Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hi all, so based on the conversations here, I've gathered that injections are the quickest and more effective way to take estrogen. The thing is, I'm deathly afraid of needles, especially ones that are large and are injected by myself. I watched someone else do it and I damn near fainted, so I can only imagine how it would go when I actually do it. I guess I'd get used to it but what about the first few times I do it?

Chrissi

Taking sublingual pills is actually just as effective and comes with the same benefits of increased potency and reduced liver strain over oral methods.

A sublingual pill takes only a couple of minutes to dissolve and is really no trouble to take.

Injections have only one benefit in that they only need doing once a month or once a week or whatever whereas a sublingual pill has to be taken daily, but other than that there is no real difference as both methods are effectively getting the stuff straight into you blood.

I agree, Oral pills can be just as effective, If you let your pill dissolve under your tongue then it won't cause liver damage :)

I only take injectable because that's the only form I can affordably access given my unfortunate situation ¬.¬ I would have taken the dissovable pills if I could have them.

Oddly when I started my HRT I was extremely depressed and nearly suicidal again I was habitually cutting myself so jamming a needle into myself wasn't a problem... Oh boy is it a BIG needle. 21Gage 1.5inch long (Thick as a pencil lead)
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv63%2FDarkphantom%2FBIGNEEDLE.jpg&hash=6cf4589a0b984f62f23dc64b9edc3d600343d3bb)

Now however I'm not depressed but I do pout and whine about having to take my shot. It hurts and it's time consuming (taking 10-15 minutes) and it dose need abit of concentration rather than jamming a tablet under your tounge.

My intital changes were quicker than the average (boobs were notably forming after 3 weeks as opposed to 3 months) but overall I'm quite flat chested I don't think I got specifically better results than I would have with any other method.

I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you howto inject... I wouldn't mind but I'm not sure what the admins would think. I personally learned howto inject myself by asking steroid using bodybuilders howto inject and they showed me howto do intramuscular injections. And comfirmed it by checking the FTM's doing it.

Of course with the Bodybuilders their attitude was "Huhuhuh don't you think you should train abit first small fry? before you switch to steroids." I explained what I was doing different, they were accepting if alittle "O-o oh wow that's quite a subversion" suprised.

Weren't transdermic patches the best way to do it?

Patches will keep you at a constant level of E over time.  You have to change them out twice a week, but that's not terrible.  Some people have reactions to the adhesive on the patches though and the annoyance of a rash outweighs the convenience.

I personally hated patches because I could never get the sticky residue off my skin and it started to give me skin problems trying to get it off.

I swapped to injections and I love them.  I actually feel more energetic than I did on patches, though I DO see peaks and valleys on mood that didn't exist on patches.

@Pebbles:   That's a mighty big needle!   My doctor has me use two different needles, the big one to draw the E out of the vial and then a smaller one to inject.  It's harder to inject (because the oil suspension is so thick) but it doesn't hurt at all.   You should look into that. :)

Well I'm taking estrace and prometrium. The prometrium is completely solid and would be impossible to dissolve under my tongue. And my endo never said anything about putting the estrace under my tongue, I just swallow it with water. Is dissolving vs swallowing really a factor when talking about the same pill?

Thanks again!

If you can get used to it, injections really aren't bad.  Having come from pills, it's definitely quite nice to inject once every 2 weeks and forget about it.  I was only given one thin needle with each syringe - meaning it takes forever to get the medication out of the vial, but it's virtually painless to administer.  It hurts until the needle breaks the skin and then you feel nothing... except the sore muscle for a couple days afterward.  My needles are 25 gauge and a little over half an inch long.

Results-wise, the shots definitely seem to be working better for me than the pills were, but I wasn't on sublingual pills so I can't say for sure.

Oh, and I think to take pills sublingually they need to be made for it.  I tried taking my generics under the tongue and they wouldn't finish dissolving for 10-15 minutes.

If you're squeamish about doing it yourself, get a friend or partner to do it for you. I did that for a few weeks; then I could start doing it on my own with no problem.

