Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Yes I just wanted to see if this was normal, cause my father claims it's just because this isn't something everyone uses and that's why they don't have it, because they need to order it.

But I'm just worried. See, as I said in the title I finally got switched from the Estrodial pills to the injections today, and me and my father went to both CVS and Walmart, and not only did neither location have it, but none of their other stores in the area have either.

So is this normal? Do they just not keep such a thing in stock and they have to order it for me or?

My doctor doesn't prescribe injectables to any of her patients because of the ongoing shortages and production issues.

I have had times when estradiol pills weren't in stock. One time we had to go to three different drug chains to find a narcotic for pain control. Drug stores maintain a supply to match what their customers require because medication has a limited shelf life and if it doesn't move at that store, they don't stock it.

Normally it is available in the central warehouse so you can get it in a day or two. That works well if you maintain enough reserve so you can wait for them to fill the order. If you have a question about why it's not in stock, just ask the druggist and they should be able to tell you the store's policy on stocking something.

With all the issues of shortages, I switched to a compounding pharmacy and it's nearly the same price (a tad more) as with insurance (insurance companies don't cover compounding pharmacies) considering a vial lasts me 4-5 months now that I"m post-op.

You can't just walk in and get this stuff. You will have to order it and pick it up later. If it's Estradiol Valerate or Cypionate, you will find Walmart's the best place to go. If you are paying cash, go to goodrx.com and get their discount card as it will save you oodles and oodles of cash!

Hi luckygirl  :icon_wave:

Welcome to Susan's Place  :)  Glad to have you here, join on in the fun

How about stopping by our Introductions (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/board,8.0.html) Forum and introducing yourself so more folks can get to know you a bit better  ;)

Here are some links to the site rules and stuff that we offer to all new members to help them along

Site Terms of Service & Rules to Live By (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,2.0.html)	Standard Terms & Definitions (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,54369.0.html)	Post Ranks (including when you can upload an avatar) (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,114.0.html.)	Cautionary Note (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,82221.0.html)
Reputation rules (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,18960.0.html)	News posting & quoting guidelines (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,174951.0.html)	Photo, avatars, & signature images policy (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,59974.msg383866.html#msg383866)	Membership Agreement (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,216851.0.html)

Hugs

V M

Thanks, VM. I'll check out the rules so I can participate in the best way possible. I really appreciate the welcome and the heads up!

Quote from: luckygirl on December 26, 2018, 08:22:16 PM
You can't just walk in and get this stuff. You will have to order it and pick it up later. If it's Estradiol Valerate or Cypionate, you will find Walmart's the best place to go. If you are paying cash, go to goodrx.com and get their discount card as it will save you oodles and oodles of cash!

Okay need a bit of clarification, when you say walmart is the best place to go, do you mean because they get the orders in sooner?

Also, on the prescription it's listed as depo-estradiol. Is that one of those two?

The "best place" question is based on where you live and what insurance you have.

If you are insured, CVS is usually but not always the best place to get it from the standpoint that they are the largest pharmacy in the US so usually get it the fastest. If you are insured, any preferred pharmacy will be the same price.

For off insurance rates, I have found Wegmans of all places to be the cheapest (you have to ask for their discount plan), so I go to CVS for covered drugs and Wegmans for drugs not covered by insurance (like finesteride).

Injectables are in general something that needs to be ordered and take a few days. Estradiol Valerate generic does have a history of supply shortage, in which case delestrogen is the name brand and readily available. The difference in cost if you are insured is pretty staggering. I have Caremark and they did not want to cover delestrogen but after some badgering did cover me at the generic rate due to the supply issues.

Estradiol Valerate generic is currently available, and my last refill two weeks ago took the pharmacy 2-3 days to get in the store. Sometimes it's next day, once in a while it's longer. If you are on auto fill they will have it ready when it's time to refill.

