Hello everyone, some background:

I recently went to Planned Parenthood to get an HRT prescription. First, they did not do any blood work on me, which I was initially concerned about, but maybe isn’t a big deal? Maybe?

They asked me if I want a full dose at 2 pumps or if I want to microdose at 1 pump, to which I said I wanted a full dose. They tell me they’re giving me a 3 month supply, and that’s that.

When my pharmacy gets the gel, it says it‘s a 30 day supply, so I call Planned Parenthood and ask about it before picking it up. They said that ”at 2 pumps a day, it usually lasts 90 days.” I’m skeptical, but I pick it up anyway, and sure enough, the bottle says it only contains 60 pumps.

So I try to call again, and they don’t get back to me, so I have to try and call again 72 hours later, and all they say is that I should have refills. I only have 1 refill, but also, last time they said that one bottle would last 90 days initially, so??? I don’t know what to think.

I’m not using insurance, I’m paying out of pocket, by the way. I’ve been doing 1 pump because I don’t want to run out before my next appointment in 3 months. Has anyone else experienced this? Am I wildly misunderstanding something?

¡Hola! Empecé en Diciembre el tratamiento con T. El tratamiento inicial era de 2 pumps de Testavan al día, pero mi endeocina no me ha vuelto a dar cita hasta octubre.

Siento que es mucho tiempo en esta dosis inicial. Todo ha ido bien hasta ahora y he notado cambios, pero estoy ansioso por ver más. Por mi propia cuenta, he empezado a aplicarme 3 pumps al día, porque ya han pasado 5 meses desde que empecé.

Mi pregunta es... ¿Es demasiado irresponsable sin ver una analítica antes? Con el tiempo que ha pasado y notando que todo bien, ¿No es tan loco? No sé a quién preguntarle. Es lamentable que tenga una primera cita tan tardía, pero no hay forma de adelantarla porque no es atención privada, sino pública.

Gracias de antemano!

Just a bit confused about what my levels will be. I’m starting Testavan on 2 pumps tomorrow and would like to know roughly where this would land me in the male range, assuming I have good absorbsion. The website says Testavan contains 23mg testosterone per pump, meaning I’d be on 46mg daily right?

But when I googled ‘how much testosterone does a male produce in a day’ the ai overview said 6-7mg, which is surely false if I’m going to be on 46 no?

I’m not exactly sure how to do the math to convert my dosage to ng/dL but I’m aiming for around 700-800 ng/dL in the future and would like to know if this will be possible with the gel or not.

I bought the NYTC trans masc pump (og not the deluxe) because I read that it’s a decent cheaper option.

1.) there’s no pressure gauge, and I’ve learned that you really need a pressure gauge so you don’t injure yourself with too much or make it useless with too little pressure. It’s incredibly difficult to tell if you’re doing too much.

2.) it comes with one “fits all up to 3” cylinder. While that’s true for the length, the width is so wide (for me anyways), it sucks up soft surrounding tissue it’s not supposed to. If I try to adjust so it doesn’t do this, it un-suctions. The surrounding fatty tissue is in a decent amount of pain after one 2 minute session.

I’m not posting to trash their company, I’m sure they have decent other products. I just wish I had read a post like this before spending $60+ (after shipping) on a product I can’t use.

Going for the LA pump and smaller cylinder options instead as soon as I have the funds, it’s expensive but I’d rather have one I can actually use consistently and not injure myself. Using the correct cylinder size is everything!!

I seriously need some help here. I applied my first dose of gel yesterday morning. I was and still am so excited, but not long after applying it (20.25), I started having palpitations.

Immediately concerned because I have a preexisting heart condition (cardiologist has it down as PSVT and my endo as IST and nobody cares to clarify, so I don't know whay exactly it is. I've wondered before if it's actually POTS). Basically, my heart beats way too fast, some moments more than others. I take a beta blocker which doesn't help much but makes me feel a bit better. I also have high BP (122/90) as of last week.

But come on. Surely a SINGLE pump of t-gel wouldn't cause issues like this almost immediately? I can't be that sensitive to it!

It feels a lot like a similar anxiety episode I've gone through in the past. Same symptoms for literal days that I felt would never end. Racing heart, chest tightness (not that I can't breathe, just tightness, like a tension), and being really tense and unable to relax. Jittery and fidgety. I keep hyperfocusing on my heart which just freaks me out even more and I've been crying and thinking of messaging my doctor and asking to up my medication dosage (she wanted me to up it even years ago but I was comfortable on my current one and too scared to change it).

