How to give yourself a subcutaneous microdose testosterone injection.

Please read these instructions carefully before your first injection. If you’re a visual learner, there’s a video near the bottom of this page.

A subcutaneous (subQ) injection is delivered into the layer of fat just below the skin using a tiny needle similar to those used for insulin injections. SubQ injections are much easier to administer, less invasive, and more comfortable than intramuscular (into the muscle) injections, which are prescribed for most TRT protocols.

There’s no need to fear injections! Instead of a long (1.5” or longer) needle, our protocol uses tiny (30 gauge), short (5/16”) needles. With a little practice, your daily injections should only take about 2 minutes and should be nearly painless. If you mess up on your first few tries, no problem—we’ve got you covered. We included extra medication and syringes for that reason.

If you have any questions, reach out any time to support@bolt.health. Our medical staff will get right back to you!

The Bolt Health Testosterone Microdose Protocol

The best sites for self-administered subQ injections are in the fat of the abdomen or legs. Bolt recommends that you administer your injections into the skin of your legs and thighs. Use a slightly different location each day (at least one inch from the previous day’s injection site).

Step 1: Select the injection site

Using a disposable alcohol wipe (provided with your kit), sanitize the top of your vial and the injection site. Important: Rub the alcohol wipe for 10 seconds on the vial and 10 seconds on the skin injection site.

Step 2: Disinfect your medication vial and injection site

Using a disposable syringe (provided with your kit), draw medication from your vial into a syringe. This will take some practice because your medication is viscous and you’re using a small needle for optimal comfort. (Again, if you mess up, don’t worry—we’ve provided extra syringes and medication.)

The best method for drawing medication into a syringe is:

  1. Before inserting the needle into your medication vial, draw the plunger on your syringe back about a third of the way (you don’t have to be precise).

  2. Insert the needle through the rubber stopper at the top of your medication vial

  3. Push the plunger in all the way to create positive pressure inside the vial

  4. Turn the vial upside down with the needle inside of it

  5. With the needle inside the vial pull the plunger about ⅔ of the way back to pull medication into the syringe. Hold it in that position for about 15 seconds. Again, your medication is viscous so it will take some time to fill. For this step you want to pull more medication into the syringe than you’ll eventually inject.

  6. With the needle still inside the vial, slowly push the plunger, paying attention to the marks on the syringe. You’ll push all the air out of the syringe until all that remains is medication. Stop pushing the plunger when it’s at the correct mark for your prescribed daily dose. You may notice one or two tiny air bubbles inside the syringe and that’s ok.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON DOSING:

Follow the dosing instructions on your medication label. To meet high customer demand, Bolt uses multiple pharmacies and the label may specify your dose in units, milligrams (mg), or milliliters (mL).

This can be confusing at first, so here are a few guidelines:

Each line on the syringes provided by Bolt is 1 unit, which is equal to 0.01 mL or 2 mg. So:

A prescribed dose of 6 units would be 6 lines on the syringe.

A prescribed dose of 0.06mL would be 6 lines on the syringe.

A prescribed dose of 12mg would also be 6 lines on the syringe, since there are 2mg in each unit of medication.

If you have any questions, contact Bolt at support@bolt.health and we’ll help you get started.

Step 3: Draw your medication into a syringe.

Step 4: Pinch the injection site with one hand

Pinch the skin at your selected injection site between your thumb and two fingers with one hand, pulling the skin and fat away from the muscle. Do not get overly aggressive and pinch the muscle.

Insert the needle directly into the pinched skin. You can insert it at an angle of up to 45 degrees.

Depress the plunger to inject the medication, then pull the needle out.

Here’s a video that shows how to prepare a syringe and inject the medication:

Step 5: Dispose of the needle

All done! Put the used syringe into the sharps container (provided with your kit).

Step 6: Go crush your day!