Estrogen Pellets

[ds1987]

I've been taking Estradiol orally (sublabial) for over a year, and have been on this alone since January.  My T is essentially nil and my estrogen is around 130.  I'm happy with the levels, considering my body has been developing quite well so far.

My emotional state has been very erratic, however, and I wanted to see what luck you've had with pellet delivery.  I know that it is not yet FDA approved, thus not working with insurance outright.  But I've read some trans women saying that their doctor prescribed it to them, sometimes at the doctor's own suggestion.   I've heard of amazing results, and that it is allegedly the safest and most naturally occurring form of estrogen supplementation.

Can anyone tell me about their experience, both with the pellets themselves and with the process of acquiring them?

[Doreen]

I've been taking Estradiol orally (sublabial) for over a year, and have been on this alone since January.  My T is essentially nil and my estrogen is around 130.  I'm happy with the levels, considering my body has been developing quite well so far.

My emotional state has been very erratic, however, and I wanted to see what luck you've had with pellet delivery.  I know that it is not yet FDA approved, thus not working with insurance outright.  But I've read some trans women saying that their doctor prescribed it to them, sometimes at the doctor's own suggestion.   I've heard of amazing results, and that it is allegedly the safest and most naturally occurring form of estrogen supplementation.

Can anyone tell me about their experience, both with the pellets themselves and with the process of acquiring them?

Erratic emotions, say it isn't so? lol.  Welcome to femalehood. Get used to it    Sure some people are more stable, but my emotions have pretty much always been 2 seconds from full out crying about something sad at any given moment.   

As far as pellets, they can actually be fairly dangerous... as the actual administered dose isn't all that stable, and the reactions/side effects can be very bad.   If the pellet manages to travel in the body it can even be disastrous.  I really should have bookmarked the .gov medical study on it because it was an eye opener, but now I can't seem to find it. 

I'm on patches, and other than the annoying itch that develops after wearing it 6 days (basically just topically irritating after a while) its working good.  I was on shots for a couple years, but I just hate poking myself.  The patch is once a week just like the shots and a lot easier on the nerves  

[MissyMay2.0]

I considered pellets, and decided not to get them on the day of my appointment right before my Dr. put them in!!! There are a lot of considerations with the pellets, and the main concern I had is that they have to kind of guesstimate your dose according to your target estrogen level, and everyone is different so if they give you a dose that may have worked for someone else, it may or may not affect you similarly, so your levels could be really high, or too low; if too high you have to wait for your levels to fall; and if your estrogen level was too low, then the protocol at the clinic I went to was to administer another pellet(s), which could make your estrogen level too high, so you're still stuck with high estrogen level, and high estrogen levels increase your risk for a lot of problems like gallbladder disease.  And another thing about pellets is that some surgeons will not perform elective surgery until the pellet(s) is at the end of it's cycle.

I'm on patches now (twice weekly), and was on pills and injections (both at the same time) for several years, and I like the patches the best (even though removing the adhesive is a bit annoying), because they are more convenient for me, and I also think they are safer (absorbs directly into the blood stream, and no needle sticks).