Experiences with Testogel?

Therapeutic Efforts Pharmaceutical
#1

Hi all
Could I trouble any guys who have tried Testogel or Androgel to give me a brief rundown of their experience? I used Propecia for five years before symptoms arose. I’m experiencing ED, absence of libido, severe fatigue, at two months off, and my doctor is advising I try Testogel. My morning T has been tested at borderline low (12nmol/L), so seems I have got the common post-Fin T crash.
Thanks to all you guys I’m aware of the problems with TRT - shutdown of own T, infertility - but my doctor seems to think that a short course of Testogel may see my own T levels stabalise at a higher level.
I know some guys here have tried gel for a short while. I’ve tried to get the best picture from reading their posts, but any more info would be very much appreciated. I’d be keen to know the basic stuff:
Your symptoms before the gel
Your T level before the gel
What the gel did to your symptoms
How long you were on it
Why you stopped
How you are now

Thanks again for any help. Best wishes to all of you.

#2

I dont think anyone tried it RIGHT AFTER they came off Propecia, because there used to be a guy on here who scared everyone about trying anything!!
Most men here tried it after years off the Propecia.

I personally wished I had tried it two months after stopping Fin like my endo also suggested. I think maybe I wouldnt have these prostate problems. Millions of men across the world use Testogel, and I think its relatively harmless. I would DEFINITELY try it for two months and see where it gets you. Otherwise you will just end up like the rest of us anyway, regardless. Or at least thats what it seems.
I’m not tryin to be synical, but I was going to try gel, as well as my roomate at the time was a bodybuilder who was offering me HCG, and I got scared away from trying both. In hindsight I wish now I had tried them. I went back four months later to try to get Gel, and they wouldn’t give it to me without an appointment, those bastards, and my insurance was up, so I didn’t want to pay the asshole (endo) $200 bucks to not listen to me again. Argentinian prick who also teaches at Harvard Medical School, and is well known, so he thinks he knows everything…

Try it dude. Nothings gonna make you worse than you are.
Dont be afraid.

Good Luck,
Boston

#3

my symptoms befor testimgel:

severe brain fog so so so strong
impotence
fatigue so so so strong

doc gave me testim gel 5mg (if i recall right;1 tube) /per day with half pill of cialis. i had to use it 1 day,stop the next ,than 1 day and stop the next etc…for 3 mouth.

results :
nothing !!! …after 1 mouth quitting it my free t was lower but just a little bit …so,my conclusion is dn’t use it or maybe use it with antiestrogen…

i tried it after 1,5 year off propecia

#4

Thanks to both of you for those replies.

Boston, I know you came to the conclusion that the prostate was at the heart of your problems. Were your symptoms the usual: ED, lack of libido, fatigue?

I’ve read that you’re feeling much improved, and hope that has continued. What treatments did you use to achieve that?

Any more Testogel or TRT experiences much appreciated.

Thanks all.

#5

I was using steroids including testosteron analogs under doctors supervision. It was about 2 or 3 months after this problem occured.
I used almost everything and the only thing I got from these regimens was a greater fatigue which I had to deal with fot the next couple of months. Steroids make all these unusual symptoms much worse and non of the endocrynologists know what they are dealing with, unfortunetely…

#6

Rather than jump on Androgen Replacement, you may want to try Clomid, hCG or Tamoxifen to boost your endogeneous T production first.

There are studies about hCG and Clomid in this section to provide to endos, and both Dr Shippen and Dr Crisler prefer this approach before resorting to TRT.

#7

Thanks Mew. I’ve read conflicting stuff about HCG, which my doc is willing to try (though he prefers Testogel). Some people say it can re-start your own T production. Others say the reverse: that just as putting in T supresses your own T, putting in HCG supresses own production of LH and FSH, so that when you come of HCG you can end up with the same kind of crash. What do you think?

#8

I’m not an expert but as hCG is an LH analogue and acts as LH accordingly, taking too much of it for an extended period of time can desensitize the testes.

I believe Dr Crisler prefers no more than 500iu 3x per week… doses in the thousands (ie 2000, 5000iu) are often used for fertility treatment for a short period of time due to the above.

