Going backwards

[allisonsteph]

I am approaching six months on HRT and went and got my blood work done this week. My total tetestetone is currently higher than it was at the three month mark. I have not seen the results for free T yet, but I'm not happy. My Doctor appointment is next week so I will find out more then.

Has anyone else had this happen?

[allisonsteph]

I hit the six month mark yesterday and saw my doctor today. He has no reasonable explanation as to why my T levels are up and my E levels are down. He looked up possible interactions with other mediations I am taking and found none. For now he is increasing my dosage of spironolactone and estrogen. I'm fine with this but because of how spiro is formulated and packaged I walked out of the pharmacy with 8 pill bottles today.

[Amy1988]

I am approaching six months on HRT and went and got my blood work done this week. My total tetestetone is currently higher than it was at the three month mark. I have not seen the results for free T yet, but I'm not happy. My Doctor appointment is next week so I will find out more then.

Has anyone else had this happen?

My understanding about spiro is that it prevents T from binding to receptors so you wind up with excess T but it isn't doing anything.  It's just floating around free but some does get converted to E. 

[KayXo]

In addition to weakly blocking androgen receptors (compared to cyproterone acetate or bicalutamide), it also reduces androgen levels through various mechanisms but it is true that even though T levels might be a tad high, some of it is either bound to SHBG (which estrogen increases, especially orally), thus inactive if total T is measured AND some cannot bind due to Spiro blockage. So don't be alarmed if T is a little high. Focus more on feminization results and how you feel. This is a better measure of whether your hormone regimen is working out for you.

[Rachel]

Hopefully the increase in meds will have a great effect on your T and E levels.

I am on pills, Spiro, Estradiol, Finasteride and progesterone. My total T goes between 20-24 ng/dl. My PA does not get free vs total T on me, he said it is not needed. I know the AA is working well because the effect is prominent.

Where I go they do not do pellets but I want injections. I am sure I will obsess on it in December.

[Shantel]

My understanding about spiro is that it prevents T from binding to receptors so you wind up with excess T but it isn't doing anything.  It's just floating around free but some does get converted to E.

Right Amy, and some converts to dihydrotestosterone that kills the hair follicles on one's head. That's why so many counter that with finasteride. Be careful though, the side effect is boobs! 

[Ltl89]

I am approaching six months on HRT and went and got my blood work done this week. My total tetestetone is currently higher than it was at the three month mark. I have not seen the results for free T yet, but I'm not happy. My Doctor appointment is next week so I will find out more then.

Has anyone else had this happen?

My levels are weird to.  My estrogen level went from 70 to 140 after like 3 months and my testosterone went from 14 to double this.  The t level probably raised because I started to take a supplement called ashwaganda which I have since stopped, but I don't get my levels anymore.  It seems like things are unpredictable with hrt. 

[Khalysta]

Mine went low and then started to climb as well.  Normal female range is like 30-70 I think?  I know its low and roughly that range.  I've stayed within that range but my endo did increase my spiro and my breasts are getting tender again.  I find its really just a big experiment sometimes with the doctors.  Definitely stay under their care and monitoring but it seems like a lot of fiddling to find the magic doses at times.

[Ev]

I just started HRT a month ago...injections, patch and the "water pill"...and I have found that some areas of my body appear more "masculine" than before and others appear more "feminine."  (According to my standards.)  I had wider hips before the HRT...almost girl-like...but they have slimmed out since.  My breasts have already started to shape a bit, eyes have become more "cat-like" in shape, and I got some of my eyelashes back now.  I actually have more sensitivity in my penis...something I didn't expect...but my butt has gotten rounder and my skin softer.  My stomach is flattening out but I am getting more meat all-round the trunk.  I feel weaker but my muscles appear more toned.  I look slimmer overall but my weight has gone up.  It's really hard to say what that means but I have heard that sometimes HRT can take years to be noticeable for some, and in those "in-between" stages fat is shifting around so it is hard to say how it is going to effect you long-term. 

I really have no expectations (anymore) on how it is going to turn out for me, which helps me not stress it.  It is different for everybody I have been told, and a lot of it for me is how it makes me feel and not so much how it makes me look.

So I guess what I mean to say is "going backwards" may just be a matter of opinion, the product of worry and stress.  But I'm no doctor/expert in the matter, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

[AnneB]

Alli, one thing that sent me into orbit, when I had a couple blood panels drawn..  what time of day did you get blood drawn for the T level check?  I had been having mine usually taken in the mid to late afternoon, and it had been consistently dropping, into the low 200's.. well, one blood test was taken at 7 in the morning.. and it came back at 477.. now, it isn't really that much of a rise, overall. but to me, just -any- rise in T levels was devastating, I was just crushed.. despondent for a couple days, until my doc called and told me not to worry about it, as blood draws taken at diff times during the day will have diff. readings..  so I stopped worrying abt it.

Paula

[LizMarie]

My own T levels yo-yo'ed constantly even with spiro until we changed the form of estrogen delivery. I went from a standard estrogen tablet to a hand compounded capsule and the results were dramatic and noticeable for me. Since we started that, my T levels have been consistently below female normal range.

[AnneB]

I hadn't really thot of how the spiro delivery could affect the levels..  pills (what I'm on now), I guess leaves a lot behind in the liver, and sublingual, or patch gets more girl juice actually delivered.  I had my blood draw yesterday, and next Endo appt is Tuesday or Wednesday, so I don't know if it would be read by then, but 3mos now on script HRT and not herbals, so I'm hoping my levels are finally going in the right direction. 

And I've made the decision to not revert/regress anymore..  several blowups with my wife, a marriage counseling session with her, which got a few things out I just couldn't tell her one-on-one (I'm such a chicken-sh1t girl), that when my endo and I talk this week, I'm going to switch off low/micro dose and just go on with my life.