I have never had patches per se. I'm vaguely aware that they existed last time I was on Susan's. I have never been offered or prescribed them by any of my GP's and only two of them were closely intimate with transsexuals and did not offer them.
When I first got my HRT, I religiously took my hormones on time. This consisted of depo provera (which took care of the testosterone) one injection every two weeks and premarin, 2mg tablets twice a day (which took care of estrogen). After surgery there was a time, when I was lactating. Which resulted in the depo provera being removed.
Fast forward a few years and there was a time when I was not taking any hormones. I do not why this happened. Maybe I was too busy with life, I was not sick and did not need to see the doctor or I was just plain lazy. Anyway I know I was concerned for not taking them, because when I did have some hormone tablets, I said to myself, I need to take them more regularly.
The solution to this problem was a semi permanent injection. That is a pellet was injected into bum and the pellet released the hormones over a period of time round about every 3 months. This of course involved having your blood work checked every so often.
So I decided to go down this route. In the long run this did not pan out because after the second injection. I moved back home to family and the sporadic pill taking continued and the endocrinologist who gave me the injections was hounded out for some reason, I don't know why. So today I take my progynova 2mg tablets twice a day, pretty much regularly, I now know, that it's extremely important to do so. The benefits far out way the risks involved.
So why do I not take patches
- Well I'm a swimmer who is in the water virtually twice a day.
- Patches leave a sticky residue around the edges, although solutions exist for this
- Patches can cause skin irritation, rotation works to avoid this.
- Other methods vs patch are better?
- Maybe I'm set in my old ways!
Maybe I need to go back to semi permanent pellet injection. That requires me to find a friendly endocrinologist. I'm in the process of finding out what my hormone levels are and in the future I will be getting blood works regularly so that I can keep an eye open on what my hormone levels are.
Take care everyone
Sarah B