High Sensitivity to Testosterone

[MxMixter]

Is anyone here sensitive to Testosterone? I'm on a really low dose (injected weekly) and after 4 months am already seeing all the changes possible. I just had blood work done and while I'm not in a male range I'm a little more than half way there. This seems crazy to me? Or is this just a normal reaction some people have?

Everything I've read about transitioning led me to believe that changes will take a fairly long time. My voice is already cracking! I wanted to be on a low dose, because I'm not sure how much masculinization I want, yet my body seems to be flooring it. Anybody experience something similar?

[Sebryn]

I was started on a very low dose that was adjusted periodically to mimic a more natural "puberty" and I also experienced changes at the second level when at a 10 day interval. The main change of mood stability happened once we got to my full dose level and changed the 10 day interval to weekly, otherwise my highs and lows were really bad. My voice cracked the first time (not very bad, just sounded like I had a bad cold) right around 3.5 months and again at 6 months (full dose that was too high), then at 8 months (correct dosage confirmed), 13 months and 18 months. I think it has finally settled, but a lot of the time vocal changes mature over years.

Everyone reacts differently to testosterone, which is why we have to get the HRT tailored to suit us individually. It's perfectly possible to be seeing changes 4 months in for some of us. The information you've read is the average of everyone recorded, not everyone who has ever transitioned. If that makes sense. 

If you're concerned about the changes you might want to talk to your doctor and see what they have to say, but we really can't pick and choose what changes we get and how much of a change it is, and many of them are permanent. Good luck.

[Jennygirl]

It's true, some people have very sensitive t receptors and even the slightest bit of the stuff will have a big effect. That is why testing blood levels of hormones is a bit of a sham... And you can't test for receptor sensitivity other than the empirical way (based on your own experience).

The best endocrinologists don't care about free hormone levels, they care about you!

Hopefully it's not happening too fast for ya! Sounds like you are excited, though, which is a good thing

[MrJ]

I think I might be extra sensitive to testosterone. I don't know for sure, my endocrinologist hasn't had a trans patient before so I doubt he even knows (am thinking about trying to find a new endo). What I do know is my voice dropped super fast. Like, within the first month. (apology, I posted a sound clip here of my voice every week for the first 40 days to show how much it dropped, but I removed it just in case it wasn't allowed.)

I also inject weekly, and my endo has been monitoring my T level and last year he cut my dose in half because the level was getting too high.

The hardest part about a change that fast was that I'm a singer, and I completely lost control of my voice for a long time.

[KelsieJ]

Testosterone IS very much more potent than estrogen. Even a slight amount of testosterone can make a huge difference. I'll give you a personal example. At 16 I was 85lb and 5'4. Then I started T because the doctors said I needed it. By 18 I was 160 and 5'10. I stopped taking it because it was the wrong hormone for me, (obviously, lol!!), but even though I've been on estrogen therapy now for quite some time, the muscle mass acquired from being on T has yet to be dented by the estrogen in comparison.