MTF - My Testosterone has gone up to 500 from the 200 that I had!

[Emily R]

Hi everyone,

Do you have any ideas,  theories, suggestions, experiences, all of them are welcome, in helping figure out why my testosterone level is increasing ?  As a MTF on HRT that is one of the last things you want to see.  Of course I won't do anything until I have seen my endo so you don't have to worry, I just want to see if anyone has had a similar experience

I started my hormonal transition about a year ago and had 612 ng/dl of testosterone as a baseline measurement. 

Due to my age, currently 62, my endo decided with total agreement of my part to start very slow with all of the normal MTF HRT treatments and I started with 1/3 of the normal Estradiol dosage and no spironolactone to see how my body would react, since then and slowly I increased to 2/3 of normal estradiol dosage and then the full estradiol dosage, then she introduce spironolactone at 1/2 of the normal dosage and my potassium increased to maximum normal range  of 5.3 mmol/L and she suggested for me to go to a low potassium diet, which basically consisted of no or very limited potatoes, ketchup, beans, bananas of course, dairy products and a few others and my potassium level has gone down to 4.9, which is kind of the high end of normal as the limit for normal would be 5.3. But I also have broken the diet a few times since I was out of town.

Now the Testosterone problem:

Initial a year ago         612 ng/dl
9 months ago   about      500 ng/dl
6 months ago        about    430 ng /dl
Dec 2015            306 ng/dl
Jan 2016      about   255 ng/dl
Feb 2016      about    205 ng/dl  YES!!
May 27, 2016         499 ng/dl

Why?  Can anyone shed some light on this beside the endo which I have an appointment with her on Tuesday of next week?  That is what the blood work was for...

I am feeling down as I am going backwards and there has only been a significant change in my life which is I started taking Zoloft (generic of course) to relieve some of my anxieties plus I have been out of town and have eaten more meat than what I normally I eat, as I think I am growing feathers of all of the chicken that has become my regular diet in trying to lose weight.

Any and all comments are welcome.

Emily

[Rachel]

Hi Emily,

Discussing it with your endo is best.

I had low T to start but it crashed on spiro and Estrogen pills. I was between 22 and 36 ng/dl total T. My T was not broken out between total and free T. Do you know your total and free T? From what I understand, E pills tend to have a lot of sex hormone binding globulin which binds to T and makes it ineffective as a sex hormone.

When I switched to inter muscular injections my total T went to below 3 ng/dl. The test goes to 3.

Make sure you eat salt. I eat a lot of salt. I do not like it so I eat salt as well as salted sweet potato fries and radishes. I do not know this but it makes sense to eat plenty of salt to help lower you P. Ask you doctor about this.

Spiro lasts 12 hours in your system and E pills have a quick spike and decline over 8 or so hours. So perhaps the time  you take your pills has an effect on your T when you take your blood test.

Write down your questions before seeing the doctor and discuss the situation.