Testosterone Hormone Therapy (Testosterone patch/gel)

I was watching CNN this morning and there was a segment on hormone replacement therapy for men in the mid-30's who had began to lose natural level of tests. Some of the therapy that they had though was a patch called "Andropatch" or something very similiar to that, and a testosterone gel (which I don't remember the name of). Apparently it has the same effects of any other testosterone. Increased libido and an increase in muscle mass. They haven't released them yet because they're still testing the effects such as (the ones they were most concerned with) stroke and the effects on the prostate. How would this patch and gel work? Do you guys think that they will be introduced into the bodybuilding world anytime soon?

I'm on HRT and I take 50mg of Androgel ed. It's the equivalent of 250mg a week. I've tried to get my doc to give me cyp, but unless you feel like rubbing gel on yourself 2-3x's a day I don't see it being any easier. It's just not worth it for BB's to use when you can get blackmarket shots cheaper. But the patches and gels have been out for a while now, I've been using Androgel for over a year...

AndroGel is controlled...you won't see it on the black market anytime soon. If it was available I would have found it by now.

My Dr. told me that the gel and the patches aren't as effective. He decided to shoot my ass instead!! Lucky me.

They do give you a more stable blood level than test enanthate injections though.

How much is your Dr injecting you with? 250mg EW?

Both the gel and the patches have been available for several years now. The patch is older than the gel. The patches are called "Androderm"; the gel, "Androgel." The patches tend to cause skin rashes or to turn the surface of the skin to mush (similar to chicken meat if kept under water for several days).

The gel is more effective than the patch. However, both the patch and the gel are effective at providing therapeutic amounts of testosterone that will get hypogonadal men (men who have low testosterone levels) back to their normal to high range of testosterone.

Now that doctors are beginning to get a comfort level with testosterone, many will prescribe testosterone injections instead of using the patch or gel first. The injections are either Testosterone Enanthate or Testosterone Cypionate (Cyp being the more common of the two. It also known as Depo-Testosterone, the brand name of test cyp produced by the manufactuer, Upjohn).

The theraputic dose of injections can be reached at 100mg of test per week or 200mg of test every other week. Due to the yo-yo effect of the testosterone building then disipating over two weeks, many doctors prefer to use weekly doses.

Once you begin therapy, it seems that many doctors can be pursuaded to give (if not arleady prescibing) a dose of 200mg per week, which is more than twice the amount a body needs to function normally.

I'm getting injected once every 2 weeks @ 200mg. I'm hoping to get that changed to once a week. But, I was able to talk him into doing every 2 weeks instead of 3. He is very new to HRT. he has to look up doses and when to inject on his PDA. (which says a patient should be getting anywhere from 100mg-400mg, and it can be injected weeks 1-4) I said 400mg? Wow, that seems like a lot!! but deep down my mouth was salivating.

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Originally Posted by Xavier_4446

I was watching CNN this morning and there was a segment on hormone replacement therapy for men in the mid-30's who had began to lose natural level of tests. Some of the therapy that they had though was a patch called "Andropatch" or something very similiar to that, and a testosterone gel (which I don't remember the name of). Apparently it has the same effects of any other testosterone. Increased libido and an increase in muscle mass. They haven't released them yet because they're still testing the effects such as (the ones they were most concerned with) stroke and the effects on the prostate. How would this patch and gel work? Do you guys think that they will be introduced into the bodybuilding world anytime soon?

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My dad was given androgel but had to quit because his wife was getting hot flashes and little bit of hair on lip, in other words she'd come and hug him and got some on her and was getting dosed too!!! Be careful the gels can migrate to family members, wife and kids... not only when they touch you but you get on your hands and touch things in the house, then they touch the door knobs, stearing wheels, keyboards, etc too.