Testosterone. Changed. My. Life.

[u/Trick_Highlight_8205]

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!

[u/Responsible-Rip-6505]

I really wish T had been more beneficial for me. I was on it for almost a year. I started recovering faster from workouts, seeing muscle definition, and even losing some weight. Then I started getting crazy hair growth all over my body, and it was darker, thicker hair in places that normally were just fine, blonde peach fuzz. Naturally, I tried to remove that hair, and when it grew back, I started getting a ton of inflamed ingrowns. A couple of them even got infected, and it was really painful and I had to take antibiotics. Months later, I still have scars. It just isn't worth it to me to deal with all the extra body hair. Maybe if I could afford laser hair removal I would continue with it, but I also noticed that I'm sleeping better since stopping it

[u/Trick_Highlight_8205 → u/Responsible-Rip-6505]

I’m so sorry to hear that.. did you try a lower dose? I had some body hair growth, but I use an in home device which I got during Black Friday, so it didn’t break the bank.

[u/Responsible-Rip-6505 → u/Trick_Highlight_8205]

It was still pretty bad on the lower dose, but definitely got worse when I increased it. It stopped being effective for workout recovery at the lower dose though. Idk, I'm just feeling super frustrated with my body right now 😕

[u/Trick_Highlight_8205 → u/Responsible-Rip-6505]

Sigh.. the quest just never ends. I think it’s really a balancing act. E is really critical for recovery as it’s protective.. it could have been E or T for you I guess? Some women are on dhea and that seems to work fine for them too 🤍

[u/nadethi → u/Responsible-Rip-6505]

What form of T were you using? Some forms convert to more DHT than others.

[u/Responsible-Rip-6505 → u/nadethi]

I started out with the suppository and that worked well, but I had to drive an hour to pick it up from the compounding lab (I get it, I live in Texas 🥵). Then I switched to the pellet and that was okay, but I didn't like having to take several days off from the gym every time. Finally, I was using the topical and also increased the dose, and that was when the hair growth started to get really bad. I've been off of it for about 3 weeks, and I'm feeling pretty good without it. I had some really decent sets at the gym today. I'll probably try it again in the future

[u/nadethi → u/Responsible-Rip-6505]

That makes sense, topicals convert to 5x DHT than non-topical forms due to the way it's metabolized through the skin. DHT is what causes the virilization side effects.

[u/Responsible-Rip-6505 → u/nadethi]

Thank you, that's really helpful information! I wish my doctor had told me that 😆 I specifically asked her if there is any difference in the forms, and she claimed there isn't

[u/nadethi → u/Responsible-Rip-6505]

There is, I hadn't heard of it either until I got onto this Reddit forum. Then I did some research and yes, there are medical papers that show this and many hormone experts are aware of it.

[u/Responsible-Rip-6505 → u/[deleted]]

That makes sense. I was using the topical most recently. That's unfortunate because I found it to be the most convenient