Transfem

3543 readers

11 users here now

A community for transfeminine people and experiences.

This is a supportive community for all transfeminine or questioning people. Anyone is welcome to participate in this community but disrupting the safety of this space for trans feminine people is unacceptable and will result in moderator action.

Debate surrounding transgender rights or acceptance will result in an immediate ban.

Please follow the rules of the lemmy.blahaj.zone instance.
Bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated.
Gatekeeping will not be tolerated.
Please be kind and respectful to all.
Please tag NSFW topics.
No NSFW image posts.
Please provide content warnings where appropriate.
Please do not repost bigoted content here.

This community is supportive of DIY HRT. Unsolicited medical advice or caution being given to people on DIY will result in moderator action.

Posters may express that they are looking for responses and support from groups with certain experiences (eg. trans people, trans people with supportive parents, trans parents.). Please respect those requests and be mindful that your experience may differ from others here.

To make such a request, at the start of the body of your post, not in the title, the first line should look like the this: [Requesting Engagement from _________]

Some helpful links:

The Gender Dysphoria Bible // In depth explanation of the different types of gender dysphoria.
Trans Voice Help // A community here on blahaj.zone for voice training.
LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory // A directory of LGBTQ+ accepting Healthcare providers.
Trans Resistance Network // A US-based mutual aid organization to help trans people facing state violence and legal discrimination.
TLDEF's Trans Health Project // Advice about insurance claims for gender affirming healthcare and procedures.
TransLifeLine's ID change Library // A comprehensive guide to changing your name on any US legal document.
Gender Spectrum // Resources for youth, parents and family, educators, mental health professionals and faith leaders.

Support Hotlines:

The Trevor Project // Web chat, phone call, and text message LGBTQ+ support hotline.
TransLifeLine // A US/Canada LGBTQ+ phone support hotline service. The US line has Spanish support.
LGBT Youthline.ca // A Canadian LGBT hotline support service with phone call and web chat support. (4pm - 9:30pm EST)
988lifeline // A US only Crisis hotline with phone call, text and web chat support. Dedicated staff for LGBTQIA+ youth 24/7 on phone service, 3pm to 2am EST for text and web chat.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Can I ask to double my dose with these results? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Estradiol monotherapy. Started HRT 3 months ago with 2mg Estradiol oral tablets. Have a doctor appointment in a few days and wanted to ask to double my oral prescription, split up 4mg into 4 doses sublingual every day. Not sure if my Estrogen levels are too high and my doctor will deny my request.

Pre-HRT Estrogen (TOTAL IA): 181 pg/mL
Pre-HRT Testosterone (Total IA): 246 ng/dL
Levels this week Estrogen Total IA: 438 pg/mL
Levels this week Testosterone Total IA 115 ng/dL

From what I understand I feel like I'm definitely not achieving Testosterone suppression. https://transfemscience.org/ recommends T levels around 10 ng/dL. But having E levels of 400 pg/mL is the right range for E.

Can I convince my doctor to double my dose if my E is already at >400 pg/mL?

Edit 01: I did not take my daily dose until after my blood was drawn. Blood draw was already 24+ hours since last oral dose.

Edit02: Thank you all for your responses. My doctor approved the prescription doubling. My idiot brain realized after the fact that I didn't even need the doubling in the first place (I guess I get to stockpile now). I intended to follow the 0.5mg four times a day protocol shown here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38130980/ . Really could have just cut my 2mg pills into four pieces.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I did not take my daily dose until after my blood was drawn. Blood draw was already 24+ hours since last oral dose.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Even so, that snapshot is probably not accurate to your blood levels most of the time, since such high E should thoroughly suppress T production if it were consistently that high. There are probably still periods where your E drops enough for T production to be happening, the other main way to explain such high T is that maybe there was an error / inaccuracy in the labs. My endo shared that he is particular about which lab does the blood work and that it makes a big difference in the accuracy.

Besides your blood labs, have you noticed physiological changes that might indicate T suppression or lack thereof?

EDIT: I know a transfem IRL who after 3 mo. of oral estrogen had blood levels around 340 pg / mL and T around 95 ng / dL - so this isn't the first time I've seen something similar (adequately high estrogen, but not fully suppressed testosterone).

It's hard because I started with injections, not oral, so my own experience was that T was immediately suppressed. My T was 305 pre-HRT and E was 30. After 2 months my T was 23 and E was 325. That was with a variable dose schedule, but averaging around 5 - 7 mg per week (usually split up into every 5 days or every 3 days during that time).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The only physiological change I've noticed is my areolas having pain when bumped. Have not noticed anything indicating T suppression.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Will be curious to see how this progresses - keep us posted! 😊