As you have not posted your complete blood test results we cannot give you feedback as to WHY your T may be low (ie, elevated Estradiol, or SHBG)… that would help determine treatment options.

If it comes down to it, you may prefer to see Dr Crisler or Shippen if you are not comfortable with jumping on TRT before trying other treatments. Dr. Crisler’s forum is at musclechatroom.com

#9

Hi.

Good that you are trying something, cant just sit around hoping you would have down the line.

Hcg according to most in the know definetly suppress your own T. So for restarting i think it would do little good other than for the period you are taking it. The main reason for using hcg would be if u feel your testicles have shrunk during your propecia period. Or to maintain testicle size while on Trt.

Like Mew said, Trying nolva or clomid might be something to try b4 trying injections or gels. Id be concearned about messing to much with an allrdy messed up hpta when trying restarts. But talk about potential risks with these preperations with your doc if considering. I remember clomid could have some nasty sides if unlucky.

My exp with gel.

Hmm well i will tell my story as i remember it today, might not correlate with previous posts all that well :slight_smile: will be interesting to c.

I came off propecia because i ran out of pills. I was feeling really good as i remember it for 2-3 weeks. Just as im bout to get my new prescription things turn bad. I had low libido and weak erections while on propecia but nothing major.

Now i find myself getting extremely hard erections (hurt) vains popping out on genitals and beeing very hard to the touch, narrow slightly bent penis etc. Hurting balls. Always tired, fatigued. Could no longer hold my job as a bikemessenger, i tried but my body couldent. I was extremely fit b4 this, a couple of month in i lost 20 pounds (not fat) looked terrible, felt like i aged 10 years in a couple of months. Horrific prostate pains and bloated cramping belly. Had all the usual sides except brainfog. Thank god i was saved from that one as i fear thats the worst of all propecia sides.

About 6 month off propecia im better but (most of pain in penis and stomach went away) still really bad compared to b4 all this.

I decide to do something about it. I get the tests needed and they reveal i have low t and very low free T (below scale). Also somwhat high thyriod hormones t3 and t4.

I get a prescription for testogel.

Within a couple of hours my libido is really high, prolly more so than ever b4. My penis is normal size again, but still very hard, too hard. But its full atleast and not narrow.

The bad part is i felt very sluggish on the gel. Both in brain and movement. Like everything was in abit of slowmotion. I dident really care that much since i had my libido again. My penis was completely normal within 3 weeks of use with the gel, even flacid size was back to normal.
Sensitiviy was better than normal, i really enjoyed these parts of the gel :slight_smile:

However the downside of itching and small lumps in the chest got me scared. The sluggish feeling grew and was really disturbing. I felt dumber like my brain wasent up to speed, No wonder the docs got as all pegged down as hypocondriacs with all our strange sides from day to day.

My prostate also grew abit to large (or atleast felt that way) so i actually took some saw palmetto to keep it down, that worked well. Ejeculation was more than usual and feeling stronger than even b4 all of propecia sides.

To sum it up:

All sides dissepeared but my stomach that still today has the ocational uprise. I became allergic to gluten during all of this so could be this thats bothering me then and still sometimes.

New sides developed: such as chest pain/lumps, sluggishness brain and body.

The interesting part to me is that my total t and free t basicly dident change when on the gel and was only half of what they are today…

Theory
So the most logical explenatition might also be the correct one. My body is still not producing enough dht even with todays highish t levels. But with gels i did get the dht i needed and then some…

I think i would still be in the same spot today even if i never tried trt. I do however know that just the feeling of knowing i could have a libido again was greatly reasuring to me at the low point so maybe trt gave me some peace of mind. And possibly trt helped with penis issues.

Hope this post can help you evalute what to do. If you have any Q ill gladly help out. My memory is really good again btw :slight_smile:

#10

Troubledfinuser2, it sounds like you basically recovered while on TRT. How long ago was this? Are you still taking it? Or did you take it for awhile, then stop, and are now recovered? Any new bloodwork?

