Experiences of testosterone gel for menopause symptoms?

[cellobrew]

So I have bit the bullet and ordered some Testogel from Superdrug. I did a test privately and it came back in the low normal range. I have multiple symptoms of low testosterone including low libido, fatigue, brain fog which my E&P HRT hasn't helped much.

So I am really just looking for some other women's experiences on TRT. I am quite nervous about it given some of the potential side effects but also hopeful that it will help with the symptoms I still have.

I've seen some amazing reviews from women saying it gave them their life back and others that had to stop due to hair loss or hair growth or irritability etc. What has your experience on testosterone been?

How long was it until you noticed a difference? I've seen some people say they felt better the first day and other that it took months to see a difference.

How often do you do follow up blood tests? I think I need to do another in 2 months.

The dosing says to do an 8th of the sachet every day for 8 days but I've seen lots of advice to start with a lower dose than that and increase after a week so that a sachet lasts more like 10 days or so. Any input on that?

I really don't want any virilization or acne, which I have been prone to in the past but it's only a few weeks supply for now and the other symptoms I'm having means it is worth a shot!

Any advice or experiences would be great!

Made little difference to me, except maybe I felt slightly less feeble? I do lots of Pilates and walking and I felt like my strength was somewhat improved and it was all less of a struggle to maintain the gains. Hard to know if that’s a real thing or in my head.

GP said I was absorbing it a bit too well and asked me to halve the dose. Menopause clinic said if I didn’t have side effects then it was fine.

Sorry to say it hasn’t had any effect on my terrible memory so I can’t remember how often I had blood tests, I think it was just one before treatment and one after.

No other effects beyond slightly more robust body hair but not to the degree that anyone else would notice.

@trainedopossum Thanks for sharing your experience, seems like for everyone it is different maybe a third with great results, a third with so so results and a third with negative effects. Not a scientific review just my take after doing a lot of reading online of women actually say. It's tough I suppose though as online posts are often dominated by US based doctors or providers touting the benefits as if its a magic bullet and then by people who have had a bad experience. Real people with a good experience tend to just get on with their lives and not spend ages posting online about their medications!

When it was prescribed I was told that something like 40% or 60% of women on testosterone see an improvement in symptoms. It hasn’t been as helpful as I’d hoped (nor has HRT in general really) but it’s worth trying.

Afraid didn’t make a bit of difference for me.

I use TRT definitely helped with libido and energy levels. Started straight away with 1/8th package. Never had any side effects. Blood test repeated after 3 months then yearly. Felt the benefits after a couple of weeks.

It helped me (Superdrug sachets) and so I jumped through the hoops to get it on the nhs from my GP. Lots of hoops!!

It took a while to kick in for me. Probably a month or so at least.
But it was absolutely fab once it did

For me - adding testosterone to my HRT had a huge difference. Got my energy back and my libido as well.
I use a pump - so can't help with dosage of sachets. I use mine 3 times a week - and it gives me about 30mg dose per week.
NHS recommends starting with 20mg/week and see if you need to increase it.

I think Testogel sachets come in 40.5mg of testosterone per sachet. (older ones were 50, so confirm that). Based on that - you can calculate your weekly dose. A starting dose of 20mg/week - is half of your sachet.

You can do it twice a week, instead of daily. It's all cumulative, and balances out on a weekly basis. It is also easier to measure 1/4 of a sachet than trying to deal with 1/8th's....

You will not know how it'll affect you until you try. So - fingers crossed.

GP prescribed it for me as v v low natural levels.

Made a difference to libido in three weeks. Massive difference.

I've worked out that if I use it daily, after a few weeks it builds up and I get hyper sensitive nipples - painful. So I pull back for a few weeks.

I do have excessive hair on my neck and my pubic hair runs onto my thighs now too. But I pluck the first and couldn't give a shit about the second as no one sees it!

Other than that it made no difference to energy levels. I've always exercised and I continue at the same level as I have since late 30s. Even through the worst hormonal depression I would still do my weights.

No difference to brain fog - still chronic.

I do sleep insanely well now - over 7hrs without waking but don't know if T contributes to that or not.

I have mirena, 100mcg Oestrogen, testosterone, vaginal oestrogen cream and take magnesium, anti histamine, collagen at night and Vit D and probiotics in the morning.

I’ve been on it 2 years in conjunction with mirena coil, 3 pumps of Estrogel a day and twice weekly vagifem. It restored my ability to orgasm and helps with arousal, but my interest in sex is still generally low in that I don’t seek it out in the way I used to, but I will respond to my DH initiating sex. Interestingly I’ve been on Mounjarno for 2 years and I wonder whether that switched off my general interest in initiating sex.

Anyway I digress.

I’ve had no skin issues on T, no mood impact either. I think my body hair has thickened a little but only so much that I notice but no one else would. I use 1/8 satchet every 2 days.

Start low and increase slowly as it can make you feel a bit jittery ime. I was prescribed 1 blob every other day. I started on weekly, then twice a week etc. I had bloods checked after a year.

Always take on a morning as it can affect sleep.

Be realistic and don't expects miracles, certainly hasn’t given me more energy sadly but sexual response and sensation returned to pre peri/pre meno levels very quickly within a matters of weeks.
Good luck!

Thanks everyone! My Testogel came in the post early this afternoon and I just went for it, used a glove and squeezed a small amount out and spread it on the outside of my thigh. The rest is in the fridge now and I can already see that the gel will be inconvenient but hopefully worth it!

It's good to read some positive stories! Fingers crossed I do get some of those additional benefits but I will try to remain realistic. There is always a tiny part of you that hopes something new will be the answer to your problems but that just isn't reality.

