Question for E-takers: gel or patches? Got a strong opinion either way? Anything you wish you'd known before starting?

@RinaVolpina personally i started with patches, was okay until the lab stopped making them and i had to get other ones but stick less and are bigger, and had to put multiple ones until i got 4-5 on me each time and are out of stock often

got tired of all of this 3 years in and switched to injections, am really satisfied so far, and really liked patches to begin with

@nono_lewd Thank you! Injections aren't apparently legal in the UK and I can't stand needles so that’s really not an option πŸ˜…

@RinaVolpina meow understandable πŸ’œ

tbh it’s not that illegal where i am (France) but doesn’t had a authorization to be sold, so had to got them elsewhere

and was really scared of needles for that, what helped personally is blood tests (got used to them) and friends who do it too and let me see them doing it, then i asked one of them to guide me to doing it myself and it was so so helpful πŸ’œ

@RinaVolpina I'm quite a sweaty person so I had a lot of trouble getting the patches to stick.

I switched to gel and while it can be a pain waiting for it to dry, once it has dried it's fine.

@Keab42 This... could be a worry. Where did you stick the patches? And how long does the gel dry?

@RinaVolpina patches go on your upper thigh. I ended up having to use micropore tape or tattoo wrap to keep them on.

Gel takes 2-10 minutes to dry depending on the weather and how thin you can spread it. It can go either on the outer upper arms or inner thigh. I do thighs so I have a couple of minutes of walking weird or sitting watching TikTok.

@Keab42 Ok, good to know! Upper thigh sounds good, thanks!
@RinaVolpina i have no experience with patches, most doctors in Germany prescribe gel (trade name: Gynokadin) and it works quite well for most people. but it's not quite as effective as injections. you can't do mono therapy with it, it's not strong enough to suppress T on it's own, so it's usually paired with a testosterone blocker.
@RinaVolpina I use gel and it's pretty great other than 2 things: once you've applied it you can't have a shower for an hour or you'll wash it off, and I can't cuddle my partner naked for an hour because they do not need any extra estrogen.
Secondly, my house is pretty chilly in winter and it's not super pleasant having my thighs out in the cold air while I wait for the gel to dry
@z Yup, that could definitely be an issue for me! πŸ˜…
@RinaVolpina I've been considering doing gel in summer when it's too sweaty for patches and doing patches in winter when it's too cold for gel 
@z I might ask if I can get a box of both so I can try them out!