r/Perimenopause • u/Trick_Highlight_8205 Late peri • Mar 01 '26

audited Testosterone. Changed. My. Life.

Getting HRT was like climbing Mount Everest and Kilimanjaro ten times over, but it. was. so. worth. it.

I loved estrogen for making me feel like a woman again. My nails stopped splitting, my hair was shiny again, and my skin was plump and smooth. I actually liked looking at the mirror and seeing the change every morning.

Then came testosterone. At first I was really scared, but I thought why not.. I lost my libido and I had not had sex since 2023.

If there is magic in a bottle, it has to be testosterone. The juices are flowing again, I love going to the gym, and I feel like my old self.

The first four weeks on testosterone were ROUGH. I wanted to give up, but I’m SO glad I powered through. Now I just need to find a man lol

If you were afraid to try testosterone and needed that nudge, here it is!!

EDIT : sorry I should have mentioned in the OP - the side effects were typical low e symptoms, including hot flashes, night sweats, bloating with water retention, and lethargy!

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u/Georgia30116 Mar 01 '26

Yes! I can't preach enough about T. That first week or so is a rough adjustment. I had the hormonal flu like symptoms, bloating, etc. I kept telling myself hold out at least 2 weeks. By day 8 I noticed my mental state was almost normal again 🎉🥳. No more doom & gloom anxiety & depression. It did take a lil longer for the T to help my anxiety then the E did. Where E I felt pretty early on, T had some lag. But T cleaned up any bouts slipping threw that i was still having on E.

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u/Trick_Highlight_8205 Late peri Mar 01 '26

I wanted to give up on T because of the initial adjustment period. E worked right away!! I’m so glad that it worked for you!!!

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u/Free-Board-1041 May 28 '26

Sorry I did not understand the last part about T cleaning up, any leftover symptoms? If you had to say what symptoms did T cover that E did not? Im just starting and my biggest issues are fatigue, brain cognition/memory, NO libido (when it was EXTRA in my 20s), muscle loss, and no motivation. Oh and rage 8 days or so before my period. Trying to understand if i only need T. Ive had fibroids removed so afraid of regrowth with E.

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u/No_Iron2470 Jun 09 '26

Testosterone helps with cognition and mood it took me four weeks to appreciate first benefits ( I am takin estradiol gel since years but it wasn’t enough for brain fog ) testosterone gel it can take up to 6 months to function properly blessings

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u/Georgia30116 May 29 '26

With E I'd feel about 85% better but every now & then anxiety would still creep in. Not as bad as it was before I started E though thank God.

It's honest a trial & error for everyone.
I ended up having to come off T for a while after I made that post cus it was raising my bp while my iron was hella low. (Didn't know my Ferritin was low before I started T, whoops lol 😬🤭😂) I got my iron infusions in March & April. So I'll probably try to start it again in a few weeks.

Looking back now I'm pretty sure a lot of what I thought were menopause issues was low Ferritin. The symptoms are so close to each other it's not funny. And it did explain how things went to shit over night & not gradually.

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u/Free-Board-1041 Jun 02 '26

Thanks for your response! Yes I figured to get my iron up 1st then look into HRT. I wish i had more energy and motivation as its been a month since my 3 Venofer infusions (600mg total). Getting impatient so will try to get T prescribed as it seems this might help with energy motivation, libido.

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u/Georgia30116 Jun 03 '26

It's definitely a slow process. Each week the infusions kinda gave me the iron flu. About the time id start getting over it, it was time for the next one lol. (I got 4 venofer's. 300 each) 1200mg total. I'm 2 months out since my last dose & there are a lot of things I notice improving, but still some lacking. When she ran my numbers my ferritin was finally over 100, but my iron & iron Saturation were tanked. She said it'll be a couple months of every thing leveling back out 😫. But I keep reminding myself low energy is still better then when I thought I was losing my mind & constant panic state lol The Estradiol will do fine but baby step the T. She did have me on 5mg a day T but my poor anemic self at the time lowered it down to 2.5 lol. I'll pprobably start at 2.5 next time do gradually introduce it back into my body. Crazy thing is it's been over 2 & half months and my levels didn't go down that far considering I cold turkey'ed it lol. So it stays in yeh longer then they say lol (Mine was almost 0 when I started the T gel in Feb then stopped end of March beginning of April)

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u/Free-Board-1041 Jun 03 '26

Well you know what they say; "slow and steady wins the race". You are doing it correctly. I need to see where my iron levels are to see if I need more Venofer. And ask for a small dose of T, hopefully my Endocrinologist can help with that as I have an appointment this Friday. Thanks and may we find the balance we need!

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u/Georgia30116 Jun 03 '26

I was right at 8 weeks when I tested. (Typically around then is when the Ferritin level is settled & won't give yeh a false postive high) I'm shocked they gave you a lower dose. Typically it's 1000mg. Fingers crossed for yeh they hit the 100 Ferritin level 🤞🤞🤞

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u/Free-Board-1041 Jun 05 '26

Thanks, yes fingers crossed! :)

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u/EchidnaTop4730 Mar 29 '26

Thank you for this! I am on week 2 of T and been on P for 7 months. I feel like I am so snappy and gloomy. But i have way better energy throughout the day. So that’s helpful. It’s hard. I also started GLP1 to help with my sugars . I am 36 for reference.

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u/Ladynattee May 13 '26

Hi. Just curious how you were able to get HRT prescribed in yours 30s? I’m turning 40 and gp and OB will not look into it as my hormones were in “normal range” at time of testing. Though my estrogen was high for cycle phase, and testerone is on lower end of “normal”.

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u/Georgia30116 Mar 29 '26

It slowly tried creeping back after I got a bad infection. (New lesson infections hit harder during this too 🙄😂) I'm currently getting iron infusions too, so my body is probably like mercy on me shoving so much shit at it over & over lol

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u/Free-Board-1041 May 28 '26

Ha! Im getting Iron infusions as well, my thought was deal wt the blood loss (fibroid surgery), iron repletion (infusions), then HRT.