My Experience Using Testosterone Gel For 4 Years — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00It's been a little while since I talked
2. 0:01about testosterone gel on this channel.
3. 0:03It was about 4 years ago when I made a
4. 0:041-month review of using the gel. So, I
5. 0:07thought in today's video I'd give a
6. 0:084-year review about my experience using
7. 0:11testosterone gel. So, to start off we'll
8. 0:14recap why I was actually prescribed the
9. 0:16gel in the first place 4 years ago. So,
10. 0:18mainly when you're prescribed the gel
11. 0:20it's because your your testosterone
12. 0:21levels fall out of the normal reference
13. 0:23range. My levels were just barely
14. 0:25outside of the range, so I didn't really
15. 0:27need a prescription for the injection or
16. 0:30the gel. However, because of the
17. 0:31antipsychotics that I use like
18. 0:33quetiapine and loxapine for bipolar
19. 0:35disorder, my libido was very low. So, we
20. 0:38thought adding in testosterone would
21. 0:39help increase my libido. So, I did
22. 0:42recently get blood work done and my
23. 0:43testosterone levels did increase after
24. 0:45using the gel over the years. They
25. 0:47actually increased quite quickly after
26. 0:49the first couple months. But, I will say
27. 0:51that using the gel really did over the
28. 0:54years revive my libido. Now, aside from
29. 0:57libido, there were other benefits as
30. 0:59well such as muscle strength and the
31. 1:01ability to lose fat. For me, when it
32. 1:03comes to losing fat, I kind of go
33. 1:04through periods of the year like
34. 1:05summertime where I don't work out as
35. 1:07much and I might be barbecuing
36. 1:09uh different foods and not eating as
37. 1:11well as I do throughout the year from
38. 1:13like September say till February. That's
39. 1:15typically when I'm dieting trying to
40. 1:17lose weight. But, I noticed while I was
41. 1:19on the testosterone gel for the last 4
42. 1:21years, when I really put in a solid
43. 1:23effort to lose fast, I was able to do it
44. 1:25quite quickly and sometimes even able to
45. 1:28lose 15 lb in 1 month. Now, of course,
46. 1:31to lose that amount of weight I had to
47. 1:32be in a calorie deficit. I had to be
48. 1:33getting a lot of steps each day and I
49. 1:36had to be eating quite well. Not just a
50. 1:38calorie deficit, but trying to get high
51. 1:39protein foods um and having really, you
52. 1:42know, a balanced diet. I also added in
53. 1:44strength training over the last 4 years.
54. 1:46In my last video I think I talked a lot
55. 1:48about doing push-ups, but I added in
56. 1:50strength training at the gym. So, I got
57. 1:52a gym pass. And I noticed that, of
58. 1:54course, doing this naturally you would
59. 1:55increase your strength, but I noticed
60. 1:57with the gel, my strength for different
61. 1:59muscle groups increased drastically. So,
62. 2:02over the last 4 years, for example, my
63. 2:03bicep curls went from about 30 lb to 45
64. 2:06lb. My shoulder press went from about 55
65. 2:10lb to 75 lb. And other muscle groups
66. 2:13increased as well. Now, like I
67. 2:15mentioned, just being consistent at the
68. 2:16gym, you're going to get those strength
69. 2:18gains. But, I really do feel like having
70. 2:20the gel on my side really helped improve
71. 2:23those gains in a more rapid fashion.
72. 2:26When I was originally prescribed the
73. 2:27medication, we had to decide between the
74. 2:29injections and the gel. Now, it made
75. 2:30more sense to use the gel because my
76. 2:32like I said, my my levels were just
77. 2:34outside of the reference range. So, the
78. 2:36injection may have been a little intense
79. 2:38for treatment. Um but, also there are
80. 2:40some pitfalls with the injection in that
81. 2:42when you use the injection, you get kind
82. 2:44of a spike in testosterone levels and
83. 2:46then a crash before your next dose. But,
84. 2:48with the gel, you get a steady release
85. 2:50of the hormones throughout the day. So,
86. 2:52your hormone levels remain more steady.
87. 2:54So, we thought that was a better fit for
88. 2:56me where I'm looking at really trying to
89. 2:59increase that libido. Over the last 4
90. 3:01years, I definitely noticed an
91. 3:02improvement in body composition. So, you
92. 3:05know, less belly fat, more lean mass. Um
93. 3:08again, working out every day, you're
94. 3:10going to get those gains. But, I think
95. 3:11the gel really pushed it forward in a
96. 3:13more rapid manner. Um so, I do have like
97. 3:15I said, less body fat. I don't know what
98. 3:17what my exact body fat percentage is,
99. 3:20but I do notice abs came in over the
100. 3:22last 4 years and I'm able to in was able
101. 3:25to increase some upper body mass as well
102. 3:27as my legs. Now, when people have low
103. 3:29testosterone, they usually experience
104. 3:30different things like fatigue or brain
105. 3:32fog or mild depression. Now, me with
106. 3:35bipolar disorder, I go through periods
107. 3:37of depression regardless. But, I do find
108. 3:39that the testosterone made me experience
109. 3:41depression less. I also found that it
110. 3:44reduced my irritability and increased my
111. 3:47overall drive to get things done. I
112. 3:49found a lift in my motivation and my
113. 3:52daytime energy levels improved over the
114. 3:54last 4 years. I noticed that my energy
115. 3:57levels are consistently higher than they
116. 3:59were before using the gel. So, this is
117. 4:01the medication that I'll probably be on
118. 4:03indefinitely. I'll be using this
119. 4:05medication for the rest of my life. And
120. 4:07a couple of negatives that I found with
121. 4:09it is that I do use the pouches of the
122. 4:11gel.
123. 4:12I I just find they're a little bit
124. 4:15It's a little bit cumbersome, you know,
125. 4:16to cut open the pack, put on your hand,
126. 4:18rub it on your shoulders. Um and then,
127. 4:20of course, I have two young daughters,
128. 4:22so I get a little bit nervous about the
129. 4:24the transfer of the gel from my shoulder
130. 4:27to my children or my wife. So, I make
131. 4:29sure that after I use the gel, I wash my
132. 4:31hands completely, and I put on a shirt
133. 4:34that covers my shoulders, usually a
134. 4:35long-sleeve shirt in case there's
135. 4:37anything down a little bit lower. Um
136. 4:39but, yeah, overall, just a little bit of
137. 4:40a nuisance to actually use the gel, but
138. 4:42overall, I think
139. 4:43it's it's been beneficial for me, so
140. 4:45I'll continue to use them. So, that's
141. 4:47really all there is to cover for the
142. 4:48last 4 years using the gel. Like I said,
143. 4:50the main thing for me was libido, and my
144. 4:53libido has been revived, for sure. I
145. 4:55noticed body composition changes, so
146. 4:57more lean muscle mass and less abdominal
147. 5:00fat. And also, a big thing for me, less
148. 5:04depression, and my energy levels remain
149. 5:07more consistent throughout the day. More
150. 5:09motivation, more drive to get things
151. 5:10done. So, those were kind of the
152. 5:12benefits, and I pointed out one negative
153. 5:14of it.
154. 5:15Um but, I'm going to continue to use it.
155. 5:16Maybe in a couple years, I'll give you
156. 5:17another update. All right, that's it for
157. 5:19today's video. Take care.