@alice usually thigh meat, but sometimes switch it up with skin deep, and even tried under the hatch a few months this year, but the blood tests were like "are these sugar pills?" So back to the thighs to watch them grow!
@alice Injections have always been way out of budget. Didn't like patches (itchy).
Oral was always most accessible - but (FYI to all!!) it doesn't go "down the hatch," it best goes under the tongue. Sublingually Provides higher absorption than tummy digesting, more directly to the brain, and it bypasses the heart, lowering associated risk. (Not a doctor)
@alice I mean the easiest method is the first option but they put stress on the liver, so my preferred method is injection even though I am not there yet.
@alice patches, because we only have the options of oral, gel and patches here in Germany. Used gel for a while but it was a faff because of drying time.
(I do a tablet form of testosterone blocker / anti-androgen)
@alice I'm not sure how to answer. I was taking it orally, but my doctor is planning on putting me on the patch when I get back on it later this week. She says it's a more consistent delivery so you don't have spikes of it. More natural that way.
@Cubelet that's why I said preferred method—it seems common that people have tried several and may not currently be on the one they actually prefer for various reasons.
@goatsarah@alice in all fairness she isn't taking my pills away. I had to take a couple month pause to set aside sperm (success thank god), and she thinks the patches are more consistent in delivery which makes a lot of sense to me. She told me she'd be happy to prescribe me pills if I requested them.
@alice if these are metaphors, then 4 of these would qualify: "it rubs the lotion on itself" - yes, I rub the gel in, "only skin deep" - sure, I'm not rubbing skin off in process, and "thigh meat" - yep, I am rubbing it into thighs. Then I throw away the used sachet into trash can, so "down the hatch". So I guess I'm voting "I'm not like other girls" then
@alice sorry for any confusion, I thought the references would be obvious in context of the available delivery methods.
I've tried being super technical and explicit in polls, lax and loose with language in polls, using clarifying emoji in polls...it seems that no matter which I go with Mastodon finds new and fun ways to misinterpret the instructions and/or options.
My next poll will be done in interpretive dance with subtitles.
looking at the responses to the polls and seeing all the different interpretations of the same words, it strikes me again how english really is not standardised like many other languages are and is wide open to interpretation.
it really is difficult to communicate in english between different groups without defining words beforehand.
@homelessjun@alice yep. And I like to believe I'm pretty precise with words—even when using them loosely—but it seems nigh on impossible to write a paragraph of text in English without some percentage of readers reading it in unintended ways.
When I did data science work for a game company some years back, we released a game and I discovered that 16% (if I remember correctly) of players were failing one of the tutorial levels. Now in testing, no one failed it, so this was weird.
I looked into where in the level they were dropping out or restarting, and found it was one sentence of instruction, that 100% of the original testers interpreted correctly, but only 84% of regular players did.
The line, when read the intended way, made the play choice obvious. But when read a different way, caused players to misunderstand the option forward and they'd end up restarting the level or quitting in frustration.
I proposed a change said line, and the fail-rate of the level dropped to about 5%, which was in line with the other tutorial levels. Yes, about 5% of people seemed determined to fail levels in every way conceivable way...and I admire that.
@alice@alice "only skin deep" sounds a bit like subdermal but that doesn't make much sense to me, and if it's subq then it doesn't make sense to me either, because most IM estradiol injections work with subq needles
@natty@alice yup, it was intended to be subq. I know enough people who have a preference for either subq or IM that they seemed like they should be separate options.
@alice that's okay, it means I get to choose the "I'm special" option =P
So, for "explain below", I got my first implants yesterday 🦾 I would say they're my preferred method because it's less work and everything else (pills, gel) has been a complication for me for one reason or another, but it's still very early.
Implants also mean I should have fairly consistent levels and not feel so anxious about whether I'm applying gel correctly.
Implants may also be cheaper overall? I was planning to run the numbers today, but this will of course vary depending on a lot of circumstances such as where you live.