Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hi everyone, I don't know who to go to about this, but I'm really worried that my body isn't responding to testosterone. I'm 12 months on T injecting, and my T levels are in normal range, but I have had no voice changes whatsoever and I still have a period every month. The only things that have changed is that I now have a few hairs on my chin and that's it. I'm really worried, and my endricinologist hasn't given me any answers on why I haven't seen any more changes, but she has told me my estrogen levels are undetectable

help? :c

Hi Cam,

Welcome to Susan's!

I seem to be your unofficial greeter, but a mod will be along soon with links that are useful to read.

Have you had a Karyotype test done at all? The reason I'm asking is that you may have something called androgen insensitivity syndrome, which would account for your body not responding to T at all - your endo should be able to check that out for you

Hope this helps a little,


Rowan

Also just my opinion but, if your endo is not giving you answers as they should be then, I would seek a second opinion. I am firm believer that it's a 2-way street with a doctor and patient. We give them our concerns and they should give us feedback. Hope things work out for you!!!

Hi Cameron,

  I'm Laurie. One of those moderators that Rowan mentioned. It looks as tho Rowan has decided to fill the unofficial greeter roll that was vacant at I gave it up to help out in additional ways by becoming a moderator. I feel that Susan's Place has a lot to offer people like you and I and we all come here to get and give support by sharing ourselves with each other. I hope you come to the same conclusion.
  So with that said, please let me say, Welcome To Susan's Place! Come on in and take a good look around.  Perhaps I can even get you to hop on over to the Introductions (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/board,8.0.html) Thread and  create a post to tell us a little bit more about yourself so we can get to know you a little better and greet you properly. I'll add some links and information below that can help you get more out of our site. Please take time to become familiar with them especially the RED one as we are always getting questions that are answered there.

Laurie
Global Moderator
Laurie@susans.org

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I definitely agree that you should get a second opinion. Everyone's transition is different, but if you're still having your monthly then that sounds like either the dose isn't high enough or there's something else going on. See about finding another endo to talk to and see what they say.

Quote from: Jailyn on December 11, 2017, 06:22:39 AM
Also just my opinion but, if your endo is not giving you answers as they should be then, I would seek a second opinion. I am firm believer that it's a 2-way street with a doctor and patient. We give them our concerns and they should give us feedback. Hope things work out for you!!!

Thank you! Yeah I'm thinking that might be the best option I have at the moment, thank you for the help! Yeah my doctor hasn't given me any feedback which is worrying

Quote from: Sno on December 11, 2017, 04:16:49 AM
Hi Cam,

Welcome to Susan's!

I seem to be your unofficial greeter, but a mod will be along soon with links that are useful to read.

Have you had a Karyotype test done at all? The reason I'm asking is that you may have something called androgen insensitivity syndrome, which would account for your body not responding to T at all - your endo should be able to check that out for you

Hope this helps a little,


Rowan

Hi Rowan,

thank you for the response, I know I looked up a bit about androgen insensitivity but when I asked my doctor if that was the case she said she didn't think so, because my estrogen levels have been undetectable, but then again maybe I should talk to other doctors to get more answers, I have no idea, but thanks

There is a lot of variability from one person to the next.  I see this just in the support group I attend.  One guy had his voice drop almost instantly.  Another has been on T for well over a year and is only now starting to notice a slight change.  His change so far is only slight, while another member's voice is now a deep bass.

There is no way of predicting how your body will respond.  Your endo should be giving you more information, but her best information might just be "we have no way of knowing!"

Quote from: KathyLauren on December 11, 2017, 11:46:47 AM
There is a lot of variability from one person to the next.  I see this just in the support group I attend.  One guy had his voice drop almost instantly.  Another has been on T for well over a year and is only now starting to notice a slight change.  His change so far is only slight, while another member's voice is now a deep bass.

There is no way of predicting how your body will respond.  Your endo should be giving you more information, but her best information might just be "we have no way of knowing!"

Hi KathyLauren,

I think there is much truth in what you are saying, thank you for this advice, if anything you are helping me calm down a bit, it can just be very worrying that I might have androgen insensitivity or that my body is just not responding in other ways, but again thank you for the response, its much appreciated!

Testosterone affects people differently. Natural exposure for me produced a light beard, body hair on my legs only and a very deep voice. We had one MtF member who's voice was still in the feminine range and she was studied to understand why her voice never change. If you are seeing changes like body hair or additional muscles, you aren't insensitive and you may find some change just take place at a different rate for you. Remember that males take 5 or more years to go through puberty so you are still pretty early in your puberty.

My advice would be to get expertise from a gender clinic-specific doctor. Someone who deals with T dosages and knows what they are talking about.

The reason I say this is because this month myself (although I've had a lot of good changes over 1 year) my GP interpreted - incorrectly - my T dose and lowered it 6 months in. A year after appointment with the original GIC prescribing doctor and he assures me they had no business lowering the dose, and it WAS beginning to affect me adversely (dry skin, abdominal cramping) because the dose was too low. I agreed absolutely with his conclusion, I'd been feeling lousy.

Get a specialist on the case, or second opinion. Like my GP, someone might be telling you your dose is on the high end of the male range and yet they might be totally incorrect about what's appropriate.