Low dose oestrogen only.

[Mollie]

Very soon a letter should pop through the letterbox and a similar one to my GP (Who looks like Cameron Diaz by the way ). Anyway I will be starting on low dose oestrogen only, no AA just finasteride. What I want is the mental anguish to subside and my face to be given a  soupçon of femininity; an edge. So to my questions.

If I am perfectly happy with the intro' dose and all it has achieved, will the medics be happy to allow me to continue with the low input?

Will a low dose increase the chances of slow or reduced development elsewhere or might I still end up with rapid Dolly Parton specials?

For those ahead of me or with greater knowledge please give me their thoughts. I reside in the soon to be independent (I hope) Scotland.

[Sammy]

Well, first of all, congrats on starting But my main question is - what is Your goal in longer perspective? Because You can decrease Your mental anguish with antidepressants and feminise Your face with less marginal techniques, like growing out Your hair, loosing weight (this one very much depends on each individual genes though), lasering Your facial hair off, adding some subtle makeup here and there. It appears that You are leaning towards androgynous presentation rather than female, since You do not wanna bewbs
Will the medics allow You to stay on low dose? I dont know - have You asked them?
Besides, as many more experienced forum members will confirm - estrogen is doing much more than giving You bewbs and rounding up Your face and body. It changes the ways You perceive the world and relate to it in a very subtle but steady manner and when You reach a certain threshold, it is not a question of taking a pause because, well, bewbs are becoming an issue.. No, You just dont want to go back, because You are happy for who You are and what You are doing. It becomes a kind of addiction . You might not know what is going on in Your body, and with no AA and low doses, the changes might be slow too, but there could be a moment, when You Yourself might be wanting to increase them, despite of what You are writing now . Because we are who we are and our internal systems instantly recognise what is good for them - and ask more

[Vicky]

I have been on a dose that all of my friends consider to be so low as to be ineffective for the last 4 years, but my endo and I are happy with the results that have kept my E levels at female normal for pre ovulation stages, and other developments have me at or just a bit above other family females who are not grossly obese. 

I agree with Sammy that non-hormone, esthetically induced changes will give a feminized look and save you the possibility of exceeding your female relatives in some developmental areas.

It is not the amount of total estrogen in your body that counts, its how much is used by the body. They are not the same.  Most doctors are aware that what the body does not use ends up in the sewer outfall, so they have no reason to pump you full of high doses if a low one is working.  Nine times out of 8, its the patient yammering for the imagined results of high doses that drives the meds up.   (No I did not make a mistake in my numbers.)

[Mollie]

Thank you both for taking time to reply. Seriously, you need not have but did. OK, intrinsic, autonomous me. If I were given a magic pill and told,"Take that with a glass of water and you will wake up a woman." an atomic clock could not measure how quickly that pill would be in my system. I am not autonomous though. (Wife; and son and daughter both in their 20's.) I want mental peace but also creep by stealth to something else to be less damaging to those I love. My credentials are not in serious doubt. I have been quizzed and assessed; my soul stripped bare by medics to get where I am today.  Anti depressants? They salve the effect but not the cause. I said I wanted serenity of the soul and a more feminine face and have no desperate desire to expedite other physical change, but please believe me, should my butt and boobs manifest  a lipid race I would be OK about it and cheering on both teams.