I've been on TRT for 6 months now, and as someone who's got injection anxiety, getting the actual testosterone injection done was a huge hurdle for me.
The TRT clinic gave me 23gauge 1.5 inch needles, which I was instructed to inject into my thigh or glutes. Self injecting into the glute was difficult for me (due to the awkward body twist), which left the thigh as the only option.
I managed to find 25gauge needles in my (distant, 3rd world) location, and tried to use those for my first injection. Other than being immensely hard for me to self inject, I found it difficult to push out the oil through a 25gauge needle.
Not willing to give this up, I started reading in various forums, and found some conflicting information regarding the recommended needle gauge for testosterone shots, but the majority of the responses were to stick with 23g.
In one post, I saw someone mentioning using 27gauge 1" needles - with one caveat - you need to use a 1ml syringe alongside. His explanation was that the smaller diameter of the syringe applies more pressure (according to Bernoulli principle of fluid dynamics). The guy was flamed on the forums, but he stuck to his guns....and I thought i would give it a try....and i'm happy i did.
Today, my favorite setup for injections of Test Cyp is:
- 1ml Luer Lock BD syringes
- 21 gauge 1.5" needle to draw
- 27 gauge 1" needle to inject.
I barely feel the needle go in, and the injection process takes about 30-40 seconds. The slower speed of injection also reduces pip significantly...never going back to 3ml syringes again. Hopefully my 2cents will be useful to newcomers with the same dilemmas.
