Jon, I was supposed to get pellets implanted put put it off for a while. I don’t like the idea of getting cut open 3-4 times a year. I’m still debating whether I should do shots, or pellets. I have seen 2 urologists, and both want me to get pellets.
[quote]befoley wrote:
Jon, I was supposed to get pellets implanted put put it off for a while. I don’t like the idea of getting cut open 3-4 times a year. I’m still debating whether I should do shots, or pellets. I have seen 2 urologists, and both want me to get pellets.[/quote]
It took a total of five minutes, really! No pain, a little sore today but no big deal. I wouldn’t call it cut into, its really more like a big injection, a plunger like thing that they use. no scalpel and no stitches, just an eraser sized hole.
Hopefully Im good till almost april now
Will follow your results on this Jon.
jonboy, glad things are going well so far.
please try and keep us in the loop as to how things go for you. there are several here who are interested in learning more about pellets.
Ok so todays Friday, I had the pellets put in on tuesday. No more sore spot, the steri-trip is still on, they said it will fall off naturally. Its been 4 days with no androgel. I feel ok. When I stopped gel last year, by day 3 I crashed, so there must be T in my system.
I do miss that immediate morning jolt when I first apply the gel.
I should have asked the doctor how many days it takes to get the max blood level.
It is nice to not have to rub that shit on every morning 
I get tested again first week of February
Just to update those of you who care; Its now 2 weeks on the pellets.
The first week I wasn’t feeling much and was getting worried. Now it seems to be kicking in.
I feel a rise in libido and n overall better feeling, with less depression and brain fog.
I am worried about my E2
I won’t know whats going on until my sext set of blood in 2 weeks.
I am starting to get some acne on my face and chest, even gentiles.
I assume thats from E2
I think from what I read it takes about 2 weeks for the blood levels to max out.
After the first week there was no pain at all and even before just a little. Now can’t even see the spot where he inserted the pellets
[quote]jonboyohboy wrote:
Just to update those of you who care; Its now 2 weeks on the pellets.
The first week I wasn’t feeling much and was getting worried. Now it seems to be kicking in.
I feel a rise in libido and n overall better feeling, with less depression and brain fog.
I am worried about my E2
I won’t know whats going on until my sext set of blood in 2 weeks.
I am starting to get some acne on my face and chest, even gentiles.
I assume thats from E2
I think from what I read it takes about 2 weeks for the blood levels to max out.
After the first week there was no pain at all and even before just a little. Now can’t even see the spot where he inserted the pellets[/quote]
Well you will find out in your next set of blood tests what E2 is doing.
But you were pretty keen on pellets because they were the best on keeping E2 in check. I guess we will find out soon how you respond to pellets.
1 things for sure, dosing an AI if needed is going to be a head fuck with pellets.
But then again it might all be good so lets not jump to conclusions till you get blood work.
1 things for sure, dosing an AI if needed is going to be a head fuck with pellets. "
What do you mean?
Well, Im not sure if pellets have less E2 issues when compared to gels or shots.
I read in a few places online that is does, along with less hematocrit problems.
But my doctor said he hasn’t heard of that. He claims that pellets are about the same as gels in the E2 department.
with shots giving the biggest spike in E2.
I will know soon enough.
I have the A-Dex if needed. The good thing is, if this doesn’t work out I can just go back to the gels
[quote]jonboyohboy wrote:
1 things for sure, dosing an AI if needed is going to be a head fuck with pellets. "
What do you mean?
[/quote]
What he means is that since your E2 is a moving target, due to the fact that your TT is a moving target, dosing arimidex is going to be extremely diffiult to dial in and will require higher doses to start and a taper to lower doses…this is what i had said in my initial response to you on pellets
[quote]jonboyohboy wrote:
But my doctor said he hasn’t heard of that. He claims that pellets are about the same as gels in the E2 department. with shots giving the biggest spike in E2.
[/quote]
right… your doctor is talking about the failed protocol of giving 1 shot a month - spiking levels up to 200% of norm and then letting them trail off to near 0% before the next injection.
Yes, that failed protocol causes major E2 spikes.
however if you are injecting every other day and maintain consistent levels, your E2 will be easier to manage when compared to pellets that slowly degrade over time at a variable rate.