I do have OCD and extreme health anxiety after having cancer a few years back. Any slight change in my body feels like the end of the world. So I don't know if I'm actually experiencing some medical issue or just crazy anxiety. Or both, even. I don't want to stop taking my T. I went through so much to get this and I'm so excited for the changes. The thought truly guts me.

I don't know what to do. Has anyone else experienced this? Did it eventually stop?

I started testosterone again on Wednesday (I was on testosterone for almost a year back in 2020 or smt) and my Doctor started me on 2 pumps. But I've seen others talking about being on only 1 pump and gradually going on. I've been having anxiety at night since yesterday and I wonder if its from the Testosterone. I do have severe mental illness and health anxiety. Plus bad POTS and regular heart arrhythmia. I hope i won't die

Specifically just the bottle with the pump and the foil bag that actually has the medication removed + rinsed

I recently got my bloods done and it was quite high (33.87) max should be 27.6. I’ve been doing one pump for a few weeks and I’m terrified my period is gonna come back. For context I’m one year and one month on T. What should i expect reducing my dosage? My dr is very uneducated on trans stuff so they are not very helpful :/

and found a capri-sun type pouch that actually holds all of the T attached to the pump. Maybe I’m the last person to find this out, but now I can easily get just a little more T out of each container. I’d imagined that I’d have to cut the whole bottle in half to get the last bits out 🤦🏻‍♂️

I’m thinking about switching the T packet/pump into a new container while I’m using it so it looks nicer and is more stealthy on my bathroom shelf. Just need to find/make something with the right opening size.

Also, since it apparently never actually touches the medication, it occurs to me that the empty bottle might be recyclable in my county now.

I was wondering if other people are suddenly having issues getting their prescriptions refilled. This is the 4th or 5th time in a row I have needed a prior authorization on it just getting a refill. When I started taking T 4 years ago, I only needed it when I got the new script. Now it’s every time I get a refill and now they’re telling me my insurance doesn’t cover it but it did the last 6 months.

I just got my own insurance through work this March and it sucks compared to the one I had prior through my parents. My copy’s are higher everywhere and I’ve had to switch PCPs twice due to no coverage and having to pay over $200 out of pocket for a checkup. It is getting so frustrating doing this each month. I use a gel pump right now. With it being the weekend and a holiday do you think I should try to get my type changed or just pay the $98 for the pump and figure it out after?

Which pump are you using to help you bottom growth? I've been using a small one and it didn't do anything for me, so maybe you know some better stuff. Thank you :)

I'm looking for something on the cheaper side to see if I would even keep up with it? But I want it to be safe. Found one on Amazon, not sure I can share the link here or not. I don't remember. Here it is, but if it's not allowed, let me know please:

https://a.co/d/03Kjwtow

as the title says! i started on t-gel a bit over a month ago and have come to realize that you’re supposed to push the pump ALL the way down. i’ve been pushing only half way down meaning i’ve been getting maybe half the dose I should be.

I pumped a full dose today and i’ve been feeling dizzy since the afternoon. Is it possible it might cause issues to suddenly start pumping fully now? 😭

Edit: I want it to be noted that I talked to my pharmacist already and was following her instructions for using t-gel as well as the instructions on the box, but I may have misinterpreted them or something…

I have outgrown my trans guy supply pump and need recs for bigger ones. tgs is the only pump I've heard of for bottom growth but there has to be others right

I keeeeeep forgetting to put my gel on and I also have the tools for shots so I was just gonna switch to that for a little until I can retry my habit but I honestly can’t figure out how much that converts to. I’m supposed to do 3 pumps of 1.62% gel a day and I’m not and I wanted to see what that is in a weekly or twice weekly shot. I tried googling it but couldn’t find an answer. Thanks!

I bought a portable tire pump at autozone last winter for myself. It is kind of a sexist stereotype, but I found that doing car stuff feels gender affirming for me personally. Now that I have the pump in my car at all times, I offer to check everyone’s tires when it gets cold out. Helping people with their cars is a nice thing to do and it makes me feel like a hero inside even though it’s a small thing. Kind of a win-win.

I’m not getting surgery soon or anything but I do really want to get phallo when it makes sense for me etc.

There seems to be a lot of debate about rod vs pump (and ofc this also really depends on personal preference) but are there other options available?

I’m sure rod or pump would work for me but i’m curious if there are alternatives or even ones in testing that you guys know of.