Quote from: Icephoenyx on May 28, 2011, 06:58:52 PM
Well I'm taking estrace and prometrium. The prometrium is completely solid and would be impossible to dissolve under my tongue. And my endo never said anything about putting the estrace under my tongue, I just swallow it with water. Is dissolving vs swallowing really a factor when talking about the same pill?

Thanks again!

No you have to get especally made pills or somthing, that can dissolve through the mouth membrain and gose directly into your blood. I've seen some pepole say that you can do it with any type of tablet and that is WRONG.

The reason why its different is because otherwise you swallow the estrogen pill and your body mostly digests all the E into useless debris with the acid in your stomach only a small amount "approx 30% of the pill" is aborbed and to even get that through they have to do somthing to the E that requires your liver to animate it but that hurts the liver.

Quote from: Icephoenyx on May 28, 2011, 06:58:52 PM
Well I'm taking estrace and prometrium. The prometrium is completely solid and would be impossible to dissolve under my tongue. And my endo never said anything about putting the estrace under my tongue, I just swallow it with water. Is dissolving vs swallowing really a factor when talking about the same pill?

Thanks again!

Estrace, the Warner Chilcott brand name not a generic, is a micronized tablet and can be absorbed under the tongue. This is the preferred, safer, and more potent method of delivery. If you are talking about a generic tablet... some are and some are not micronized. I used to take Estrace sublingually, until I found a cheaper, still micronized brand to use instead. Sublingual administration is arguably as safe/potent as intramuscular injection. Furthermore, you are providing your body with a constant daily level of E2, instead of the peaks and valley (excess and deficit) you experience between injections. Also injections make is harder for your endo to determine your true E2 levels.

Do you know the brand name or generic of the estradiol tabs you are taking?

Here's some more good info on Estrace:  http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?id=16187 (http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?id=16187)

And this is what the brand-name Estrace tablet looks like: (color varies based on mg size)
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fa876.g.akamai.net%2F7%2F876%2F1448%2Fv00001%2Fimages.medscape.com%2Fpi%2Ffeatures%2Fdrugdirectory%2Foctupdate%2FWCT07220.jpg&hash=6544b4284055ae3a7e468c9f5021d2cff0ffa243)

I was put on injections after a while of sublingual pills, and all I can say is this is much much much better, the effects come on way stronger and changes seem to happen way faster

So I am taking an estrogen tablet and a progesterone tablet. If I was to start injections would they replace both of these pills?

And what if the needle is the same 'dose' as the pills - would they still be more effective as most of you seem to be saying?

Thanks again!

Quote from: Icephoenyx on June 02, 2011, 11:16:10 PM
So I am taking an estrogen tablet and a progesterone tablet. If I was to start injections would they replace both of these pills?

No, just the estrogen tablet.  I believe you can get progesterone in injection form too though if you want.

Quote from: Icephoenyx on June 02, 2011, 11:16:10 PM
And what if the needle is the same 'dose' as the pills - would they still be more effective as most of you seem to be saying?

Yes, more of your dose is effectively absorbed on injections.  Another user made a post with the actual numbers somewhere a month or two ago and I wish I could find it.  I'll post it here if I do.

Quote from: AmySmiles on June 03, 2011, 08:20:13 AM
No, just the estrogen tablet.  I believe you can get progesterone in injection form too though if you want.

Note I don't recommend progesterone injection unlike estrogen whitch can be put in oil and allows it to be released slowly over a week or however long, Progestersone is notoriously annoying and only micronized progesterone (in tablets) Will dissolve. The problem with this is that it has a very short half-life when inside the body and it is metabolized very quickly meaning if you intend to inject progesterone it's a DAILY injection not a weekly thing.

Found it! https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,97015.msg712105.html#msg712105 (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,97015.msg712105.html#msg712105)

Quote
As matter of effectiveness / speed of absorption, the following ranking of methods applied (No.1= fastest):

1. Inhaling
2. Sublingually (8-10%)
3. Rectally
4. Intramascular injection (10%)
5. Skin implant
6. Orally (1%)
7. Skin patch (0.67%)