(Untitled)

[nanometerscale]

I know the androgel instructions say to apply it "at the same time" each morning, but how exact does this need to be?

Yesterday I was ~4 hours late applying my gel (overslept), and today I started spotting for the first time since I started taking androgel... coincidence or a lesson to be more prompt with applying it?

Comments

[marc_87]

I have been about 1.5 hours off before and been ok. I put mine on at night though. But when I did have to come down on my dose (due to hives) my period decided to show up.

[xxweaponx]

Coincidence.

[karabalta]

Most probably coincidence. Weekdays I apply the gel at about 07.30, weekends and holidays it might not be until after midday or occasionally considerably later and I never found any correlation. The dose I'm on wasn't enough to prevent menstruation (just screw up my cycle so I was getting periods every 2-3 weeks), so I after about 9 months on T I started taking the mini-pill (progesterone only) every other day to suppress it completely.

[flcadam]

I've been on androgen for 6 years. It's a coincidence; you'd have to lapse for a few weeks for that to happen. Perhaps you need a higher dose.

Also, you don't have to apply at the same time daily. Sometimes I skip a few days, and I never apply my T daily, but by keeping my levels adequately high, I don't have those types of problems.

[rw_n_b_t]

Most likely coincidence. The directions say to apply the same time every day because:
(1) that's likely how the drug was used/studied in clinical trials
(2) to make it easier to develop the habit of remembering to apply the medication every day, and
(3) to try to prevent your T levels from slipping too low or too high (applying too infrequently or too frequently).

How "big of a deal" it is to stick to the exact time every day is going to be highly variable from person to person. Some folks might only need to apply every 48 hours to get the results they need, while others may need to apply more frequently. Figure out what works for you and try to stick to it (e.g. switching to applying at night in case you have a tendency to wake up at different hours in the morning).