Gels, Shots and Joint / Muscle Pains

[stat1951]

A reader on another board has posted (and I think I've actually seen a couple of others) that when he went on transdermal gels (AndroGel / Testim) that he developed muscle and joint pains that then went away when he went onto IM shots.

For the life of me I can't figure out why this would be. Assuming that the testosterone is being delivered appropriately by the gels and his T levels were similar (not necessarily the same, but reasonably similar) between the two forms of application, then why would that be? Would the carriers (the esters) in the IM shots have curative powers like that?

Now if one is using 5 grams of Testim or 7.5 AndroGel and comparing that to an IM shot of 150mg Test Cyp then obviously that is an unfair comparison... but let's assume that the delivered amounts are similar.....

Larry

[BigRagu]

i remember b4 starting hrt i complained of alot of join pain ....... after starting it did get better............ i was on the gel at first now im on shots.........

[greatgro]

I don't know why gels would increase joint pain but I have a theory why injectables may be better at reducing joint pain. The only thing I can think of is that test levels are usually raised higher with injections over gels b/c the gels raise DHT levels higher so less total test usually alleviates more symptoms (such as erectile ones). So maybe higher levels of test (through injections) have more of an effect on decreasing joint pain. The higher androgen levels may load more fluid into the joints thereby decreasing the achiness. That would be my guess.