Hey girls,
thought I'd give a little update.
Sooo I made the switch from gel + cypro to injections (5 mg/7 days) 5 weeks ago. Was a bit scared of mono not setting off properly and T coming back, but all went well. Checked blood yesterday in trough, E is at 349 pg/ml and T at 0.24 ng/ml (24 ng/dL). Gonna lower the dose a bit for the next few weeks, should easily still be in target range on 4 mg.
Seems my body is actually really slow with metabolizing E. Some months ago I had ~130 pg/ml with only 1.5 mg/day of gel. And later on 3 mg/day I was measured at almost 750 pg/ml. Now there may have been some contamination, but maybe not - I've been applying some of my dose to my scrotum, which supposedly has an absorption of easily 5x as much as legs or arms.
Purely from sense this would kinda check out, too. The last few weeks on gel + cypro have been super exhausting emotionally, I really wasn't well. Funnily enough, I thought that was due to low T and too low E, but with this high E value I've started considering the opposite.
But that doesn't matter anymore, I've been feeling much more grounded for the last 3 weeks. More random bursts of happiness for being a woman. Work seems easier to manage, which has been really weighing on me, as I started something new earlier this year. Really happy that my body manages T on its own now, this just feels so cool.
Hope your hormones are treating you all well, too <3
11 Comments
Shirow@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 14d
I'm glad I went directly to monotherapy with EEn. It was annoying to get (where I live) but it's worth it if you can.
Eskarina@piefed.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 14d
Oh yeah, same, I was really lucky to meet a super cool couple who produce it themselves and give it to everyone who needs it at production cost. Actually even cheaper than through our "free" healthcare and way less of a hassle.
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 14d
ooh a homelabber? what general location?
DaPorkchop_@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 14d
nice try, FBI ;3
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 14d
Lol I was just curious since i noted a distinct lack of (selling online) homelabs in the UK, and seemingly plenty in the US and western Europe
DaPorkchop_@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 13d
i think there were a few in the UK until fairly recently, but pretty much everything there has been shut down in the last few months because [terf island]
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 13d
And the US is better?? I thought the whole point of diy was that it was outside the law
DaPorkchop_@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 13d
idk but the US suppliers seem to be fine, i ordered from symphony labs recently and it showed up no problem
being in a legal gray area doesn't really help much if your domains get seized and shit, iirc there was some terf organization which declared they'd make it impossible to get HRT in the UK and was going around filing police reports against everyone
Eskarina@piefed.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 13d
Ohh, not UK, sry :x
irotsoma@piefed.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 13d
Yeah I never used anti-androgens and never needed them. Not everyone can, but considering the side effects I think it should be tried before adding the anti-androgens. But I'm not a doctor.
I also switched to injections a few months ago from being on patches for about a year and a half, and I've had a much better time. I was on the max patches and rarely got more than 300pg/ml in peak, now the peak and trough are much more significant, but I've been feeling way better, and my boobs finally started getting slightly sore again. I think they gained a bit of size as well. I never got past Tanner Stage 3 on patches, so I'm hoping I'll get a little further from this. Only negative is my hair started shedding and thinning a lot the last month or so. Supposedly it's not uncommon when making major changes to estrogen cycles, and hopefully is temporary, but it did take me a couple of years to grow my hair out to shoulder length (it's pretty curly so it takes a lot longer), so it sucks that I've been losing so much of it. But I'll survive if it comes back.
Eskarina@piefed.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 13d
Yeah, I would've wanted to go mono from the start actually, but wanted to try the official way. Rather unusual to get injections from that here, though.
Of course hard to tell where the problems really came from, high E, cypro, actual problems in life... Always so much guessing. Still a bit early to tell if injections leave me more stable on the long run, but I'm hopeful.
Glad you had a good experience. Really sucks about your hair, hope you get it back soon <3