I started HRT today! Yea!
The endo was very nice and seemed very supportive. He took time to answer all of my questions. The front office staff called me by my male name, but the doctor, med student, and nurse each called me Kim, which was in the letter from my therapist. He has worked with my therapist for years. He said the he totally trusts that I am ready for HRT if she says I'm ready.
He put me on spiro and oral estradiol. I can't mention dosages, but the spiro seemed pretty strong and the estradiol pretty low. He said the estrogen dosage is to try to mimic the puberty level of a ten year old girl (for two months), followed by increases to mimic years 11 and 12, each for two months. So, it appears that I am going through my girl-puberty at a rate of an entire year in two months! (at least to start). I asked about progesterone and other options besides oral estrogen. He said we could discuss that after six months, since the oral estrogen alone would be easier to target the right levels and adjust as necessary.
I specifically asked about implants for the estrogen. He said that he has trouble sourcing them. For those on you on implants and in the US, do you know the brand or company your doctor gets them from?
I asked about things I could do to help the hormones work (diet, exercise, etc). He said no changes, just live your life; teenagers get through it acting like teenagers. While I suppose this is true, it isn't the answer I wanted, since teenagers also go through puberty with teenage bodies and metabolisms and have more time to accomplish what I want to.
He gave me a copy of my blood work results (taken a month ago, before HRT). He just said that everything looked fine. I noticed that my estrogen level, 37, was near the top of the reference range (6-44) for males -- which overlaps with part of the early-cycle female reference range. I doubt this really means anything, but I thought it was interesting. My T level, at 6.6, was just above the middle of the 2.5-9.5 reference range.
I was shocked at how cheap the meds were! A 90 day supply of spiro was FREE. A 30 day supply of estradiol was $0.71. I do have insurance (BCBS PPO), but I am sure that its NOT the insurance making it this cheap.
Anyway, I am starting my HRT and *very* excited about it!
Kim
