How to remember your weekly injection schedule
Most missed injections aren't about forgetting the medicine. They're about losing track of the day: "was it Monday or Tuesday last time?" A schedule that only lives in your head drifts, especially with twice-weekly or every-3.5-day injections. Here's how to make it stick.
Note: this is general information, not medical advice. Your prescriber sets your dose and schedule, and the leaflet that comes with your medicine says what to do if you miss one.
Pick days, not intervals
"Every 3.5 days" is hard to follow. "Monday morning and Thursday evening" is easy. Turning your schedule into fixed days and times is the single biggest help:
| Schedule | Easy version |
|---|---|
| Once a week | The same day and time every week, e.g. Sunday morning |
| Twice a week | Two fixed days, e.g. Monday morning and Thursday evening |
| Every other day | Odd and even dates drift across months, so let an app count it for you |
| Daily | The same time every day, tied to something you already do |
Fixed days also make it easier to time blood tests, which most prescribers want just before an injection. See weekly vs twice weekly vs daily for how the schedule changes your levels.
Anchor it to something you already do
Habits stick when they're attached to an existing routine. Pick one that happens on your injection days anyway:
- After your morning coffee or shower.
- Before your evening meal.
- After a training session on set days.
Keep your supplies together in one place, out of sight of children and visitors but where you'll see them at that moment. If you have to hunt for a syringe, the injection gets put off.
Use a reminder that tells you what, not just when
A plain alarm says "now". A good reminder says what is due, which matters once you have more than one thing on the go, such as testosterone twice a week and something else daily.
- Phone alarms work for a single weekly injection, but they can't count every other day and they don't know if you've already done it.
- A calendar event that repeats works for fixed days. Turn on a notification for each one.
- A tracking app can remind you only on the days something is actually due, and stop reminding you once it's logged.
If other people see your phone, choose reminders that don't show the medicine's name.
Write it down when you do it
The reason people double up or skip is not knowing whether they already injected. Logging each injection as you do it, with the time and the site, settles that question. It also means you can show your doctor exactly what you took and when, which makes blood test results easier to interpret.
If you miss one
Don't guess. Check the leaflet that came with your medicine or ask your prescriber or pharmacist what to do, because the advice depends on the product and how late you are. Don't take two doses close together to catch up unless you've been told to.
A late dose changes your levels in the same way as a longer gap between injections, so note it in your log. If you're due a blood test soon, tell whoever orders it, since a missed or late dose can change the result.
Travelling and time zones
- Pack enough for the trip plus a few days, in your hand luggage, with your prescription or a letter from your prescriber.
- Keep injecting on the same days, at roughly the same local time once you've arrived. A shift of a few hours is unlikely to matter, but ask your prescriber if a long trip will move your schedule by a day or more.
Doing it in Enhanced Training Studio
Enhanced Training Studio works out every due date from your schedule, including every-other-day and every-3.5-days schedules, and shows what's due on the Today screen with the volume to draw and the next site. Reminders go off at the morning or night time you set, and only on days something is due. Private reminders hide names and doses. A dose you didn't log shows as missed, with Log late or Skip it, so nothing slips through. On iPhone, the web app can add the schedule to your Calendar instead. The protocol tracker is free.
General information, not medical advice. Your prescriber sets your dose and schedule.
Track it without the spreadsheet
Enhanced Training Studio schedules every injection, shows what to draw, rotates your sites and estimates your levels. The protocol tracker is free, needs no account and keeps everything on your phone.
See the TRT tracker Levels calculator