My Androgel Story

Poor absorbtion of gels and creams has been mention here and there on the forum, but I thought I would share my experience for others.

At my annual physical I suspected low T so I asked the doc to run tests for it.

It came back at 280. He put me on 2.5 grams of Androgel per day, which I already knew was low, but he wanted to try that.

Tested again at 5 weeks. T down to 210. He upped the dose to 5 grams per day. He seemed too busy to work on this progressively so I found a PA who specializes in HRT.

Tested again with PA after the 5mg per day for 6 weeks. T down to 185.

E2 rising from 16 to 25 over same period.

She is in agreement with the TRT protocol listed here and I start that today. Looking forward to finally getting some results.

Lesson - just because you are taking something does not mean it is working for you.

We do see this non absorption of T and often the T is converted to E and drives that up. The increased E reduces your own production.

It is important to understand that those with low thyroid levels or full hypothyroidism are ?often?always? non absorbers of transdermal T. The flip side is that makes non absorption of transdermal T a strong symptom of hypothyroidism.

Get tested for:
-free T4 -fT4
-free T3 -fT3
-TSH

If you are younger then the odds suggest that you should be considering a possible pituitary adinoma. There can also be mechanical damage from a blow to the head or whiplash. If you have lost some peripheral vision or have other visual field disturbances, that can be from a growth on or at the pituitary. Pituitary disturbances can affect LT/testosterone and perhaps TSH/thyroid.

There is always a question of absorption and typically transdermals are only 10% absorbed. With injections, there is no question at all. It is always 100%.

Good to hear that you found a PA who is open minded.