Thanks for your interest folks
I really am puzzled - and concerned - about this.
Here's the story again, perhaps more clearly though it's not as clear as it would be if I could state dosages
(btw Admin - sorry for posting any dosages info before - I didn't wantonly ignore the rules, I thought I'd been sufficiently vague for it to be ok ) I have never TAKEN T.... got far too much of my own!
I went to my 1st CX Assessment, got taken into the Program straight away and they did baseline tests (therefore pre HRT) which showed my natural T level as 21.
2nd Assessment at CX went fine in confirming acute GID etc but they quizzed me heavily re a fairly recent nervous breakdown and expressed concern/caution that hormones "may destabilise me....."
I'm 54 ! ...... I haven't time for them to dither for who-knows-how-long so decided to settle the question myself by self-medding.
After careful checking, I adopted the regimen given to a friend of mine of the same age, slightly lesser build and who has a heart condition - that seemed likely to be an effective but "mild" regimen without too much risk.
So...... I started Dutasteride which is a good anti-androgen, an Estrogen patch on the thigh and squirts of estrogen gel on the arms.
( - the patch was MUCH weaker than a single squirt of Estrogel..... )
After 4 months of that, I confessed to my GP and got her to check my blood-pressure (which was fine) and test me for Liver function (in case CX wanted to switch me to tablets) blood testosterone level and blood estrogen level.
Testosterone was now well suppressed @ 1.9 and Estrogen was @ 394.
....therefore results of my self medding were exactly as I'd expected with Estrogen just about at the lower edge of CX's target range of 400 to 600.
At my 3rd CX appt, I confessed to self medding and presented them with those results.
My Psych was happy to know that hormones did not destabilise me - in fact made me feel happier and better balanced - and CX took over and began prescribing for me.
After my Psych consulted the CX Endo, my GP got a letter saying to prescribe:-
Keep taking the same amount of Dutasteride to suppress my T, discontinue the patch and use an extra gel squirt instead. Retest after 8 weeks or so to check results of the change.
..... I followed instructions to the letter!
Logic/maths would predict that my T would remain suppressed to 1.9-ish and my E would now rise into the middle of the target range, around 500-ish.
When I got the results of that later blood-test, just a couple of days before my 4th CX appt, they came back as T now risen to 18+ and E at a surprising 1384!
(for reference, the most estrogen soaked natal females peak at around 1800 mid-cycle)
My Psych was very taken aback by the whole thing but unfortunately the Endo wasn't on-site that day for immediate consult.
Psych felt that the high E level might be unduly hazardous and told me to cut gel squirts down to the previous (self-chosen) levels. He was unable to explain the leap in T level.
As I said above, the meds I used were authentic NHS and I am not taking any other meds or drugs or anything - everything else in my life is exactly as it was when I self-medded ........ so what on earth happened?
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I bloody KNEW that something was wrong....... previously asexual, I was now getting horny again and when I did get angry about anything, there was a "Grrrrr....." factor that I haven't felt since before I started taking HRT
Bah!!! "Development" was taking place fine and I was feeling SO good until CX took over and prescribed ....
My own thoughts......
Since I didn't have enough arms for the extra gel-squirts, I switched to applying them to my legs in the morning and my arms in the evening ....... perhaps my inner thighs are very much more absorbent than my upper arms - both areas are described as equally suitable in the leaflet that comes with the gel. That *might* account for the very high E levels.
But what on earth went wrong with the testosterone level?
I am taking exactly the same anti-androgen at the same dose every night as before.
Unless....... it seems highly unlikely that my chemist inadvertently gave me counterfeit or otherwise ineffective anti-androgens
The only other thing I wondered about was that I have previously heard it said that excess estrogen can be counter-productive as the body will convert it into testosterone - but since I can't remember where I heard that I don't know how reliable that comment might be.
Quote from: ImazAs for the levels I too use gel and have done for years. Generally I can tell if the levels are out by myself as I get sore breasts that feel harder than usual. Are you getting anything similar Steffi?
Can't understand how the level could be so high unless there is either a mistake in analysis or some contamination of the sample. Could it be that the blood was taken through skin that had recently had gel applied? Just guessing really
.... no, blood sample was taken from my arm mid afternoon....... last time I applied gel to arm was the night before and not to the same area.
My breasts have also been LESS tender than before, despite the apparently high E levels
btw..... Psych said that they will very probably start me on three-monthly implants for anti-androgen ...... but as I said, it takes up to 6 weeks after my appt at CX for a letter to get to my GP
