Monitoring T only?

[missjanealice]

My doctor is only monitoring my T and says it doesn't matter what my E is. Is this normal? I am worried that my dose is not high enough to be most effective. Am I worrying for nothing?

(before anyone responds remember no dosing info)

[girl_ashley]

(before anyone responds remember no dosing info)

So no stating levels either?  What does your question have to do with hormone dosing anyway?

From what my clinician says, you can't monitor E levels clear and straight like you can T.  My clinician monitors T and Prolactin, the latter being an indication of E levels.  I think that as long as you keep your T levels down to normal female range and take your normal full dose *cough cough* of E then you should be fine.

[Ann Onymous]

How long have you been on HRT?  Remember that the initial steps, from the doctor's perspective, is finding a dose that gets the testosterone levels reduced.  Additionally, depending on what form of estrogen is being administered, not all of them show up in blood work on a level that gives a meaningful insight that justified the cost of the additional panel...

[JungianZoe]

Remember that the initial steps, from the doctor's perspective, is finding a dose that gets the testosterone levels reduced.  Additionally, depending on what form of estrogen is being administered, not all of them show up in blood work on a level that gives a meaningful insight that justified the cost of the additional panel...

This this and this!

My doc also only monitors T levels because she says that so long as T gets out of the way, E can do its thing (they use the same receptor sites, so less competition from T lets E work its magic).  Even then, she only monitors every six months.

As for Ann's second sentence, there were recent concerns that my liver was breaking the E down before it could work at all, so she ordered a full panel.  Checking T levels costs $90.  The full panel was $260.  So yeah... big difference there.  Everything came back normal so thankfully I don't have to pay that cost again.

[missjanealice]

Thank you all so much, today was my 3 month apt. I was a little panicky due to, well obvious reasons. But thanks again for setting my mind at ease.

[JennX]

This seems to be the normal course of action for MTF HRT. I was somewhat alarmed when I started on HRT, but after speaking to several different endos that had previous experience with MTF patients, few if any, monitor both your E & T levels. My doc monitors my E level. Although I have had my T level tested several times, it was super low to begin with, so it was somewhat of a non-issue for me.