Androgel Prescription

[cmax]

A friend of mine just got an androgel prescription (his doctor refused to prescribe any shots as I recommended). I asked him if the doctor prescribed anything for potential estrogen related sides. He went and called his doctor up and asked him for something to counter/prevent estrogen related side effects. His doctor said, "No, all you need to take is the androgel alone".

This does not seem right to me. Is there anything else that he should be taking with the androgel to counter any potential side effects?

[TOOBAD]

I don't think androgel is strong enough to be concerned about an elevated estrogen levels.

If your friend wants to go to injections, all he needs to do on his next check up is tell the dr. that he has small children and he is afraid that the gel may come in contact with them. Any good dr would immediately suggest weekly injections.

[zaggahamma]

Wonder why it's the preferred script to begin with anyway?$$$$$????$$$$????

[cmax]

I told him to insist on injections but he says that the doctor flat out refused due to the so-called *infection* risks.

For my own HRT/TRT program I am going through a private firm in Florida instead of going through a local endo and they immediately suggested injections and said that transdermal would be far less effective.

My friend has to go to this one particular endo because it will not be covered by his insurance otherwise. My own insurance said they may or may not reimburst me for using an out of state HRT clinic.

I told him that he might want to consider taking arimidex or nolvadex to prevent estrogen related sides, but I told him to ask his doctor and insist on a reason for not prescribing anything for additional protection. My program has me taking 0.5 mg of arimidex every three days during the cycle.

[balin]

1 pack or androgel didn't raise my E2 levels at all. And raised my T level about 200 points. My DHT level was 3x the top end of "normal" . Most Dr's prefer androgel as that is what the parmacuitical reps push. And most don't know or care about E2 levels in my experience.

[THE RHINO]

Wonder why it's the preferred script to begin with anyway?$$$$$????$$$$????

Read the book "The Testosterone Syndrome" and it will give you some insight as to why. The short simple answer is that dosing the cream everyday is more like the bodies natural production pattern. The cream/gel didn't do jack shit for me except cause supression which lowered my overall number. From what I have read though, it does work on some people. I just went to injections this week after using cream for 3+ months. I already feel better (Sust250) Even after increasing my dosage of cream from 10% to 20% for 6 weeks, my levels continued to drop. I would suggest he force the doctor to do blood work again after 12 weeks to see if it is helping or hurting his levels.

I have clearly determined that cream is the wrong answer for me.

[dumbdumb]

I had been on AndroGel for 20 months from my Family Doc. My levels would go up then down. I started with 5, then went to 7.5, then to 10. My body would not absorb the same amount each time with the application. I finely had him refer me to an Endo. My endo ran more blood work and found hormones were all out of wack. My endo has me on injections. I am constant except for the initial spike on my injection day. I should have gone to an Endo earlier. AndroGel did not work for me due to my absorption rates.

I would never go back to the Gel.