Excerpt from our second Reddit AMA podcast video: When it comes to doing TRT injections, what's better; IM or SubQ?

Transcript

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Brian Mckinley: The next part of this thing was, you know, sub Q injections versus intramuscular injections for testosterone and so, I'm someone who uses intramuscular injections for my TRT regiment which means you inject your your testosterone into your muscles.

Brian Mckinley: I like doing it because I don't have to do it as frequently in my mind and I'm just comfortable with it and I'm used to it. Sub-q, essentially means you're subcutaneous. You're trying to inject your testosterone in to the fat that sits kind of above your muscles, or above your organs, that kind of stuff like your surface fat right below the skin. They do both work. I'm just not very versed in that. I think it both of them are pretty successful. Garrett is actually someone who has experience with subcutaneous. Or testosterone.

Garrett Soames: You sure?

Brian Mckinley: Do you want to break down? Like a quick little overview. One comparing the other from your kind of experience because you've done both,

Garrett Soames: Yeah. Um, I personally prefer. Subcutaneous injections. Despite the hassle of needing to do a daily injection. I feel like, you know, I I am someone who can notice, you know, the peaks in the valleys. Right. And so I like my peaks and valleys to not be as high or as low. I like to be you know, in the middle. So that's the benefit, it makes sense, right? A smaller amount but every single day as opposed to a much larger amount though, only twice a week, You know, or there are some people out there who do it once a week.

00:30:00

Garrett Soames:  And honestly if you look at the textbooks that it still tells you to do one shot every two weeks, which is idiotic but yes a you know it you can think about it. If you did it every two weeks you're, you know, you've got a huge wave right up high and then down, if you do it every one week, it's a, you know, a smaller wave. If you do it twice a week, you know, it's multiple small waves and if you do it every day, it's just like that. So, That's the easiest way to think about it is, you know? You know, are you someone who sensitive to the highs and the lows or not?

Garrett Soames:  I also am a fan of using the smaller needles, you know, those some of those big 25 gauge needles, can be really painful and cause scar tissue and maybe I'm a wimp. So I like the little insulin needles, you know? So I don't feel them like literally can't feel them so, whereas I, you know, I can feel the, the larger needles we sometimes use for the For the intramuscular injections. But if you look at the studies again, they're pretty seems to be that the left the ultimate levels tend to be pretty comparable. There are some studies that suggest it, that it creates more depoting, which actually is depoting is, again, like a depot where Something for later, right? So it, they believe that the it might because there's a little less blood flow to the skin.

Garrett Soames: Um, that the testosterone may be more slowly released into the bloodstream, you know, over time. Um, and…

Brian Mckinley: Yeah. Yeah.

Garrett Soames: you get almost like it's almost like little pellets of testosterone sitting in your skin that are sitting there and waiting to go. So, there are some that say that you can get a higher level. Over time with sub Q injections. But I don't know…

Brian Mckinley: Yeah. You know,…

Garrett Soames: if I believe that or not, but

Brian Mckinley: one question. Why why daily though, why does it have to be more frequently? I know it needs to be. But is it just because the volume or what?

Garrett Soames: Well, yeah, that's a good. That's a great question. So you should never do a large volume into the skin itself. It just it doesn't tolerate, you know, big, you know, bubbles of oil. It remember that the skin is our first line of defense for infection.

Brian Mckinley:  Yeah.

Garrett Soames: So there are some times bacteria that can work their way you know into You know, small small, you know, bits of our skin, but our immune system takes care of it. But now imagine you get some bacteria in there. You get, you've got an abscess pretty quick. So the risk that's the main reason why We don't we you, if you're gonna do some Q, You have to do it daily because the volume you use is much, much smaller. Yeah, so you can inject,…

Brian Mckinley:  Okay.

Garrett Soames: you know, in in a muscle. I mean, Brian, You know, this like what was the rule one, one CC per in the shoulders but to one in the top two in the thigh and like what

Garrett Soames:  Two to four. And yeah, in the But

Garrett Soames: Yeah. yeah, so if you know but subcutaneous it's, you know, you you'd be, I would never give more than half a cc subcutaneously of anything, you know,…

Brian Mckinley: Yeah.

Garrett Soames: so just because the risk of damage and so yeah, you know, a lot of guys if you're taking you know, You know, over 150 milligrams in a week. You can't do that twice a week based on volume. Typically. Yeah.

Brian Mckinley:  Right. okay, so at the end of the day, Sq versus intramuscular kind of preference. Both work as well and depends on if you have the time. To do either one or what you kind of want out of it.