It’s been awhile since my Prescribed Testosterone Jabs (5 weeks after my second jab of Nebido to be exact). And much has changed in my protocol.
Basically, I started to do testosterone jabs on my own.
How it started was that I have been thinking about the cost of doing clinical testosterone at $400 every 2 months + blood tests $400 every 6 months + doctor administered jabs $50 every jab, which can add up significantly. On top of cost, the clinic protocol was also not helping me as 8-12 weeks cycles of Nebido causes me to experience the long tail drop of testosterone.
Just look at the two graphs below. With Nebido (Testosterone Undecanoate), the total T levels go through significant peaks and troughs throughout the cycles. This isn’t too good for the body’s adaptation to the hormone. In the graph below it resembles closer to the natural release of testosterone, by micro dosing a shorter ester of T at shorter intervals.
For my experience from Nebido, on both the jabs, I started to feel downsides from the 4th week onwards and I had to wait 4 more weeks before I can get the follow-up jab. This protocol has too much fluctuations and is not healthy for my own wellbeing. When I first started Nebido I was like meh this is fine I’m gonna be okay with 8 weeks durations and lesser injections is better (because I was scared of needles), but having experienced the drop in testosterone and not being able to do anything about it has made me choose to take testosterone replacement therapy into my own hands.
I went on the webs and started searching for options. And that’s how I stumbled onto underground testosterone. I could obtain Testosterone Enanthate (8 days half-life) from e-commerce platforms. When I saw that I immediately purchased some and stocked up on them. As expected, the store listings got banned within a week after I purchased.
Subsequently, I asked around friends on IG and got linked up to a website that allows purchase of T with bitcoin. I had my doubts of the authenticity of the T since it’s not pharma grade but then I guess there takes some level of trust. I did my due diligence on reddit and cross checked references to know that the T can be trusted. Underground Labs testosterone (UGL) might have impurities or contamination but to me I feel that I’ve got to try or I’ll never know, and after all, others have been doing UGL without issue. Why would UGL want to make sham products and lose their reputation when they could make T for cheap and earn money from it.
It was at this time after having stocked up on vials and ampoules of T, when I thought, it’s about time I learn to inject myself and take this TRT thing on my own. Did lots of readings online and of course YouTube and Reddit provided tons of educational readings on how to inject with a needle, how to handle a vial etc etc. I must say it was a good experience learning all these because what other occasion in life would allow me to learn about self-medication.
So some stats on my starting protocol below:
I started my first jab of Test Enanthate 62.5mg twice a week (125mg per week total) last week. Using 18G 1.5” needle to draw T into a 1cc syringe, and inject using 25G 1” needle Intra-muscularlu (IM) into Ventroglute / Glute / Deltoid.
Probably the biggest trouble I faced was how to handle a Luer Slip needle because I thought needles were screwed on but these needles were just slipped on and the needle cap is hell difficult to pull apart. Aside from that, the actual injection was surprisingly not that eventful, as it goes as expected in one smooth motion and not much pain is felt. Of course, the first self-jab took some mustering of courage but it quickly went by as it wasn’t as scary as it seems (it’s just a 0.25ml jab on a tiny little needle).
More insights to come in the coming weeks.