Regarding lumps in your chest, you need to monitor your estrogen levels, you could be developing gynecomastia due to aromatization of the T.

#11

Hi mew.

Well i wrote below post in the other testogel thread just a couple of days ago.

About chest pains i dont think its estrogen i always had low e2 alltho that was when i had low t… Anyways im cing a new doc now and he says i have no gyno (even tho i can feel it) but the perticluar pains i have in my chest seem to be enlarged / swollen lymph nodules. Or so 3 different docs tell me. I bet they are wrong tho .) i have anti E2 at home but i feel shitty if i use them so i dont know what to do about that.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 12:13 am Post subject: update

Hi again all.

Thought id share with u my latest results, dont know how long its been since im off propecia since its not constantly on my mind anymore. I feel alot better, even back to working again.

Im not cured, i still have some weird knots in my chest, some abdominal bloating and feelings of fatigue from time to time. I also get prostatitis every year in the fall. Like a clock… No difference this year, thats why i have the new labs since i thought id have a look at hormones again.

Ive obviously had some really good progress in terms of total and free T however as u can c, progesterone shows its ugly face!

Havent been on any medications or diets in a long time other than that i have found out im allergic to gluten, so obviously no bread pasta etc.

New labs:

LH: 3.4 (1.2 - 9.6)
FSH: 4.4 (1.0 - 12.5)
IGF-1: 236 (140-370)
SHBG: 30 (15-56)
Total T: 23 (10-30)
Bio T: 13 (6.3 - 16)
Prolactin: 7.6 (3-13)
E2: <150 (guess wrong test but i was below lowest b4 so i doubt its an issue)
Progesterone: 6.3 (<3.0) *

Considering last labs drawn i was below the bottom on bio T and just at the low mark on total T i feel really possitivly about these results. I kind of had a feeling they would be better since ive been feeling alot better but still its nice to c it on paper.

So how to lower the progesterone safely?

Ive lost the little knowledge i had about this stuff since i havent been worried about it in a long time.

Comments appriciated.

Hope lots of you have improved aswell!!

thx

#12

Hi,

i took testogel for 2 months and i din’t feel better. also, it goes down my T :S. I had ~7 before testogel and ~5 after it. i wouldn’t recommend you taking it. i think is better taking sth that help body to make T in a natural way

#13

I agree. I believe that if you are going to do HRT, you should do it for life.

#14

I could explain all of the above symptoms as excess conversion of testosterone to estrogen by way of aromatase enzyme. A good aromatase inhibitor twice a week would have solved all of those problems except for one. If there was no change in your free or total testosterone levels. You wern’t getting enough OR it was bogus.

#15

Doesn’t surprise me. Testosterone in this form HAS to be taken daily to achieve stable blood levels. This every other day dosing would not have given you enough test to bring you into normal blood levels.

#16

My experience on androgel.

Total testosterone levels on 10-28-08 after 9 months on propecia = 60ng/dl.

Total testosterone on 5mg per day of androgel on 12-04-08 and just a little over 30 days without propecia = 558.3ng/dl.

Reference range for a male = 241 - 827 ng/dl.

Bottom line. If it doesn’t raise your levels, you are not using enough or your test is bogus.

#17

Hi

Thanks for bringing your experience to the boards. Can you tell us more?

What sides you suffered after Propecia that persisted once you stopped taking the pills?

Where you sought treatment?

What change you saw in symptoms thanks to Androgel?

It’s great that TRT seems to have worked for you. Some guys here have tried it - and seen T rise to decent levels - but found little or no symptomatic improvement. Of course, as you say, this might be explained by further hormonal imbalances - such as too much E - that weren’t addressed or that were caused by the rise in T.

Anyway, any info much appreciated. Thanks.

#18

My need for TRT preceded my need for Propecia. So, Propecia was not the reason I had to start TRT. I have been on TRT for 10 years already and probably needed it 10 years before I started. Now that I know the difference between life with low androgen levels and normal androgen levels, I wouldn’t quit using it for anything.

My biggest problem with Propecia was that it did not do anything to help my prostate issues. Uroxatrol helped me in that area infinately more.