I could make a true statement that all driving causes death. It would be true because I am referring to driving a car at 100 miles an hour using ropes while strapped to the front grill with no brakes in rush hour downtown traffic… your doctor speaks the same kind of truth. Shots do cause large E2 spikes - IF you use the known failed protocol/treatment plan.
There’s only one reason I can think of for this opinion. He makes more money off performing minor surgery for the implant. I can see no other reason for recommending pellets over test cyp 2x / week but heck, it’s your call…
[quote]jonboyohboy wrote:
I went for a consultation with a new Dr who is in network. I wanted a second opinion about pellets. This guy is a urologist, not a fertility clinic . the bulk of his patients are prostate issues and urology issues, but he does treat a lot of low T also.
I showed him all my labs and he examined me.
He does shots and pellets and gels.
He said he would do shots if I want, but he recommended PELLETS. He said that these days he is doing more and more pellets and less shots because he has found that pellets are more stabile and less likely to cause hematocrit issues and E2 spikes. I asked about bi weekly shots and he said that was all well and good, but injecting by-weekly still causes a small spike twice a week, where the pellet is one spike and a slow decline over 3 months.
Makes sense. Im happy I got the second opinion
[/quote]
[quote]jonboyohboy wrote:
Just to update those of you who care; Its now 2 weeks on the pellets.
The first week I wasn’t feeling much and was getting worried. Now it seems to be kicking in.
I feel a rise in libido and n overall better feeling, with less depression and brain fog.
I am worried about my E2
I won’t know whats going on until my sext set of blood in 2 weeks.
I am starting to get some acne on my face and chest, even gentiles.
I assume thats from E2
I think from what I read it takes about 2 weeks for the blood levels to max out.
After the first week there was no pain at all and even before just a little. Now can’t even see the spot where he inserted the pellets[/quote]
Let me know if your acne subsides. Acne is not always caused from E2, at least in my case. My E2 levels have been from 20-25 each time I get tested yet I still suffer from bad back acne on 100mg of Test Cyp done weekly. I take 0.5 mg of Arimidex 1x week on day of injection.
DHEA supplements caused me to break out in back and chest acne.
[quote]PureChance wrote:
DHEA supplements caused me to break out in back and chest acne.[/quote]
Been on 100mg DHEA for the last 3-4 months, no problems with acne, just goes to show how everyone reacts differently.
most definitely… exponentially more once you start talking about herbal supplements
[quote]jonboyohboy wrote:
1 things for sure, dosing an AI if needed is going to be a head fuck with pellets. "
What do you mean?
Well, Im not sure if pellets have less E2 issues when compared to gels or shots.
I read in a few places online that is does, along with less hematocrit problems.
But my doctor said he hasn’t heard of that. He claims that pellets are about the same as gels in the E2 department.
with shots giving the biggest spike in E2.
I will know soon enough.
I have the A-Dex if needed. The good thing is, if this doesn’t work out I can just go back to the gels[/quote]
I am not an expert but in the past 4 years I have used all three methods of TRT - 2 years on pellets, 2 years on gel, and 3 months on shots. I had very good results on pellets. I had six months worth implanted at a time and never really felt like my E2 was a moving target. I used Adex to knock it down to the level I wanted and tested it 4x’s a year.
My experience on pellets was great. I posted that here a few years ago and caught a lot of negative comments, mostly from people who have.no personal experience with them.
In my personal opinion, having done all three, I like shots (self-injected the best, followed by pellets, then gels.
[quote]Undone wrote:
My experience on pellets was great. I posted that here a few years ago and caught a lot of negative comments, mostly from people who have.no personal experience with them.
In my personal opinion, having done all three, I like shots (self-injected the best, followed by pellets, then gels.
[/quote]
And I think this summarizes it best and is why most people lash out against the pellets. As someone who has leveraged all three methods, the fact that you prefer shots is extremely telling. From a practicality standpoint, you just can’t beat the shots. Self administered, easy to dial in and very little effort involved…
Why on earth would you subject yourself to being sliced open and having pellets inserted into your body? I would imagine the risk of infection is greater and T swings have to be worse over time when compared against an EOD protocol.
But then again, to each their own I suppose…
VT - I always respect your posts with regards to T-replacement (and I lurk in your log) but I would have to disagree with your call on Brick, I go to the same Urologist as he (Dr. Mellinger in Long Island) Brick has been nothing but helpful for me and when the Gel wasnt working I was turned on to pellets and I dont understand what the villification of pellets is for, I dont need an AI, my mood, energy and libido is very good.
