Hi there-
sorry you're having issues with testosterone.
i found it very difficult and, like you, was quickly overwhelmed with unpleasant symptoms.
i took an absolutely minuscule amount too- about a tenth the recommended female dose!
i did find that it initially increased my oestrogen but it's so hard to know what's going on without testing. i've ended up doing finger prick blood tests via private clinic.
i was so confused that many women seem to have the opposite experience and it takes them ages to feel anything on testosterone!!
basically, i've stopped for now but intend to try again soonish.
what i think is the issue with me is that i'm not very fit and am a little overweight.
i think this impacts my ability to metabolise these external hormones. it's similar with oestrogen therapy though less pronounced than with testosterone.
don't mean to bombard you with my armchair scientific research, but i found that my shbg was extremely low. this is something i tested for privately- low shbg means hormones can run amok as it's there to bind to some of them and therefore regulate them- it has a particular affinity for testosterone. so, in it's absence it makes sense that testosterone can run crazy!!
being overweight is one of the main reasons for low shbg, but not the only one.
so i'm eating more healthily, doing a bit of exercise and gradually bringing up my shbg towards a point where i can hopefully try again.
a paradox is that i'm pretty sure that i gained weight on testosterone which made me even less able to tolerate it!!
obvs i'm not a doctor/scientist and this may not be the issue with you but i do wonder if we're better equipped to deal with hormones the fitter we are.
and apologies if you're actually a wafer thin, marathon runner!!
it is indeed hard to get these hormones (ie in hrt) in balance. i'm currently trying an oestrogen increase and feeling pretty blah! so tempting to give up but at the same time i know we need to give things a chance to work. i took the testosterone for over 2 months as really wanted to give it a proper go.
as i say, i will try again.
sorry if not much help but solidarity in spades to you!! keep asking stuff on here- there's a wealth of info and experience and it just helps to talk (type!)
