Hey guys,
I’m about to start TRT this week - I’m getting my script filled tomorrow. My doc has me on 100 mg of test cypionate per week, having me inject 50 mg twice per week. My prescription is for 100 mg/vials, which leads me to believe I’ll be using each vial twice until it is used up. So my question is, what’s the best way to store the open vial after I’ve used it the first time? Or am I not understanding everything correctly? I appreciate any help.
If you mean an ampule that is snapped open, I would either draw entirely into two syringes and save the second syringe (the conservative approach) or draw entirely into one syringe, inject half, swish the needle thoroughly in alcohol, recap the needle still wet with alcohol, and store the syringe until needing to inject the remainder.
If, though I don’t expect you do, you mean a vial with a rubber septum (special top that you inject the needle through to draw from) then draw the amount needed and save the vial as is for next time.
[quote]jay86 wrote:
Hey guys,
I’m about to start TRT this week - I’m getting my script filled tomorrow. My doc has me on 100 mg of test cypionate per week, having me inject 50 mg twice per week. My prescription is for 100 mg/vials, which leads me to believe I’ll be using each vial twice until it is used up. So my question is, what’s the best way to store the open vial after I’ve used it the first time? Or am I not understanding everything correctly? I appreciate any help.[/quote]
I inject twice a week too. What I’ve been doing for the last 22 months on TRT, is filling 2 syringes at a time. I open the new vial, swab the rubber top with an alcohol wipe, and fill 2 syringes. Then I tape the top of the vial back down until the next week. But if you’re splitting the small vile into 2 equal doses, just fill the 2 syringes, and it should be empty. That’s the easiest way I’ve found.
In the first month of TRT, before I realized I didn’t have to get my testosterone in pre filled syringes at my dr.'s pharmacy, I had 1 syringe with the entire week’s dose. Seeing that I split the dose into 2 injections a week, I injected half on Tuesday evening, then put a new needle on the syringe for Saturday morning’s injection, with the remainder in the syringe.
Now, I had no problems doing it that way temporarily, I wouldn’t recommend it long term. Syringes and needles are really cheap, so why take a chance with infection of you don’t need to.
My instinct is that it is better to store the second dose in the glass vial until you need it than in a syringe, since the rubber (and possibly the plastic) in the latter are soluble in oil and could therefore theoretically leach into the injectable medication. I don’t know if three days would be significant but better be safe.
If it is a vial with a rubber septum, you can just take the cap off and throw it away, draw your dose, and store the vial in the box it came in. Before the second injection, disinfect the rubber top with an alcohol wipe before drawing. That is what people do with the 10 ml vials (i.e., about 20 weeks of medication if 200 mg/ml) without any problems - just remember to wipe the top and use a sterile syringe every time.
Make sure to check the concentration so you inject the right dose. Nowadays many pharmacies dispense T-cyp in 1 ml vials (because of insurance idiocies) but the concentration is most often 200 mg/ml, in which case it would last you two weeks, not one week.
if your vial is 100mg/ml and you get 1ml bottle then it will last you a week but if it’s a 10 ml bottle it will last 10 weeks, you will just inject .5 (1/2) ml each injection. Just follow the protocols listed above, and make sure to swab with alcohol and use new needles.
I wouldn’t worry about leaving test in a syringe for 3 days. If pharmacies can legally, and safely ship testosterone in preloaded syringes, which won’t be used until at least a couple of days after the pharmacy fills the syringe, I think you’ll be good.
You’d probably be safe prefilling a couple of weeks worth. People do it all the time when they travel.
This is a lifelong process. You want to make it as quick, easy, and convenient as possible. Of course while still being safe.
[quote]Gossamer wrote:
I wouldn’t worry about leaving test in a syringe for 3 days. If pharmacies can legally, and safely ship testosterone in preloaded syringes, which won’t be used until at least a couple of days after the pharmacy fills the syringe, I think you’ll be good. [/quote]
I get other medication (for an autoimmune condition) from my pharmacy in prefilled syringes. However, those prefilled syringes are made of glass. Not saying storing in plastic is necessarily unsafe (esp. for just three days), but one does wonder why the pharmaceutical company would bother using glass syringes unless they had a good reason.
[quote]seekonk wrote:
[quote]Gossamer wrote:
I wouldn’t worry about leaving test in a syringe for 3 days. If pharmacies can legally, and safely ship testosterone in preloaded syringes, which won’t be used until at least a couple of days after the pharmacy fills the syringe, I think you’ll be good. [/quote]
I get other medication (for an autoimmune condition) from my pharmacy in prefilled syringes. However, those prefilled syringes are made of glass. Not saying storing in plastic is necessarily unsafe (esp. for just three days), but one does wonder why the pharmaceutical company would bother using glass syringes unless they had a good reason.
[/quote]
Some use glass, some use plastic. My dr.'s office pharmacy gave me my first 4 weeks of injections in preloaded plastic syringes. With all the safety laws that pharmacies have to adhere to, I really don’t think it’s unsafe to let testosterone sit in a plastic syringe for 3 days, if my dr.'s pharmacy says it’s safe to leave in for almost 4 weeks.
But hey, if you feel safer filling the syringe each time right before injecting, then go ahead.
And btw, if people are worried about rubber from the stopper leeching into the testosterone, what about the rubber top of a 10 ml vial that isn’t emptied for over 2 months with some TRT protocols? Is that a safer rubber?
TRT is much easier when the doc writes a script for a 10 ml vial, which can last a little under five months.