Yes 2400 just for pellets. Probably sitting around 3k maybe a little more yearly. That’s not including hcg. Definitely wanting to get into injections.
It is related to cost, but not what you’re thinking, injections is low rent when compared to pellets which are very profitable creating a healthy income and is the most profitable version of TRT.
Your provider doesn’t want to reduce profits, that’s why they are hesitant to prescribe injections.
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That’s exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for your opinion
There will never be a money argument won by pellet use. But the cost of the treatment is not what drives all of us.
If you are willing to spend the time with injections every few days, and you want to lower your spend, then injections might be the way to go.
Another way to go would be to have your provider increase your pellet insertion so that you are getting 6 months out of each insertion. That would bring your pellet cost to $133 per month.
From my experience only, 3-4 month insertions are for problem patients (which I was one) and doctors who are holding back and trying to be too conservative (or doesn’t want to go “off-label”).
I don’t use defy medical, but online costs show $110-$140 per month. (taken from xcel male post).
For full disclosure, I don’t support Testopel use - but that is just my opinion.
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Knowing your actual e2 value would be very helpful.
That aside, when I first started TRT, I noticed the same thing (even though my e2 levels were stable). I even brought the problem up here, to no avail. Libido and erections were not a problem, but finishing was. It was like there wasn’t that normal build up of “pressure” or sensation. It was more like being a rock hard jackhammer that just had no desire to reach the finish line. Mentally I did, but physically something was missing.
For me, eventually I found that my prolactin levels had gone high (Because of TRT? Who knows). Once bringing it down with caber, it was game on again. The tingling and pressure came back. Finishing was no longer a problem (volume also increased).
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Have you heard of sottopelle treatment method and qualgen medical? This is the pellet and company it comes from that I use.
Cabe? Is this an AI? What you explained is exactly the issue I have been facing. Seems to be getting better now that there are no AIs in this second insert.
100% I had the same thing pre TRT. I always attributed it to either low free T or low E2, though my prolactin is above normal too (tried caber and won’t touch the stuff again).
Did you ever have your prolactin levels tested. What were they at before/after caber?
Caber is used to lower prolactin. It’s super strong stuff, screws with dopamine levels, I felt really really weird even taking a small dose of it so I stopped. It’s really meant for people that have prolactinoma (prolactin excreting tumor on the pituitary) that have insanely high prolactin levels, not for guys a little above “normal”. I didn’t notice improvements but not sure I could have handled taking it long term regardless
Just for comparison sake, here a calculation for the cost of my TRT injection protocol. I don’t even bother submitting to my insurance (except for the doctor visits).
TOTAL COST = $907/year
Testosterone Cypionate -Pizer branded Depo-Testosterone 200mg/mL - Local Pharmacy $63.36/10 mL. At prescribed dose of 0.2 mL E3D = 50 doses/vial = 150 days of treatment = $0.4224/day = $154.18/year
HCG - Merck branded PREGNYL - Local Pharmacy $127.01/10,000 IU = $0.012514/IU. At 1050 IU/week (current dose 2X more than prescribed) = $13.34/week = $693.47/year
Syringes (for testosterone) - 122 (28G 1/2 inch) 1 cc insulin syringes/year. Currently use Easy Touch brand from EasyTouch 28 Gauge 1/2 Inch Insulin Syringes - 100 Count. $14.45/100 = $0.14 each = 122 X $0.14 = $17.08 /year
Syringes (for HCG) - 156 (31G 5/16 inch) 0.5 cc insulin syringes/year. Currently use Easy Touch brand from 31G .5cc 5/16" Insulin Syringes from EasyTouch. $13.99/100 = $0.14 each 156 X $0.14 = $21.84 /year
Doctor Visit (copay) = 1/year at $20 = $20.00 /year
Labs = $0 (no copy)
Sottopelle is a pellet reseller under the original doctor Dr. Gino Tutera. There are a hand-full of clinics in the USA. Tutera likes to file dozens of trademarks on anything related to pellets or testosterone (such as “Testosterone Tuesday”) which leads me to believe he is what is commonly referred to as a IP Whore – meaning he is registering IP properties with the intent to lock others out, or prepare his company to be purchased by a predator. Sottopelle is a competitor of BioTE. Sottopelle doesn’t have its own pharmaceutical lab and uses a compounding lab. Sottopelle is available at less than 150 doctors in the USA.
Qualgen is new to me.
https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/qualgen-06032016
“FDA investigators inspected your facility, Qualgen, LLC, 14844 Bristol Park Boulevard, Edmond, Oklahoma 70313. During the inspection, the investigators observed serious deficiencies in your practices for producing sterile drug products, which put patients at risk.”
And qualgen response
The comments in this post are based on my opinion from reading publicly available documents and reviews.
Full disclosure: I am a BioTE patient and fan. There are more than 2000 doctors participating in the BioTE program (according to the locations page). Most BioTE doctors do not charge an office visit in addition to pellet insertion.
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Systemlord posts this same garbage for the past few years.
You guys on this board have posted the proof that his statements are false. Even systemlord admitted that what he paid at Defy when he WAS on TRT is less than I pay for pellets.
It is time to put this “profits” argument to bed.
A little tip for anyone needing to take caber.
Like mentioned here, it can make you feel pretty out of sorts. I learned to avoid that in several ways. One is, I made the individual doses smaller by dividing it to 3 times a week. Second, make sure to take it with a meal, never on an empty stomach…my theory as to why that works is because it gets absorbed much more gradually. And third, you can take it at bedtime, where the majority of the time that it would have made you feel “off” happens while you’re sleeping and you don’t notice it.
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"100% I had the same thing pre TRT. I always attributed it to either low free T or low E2, though my prolactin is above normal too (tried caber and won’t touch the stuff again).
Did you ever have your prolactin levels tested. What were they at before/after caber?"
I never had it tested previously, so I don’t have a baseline. However, what I’ve found since then is that for me, personally, my entire sex drive is related to prolactin. If it’s high out of range, there’s nothing but problems. If it’s in range, everything is normal. If it’s low normal range, things are even better than normal. But if I’m below normal range, sex is all I can think about and the slightest breeze will cause me to turn into diamond. This is of course fun, but it puts too much pressure on the wife (literally), so I keep myself in the normal range.
So for me, prolactin acts as a governor.
Yes. Before caber I was around 22 but was at 30 on my last labs. If it doesn’t go down on the next test I’ll probably need an MRI to make sure nothing bad is going on. That was 4 days no sex too so that should have been about as low as it would go.
I’m trying to remember to take vitamin b6 every other day to try to bring it down as well to see what happens
While taking caber I was in the low single digits. I think if I could have kept it mid range and gotten through the initial feel weird stage maybe I would have had a better opinion of it. I was taking crumbs of the smaller dose it comes in and it still knocked my prolactin down that much. I guess I’m sensitive to it or something
I wish it worked that way for me but for whatever reason it doesn’t seem to. I know a lot of drugs people say makes their libido go insane do the opposite for me so maybe I’m just weird. Who knows.