#hormone levels

[local-null-nb]

Hey, I saw that you're taking a minimal dose of estrogen after nullification, and I was wondering what effect that might have had/be projected to have on breast growth. What do you think would be the best way for someone like you to remain flat-chested while still on E (and without additional surgery besides the nullectomy)? Would a low dose be enough, or would there be more to it?

Hello there!

So the most important thing to remember is that everyone's body processes hormones differently.

Personally I found that personally when I took 1mg a day I didn't really experience any breast growth but I did experience some negative symptoms of hormone deficiency (weirdly enough dry skin was the most noticeable effect - though concerns for long term health were present)

I was then on 2mg for a while which did cause me to develop some chest growth, but little enough that I can be shirtless without issue. Plenty of people wouldn't experience any chest development on 2 mg.

I'm currently on 1.5 mg and seem stable.

The best way to remain flat chested afterwards would be to talk to your endocrinologist and clearly state your desires. You can try aiming for minimal estrogen dosage, or even a mix of low estrogen and low testosterone dosages potentially. Your endocrinologist will be your prescriber of hormones and will be much better at tailoring the advice to you specifically.

Also if you attempt to avoid gaining weight and just keep consistent that can reduce potential for chest development as it has to come from somewhere and it'll develop more with new fat compared to just redistribution. Do note that going from having testosterone to not having testosterone you may want to exercise more to maintain a similar physique.

It's also VERY IMPORTANT to keep in mind that for most people low hormone levels increases risk of depression! Personally I found myself less depressed but that is not the norm. It's practically a meme among transfems that 1 mg estrogen and no progesterone is the recipe for depression used by bad endocrinologists - though PART of that is that you won't experience much breast development.

[answersfromzestual]

Would a small article on transdermal testosterone (tgel) be interesting?

Maybe comparing the difference between the gels and the traditional way of intramuscular injection.

Also, just a side note about testosterone. It is important to have your hormone levels checked (blood work) in a periodic manner so you stay in the safe or your discussed levels. If you are still working on finding your correct dosing, please be sure to keep on top of your blood work. It is important for many reasons; blood pressure, blood thickness, too high levels can even increase your possibility of a stroke. Lower levels or fluctuations can cause mood swings, depression, irritability. So be sure to keep yourself safe and check your levels periodically, even if you have been on the same dose for years.

With love,

Zestual.

[tmitransitioning]

Is there any research on when periods stop on T based on hormone levels (both T and E) I don't care about dosage and how long people been on them but hormone level only.

i’m not aware of any research about this, but it seems like it’d be a fairly straightforward study to do, even retrospectively from a large enough database: when did they stop and what were your most recent labs (since we trend labs pretty frequently early in transition).   If anyone is looking for a research project, that would be a good one. 

Personally, I’m wondering if there’s any significant correlation because some people might stop nearly immediately after starting HRT, while others take a year- but both of these people generally are in the “male” range of T during most of this time.  My guess is that although we might want to find an association (”as soon as the T levels hit 500 and the E drops low enough it shuts off like a faucet”), it’s likely that there’s significantly more genetic variation at play than that.  

Great question though, and it’s things like this (unique and unanswered questions), that make me think that make me excited about answering questions on here. 

mod mayhem

[ukftm]

Would T levels being too low and estrogen levels being to high prevent you from starting T?

It’s very unlikely. Depending on how unusual your hormone levels are, they might want to repeat blood tests or do some other tests to check why, but that would just delay things for a short time rather than meaning you can never start testosterone.

One possibility: is it that your blood results show as outside the standard ranges? If you’re registered as male with your GP, the lab will have compared your blood tests to the ‘male’ ranges, so if you’re pre-testosterone you would expect oestrogen to show as high and testosterone as low, and it wouldn’t be cause for concern at all in those circumstances.

~ James

[local-null-nb]

Ive always been interested in getting my ovaries removed but feared the hormone aspect. I didn’t like the idea of being on estrogen forever separate from me. And what if the estrogen that was given to me isn’t the same amount as I was naturally getting and it fucks me up.

I’d like to have my ovaries removed but not sure how to way the pros and cons of it.

Let me start with: my body has never naturally produced estrogen, however I am now on estrogen due to nullification surgery stopping my body from producing hormones so it's similar and my endocrinologist is actually more experienced with people in your position and has talked to me about it.

So typically for stuff like that you will get your hormone levels checked and then discuss options with your doctor to choose how much estrogen you are prescribed. You would then continue to monitor your hormone levels, for me I was told to check it after 3 months but you can check sooner than that. (I actually need to get my blood work done because I think I'm running late on my blood work checkup) once your confirmed stable you should be snow to check muvh less often.

As long as you're still in the safe range (which is pretty dang wide with estrogen) changes in level shouldn't really cause issue to my knowledge. People who's bodies never produce estrogen can take 1mg to 6+mg of it per day in pill form. (Not sure about patch dosage)

Taking estrogen can be done either through pills once or twice a day or patches once or twice a week - I believe there are other options too but IDK much about them.

Manually taking hormones can actually make your hormone levels more stable, I believe preventing periods and preventing menopause symptoms from developing.

I'd say the biggest con is just having to take the pills or apply the patches, but luckily estrogen is a less controlled substance than testosterone so it's cheaper and more accessible.

Ultimately this is a conversation to have with a doctor for exactly what to expect and what they can offer, but I hope my answer has helped answer some of your questions!

[ukftm]

Hey! Sorry if this has already been answered. What are the average trough (day before shot) and peak (weak after shot) ideal testosterone ranges? Thanks!

It can vary from clinic to clinic, but usually they’re looking for a trough of around 8-12 and a peak of around 25-30 nmol/l.

~ James

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