@trainedopossum Yeah it doesn't seem to be a sure thing but if its an around 50% success rate that seems worth trying.

@MeridaBrave I think the pharmacy will inform my GP so it will likely be on my records when I next go in for my HRT review so I might be able to discuss it then and perhaps that might open the door to getting it via the NHS. I am prepared to self fund the testosterone and blood tests required for now.

@Sashya Glad to hear you got such a positive result and thank you for the dosing information. Quite a lot of conflicting information on how to dose but I suspect you are right and its just about getting it on and letting it build up to a level where it starts to do something. Also agree that it appears to be a "suck it and see" treatment and that it doesn't work for us all in the same way!

@Holymolyrigmorole Thats great it gave you back your orgasm. DH and I have both been really sad about the loss of that he rather sweetly said it all felt a bit pointless if I wasn't getting anything out of it so if I could get that back it would be wonderful.

@DameM I did put on a very small blob early this afternoon after it arrived, obviously I feel nothing yet. I hope that wasn't a mistake as my sleep is a bit fragile these days and I do get jittery on vaginal progesterone but not oral so hopefully the testogel won't have that effect. I will apply first thing from now on.

@Moveyourbleedingarse I am a supremely unhairy person I never grew any underarm hair and my bush has always been rather sparse, I've love it if it thickened up a bit! I suspect my issue will be spots though as I do previous with acne so am going to be adding in zinc and drinking mint and green tea to try and prevent too much conversion to DHT, unsure if that will work. Good to hear you are sleeping well, bad sleep maintenance has been my number one issue with perimenopausal symptoms so if testosterone does help that I will be thrilled. So far only upping my estrogen has really helped with that so will see if the testosterone does help some more. I also need to sort out vaginal estrogen, hopefully my GP will agree to prescribe that!

Re: thigh, I started there but got hair growth. I now apply to shoulders. To get on the nhs you have to say loss of libido to the point of distress, I was happy to say this.. I use tostran which I find easier as it’s a pump but only use 3x a week.

re: sachet I think the least hassle method is to transfer the sachet to a syringe, and then apply the measured amount each day. I’m not sure you need to keep in fridge.

I was given Androfeme on a private prescription through a menopause clinic. It gave me more energy and improved mood, and I was starting to feel much better.

I didn’t get acne or increased hair anywhere. But at about six weeks, I noticed my voice starting to get just fractionally deeper / more husky. It was barely noticeable - only one friend of a few that I asked said they could detect a slight change. But I could definitely tell a difference - I could feel it too - more resonance.
I kept going with the Androfeme to see if it was just a bit of a respiratory bug or something, but it didn’t go away, and so I stopped using it. My voice is a big part of my work and I couldn’t risk it sliding further as those changes are permanent.

I know it’s a really rare side effect, and I haven’t met anyone else who has experienced this. I reported it under the Yellow Card scheme and am v disappointed because other than my voice, I only had good results with it.

My voice hasn’t gone back to how it was before, but it isn’t noticeable - I don’t sound like Frank Bruno or anything, though I am glad I stopped using the cream when I did.

I’m one of the lucky ones who had an immediate boost in libido. Such a boost that it gave me a startling insight into how horny teenage boys feel; i don’t remember ever feeling like that myself even in my rampant youth.

3 years or so on it’s settled down nicely.

No hair growth where it’s applied for me, and I think my chin hairs are no worse than my mum’s were at this age. No anger issues - i ran out of fucks to give long before I started on testosterone. No negative effects at all.

My dosing is very hit and miss in terms of blob size but that seems to work out fine overall.

I had to have repeat bloods before they would prescribe my second boxful but nothing since.

I’m afraid I can’t comment as no-one I’ve tried will even consider prescribing it for me. I’m 70 you see, and although pharmacists don’t think twice about prescribing Viagra to old geezers , us women are supposed to just suck up losing our libido, and a previously very happy and fulfilling sex life with our (much younger) husbands.

Did you have your testoserone levels checked regularly - that’s a very standard (and non reversible side effect). And why doctors are very cautious… very annoying though.

The first check would have been three months after starting it, and it didn’t want to let it go on that long. Some people are just more sensitive to testosterone I think 🤷🏼‍♀️

Just to say, I started Testogel about 3-4 weeks ago and haven’t noticed any difference. But I had an appointment with a menopause expert doctor on Friday and she said it can commonly take up to 6 months to really feel the change.

OP why did you use a glove?

I whack mine on either on my thigh or the inside of my upper arm. With a bare hand
I rub fast so it absorbs fast as I'm always in a rush. Sometimes I keep it in my handbag and I put it on at work by hoiking up my trousers and whacking it on.

I don't think it is like oestrogel where you have to spread it thinly etc.

Should use gloves if you have small kids you might touch. My youngest is DS2 and he is 15 so clearly it doesn’t matter (and I rarely touch him).

@MeridaBrave well I don't have small children either and my teens won't let me anywhere near them 😂

I wouldn't have thought of that.

I didn't get an iota of instruction from my GP. They simply gave me a box with ten sachets in. They didn't even tell me where to apply it!

I was offered it when I complained of lack of energy. I didn’t have to ask for it and I didn’t mention libido at all, never mind to the point of distress.

It hasn’t improved either as far as I can tell.

I was told that applying precisely the same amount every day isn’t necessary just as long as one sachet is used up every eight days.

Interesting thread and I hope it works out for you OP. Does anyone feel that it helped with vaginal dryness at all in addition to libido?