Trying to interpret my blood test results.

[Cindy]

I saw my endocrinologist today. I told him that my current medication is doing nothing for my dysphoria. He said that there is scope to increase my estrogen dosage so he added an estrogen gel to my tablet intake. So now I will be on roughly 5 times the dosage that I originally started on.

I asked him if I need any anti androgens. He told me that anti androgens will turn off the T which will cause more physical changes to take place, but it is the E that is supposed to ease the dysphoria. That is opposite to what I am being told on this forum. He told me if I want minimal physical changes that I should just stick with E only.

He also said that most people like me who are not looking to transition usually only take a very low dose of E and that fixes their dysphoria and they get on with their lives. I seem to be some one of exception. I have been on 3 times that low dose and now the dosage is increasing again.

Hopefully this will work. Once we figure out what dosage I need to be on, then we can look at slow release pellets every six months or so instead of daily pills.

I will say from all that I have read and all that I have heard is the JH knows what he is doing and I would have trust in his opinion.

[luna nyan]

I agree with Cindy.  Jayne, if you're seeing JH (my endo as well), he knows what he's doing and I've found him pretty accomodating of my requests - we have a pretty good consultative rapport going.

Don't panic about the levels for now.  6 weeks is early days as far as establishing dosage if you're looking at going down the non transitioning HRT route.  If I recall correctly it took me the best part of 6 months to find the level for me when I was on pills.  You're looking at trying to find a balance between relief vs feminisation and that's going to take time compared to finding the right dosage for transition.

For going androgyne, for me, the best balance was when I was on both E & Spiro - for the best part of a year I had balanced E & T blood results - shifting to implant moved me onto a low transition dosage.

[Jayne01]

Hi Cindy and luna nyan. I haven't heard a single bad thing about Dr Hayes. He did seem a little puzzled when I told him that I had no relief from the dysphoria at all. The blood tests show that my body is accepting the medication. However, he was happy enough to try increasing my dose. I believe I am up to a transition dose of E, but I am not taking any blockers or other medication to try and slow any physical changes.

I suppose once I feel some mental relief then we can start the balancing act of adjusting the dose to achieve what I need.

The worse part is waiting for any effects to take place.