Printable View
Sorry if this has been asked and answered before. I can't believe I'm the first to come across this, but I searched and can't find any similar posts.
I've just emptied my second pump bottle of Androderm gel. Am I imagining it or does the volume dispensed per pump decrease appreciably as the volume left in the bottle gets low?
I can't imagine any pump being perfect when the solution gets low.
I would guesstimate that the volume does decrease a bit as the bottle gets emptier.
I use Axiron and I think that I notice a slightly lower volume dispensed as my bottle gets emptier. I could of course just be imagining it.
Mine (androgel) pump volume was the same except when the bottle was nearly empty and the pump was sucking air. Then I'd just estimate the correct amount.
If you tap the bottom of the bottle against the counter a few times it'll move the gel to the bottom so you can get more out.
I was switched from the patch to the gel about two months ago and I've just finished off my second bottle of the gel. At two pumps a day, I'm supposed to get four weeks use per bottle. I'm road bicycling a minimum of two hours a day and over the course of those two bottles, I seem to be suffering more and don't recover as quickly for the entire fourth week, which works out to the bottom 25% of the bottle, more or less. Visually it seems less, too. Just curious if anyone else had noticed it. I know the last couple of pumps always are light, but this goes way beyond that.
I was thinking about this as I got near the bottom of the most recent bottle, but didn't act on it soon enough. I have a scale that weighs to the tenth of a grain so I was thinking about weighing one squirt, squirting it into a piece of saran wrap and weighing it, then I can wring the gel out of the plastic wrap and it won't be wasted. I'll do that tomorrow with this new bottle (only used for four pumps), then test and weigh again as I get nearer the bottom.
Provided I remember to do check again at the bottom of this bottle, I'll report back with the result in a few weeks.
I weighed the fourth pump from a new bottle and it came to 19.9 grains, which is 1.28 grams. The label says it dispenses 1.25 grams per pump. I'm impressed they can build a throw-away plastic bottle a mechanical pump that's accurate to within 2.4%.
I don't know if it's been addressed in this forum but I also have found there's still a (guesstimated) full pump's worth of gel remaining in the bottle after the pump "runs dry." Prise off the top to break the vacuum and there's still a bit left in the pump head itself, which it can discharge once the seal is broken. And there's about an equal volume still adhering to the inside of the mylar bag, which can be wrung out like squeezing the toothpaste from the bottom of the tube.
(At this rate, I should make my 100th post about the time my grandchildren are ready for HRT)
I've now tested one bottle, start to finish, and the start of a second bottle. The short answer is no, the volume dispensed does not diminish appreciably (until the bottle is all but empty).
In fact, I am amazed how consistent ...and accurate the androgel pump is. One thing that is odd is that, after it has sat unused for a day, the first pump is always a little light. Every day.
Even though the first half dozen or so pumps are 'heavy' by a couple of hundredths of a gram, the first of my two pumps still is lighter by about 3%. Then they stabilized at 1.21 and 1.25 grams, where they remained through close to 50 pumps, until the last two doses.
The next-to-last pump was 1.2053 grams, which still was only 3.6% off. And the last pump was 0.75 grams (understandably low, since it was running dry).
So as to my question in the OP, the answer isn't "No," the answer is "Hell no."
OT but once it was "empty" and pumping air, I field stripped the bottle and scavenged an additional 0.94 grams of gel that was left in the mylar bag and clinging to the tail end of the pump mechanism.
For the record, I have two scales accurate to the tenth of a grain, or one 1543rd part of a gram. Both are regularly calibrated and even more regularly cross-checked against each other, so I am highly confident in my measurements.
Each Axiron bottle comes with 110ml to deliver 90ml. Even with using a little extra here and there, after one year of using Axiron, I have and extra 2 month supply.Quote:
Originally Posted by Beetlegeuse
I do also tear apart my bottle to get to every last little bit of juicy goodness.