Is it possible to have high testosterone levels post-op?

[LilyRobinson241092]

Hey,
So I'm a trans woman and as a kid I used to have an extremely violent temper which only really dissipated when I started on estrogen and androgen blockers when I was 20.

Anyway, during the time I started hormones and while they were getting my levels right I had periods where my estrogen levels would slip and my temper would take a negative term. Often I knew when my estrogen levels were low before the blood test simply due to my temper at the time.

Anyway a few weeks ago I restarted my hormones post surgery and well my temper as made a nasty return which is odd given I am on estrogen and in theory my testosterone levels should be minimal.

I went to my GP today to discuss my temper and while there they checked my hormone levels (I had a blood test recently), my estrogen levels are in normal range but they for some reason missed checking my testosterone levels, so my GP has advised I book an appointment for this.

I'm just wondering if it is possible to have high testosterone levels post surgery?

[Dena]

Possible but not common. Testosterone is made in other locations in the body and it's possible for them to produce abnormally high levels. In my case, I am post surgical with levels of 36 ng/dl and 14-76 is normal for a female. One thing I would be suspicious if if you are on Progesterone, it can sometime have some of the effects of testosterone such as increased appetite and sex drive. If your Testosterone checks out and you are on Progesterone, you might ask about reducing the dosage.

[LilyRobinson241092]

I'm not on progesterone, thanks for the information though.

[Dena]

I thought I had the bookmarked and I didn't so I looked around for it. This will show you some of the conversions that take place in the body. Don't ask me to explain all of it because I am not a biochemist but many of these reactions can take place outside the sex organs.
http://www.ceri.com/q_v7n2q3.htm

[Jenna Marie]

Testosterone is also made in the adrenal glands; there are some cis women whose bodies over-produce testosterone, so it is possible. Sometimes, the adrenals kick into overdrive immediately after the gonads are removed, too, which is generally temporary.

However, if it's mostly about mood changes, don't forget that estrogen fluctuations (which often do happen when you disrupt your endocrine system and then dump estrogen back into it) can make people have mood swings and grumpiness. You might just have the equivalent of PMS.

Dena, that page is about testosterone converting to estrogen, which does happen and is a concern when "supplementing" with T. It appears to refer to adding T to a system with endogenous estrogen, though. Estrogen CANNOT convert to testosterone, so that particular pathway is moot here.

[AnonyMs]

Dr Suporns post-op care manual says that 10-15% experience high T after SRS and the solution is to take AA for at least a few months.

They probably didn't test I because everybody "knows" that you can't have high T after surgery.

[KrisAvery1969]

I'm not taking Spiro anymore and as already noted, I'm in the mid 20's for T.
Perfectly normal - but I'm keeping my eye on the levels to look for a spike.

I'm also still taking Finasteride as I don't trust that DHT won't screw me up somehow and I don't want to lose my hair that I regained on HRT. 

I did lose a bit of my hair after my GRS and am still waiting for it to fill back in. Scary.

I'm not taking any chances.

[galaxy]

Its definitely possible. In my case ive too high DHEAS and T levels at the maximum female range. This causes hairloss, acne, bad skin, body hair ... All the things effected by T. Nobody really knows why the adrenal glances produce too much androgenes. I think its a kind of traumata. And no, the levels dont decrease after a few month for that case. The only solution is the lifelong treatment with antiandrogenes or similar things.