SubQ Vs IM Injections: Which Is Better For TRT

For this article we’re going to cover SubQ (Subcutaneous) vs IM (Intramuscular) injections for testosterone replacement therapy.

I’ll be going over the pros & cons of each & how I felt on both.

Let’s do a quick of both for those who aren’t familiar with the terms.

What are SubQ (Subcutaneous) injections

This is where you inject just under the skin, usually in the belly fat area. This method is relatively new for injecting testosterone, Subq is manly used for insulin injections.

Pros & Cons of SubQ TRT Injections

Pros

  • Very easy to administer, almost no pain
  • *Potentially need less (see link below on this)
  • Avoiding potential nerve damage

Cons

  • Estrogen Issues
  • Feeling dizzy/sick

So with Subq injections, you’re just a injecting directly into the fat so the only pain you should feel is inserting into the skin.

It has been discussed in the trt community from doctors that you may not need the same amount of testosterone to get the same or even higher testosterone blood level numbers from using subq vs IM.

With that being said, I think that could be true because as soon as I started injecting with SubQ at the same dose that I’ve been good at with IM, I had estrogen issues.

So I lowered the dose hoping this would not only fix the estrogen issues but I would also end saving money because I wasn’t having to inject as much.

Alas, I never made it long enough to see the results.

Every time I injected subq, I felt dizzy/sick feeling after it started to kick in (roughly 4-6 hours) after each injection and that feeling would last about the same amount of time.

This dizzy/sick feeling is not from the increased estrogen, as I had high estrogen for about a year on IM injections before I finally got my dose corrected and never felt that way.

Also, this is not a placebo because It took me over 3 weeks before I finally figured out what was causing it because I’ve never read anything like that as a side effect

What are IM (Intramuscular) injections

IM injections mean injecting into the muscle directly. This is the most common method of injecting testosterone.

There are specific spots you’ll want to inject when doing IM, I won’t cover this here but here is a good article reference on where you should look into doing your injections.

Pros & Cons of IM TRT Injections

Pros

  • No strange feelings of dizziness
  • Most common method of injections used; more research available on it.
  • My estrogen doesn’t spike as much versus what subq caused.

Cons

  • Injecting into the muscle is more painful than subq
  • Potential for nerve damage
  • Scar tissue buildup makes the injections more difficult overtime.

The number one pro is not having the dizziness and strange feeling that I get from subq injections.

Everything else could have been managed but, not knowing what the main cause was behind that and how it made me feel was a major factor on staying with IM injections.

IM injections has been the staple for how trt is injected so there is much more research based from it.

I didn’t have to start back trying to tackle, my estrogen issues; that shit gets old after one year of back n forth blood work and feeling like crap.

When first starting out the injections aren’t as bad as they become later. This is because the scar tissue buildup makes it more difficult to get into the muscle.

Therefore, you should rotate areas that you inject in.

I’m not to knowledgeable on the nerve damage aspect here but I’ve read that you can cause nerve damage from IM injections.

Which Injection Style Do I Recommend?

In my opinion, I like the IM way better.

With that being said, you will learn that trt is something that everyone reacts differently to.

The dosage, injection type, how often you inject etc..

I would say talk to your doctor and see what they say about subq vs im.

Subq is rather new in terms of using it for trt though so most doctors will just stick with what they know most likely, which is IM.

Another way to get a good idea how others react to different types is join a forum focused around trt and read peoples opinions on what they think about it.

One of the forums I’ve frequented when starting up on testosterone replacement therapy was excelmale.com. Got a lot of good feedback from other users their and there is actually some trt doctors that will post on the forum and answer questions.

I will say, don’t make any decisions on changing anything up with your trt protocol until after talking with your doctor.