HRT "Test"?

[Ryan]

I was talking to my counsellor yesterday and she mentioned about how some doctors do this thing where you get one shot of hormones and then your body pretty much tells you if it's good or not. Like your brain and body will want more of it.

My counsellor definitely knows her stuff, but I was just wondering what you all thought of it?

Here's my questions:
Is it a good idea?
Is there truth behind this idea or is it a bit more myth and maybe a bit of a placebo from the hormones?
Are there any irreversable effects from one shot of T? No matter how small.
How would I go about making this happen in the UK? Referral to gender clinic I assume?

Thanks

[Mister]

I've never heard of that.

there are probably no reversible side effects from 1 shot of t, though you never know.

[Nero]

maybe she just means to see if you have allergies to it or not. my endo asked me that after the first one.

[Lisbeth]

Yes, I've heard of this test, and there are a lot of people who believe in it. I personally think it's a bunch of hooey. Anything you would experience from one dose of hormones (or even one week of them) would be psychosomatic.

[Janet_Girl]

My doctor bases my HRT by how I feel and how I am developing.


Janet

[Ryan]

Nero: She didn't mean allergy stuff.

Lisbeth: Surely an entire shot of the "other" hormones are gonna hit your body hard though. Even if it is just one shot. You may not get any physical changes, but it'll affect your mind, right?
Even if it is just psychosomatic, then surely it'd be telling you something?

[Mister]

i don't see any reason to make this some sort of a 'test'

when i was first on t, i did a quick check-in before every shot.  did i want more t? was it worth it? etc.  i told myself that if i ever didn't want to that hour, day, week, month, i wouldn't take it. 

[Syne]

Here was my "test". My first therapist offered the HRT letter on her own, I never asked for it and at the time was not sure I wanted to really go down that path. A friend in the T community told me that after a few weeks I would see the first changes in my body and that would be a really good indicator of how I felt. I would either flip out and wonder WTH I was doing or want more. After 3 weeks I saw the first changes and definitely wanted more.

YMMV

[CharleneT]

I've never heard of that!  It is silly at best too, a single dose of hormones won't do anything that you can see or feel.  Why do so many people think this is a "light switch" like action where the hormones drop you into a female form/mood instantly.... arrrggg.....  Folks, your body absorbs those first doses very quickly and the resident hormones does what it always has done:  run your body.

The only possible reason would be to look for an allergic reaction to the hormone or its vehicle ( oil in the case of IM shot for example).