[theoddz]

Originally Posted by atomiczombie

It's been 2 weeks now on Androgel and the only thing I have noticed is my skin is a little more oily than usual. Not that I expect any real changes this early, mind you. It's odd, because the increase in the sebum has actually made the skin on my face softer than before. Kinda weird.

AZ, when I first started out on T in early 2007, I was started on subdermal pellets (Testopel) and Testim cream. Testim is the other T gel besides Adrogel. I found it to be okay, but the thing is, you really don't know how much of that stuff your body is actually absorbing. It all depends, you know, on how you spread the cream and how well your skin absorbs it.

One thing you may notice early on is that your perspiration and urine odor will get stronger. You may also get a bit of acne with it, but it's hard to tell if it's true "hormonal acne" or if your skin is just sensitive to the components in the gel. Testim, if I remember correctly, has a large percentage of alcohol in the gel. My skin got a little rashy with it.

Oh, and I don't really know if the Testopel pellets really did a lot or not. As far as I know, the FDA hasn't really approved subdermal T pellets for use in transsexual men. The big reason I quit those was because of the doctor I was seeing, the expense and the fact that I got the strangest feeling that I couldn't trust him to give me the amount of T (pellets) he was charging me for. Since they put those pellets under the skin on your buttocks, you really can't see what they're doing or even if they are implanting pellets at all. This doctor charged by the pellet, too....to the tune of $60/pellet, and when he kept telling me I needed MORE pellets to get enough of the T to get my body into transition, well......my red flags went up. The last time I saw this guy, before I switched to injectable T, he told me I needed 6-8 of these pellets, AT LEAST....and they only lasted 3-4 months at a time, PLUS the cost of the Testim gel. That's a lot of money, and I had the extra expense of having to travel to Los Angeles and back here to Vegas every time, so it just made more sense to go injectable.

I know you didn't ask about the pellets, but there might be a guy reading this who is thinking about using the pellets, or (*GASP*) that same doctor in L.A., and I think it's important to get the information about my experience with that out there.

Good luck with this!!!

~Theo~