Testosterone Gel

[Backwoods]

Do you know which pharmaceutical company's testosterone you got for B1500 per injection? Right now, I cannot recall the brand of mine, but I remember is was one of the big pharma companies.

Why on earth was your doctor "shoving finger up [your] bum every month"? And, were you being injected monthly?

One 1 ml amp of Testoviron Depot (by Shering (sp???) Germany) only costs 150 or 200 baht at the outside pharmacies, 300 in the hospital. The rest from 1500 baht is doctor and nursing charges. Yes doing monthly.

And about the finger - checking the prostate.

I noticed one hospital bill shows the medication as "Nebido IM (1000 mg/4 mL) Injection," which is made by Bayer.

If your monthly Testoviron Depot is 1 ml and my once-every-three-month injection is 4ml, that could account for my relatively long injections.

Seems like online pricing for Nebido is $200 to $300 (roughly THB6000 to THB9000), so the price I'm being charged is in line with that.

I was receieving 1ML every 2 weeks by injection, and yes they used a big needle on me as well, that was in the states, and I stopped when comming here! Rid rage was a bit of a problem with me as I got irritated very easy, butit did increase my libedo! I was getting it to strengthen mussels as well as my heart, and not sure I want o mess with it again!

[Shurup]

I noticed one hospital bill shows the medication as "Nebido IM (1000 mg/4 mL) Injection," which is made by Bayer.

If your monthly Testoviron Depot is 1 ml and my once-every-three-month injection is 4ml, that could account for my relatively long injections.

Seems like online pricing for Nebido is $200 to $300 (roughly THB6000 to THB9000), so the price I'm being charged is in line with that.

Nebido is a Testosterone Undecanoate with a biological half-life of 21 days. Countains just under 160 mg of Testosterone per ml so once every 3 month injections are about right schedule however smaller, less frequent injections of short lasting Testosterone esters will give you more uniform blood levels. Ideally gels or pills daily will get you as close to natural testosterone levels as they can, but I think they're too much of a hustle. Monthly work good for me (and it did have a great impact on my libido by the way).

4ml in a single injection - ouch, no wonder you're sore, I would stick with my monthly injections.

Next time I am at the pharma, I can inquire about the Nebido pricing, I doubt it costs nearly as much as you saw online. It might be more prices due to its' long lasting nature, but technically it's the same testosterone as any other. 1 box of 1ml x 20 amps of Testoviron Depot (Bayer Schering, Germany) is 3600 baht, which will last you over 1.5 years of monthly injections. $120 per 1.5 years vs $800-$1200 per year of Nebido? It aint that much better that's for sure. If it's available in Thailand pharmas, my guess would be a 500-1000 per one 4 ml ampule. I am almost positive you got some wrong pricing on the internet and I am still sure your doc is too expensive.

Edited December 16, 2011 by Shurup

[Sheryl]

From what I know about Andriol, it is absorbed by the lymphatic system as oppose of being absorbed by liver then entering into the blood stream. Many other oral forms of Testosterone are modified, 17 alpha-methyl group is added to let the drug withstand deactivation by the liver, that makes it toxic to the liver and if taken in higher doses and for longer periods of time, it can caouse liver damage including liver cancer. Andriol, Proviron (not approved in Thailand I guess) and a few others are exceptions as they don't include 17 alpha-methyl group and don't cause liver toxicity.

On another note, from what I know (but I might be wrong) all the Birth Controll pills in order for the hormone to reach the blood streem are 17 alpha-alcylated. They don't cause any troubles as the doses are pretty low.

Interesting, I did not know this about Andriol.

Birth control pills do indeed pass through the liver and for this reason are contraindicated in women any degree of liver damage . And indeed there have been cases where "the pill" was implicated in liver damage/failure but this is rare and there are usually other contributing causes.

In countries where these are sold OTC the risk is higher than in countries where they have to be prescribed, and I have encountered cases of fatal liver failure in SE Asian women where birth control usage was a major factor. These women most probably also had some pre-existing liver damage of which they were unaware, not uncommon in populations with a high prevalence of hepatitis B.

Such cases are rare, though, and in a country context where making BC pills prescription-only would put them out of the reach of many women, the health benefits of OTC sales outweigh the small risk, since it is even more dangerous to have an unwanted pregnancy. . Ideally, however, women would get these on prescription from a medical professional who would screen for contraindications and make sure the woman was aware of early danger signs. They are not completely benign drugs, and -- without getting unduly alarmed -- women taking them need to understand this. Risks are small, but they are there, and more so for some women than for others according to age and health status.

The hot issue regarding the "liver pass" and female hormone supplementation revolves around not BC pills but hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which was initially all in oral form. Unlike BC pills, which are taken primarily by young (and therefore low risk health-wise) women, HRT recipients are older and more prone to complications.

[JAS21]

Sheryl - I think they might have testosterone gel available at the anti-aging clinics, like at Bangkok Hospital, for example.

Maybe look at my post (No2 I think) ... available from Australia, just google Lawley ... relatively cheap and takes two days to get here.

[Cobrabiker]

As no-one has replied...Lawley Pharmaceuticals in Australia...we get it posted from there...it's in a cream form not gel....just Google

It is like 4000B for a tube, wow and how long does it last? Injection only few hundred bahts, which is better?

[tropo]

I suggest you check a different hospital, I can't see the reason paying 11,000 per injection. even if you add a bloodcheck and whatever else, it won't come out as 11000 anywhere close.

Ball park prices:

PSA blood test - 800 baht

Total testosterone - 600 baht

Estradiol - 600 baht

You could also splash out on SBHG and LH if you wanted to. They're about the same price.

Throwing in a regular CBC (100 baht) is also a good idea. It's a good idea to keep an eye on hemoglobin and hematocrit levels when on testosterone therapy as they will rise.

Getting these tests done for baseline comparison before commencing supplementation is essential.

You could add liver and kidney function tests to the list and lipid profile too. I would also suggest fasting blood sugar and HbA1c to complete the list.

Edited February 22, 2012 by tropo

[JAS21]

As no-one has replied...Lawley Pharmaceuticals in Australia...we get it posted from there...it's in a cream form not gel....just Google

It is like 4000B for a tube, wow and how long does it last? Injection only few hundred bahts, which is better?

Their prices are in Aussie Dollars...

Well I buy it for my wife ... I order the 10mg/ml and each tube has 50ml. She uses 2-3mg/day so one ml lasts about 3 days. So in theory one tube will last 150 Days. The cost UK money is £62.10 and that includes postage of I think 15 Aussie dollars.

Sorry I don't off hand know the strength of the male product but you can look at their web site.

As regards testing ... I used to go direct to get National Healthcare Systems and they took the blood there and passed it to the Lab. Now they won't do that and I get her family doctor to take the blood and send it there.

I used to pay 350 baht for Total Testosterone, 35 Baht for Albumin and 600 baht for SHBG. There is no need to get Free testosterone measured as from TT, A and SHBG you can calculate free and Bio Available Testosterone ... just google or issam.ch/freetesto.htm . I now pay a little bit more to her doctor, but not much.

Michael Buckley is the guy at Lawley and he will chat to you, a very useful and informative guy.

Hope this helps

Edited February 23, 2012 by JAS21

[stacker10]

shurup you are spot on.I did the same and it kick my libido quickly and all you say about pricing is correct.I did go to a clicnic in Pattaya,bring my testo and the did the injection for 100b.couple of years ago but sure price not up that much.Is any one here know a pharmacy in Phuket?I checked a couple but they didnt have.I need to get back on it agian.