Sarah has over 10 years of experience teaching and practicing phlebotomy and intravenous (IV) therapy using physical, psychological, and emotional support. For health-related questions or concerns, please seek guidance from a qualified healthcare provider. Content on this website is intended for educational purposes and should not replace professional medical consultation, diagnosis, or care. Payment for services does not ensure that medication will be prescribed or dispensed. NRG Clinic operates as a patient management platform, providing administrative and operational services to support the medical professionals of Energy Virtual Medical PA. Start your personalized treatment plans tailored to your unique needs and goals, all from the convenience of your own home. In some cases, IM may be the better choice for very lean patients. Your provider and pharmacy should give you guidance on the right insulin needle for your treatment. Intramuscular needles are longer to ensure the medication reaches the muscle. The size of the syringe depends on the amount of medication it can hold. We’ll go over the different syringe sizes, how to read the markings on the syringe, how to calculate the number of units in your dose, and more. If you’re ready to get started, our knowledgeable urologists can offer personalized recommendations for women as individuals or couples. Determining how to treat low testosterone in females requires a close partnership with an experienced physician. The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, examination, diagnosis, or treatment. As with any subcutaneous injection, care must be taken to ensure testosterone is administered safely with a minimal risk of infection. Men generally have about 7-8 times more testosterone in their blood than women. Testosterone is a hormone produced in the testicles in men and in the ovaries in women. This website advertises telehealth medical services. Maintaining a regular schedule helps stabilize hormone levels in your body. You can stay on testosterone replacement therapy for as long as it’s benefiting your symptoms and not causing health issues. This means that you’ll need the medication to continue having a normal level of testosterone in your body. TRT involves taking manufactured forms of testosterone to regulate your levels of this hormone. These sharper peaks can affect how your body processes hormones, including downstream effects like estrogen conversion, which may contribute to those symptoms. B, Schematic illustration of the absorption steps of testosterone esters after intramuscular (left) or subcutaneous (right) injection. The viability of using SC route for sex steroid administration was also shown in an elegant pharmacokinetic study in which nandrolone decanoate was administered to healthy male volunteers (30). Selection of the administration route of testosterone is influenced by patient preference, product availability, and the cost of the formulation. In the mid-1950s, long-acting testosterone esters (enanthate and cypionate) were introduced, and have since been the preferred testosterone formulation thanks to their affordability, longer half-life compared to propionate, and predictable pharmacokinetics (9). Currently, testosterone therapy is indicated for men with unequivocal, organic, or pathologic androgen deficiency to alleviate symptoms and maintain secondary sexual characteristics by raising testosterone into the normal male range (1). Topical androgens like testosterone have been used and studied in the treatment of cellulite in women. Testosterone is under development in a low-dose intranasal formulation for the treatment of anorgasmia in women. Over the 3 to 6-month course of the studies reviewed, testosterone therapy appeared safe and generally effective, and (ruling out prostate cancer) the authors found no justification to absolutely restrict its use in men with CHF. They largely superseded testosterone propionate and became the major testosterone esters used medically for over half a century. In addition, local levels of DHT in so-called androgenic (5α-reductase-expressing) tissues are also markedly reduced, and this can have a strong impact on certain effects of testosterone. The FDA stated in 2015 that neither the benefits nor the safety of testosterone have been established for low testosterone levels due to aging. In women, testosterone can produce hirsutism (excessive facial/body hair growth), deepening of the voice, and other signs of virilization. However, when given to men with hypogonadism in the short- and medium-term, testosterone replacement therapy does not increase the risk of cardiovascular events (including strokes and heart attacks and other heart diseases). Adverse effects of testosterone supplementation may include increased cardiovascular events (including strokes and heart attacks) and deaths based on three peer-reviewed studies involving men taking testosterone replacement. A postmarketing analysis by the manufacturer of Aveed (testosterone undeconate injection) found that POME occurred at a rate of less than 1% per injection per year for Aveed. These include the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio (normally less than 6), the testosterone/luteinizing hormone ratio and the carbon-13/carbon-12 ratio (pharmaceutical testosterone contains less carbon-13 than endogenous testosterone). However, it has been reported that AndroGel, a transdermal gel formulation of testosterone, has become the most popular form of testosterone in androgen replacement therapy for hypogonadism in the United States. Testosterone has been marketed for use by oral, sublingual, buccal, intranasal, transdermal (patches), topical (gels), intramuscular (injection), and subcutaneous (implant) administration. But in many cases, the issue isn’t how much testosterone you’re taking, it’s how that dose is delivered over time. If your results seem unpredictable, some days you feel great, other days you don’t, it’s often a sign that your hormone levels aren’t stable. Many patients assume something is wrong with their dose, when in reality the issue is how that dose is spaced out. If your injection frequency isn’t well-matched to your body, the signs usually show up in how you feel day to day, not just in your lab results. When injections are spaced further apart, the difference between the peak and the trough becomes more noticeable. Rather than a steady baseline, your body is experiencing repeated ups and downs. The right choice depends on how your body responds and whether consistency or simplicity matters more for your situation. More frequent dosing reduces those swings by keeping levels more stable throughout the week. When levels are more stable, results tend to feel more consistent. TRT success isn’t just about levels, it’s about how stable those levels are. Clinical observations and guidelines note that these fluctuations can contribute to variable symptom control in patients using less frequent dosing schedules. This is when many patients feel their best, higher energy, improved mood, and stronger libido.