For those of you looking to save a few bucks, I'll share a little approach that you may (or may not) want to consider. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one doing it, but it gives you a way to get prescription for TRT without going down the path of high priced clinics.
Timeline:
2016 - Started looking into TRT and eventually came to the conclusion it was going to be difficult to find a GP to prescribe. Also, it was apparent that the HRT clinics were kind of expensive. So, found a supplier of raws and home brewed my own Test E.
2020 - Still had some raw powder left over from my 2016 order but it looked a little sketchy, so I was back on the hunt for raws. Of course, with logistics from China, everything was delayed or shut down and I couldn't find a domestic supplier. So, I decided to try to find a GP that would go the TRT route.
As luck would have it, this time it worked! Here's what I did different this time that made the difference....
1. Did some quick research to learn the difference between a regular MD (Doctor of Medicine) and a DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine). For those that don't know, an MD is a traditional medicine degree, whereas a DO takes a holistic, mind-body-spirit approach to care. IMO, most MDs tend to be strict "by the book" when it comes to medicine. So, I thought that maybe a DO might be a little more "open minded" towards the benefits of TRT. Also, another source are Nurse Practitioners. They too, can write scripts and there are some out there who do telemedicine on a freelance basis.
2. Since I was looking for a DO, I thought I might increase my chances of finding an "open minded" one if they were someone fresh out of college or maybe just a relatively young-ish doctor in general.
3. Taking the previous two ideas one step further, let's look for a male DO....he might be more empathetic towards our cause right?
4. Found one that fit the bill, so I booked a new patient appointment.
5. BEFORE I went to my appointment, I ordered bloods from PrivateMD for two reasons. I knew that from previous blood work my natural ranges would be low. I also know there are ways to artificially drive down your Test levels if need be. Sure enough, my results came back at like 226 ng/dl. More importantly, a) I wanted to have ammo to justify what I was asking for. b) I wanted to get an answer right then and there. He was either going to need to reject my blood results OR go with the program. My thought was that if he didn't agree, I would just go right back on the search for a new doc.
6. Went to the appointment, did the back and forth small talk as usual and towards the end I brought up the subject of TRT. I demonstrated through conversation I had been pro-active on the subject, and I also mentioned that I had done self-administered TRT in the past. I also made it clear that I'm going to continue doing it, but I would prefer to be under the care of a physician. Then I showed my recent bloodwork in order to justify why I was asking. Ultimately, I was giving him an ultimatum as the patient. But, I wasn't asking him to do anything that he could not justify as a doctor - after all, my bloodwork didn't lie. So, he agreed. However, the script is only for 100mg Test C every 2 weeks. Now, I know what you're thinking (WTF??? only 100mg every 2 weeks?)...but let me explain.
So...you may be asking yourself WHY go through all this hassle if it's only a 100mg script? Well, here's a couple of reasons:
1. You now have a legit script for Test, and thus won't have to worry about getting into trouble with the law.
2. You can travel with your Test.
3. Getting Test from a local pharmacy is pretty cheap - in fact, it's substantially less expensive than going through a TRT clinic.
4. You can supplement your pharma test with home brew when needed.
I'm pretty sure this is the little loophole that a lot of people use to get themselves "legal" - whether or not they continue to home brew is a different story