Depo-estradiol is estradiol cypionate.  Like estradiol valerate it's just an estradiol molecule with an extra bit stuck to it that your body snips off before using the estradiol.  The nice thing about estradiol cypionate is that the half life is a bit longer so your levels don't nosedive quite as quickly as with valerate.

I had my first prescription of EC filled at walmart but it took them a couple of days to get it in since it's not always stocked.  It does seem to be more readily available than the EV generics, but I don't think there's a generic EC.

That's awesome to hear that the type I got lasts longer, :D

Also I really hope they do get in my next prescription by the time I'm done with my first, cause they put the order in for it on Wednesday and still haven't gotten it.

This is definitely the time of year for delays unfortunately.

After the first vial I ended switching over to getting mine filled by express scripts since my insurance company would only authorize a less expensive 90 day supply through them.  They were pretty great about getting things shipped out immediately.  I don't know if it's an option for you but it's worth a look in any case.

Hi Reyes. Is your Insurance paying for this or are you paying?

I don't have insurance. My cost at the local Sam's Club is about $80 for a 5 ml vial at 20 mg/ml. They always have to order it, but it comes in a day or two. To get that price, I have to be a Sam's Plus member, which costs $100 per year. I think that's the cheapest retail price in my area, even cheaper than Walmart (although they're the same company).

My insurance is paying for it.

My old insurance wouldn't have, but I actually just switched to this one like a month ago now.

Called up the pharmacy today at CVS and they said they didn't get it in today and were going to reorder it for wednesday, but also that it might just not be available to them. So now I really don't know what to do...

I was so excited to start on the injections, and I'm running low on what was left of my estradiol pills, and I don't see the doctor again for three months so now I have no idea what to do...

Should I try bringing the prescription to another pharmacy like the one at Walmart or??

I inject Estradiol Valerate (not Estradiol Cypionate / Depo-Estradiol) so I'm not familiar with EC shortages, but EV generic has had recurring shortages. 

When several local pharmacies couldn't find it I contacted my endocrinologist.  She removed the "generic" from prescription and the pharmacy was able to provide name brand within a day. 

My dad went to the pharmacy to pick up my other pills that they had, and it turns out they got my EC like fifteen minutes before he got there :D So yay! :D

They won't have the syringes in till wednesday, or later, but I got the estrogen at least. :)

Quick question about it though, do I have to keep it refrigerated?

as I said previously, Walmart. They can get it anywhere I've been. Call them for availability then hve your Dr. call the script into them. Places like Walgreens and CVS turned out to be a nightmare for me. Mind if I ask what your co-pay is and who your provider is?

Quote from: luckygirl on December 31, 2018, 04:01:11 PM
as I said previously, Walmart. They can get it anywhere I've been. Call them for availability then hve your Dr. call the script into them. Places like Walgreens and CVS turned out to be a nightmare for me. Mind if I ask what your co-pay is and who your provider is?

My co-pay is actually 0.

Humana Gold Plus HMO.

Can't argue with zero. Good on Humana for providing real Insurance. Good luck. You're gonna like EV IM.

I just asked my pharmacy if the injectable is available, and they said yes. That wasn't the case a few months ago. I'm going to talk to my doctor about switching.

Quote from: Reyes on December 31, 2018, 03:54:44 PM
My dad went to the pharmacy to pick up my other pills that they had, and it turns out they got my EC like fifteen minutes before he got there :D So yay! :D

They won't have the syringes in till wednesday, or later, but I got the estrogen at least. :)

Quick question about it though, do I have to keep it refrigerated?

Nope, no refrigeration necessary on that stuff. Just keep it from getting super hot and you'll be fine.

Okay I just did my first subq injection, and I just wanted to ask, how can I be sure I managed to inject it into the fat and not deeper? I mean it didn't hurt at all, so I'm guessing I only injected into the fat, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. How can I tell?

