Ouch...

[Losethem (imported)]

I suppose I'm overdue to update this...

I'm currently using generic Androgel 1% at a rate of 1/2 dose (half a 5 ml packet) every other day. So I'm using it at 1/4 the recommended dose. To be honest, I frequently skip more than one day between my half-doses, so I'm really at less than a quarter dose.

If I stay at a quarter dose for a couple weeks the hot flashes mostly go away and non-spontaneous erections improve. If I get lazy with the dosage, things start to get worse again.

At my dose, I'm building up quite a supply of Androgel. Anybody have some good tips on making it last way beyond the expiration date? This stuff is EXPENSIVE!! It's well over $600/month for the generic stuff. I want to stock up this year while my insurance maximum is all paid up, then live off my supply next year if possible. I'll probably switch to injections down the road, but I hate needles with a passion and the gel costs me nothing until the end of the year.

I still have not done a bone scan. I did get my T levels tested a while back but have not seen the results. I've got a follow up with my urologist in about a month so I'll get to see where I'm at then. Really I don't care much what they are. What matters in the end is how I feel.

I used to be on it, I gave it up and went with injections instead. LIke you, I was well ahead, probably a year at the time I stopped. It is one of the only medications I've used that seemed to go down in potency the closer to the expiration date, so I'd not try stockpiling past that.

Just keep in mind should you lose your access to it for some reason, injections are a lot less expensive. I believe when I was cash paying it was about $120 for about 20 weeks, which is about 1/3 of a year. So you go from $600/mo to $360 per year.

[msucleoscar (imported)]

thanks for the update, I'm going to have mine done on sept 10 by Dr A.

[Woggler58 (imported)]

I suppose I'm overdue to update this...

...At my dose, I'm building up quite a supply of Androgel. Anybody have some good tips on making it last way beyond the expiration date? This stuff is EXPENSIVE!! It's well over $600/month for the generic stuff. I want to stock up this year while my insurance maximum is all paid up, then live off my supply next year if possible. I'll probably switch to injections down the road, but I hate needles with a passion and the gel costs me nothing until the end of the year.

Since early 2010 I have been on MD-prescribed daily topical creamy gel of 5% T strength (= 1/gm/day to get 50mg T) from a calibrated Topi-Click dispenser filled by a compounding pharmacy. Monthly cost of refills has varied from $60 to $75, presently $65 U.S. My MD is a local franchisee of BodyLogicMD (dot) com in FL, specialists in bio-identical HRT for M & W. See their website for one nearest you. The gel when spread on and rubbed in with the dispenser's domed end absorbs into my skin and dries in < 1 min; no mess. Approx. 3-mo shelf life each refill.

My present dispenser is my last because my local urologist will be performing my castration surgery within three weeks as my choice of Androgen Deprivation Treatment (ADT) for diffuse prostate cancer recurrence (w/ PSA @ 24 now) needing to be stalled out. (My Profile is updated w/ more on that.) Reports in EA of personal orchi experience by you and many others have been very helpful for my confidence in meeting my medical necessity this way -- plus fulfilling as a bonus my 3-decade fetish hankering to experience being castrated.

[ZeuterMe (imported)]

Hey, Jared, how've you healed?

I know you posted process pictures, but could you post a picture of how it's healed?

[Hopeful1 (imported)]

If anyone is curious about the opposite direction on HRT, my orchiectomy was April 26th and by the end of May, the hot flashes were really getting bad. I started HRT on June 2nd with estradiol twice daily and within two weeks the hot flashes were diminishing. Now after almost two months, they are gone and that's with what is considered a low dose estrogen. My next appointment with my endo is in September and he should move me up to a full transitional dosage.

[Jared_in_UT (imported)]

Hey, Jared, how've you healed?

I know you posted process pictures, but could you post a picture of how it's healed?

The scar is pretty much invisible by now. It's just barely still tender. The discomfort caused by the adhered cord has mostly passed. I'll likely not be posting further photos, sorry.

[Losethem (imported)]

Gentlemen, while there are a few of us who have had mods that don't mind providing photos, for the most part it is considered rude to ask us for them. We had these modifications to our bodies to satisfy ourselves, not to provide fodder for unmodified men to wank to. While it's fine you get off on it, you cross the line when you ask us to provide material to you. If we want to, we'll volunteer it.

Thank you.

--LT

[ZeuterMe (imported)]

LT, I'm sorry to be rude. There's plenty of wank fodder out there if I wanted that, but there's relatively little in the way of "typical" "before-during-after" picture series. Many cosmetic surgeons provide such a portfolio, but… they're certainly cherry-picked from the best possible results. And even then, Arnkoff doesn't have such a portfolio - so far as I've been able to find. My local urologist certainly doesn't have such a portfolio, since his patients are almost entirely cancer patients. I just want to know what to expect.

[Losethem (imported)]

LT, I'm sorry to be rude. There's plenty of wank fodder out there if I wanted that, but there's relatively little in the way of "typical" "before-during-after" picture series. Many cosmetic surgeons provide such a portfolio, but… they're certainly cherry-picked from the best possible results. And even then, Arnkoff doesn't have such a portfolio - so far as I've been able to find. My local urologist certainly doesn't have such a portfolio, since his patients are almost entirely cancer patients. I just want to know what to expect.

I stand by my original statement. Don't ask. If eunuchs/penectomized/nulled men want to provide photos, they will.

As for wanting to know, look at the photos that are already out there. Unless you have a Frankensac, the procedure is going to be the same as that which you see in the various photos and videos already available.

[Paolo]

Let me simplify it for you - DON'T ask for photos / videos on the open boards. And keep in mind that if someone writes an Admin and complains about you harassing them in PM or email, you're outta here.