clitoral enlargement (and we're talking minor here, I'm not transitioning to a guy or anything) isn't permanent in my case. And at my age, whose to say those chin hairs are even due to the testosterone; I was getting a few before starting.

EDITED TO ADD: those are also total T levels, not free T, and til now labwork hasn't included SHBG so I don't really know how much T is actually rolling around in there freely available. Going forward, labs will include that.

Having said that, once this current pellet wears down and I'm moved to injections under the care of a coach who has experience helping women out for BB as well as HRT/TRT, I'll be aiming lower initially. Certainly if I feel great at 150ng/dl I'll be fine with that. I doubt it though, every time the pellet wears off I can tell, and when I get bloodwork to confirm it, sure enough, total T has dropped right down to around 200ng/dl. I'm kind of dreading that transition period, although in the end it'll be better.

That's my N=1 experience though.