OKAY. Another bit of a problem. I, sorta, kinda took more then I was supposed to and now I'm kinda worried. I'm okay right? Like I'm not gonna have some major side effects now am I?

It depends on how much you missed your dosage by. It the mistake was small, like less than 50%, probably you shouldn't have any problems. If it was larger than that, you could have problems. It would be best for you to contact your doctor tomorrow and verify what to do because you may need to delay you next injection until your levels return to the correct range.

Quote from: Dena on January 03, 2019, 12:43:06 AM
It depends on how much you missed your dosage by. It the mistake was small, like less than 50%, probably you shouldn't have any problems. If it was larger than that, you could have problems. It would be best for you to contact your doctor tomorrow and verify what to do because you may need to delay you next injection until your levels return to the correct range.

I kinda took three times as much as was prescribed...

Basically lets just say, using a method I hope won't get me in trouble, I was told to eat half an apple, but I ended up eating one and a half by mistake.

Quote from: Reyes on January 03, 2019, 11:02:58 AM
I kinda took three times as much as was prescribed...

You're doing IM injections?  Are doing EV, EC or DV?

You're probably ok.  Women that get pregnant can have estrogen levels in the thousands. 

I would skip your next dose.

You should probably call your doctor though to be safe since we can't talk dosages here.

Quote from: Reyes on January 03, 2019, 11:02:58 AM
I kinda took three times as much as was prescribed...

Basically lets just say, using a method I hope won't get me in trouble, I was told to eat half an apple, but I ended up eating one and a half by mistake.

So basically you'll have lots of apples now in the first week of the month, and none for the last week, which I'm sure you'll find unpleasant.

Quote from: Devlyn on January 03, 2019, 11:12:28 AM
So basically you'll have lots of apples now in the first week of the month, and none for the last week, which I'm sure you'll find unpleasant.

:o :D ;D I don't know why this made me giggle but, what @Devlyn said and call your doc.

I actually do it subq not IM.

And thanks for the replies, they really make me feel a lot better.

As for my doctor, I called her about 4 hours ago and left a message telling her about what I did, with the promise that she'd call back, but still nothing.

As Cindy says, you can slam a bunch of this stuff and as long as you don't inject into a vein, no harm done. At worst you may get a headache or a little nausea.

We have a member who under doctors supervision received a fairly high injectable dosage of estradiol. She posted that her breast growth was minimal. After having that dosage for over a year, she reduced the dosage and started developing. I don't have a hard proof, but it appears that more isn't alway better when it comes to estradiol.

On the other hand, I am an old hand at HRT and had about 20 years of treatment. When I resumed HRT, I went from Premarin to estradiol but I only received a half dosage. Even at a reduced dosage, I gained another cup size, am seeing facial changes and my legs are gaining shape. I suspect that this is due to the fact that estradiol may be more effective, at least with me than Premarin. The dosage definitely isn't a factor.

There isn't any hurry up. Like a CIS woman, this takes time.

Quote from: Dena on January 03, 2019, 02:17:22 PM
We have a member who under doctors supervision received a fairly high injectable dosage of estradiol. She posted that her breast growth was minimal. After having that dosage for over a year, she reduced the dosage and started developing. I don't have a hard proof, but it appears that more isn't alway better when it comes to estradiol.

On the other hand, I am an old hand at HRT and had about 20 years of treatment. When I resumed HRT, I went from Premarin to estradiol but I only received a half dosage. Even at a reduced dosage, I gained another cup size, am seeing facial changes and my legs are gaining shape. I suspect that this is due to the fact that estradiol may be more effective, at least with me than Premarin. The dosage definitely isn't a factor.

There isn't any hurry up. Like a CIS woman, this takes time.

Oh I didn't do this in an attempt to speed things up, I actually did think that she had prescribed me the amount I used every two weeks. It wasn't until I looked at the box again later that I saw I was wrong.

Also, a small very faint dark discoloration has appeared on my stomach around where I injected it. That's just bruising right?