Could there be other reasons for Docs pushing pellets with regards to “surgery” and making more dough sure I guess.
But they have worked for me when the gel did shit.
Also, why would I want to inject myself weekly when the less laborious method would be to go to my doc and have him inject pellets in my ass cheek once every three months.
This idea that there is slicing and dicing going on when getting this so called “surgery” is a gross exaggeration! I go to my doc, he sticks me with a local analgesic, makes a SMALL incision injects the pellets, I sit on a ice pack for a few minutes and thats it! Out of the docs office in 20 minutes tops! There
Just like with everything there is some trial and error, when I first started getting the pellets the last 3 weeks there was a definite drop off in my mood, libido, energy levels so adjustments were made with regards to the time frame of getting injections.
Just my .02 from someone who is currently using testopel with success
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
VT - I always respect your posts with regards to T-replacement (and I lurk in your log) but I would have to disagree with your call on Brick, I go to the same Urologist as he (Dr. Mellinger in Long Island) Brick has been nothing but helpful for me and when the Gel wasnt working I was turned on to pellets and I dont understand what the villification of pellets is for, I dont need an AI, my mood, energy and libido is very good. [/quote]
I respect your opinions as well. My comments on Brick were somewhat hyperbole and somehwat truth (but I guess that’s what hyperbole is) but regardless, they were unfair since he wasn’t here to defend himself. I did take issue with him always playing devils advocate but not really getting a point across…“argumentative for arguments sake” summed it up…
The villification of pellets here is primarily due to us only seeing the “hard to fix” cases…that is, there are probably a huge amount of the population that will do just fine on pellets (same with gels and other non-ideal protocols). Its great that you don’t need any of the ancillaries or a more “advanced” protocol–count yourself lucky in that regard.
But we have seen too many people here that the basics just don’t cut it. Speaking in general terms, for our audience, pellets are NOT appropriate. That is not to say they are not appropriate for a more general population.
[quote]
Also, why would I want to inject myself weekly when the less laborious method would be to go to my doc and have him inject pellets in my ass cheek once every three months. [/quote]
My list:
-Injections are easy and painless, taking a grand total of 30 seconds from intiial swab of the area to pulling the needle out
-Easier to control dosage–no wild swings
-Cost is substantially less. Even if insurance is picking up your tab, that cost is coming from somewhere…there is a big reason why our health care is overrun by expenses nowadays, and big pharama pushing expensive formulations and procedures, when a generic will do just fine, is a large part of the problem.
[quote]late2thegame wrote:
[quote]Undone wrote:
My experience on pellets was great. I posted that here a few years ago and caught a lot of negative comments, mostly from people who have.no personal experience with them.
In my personal opinion, having done all three, I like shots (self-injected the best, followed by pellets, then gels.
[/quote]
And I think this summarizes it best and is why most people lash out against the pellets. As someone who has leveraged all three methods, the fact that you prefer shots is extremely telling. From a practicality standpoint, you just can’t beat the shots. Self administered, easy to dial in and very little effort involved…
Why on earth would you subject yourself to being sliced open and having pellets inserted into your body? I would imagine the risk of infection is greater and T swings have to be worse over time when compared against an EOD protocol.
But then again, to each their own I suppose…[/quote]
Actually, from an ease of use standpoint, pellets were the easiest. Never had a problem with a big fluctuation in E2, never used HCG as there was no atrophy issues, so it was basically a 15 minute procedure twice a year. I experienced a slight decrease in energy, libido, etc. the last couple of weeks before the next round of pellets, but nothing drastic. I was somewhat skeptical before I did them, but was very pleased with the results. My doctor moved and stop accepting insurance so I switched docs and went with the gel.
I felt like I had more difficulty with fluctuating levels (both T and E2) on the gel, possibly due to absorbency issues.
The most difficult thing I found with self-injecting was finding a doctor who would let me do it.
Unless someone is incredibly lucky or is relentless in their search, finding a decent doctor is the hardest part of TRT.
My main reason for posting was simply to say that my own personal experience with pellets was very, very good. I would not discourage anyone from trying it. However, if someone has the option of self-injected T+HCG+AI, it will likely prove superior.
BTW the procedure for inserting the pellets was minimally invasive. Negligible discomfort the next day and that was all but, like I said, I had a great doc and I only had to do it twice a year.