What were your T levels before starting HRT?

[japple]

What were the results of your first blood test?  DId you have high, low, or average androgen levels.  I'm very curious as I'm reading stories of people who thought they'd be high but ended up low and people who claim to be high but are well within the normal range.  Has anyone been completely off the charts or super low? Our body has the ability to regulate...so what were your numbers?

I get tested next week.

[Tamaki]

I thought mine would be low but it was just average.

[alexia elliot]

hard to decipher, everyone's body has its unique balance, I started 3 years ago with soy based estrogen and finasteride, when tested 2 weeks ago just before starting real medical HRT I was at T=355 and E=90 I was told it was well within healthy levels for male. Also age is a factor in T, the older the less I for instance am four^$%#*&@ ish.

[Korlee]

I'll never quite know... since I did the bit myself before seeing a doctor...  They just changed the amounts and scheduled a follow up.

[Logan1986]

My doctor told me I was at the high female/very low male range

[Nigella]

My T was very high but had little effect on my E. I had an IS condition that helped and the high T didn't affect me as much as it does in some,  thankfully.


Stardust

[Just Kate]

My T levels pre-transition were astronomically high.  In fact, my doctor told me that I had higher T levels than the average of men in prison.  I started losing my hair at 18 due to the high T levels too.

EDIT: I looked it up, I was around 1200 nanograms per deciliter.

My doctor was very confused by my T levels when he got them back because he noted how very mild mannered I was and not the soaring, raging, bundle of T that is common with T levels as high as mine were.  He approved me for an orchi almost immediately along with my therapist.

Funny thing is, I didn't change much after the orchi personality wise despite the instant drop in T levels, just my body started changing.

[japple]

\I started losing my hair at 18 due to the high T levels too.

That's part of the reason I'm wondering. I started losing hair at 15 and was fully bald by 20 but I also got b cup boobs in high school.  (it wasn't fat..I wrestled and ran track)

When I work out I bulk up fast and have very oily skin.  I can squeeze anywhere and puss comes out. ..but it doesn't look acne-ish.

I am also mild manored though.  Maybe a little intense and moving at a million miles an hour but not butchy angry.  I've always gotten sort of hot flashes too...but it might be anxiety.

[xxUltraModLadyxx]

mine wass 266 ng/dl. that's what it was when i was tested when i was about 16 or 17. i started anti androgens just a month before my 18th birthday. i'm pretty sure i had 5 alpha reductase deficiency. my voice never deepened, my bone structure is very feminine. except maybe that i'm 5'11 and much taller than most genetic females? particularly, it's my face. i've been told i look like a baby when i was a boy. people thought i was younger, i also had partial breast development, and one occassion, i wore the right clothes, i was called ma'am. what's more, i had very low muscle tone. i guess my mom was "concerned." she wanted me to get testosterone shots when i was 12. so, the short version of the story is, i ended up with "low normal" levels of testosterone, but i'm pretty sure it had only a fraction of an effect on me.

[pebbles]

I will never know... All clues would indicate medium-high. (Based on the levels of T-blockers I have to take and physical symptoms)

It's moot because even before I started taking HRT I violently abused the things and probably impaired there normal operation somewhat and adulterated my natural T level although it was certainly still in the male range.

unfortunately they seem to be built out of the same stuff the rest of my body is and is a complete glutton for punishment.

I wish they'd stop doing that battle scarred bad ass thing and just die already one of them has a large chunk of it missing!

[JennX]

T level = 240 ng/dl (pre-HRT)

I have a feeling something else is a contributing factor in my case, but I don't have the funds to pay for the battery of tests required to identify it.

[Nicky]

Mine was perfectly normal, spot on bang in the middle of your standard male range.

[kate durcal]

Mine was 1009 ng//dl the first test, then the second one a few days later was 984 ng/dl. So they sent me for an MRI of my supra renal glands and my lower abdomen. Everything normal, and this is after 15 years or finasteride, Grrrr

After a few weeks in the lower dose f spiro I noticee that Mr Woody was gone. After 5 months in spiro my T is 124 ng/dl; and I am sporting a B cup ; and this is without any E.

My GP said that with little E I will get a big C :-) 14 days to E !!!!

[xxUltraModLadyxx]

T level = 240 ng/dl (pre-HRT)

I have a feeling something else is a contributing factor in my case, but I don't have the funds to pay for the battery of tests required to identify it.

like an intersex condition?

