Yeah ... They are effective and i'll tell you why from my experience as a transgender. I am transgender person from India suffering from puberphonia too, which is a great advantage. I'm a medical student now and had started on self medication on various formulation of oral estrogens that includes natural estrogen ie. estradiol valerate and weakest estrogen called estriol which is normally seen in pregnancy. I had started all this 5 years back (approximately around early 17 year)s. I'm now 22 yrs. I have experimented with various kinds of anti androgens(Ketconazole,bicalutamide,spironolactone,dutasteride) but not finasteride due to the dangerous side effect of finasteride called post finasteride syndrome. Dutasteride works wonders if you have enough money. And I have taken various synthetic estrogen like ethinyl estradiol which is highly potent(meaning produces powerful action in small doses compared to estradiol valerate). Ethinyl estradiol increases Sex hormone binding globulin by 10 times compared to normal estradiol valerate equivalent which increases 2 times. Yes there is greater suppression of testosterone but there is excessive shbg which is a protein making the blood thicker and difficult to flow and causing decrease blood flow to brain( meaning -stroke)and clot formation. I have noticed best effects in Injection and transdermal patch estrogen together, Depot estradiol valerate and transdermal patch to prevent the estrogen coming to low. Dutsteride is optional, but produces best results. Why estradiol injection formulation first it dosn't stress your liver and unlike oral estrogen it keeps the estradiol:estrone high. estrone is carcinogenic in excess and is less potent than estradiol. Our liver converts the oral esradiol into estrone. Second it kind of mimics the fluctuating normal menstrual cycle and yeah injection do cause mood swing , anxiety , sweating ( due to super low or super high estrogen that supersaturate and downregulate the estrogen receptor). The hormones need to bind to something called receptor in the body to produce action. The body produces produces less receptor when excess hormone is present and thus less action of estrogen and produces more receptor when less. Yes oral estrogen does produce stable concentration thus no side effects like mood swing anxiety but slow result . But normal woman does suffer the fluctuation. It also improves your intuitive abilities from what i have found. Towards the end of estradiol injection shot cycle you may feel low anxiety sweaty so transdermal patch to prevent the estrogen coming to low. FIve days prior to injection progesterone at high dose. Benefits It converts the estradiol into estrone and then to estriol. These weak estrogen block the receptor thus upregulating them. It normalize the clooting factor. Yeah increased energy and mood is seen with natural progesterone. Progesterone has natural anti dht effects.( Source:ncbi) Both progesterone and estrogen in excess gets converted into testosterone . So STOP OVERDOSING. MAXIMUM EFFECT IS SEEN IN LOW DOSE . Side effects can like blood clot can be prevented by Vitamin e 800IU/ per day and aspirin. Injection increases prolactin which yeah increases milk but it also enhance the effect of testosterone on body and scalp hair follice and has potency and similarity as that of DHT. So Vitamin B6 for mental concentration(Dopamine)and estrogen dominant symptom and hypothyroid like symptoms that come with high estrogen. Vitamin b12 ,methionine(amino acid), VItamin b6 must be added coz the liver tries to remove the excess estrogen and in the process it uses vitamin b6 , methionine, and vitamin b12. Thus deficiency can occur. Magnesium to prevent the side effect seizures. and lot of fibre diet to remove the side effect of increased blood pressure. Breast tissue requires lot of iodine. So Take Your multivitamin and mineral DAILY. AND also take complete protein. these all help your body to repair itself. Do your research again. Please For heaven sake . I suggest you take this information to your doctor and just show him as he will he will understand this better than you will. And thus help you better. Last Of all Believe in yourself. Never eat excess in the notion that you will help fat redistribution instead you will be causing more damage and aging. Make your self flexible by doing stretches and exercise you will increase receptor for estrogen and hence action of estrogen. Anxiety (Unwanted pointless worrying about future ) can be controlled by meditation and exercise. Restlessness( Walking excessively without realising )... Remember oral contraceptive have more side effects nd can be countered with just vitamins minerals and exercise alone. Over doing will only cause harm.. Do your research and help your doctor too by giving him this handy information so he/she could help you better. Since injection do produce high level of estradiol as that of pregnancy it musnot be used for more than a year and preferably can be added with spironolactone to counter the major side effects. High estradiol inhibits 5 alpha reductase . But progesterone inhibits 5 alpha reductase better. That means both estrogen and progesterone can prevent the formation of dht. I dont prefer anti androgen though it may be useful coz they may affect your cognitive abilites like your mathematical ability and intelligence and memory. PLEASE Give importance to education first then rest will follow. believe me. Selenium and iodine for proper thyoid functioning and Vitamin b6 ,vitamin c, zinc for adrenal functioning. So i suggested both vitamin mineral and complete protein daily.
*mod edit for dosages
