my experience with testosterone the past 3 years!!
hi, I'm moze. I'm transmasc-transneutral and nonbinary, and I'm plural. I've been on T for 3 years. And honestly, I haven't gotten much out of it.
To start off, I'm disabled, and have a web of comorbid conditions. One of them is PCOS, which affects the way I process sex hormones and insulin. I also consequently had the Mirena hormonal IUD in for a few years before starting T and kept it in the whole time, and am still on it today. The IUD removed my period entirely, blood and cramps and nausea and mood swings and all. So I was not getting rid of that IUD.
I went into the planned parenthood intake and asked about the PCOS, and they told me that 1. Going on T while you have PCOS is very common, and 2. They haven't heard any complaints from their patients with it. When I asked about the IUD affecting the HRT, I heard different things from different doctors. One doctor said that its effects are entirely localized to the uterus, another would say it affects your whole body for a year and then becomes localized to the uterus, etc. But despite my reservations I assumed they knew more than me and trusted what they said. A mistake I kept making!!
I quickly learned that even at planned parenthood, doctors don't know hardly anything about HRT other than what their patients tell them. I would go into an appointment and they would ask me what I could teach them, instead of giving me resources or teaching me about HRT (I understand a lot of trans patients do a ton of research, and trust me I did too, and know more than doctors sometimes just from hearing the community's anecdotal info. But I was trying to fucking learn from someone who went to medical school lol, someone I hoped could teach me more).
They do give you an informed consent document where I live, and on it lists the possible outcomes and possible risks. This listed everything from growing facial hair to increased risk of high blood pressure or diabetes. Things that testosterone affects.
But they didn't talk to me much about it, and assumed I had done massive amounts of research already (which I did do, but not every patient should have to do in order to get info about HRT).
(double parenthetic: I'm very glad and very privileged to be in a place where it was very easy for me to start HRT. There wasn't a ton of rigamarole, they trusted that I knew what I wanted and I did. I don't think that process should change at all - I just think more clinical research on HRT needs to be done so doctors have more information they trust to share with patients.)
Anyway. I took an introductory dosage of the gel for a few months with no effects, and increased it a few more times with basically no effects besides greasier hair and more acne. Then I switched to shots, which did a lot more, just none of the possible outcomes I was looking for.
Within a month of starting the 0.35 cypionate shots, my A1C shot up and I became diabetic. (Several months later, my PCP got me started on Mounjaro which even now levels out my A1C perfectly well, but doesn't get rid of my diabetic symptoms when I eat.) I kept asking if my IUD would affect the HRT and everyone kept telling me that I should be fine.
I knew from my experience on the hormonal IUD that it affected my whole body. I felt the changes in my skin, fat distribution, mental state, etc when I first had it inserted, and then on from there. But I assumed the T would still work fine.
But I kept getting difficult symptoms on the shots. I have POTS, and I kept severely overheating in just like 70*F room temperature and going into presyncope. I also developed severe acne and oily skin as well as dermatitis and dandruff, all of which I hadn't experienced since puberty #1 (which in my PCOS case resembled a sort of mix of "standard" female and male puberty experiences). And then of course I became diabetic.
So I went on the gel again, but increased my dose significantly. Presently, I'm on 4 pumps of the 12.5 mg gel per day. And I still have all of the above listed negative side effects I had on the shots, except for the overheating. And I STILL haven't gotten any of the results I was hoping for.
So, here's my conclusion.
I've been on T for 3 years, and here are my results:
My last T level was 49.
My vocal range was halved - my upper range is gone but my voice never dropped to give me a deeper range.
I have virtually no new facial hair (like less than 5 dark chin hairs) or body hair, apart from the leg and arm hair I've always had.
I am now diabetic.
My hair and skin are still terribly oily, I have moderate dandruff and dermatitis, and I have horrible acne and acne scars all over my body now, but mostly my arms and face.
I have had virtually no bottom growth or libido increase (it increased slightly on the shots but then it went away when I switched back to gel)
My body fat has redistributed primarily away from my hips, thighs, and chest and to my stomach, face, and neck.
I gained 110 pounds in 3 years with no changes to diet or exercise, and I haven't gained any more muscle (part of that is on me though, my ability to exercise is limited). My appetite did increase for a minute, but then when I started Concerta shortly after starting T it leveled back out.
My period was still nonexistent thanks to the IUD so I didn't have cycle effects.
And honestly, I don't feel good overall. Everyone on HRT that I know has this good feeling when their hormones are lined up right, but I've just felt kind of awful in my bones the last three years. I guess my hormones aren't lining up right even still.
The testosterone really doesn't seem to be doing what I hoped or expected. So my plan now is to come off of it for awhile, let my body reset on the IUD so something is working (because the IUD alone in the past made me feel at least better than just rawdogging the PCOS symptoms), get a hysterectomy after awhile, and then try testosterone again after the hysterectomy.
But I know that theoretically I might be predisposed to little facial and body hair (my parents both don't have that problem so idk) and other lack of changes. So T might not help me in the future either. But I will check in after a few years and see if I wanna try again.
Idk. Testosterone is supposed to be "a hell of a drug", right? Point here is that it's different for everyone, and if you have any preexisting conditions or hormonal bullshit, you might get different effects than what you're expecting.
Do anecdotal research, read other trans people's stories, and don't rely on what the doctors tell you alone, because they probably don't know very much about HRT.
Lastly, I desperately hope this information gets to the right people. I don't want transphobes to get this and use it to argue some shit about transition regret. I DO NOT REGRET STARTING TESTOSTERONE. It just didn't affect me the way that I had hoped, and now I'm pivoting my plan in my medical transition.
HRT is just part of medical transition. HRT isn't right for every person trying to transition, and tbh not going down the exact "right" path for transition is basically everyone's experience - there is no "correct" path of medical transition. Everyone picks and chooses what's right for them from the buffet of options. And that's a good thing.
hey yall so if u do subq injections make sure to put the needle in all the way or ur gonna get inbetween the fat and skin layers and ur gonna get a lump and its gonna get swollen and its gonna have a rash and be really really scary and ur gonna be fine but like it is gonna make u think ur dying and waste a whole 0.1mL of precious precious boy juice
Sorry guys, from here on out there will be no more Androgel timelines. I started testosterone shots on sept 1st! I'll probably do a big post about gel vs shots and why I switched after a year on the gel if anybody wants?
Feel free to ask any questions about being on the testosterone gel or testosterone shots. I am always happy to help. I'm on intramuscular injections now!
I highly recommend the medico auto injector for intermuscular shots (such as testosterone), I used mine for the first time tonight and it went wonderfully. No pain, no anxiety, just the click of a button and all I had to do was press the plunger. This is not promoted BTW I'm just genuinely so happy with this product I'm recommending it.
