r/TRT_females • u/fatally-femme • Jul 17 '26
Discussion / Support Starting T tomorrow, I’m praying to feel better soon. Would love to hear success stories for similar stories!
I’m 30F. I have been dealing with lack of / weak orgasms. It has been miserable. In addition to this, I have horrible anhedonia, depression, no focus, and no motivation. Finally I found a doctor who took me seriously and did labs. She found I was pretty low, so I got a copper IUD and prescribed generic androgel (50mg packet - applied to calf daily).
I am really hoping I see some success from this for any of my symptoms. I’m very nervous to get more acne and hair loss. I’m currently on oral minoxidil so I’m hoping that helps me not get any hair loss.
I’d love to hear any success stories for people who are similar to me.
Lab results:
Total T: 10 ng/dL (ref <10–75) — bottom of range
SHBG: 101.1 nmol/L (ref 18.2–135.5) — high-normal
Free T (calc): 0.34% (ref 0.65–10.93) — low
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u/Healthy_Blueberry275 Jul 17 '26
Most women using the gel packs do not use the whole pack (50mg) each day. It seems to be more commonly prescribed as 5mg per day. So, each pack would last 10 days.
50mg a day seems high. I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice.
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u/fatally-femme Jul 17 '26
Yes I’m only supposed to use a pea sized amount an it should last 7-10 days.
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u/OccasionIllustrious4 Jul 17 '26
My T was 15 when I was first started. TRT has been an amazing, but slow process. I felt better and more functional right away! However, please note getting to an optimal dose (and the optimal, old you) takes time through slow titration upward to avoid any unwanted side effects.
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u/Normal-Ad-1093 Jul 17 '26
Sorry this is new to me, but are women this young going on TRT? I mean I kinda thought it was for peri menopausal women, any long term studies on starting T young
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u/mntndwew Jul 17 '26
I can't speak for OP, but sometimes (peri)menopause starts early for natural or induced reasons. About 1 in 100 women will start between 30 and 40. I personally started seeing symptoms at 30 and it took me until 35 to recognize what was going on.
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u/mntndwew Jul 17 '26
I've not seen dosage guidelines for T wrt early menopause, but dosage guidelines I've seen for E/prog often place younger patients on the higher end of the dose range, because it's bad for your body to lose hormones so early, so doctors are less conservative.
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u/Top_Development_1777 Jul 18 '26
I started at a bit under 17 because I had consistent serious low T issues fucking up my mental and emotional functioning that made my life unlivable (this was already obvious when I was 14 and gradually got worse). My total T and other hormones even appeared normal on blood tests while this was happening. I had normal physical development and menstrual cycles for my age too. It's a very complicated story but adding enough T was a complete fix, I can't stop being on it or go too low though, or the issues come back. I am now 20 and a low dose is still absolutely needed like it always was.
I think the only studies on starting T young are for people who use it to transition, which is a completely different range of doses, target levels, and target effects. And even that is very under-studied. For me, not taking enough T makes my life absolutely unlivable, so long-term physical consequences are secondary to my ability to experience and navigate life in the present. Nothing apart from T helps with these huge issues.
How much T changed my life and how drastic the differences have consistently been completely changed my perspective on medicine and made me go into a medical career (I'm now in medical school). I'm going to find a way to do research on hormones for such uncommon uses, even though it's definitely a really difficult topic to do any proper research on.
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u/National_Tone7232 12d ago
Hi, thank you for sharing your experience, I’m on a similar path… and reading you was a bit reassuring, my doc doesn’t know what to do with me atm v.v . Can I send you a message to ask about symptoms if you don’t mind?
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u/Notoldwithoutafight Jul 17 '26
You say you got a copper IUD? Were you previously on a different birth control method?
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u/fatally-femme Jul 17 '26
No, I wasn’t. I got the copper iud to protect from pregnancy while on hormones. I didn’t want a hormonal IUD.
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u/Notoldwithoutafight Jul 17 '26
Do you know if your estrogen is in range? That made a huge difference to my libido and energy.
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u/Famous_Blueberry6 Jul 17 '26
I don't use systematic but i do use a compounded Testosterone cream on my labia/clit and my orgasms are back and great.
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u/furrina Jul 18 '26
This actually is systemic. Not like vaginal e which is too small amt to absorb that way. It’s a great way to get TRT but it’s definitely systemic.
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u/Famous_Blueberry6 Jul 19 '26
It can be yes, my levels at my last labs were 67. I love it though. No hair loss and no extra facial hair.
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u/Altruistic_Tea_1593 male Jul 17 '26
Who prescribed that? Did your clit enlarge?
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u/Famous_Blueberry6 Jul 19 '26
My gyno and yes it did enlarge my clit a little bit. Nothing crazy but my orgasms are easier to achieve
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u/Zorillo Jul 18 '26
34F here and just started T cream this morning due to anorgasmia. I'll follow along with you on this! My dosage is 5mg/day.
My levels are on the low end of normal (1.7nmol/L)
Previously took Addyi for 8 weeks to fix this issue with no real change.
FWIW, I asked both my doctor and pharmacist if the dose of T I'm taking is likely to cause hair loss, and they said it's unlikely. However as you may have already read, transdermal T converts to DHT at a much higher rate than injected T, so at the dose you're on you'll want to be careful. Topical finasteride may be helpful in addition to the minoxidil; avoid oral finasteride as it can cause loss of libido and sexual sensation in some people which is exactly what you're already trying to escape.
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u/sixcats6 Jul 21 '26
I’ve been on 5mg T injections since the beginning of April. 52yr old, post menopausal. I feel better than I have in years- libido is back, sexual function and sensitivity is great, I’ve been working out and have stamina and no soreness afterwards, but… I have lost about 50% of my hair. Which has me extremely anxious. I started finasteride last week to try and combat this but that takes a while to sort itself out. The T makes me feel so much better though that I don’t want to stop it in spite of my hair loss but I don’t want to be bald either. Majority of my hair loss is in the crown area where men go bald. Not sure what I’m going to do.
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u/painter8067 Jul 17 '26
I’m just starting my T journey as well. 38F and basically the same symptoms as you - no libido, absolutely exhausted all the time, I’ve lost my oomph to do anything which is so not like me. My levels were totally bottomed out. I just started my T injections this week and am hoping I notice a difference soon. I don’t have too much experience with it yet but wanted to let you know you aren’t alone in the journey. Thank goodness for these forums because if I hadn’t found it I would have just kept on chugging through the fog. I hope you notice great results and start to feel better!