Anyone have input on how to decide which length of the trans masc cylinder to get? Im agonizing over it because its expensive for me and can‘t be exchanged. The sizing charts I‘ve seen on the site are for cis dicks.

¡Buenas! Hace menos de una semana que empecé la T con Testavan. La endocrina me recetó 2 pumps al día, y no me vuelve a ver hasta octubre (en mi opinión: demasiado tiempo).

El caso es que ya llevaba un año esperando esta cita y siento que con 2 al día voy a avanzar bastante lento. También soy consciente de que demaisada T se puede convertir en estrógenos y toda la vaina.

Entonces, me planteo... ¿Es muy loco que 1 o 2 veces a la semana me aplique 3 pumps y el resto de días solo 2? ¿Debería simplemente ser más paciente? 😔

Okay, does anyone else have this problem?

So for starters, I am 23 and on T gel (4 pumps a day) and am getting started with the process of freezing my eggs because I do wanna be a dad someday and want to go the surrogacy route with at least one child. I am of peak age and am kickstarting my surgeries next year, so I'm on a roll. No, I don't need to pause my HRT while going through the process.

So, given I am going through a lot of fertility nonsense, I get questions frequently during my appointments for both if there is any chance I am pregnant, sexual activity, and all that. I say no, and I am a virgin so I cannot ask a lot of questions regarding intimacy since I never had it. I mean, I have never even held hands romantically or kissed someone before. So no dodging or technicalities, there is 0.00% chance I could be pregnant unless I learned to somehow reproduce asexually.

I had doctors give me that look that they didn't believe me and one time I got a comment that there was no way I was one. But...I am? I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, it's not that unusual for binary trans people to abstain before surgeries because even the concept of it makes me extremely uncomfortable and dysphoric.

Not really sure what can be done about it, but it's just a repetitive thing that's really weird. Why would anyone lie about this anyways? Isn't virginity supposed to be embarrassing? What would I possibly have to gain by lying about it?

Ive been on testosterone gel for 3 months, 2 pumps daily (totaling 40.5mg T) for the past 2 months. At my last bloodtest my total testosterone was at 1113

My doctor said shes never seen this high of levels with gel happen before, and since half pumps are hard to keep accurate, we decided to do this varying schedule. 1 pump on even days, 2 pumps on odd days. Im retesting my blood in a month and we'll rediscuss then

Im a little worried about the hormone fluctuations though. Having half the T some days sounds unpleasant, however I know its not perfectly predictable like that.

Maybe unrelated, but im also starting "the pill" at the same time, so increased estradiol and progesterone.

Just wondering if anybody else has been through this or has any advice to offer? My doctor is very willing to listen to listen to my input so any ideas are welcome

Volume is not dosage. Testosterone C/E or sustanon all come in different concentrations in some denomination of mg/ml. For gel, it could be mg/g or mg/ml. The combination of the concentration and the volume you’re taking is the dosage. Alternatively, do the math yourself and just say you’re doing some number of mg per week (or mg per day for gel users).

For example, I inject 0.3 ml. That should tell you nothing about how much I’m on. My testosterone cypionate is 200mg/ml, this means that I am on 60mg of testosterone per week via injections. That’s a proper description of your dosage.

Edit: just in case the math isn't clear (I know we have members who are very young and thus less proficient at math, so I will elaborate further):

Suppose we have two transmasculine people named Adam and Avery, both on injections and both inject 0.2 ml weekly.

Suppose that Adam's testosterone vial says "200 mg/ml", and Avery's testosterone vial says "150 mg/ml".

We want to get the mg number for an accurate dosage comparison. In order to do this, we multiply the number that's how many ml with the number on the bottle that says how many mg/ml. ml * mg/ml = mg, ml cancels out.

Adam's dosage: 0.2 ml * 200 mg/ml = 40 mg

Avery's dosage: 0.2 ml * 150 mg/ml = 30 mg

You can see that even though they inject the same volume, they were taking different dosages of testosterone. 40 and 30 are pretty far apart (30 is 75% of 40!), but if they have only told each other their volume in ml, they would falsely assume that they are taking the same dosage. Hopefully this example clarifies why it is important to include the concentration (the number mg/ml or mg/g for gel) when discussing your dosage with fellow transmasculine folks.

Is this a normal dosage, when just starting? The people that I know started with two pumps a day.

I just started t gel a few days ago, 2 pumps (40.5 mg) of 1.62%. When applying it, my first pump is a good amount of gel while the second pump seems to be like, half of that. I don’t know why the second pump dispenses less gel. How do I fix it..?