[Melody Maia]

mine wass 266 ng/dl. that's what it was when i was tested when i was about 16 or 17. i started anti androgens just a month before my 18th birthday. i'm pretty sure i had 5 alpha reductase deficiency. my voice never deepened, my bone structure is very feminine. except maybe that i'm 5'11 and much taller than most genetic females? particularly, it's my face. i've been told i look like a baby when i was a boy. people thought i was younger, i also had partial breast development, and one occassion, i wore the right clothes, i was called ma'am. what's more, i had very low muscle tone. i guess my mom was "concerned." she wanted me to get testosterone shots when i was 12. so, the short version of the story is, i ended up with "low normal" levels of testosterone, but i'm pretty sure it had only a fraction of an effect on me.

This sounds so much like me it is scary. My T level was 269 and I had the rest you described. I am 5'6" and people usually can't believe I'm 40. I had boobs, low muscle tone, my voice didn't break, no Adams apple, when I went full time after three months of HRT my passing was instant, and the list goes on. I'm very interested in what this 5 alpha reductase deficiency is and wonder if that might be me too.

[xxUltraModLadyxx]

This sounds so much like me it is scary. My T level was 269 and I had the rest you described. I am 5'6" and people usually can't believe I'm 40. I had boobs, low muscle tone, my voice didn't break, no Adams apple, when I went full time after three months of HRT my passing was instant, and the list goes on. I'm very interested in what this 5 alpha reductase deficiency is and wonder if that might be me too.

5 alpha reductase deficiency is pretty similar to androgen insensitivity, except in androgen insensitivity, your body has complete resistance to androgens of any kind. there's many different degrees of androgen insensitivity. i've checked them, and nothing matched. for the most part, to have androgen insensitivity, it's supposed to have inhibited your male genital development in the more severe cases. i researched 5 alpha reductase deficiency, and found that i match. there's about 3 different cases. most cases of five alpha reductase have a baby born appearing to have female genitalia, because the male genitalia is so undeveloped, but then there are those other cases where genitalia appears ambiguous. also, the genitalia could appear normal male at birth. they described the symptoms as low to "low normal"levels of testosterone throughout the life cycle. virilization is said to occur somewhat or not at all. the seemingly female babies end up becoming male. people with 5 alpha reductase deficiency have an inability to convert testosterone into dihydrotestosterone. testosterone itself really isn't very masculinizing, but dihydrotestosterone is the more significant androgen in male puberty. i noticed i have some excessive hair. that was about all i got. even then, i shave it, and it's quite invisible. the only person who really notices is me. i gave myself this self diagnosis. it's really a matter of principle. no doctor can do a test on you for this that i know of, so if what i said matches you, the chances are you have it. i really don't worry about it though. i'm on hrt and transitioning into who i should be, so gods mistakes with me really don't matter anymore.

btw, you said no adam's apple. same with me. i've seen a few genetic females with adams apples before, but i have none whatsoever.

[japple]

Mine was 1009 ng//dl the first test, then the second one a few days later was 984 ng/dl. So they sent me for an MRI of my supra renal glands and my lower abdomen. Everything normal, and this is after 15 years or finasteride, Grrrr

They didn't find or speculate on any reason you may have had high T?

[Melody Maia]

Thanks SpaceyGirl. I've suspected for years I had some intersex condition, but couldn't figure out what it might be. I guess it could be this, but as you say, I am on E, so hard to say how things would be different. I would be very concerned, however, if it might have consequences for SRS as many people with this condition seem to have blind vaginas. I assume this might not be apparent without an ultrasound or MRI. I wouldn't even begin to know how to arrange for that or even if I should.

[insideontheoutside]

There's a lot of intersex variation that do not fit into the classic types. They usually have no specific cause or ill health effects but things are not normal - like levels of hormones, ambiguous genitalia, etc.

[JennX]

like an intersex condition?

No. I wish it were that apparent. Normal appearing and functional male genital development here. ARD, AIS, or some variation in-between perhaps? Some docs I've spoken to believe it to be some sort of receptor based issue, but w/o a battery of expensive DNA/Chromosomal testing, I'll never know for sure. Not that it matters a whole bunch anywho at this stage. Onwards and upwards.

I also do get constantly mistaken for a person about 10 years younger. No one guesses my age, ever. I still get carded at clubs and bars. As far as passing goes, all thru my childhood and teenage years I'd would be often mistaken for a female. I have a high pitched voice, and sound more female than some of my cis-female friends. I'd often get the Michael Jackson and Prince jokes regarding my voice growing up. No Adam's Apple either. Not even a hint.

It seems that a few of us here share several of these characteristics.