So! 1.5 years into HRT and I go in for my labs and checkups etc etc. I'm doing injections now, so she wanted me to come in the day before I dose to check my low. They were E = 72, T = 7. Blood pressure is perfect, and so were my CMP and blood panels. She upped my E by 50%, told me to take the shot every week instead of every two, and come in for a high AND a low E count (upon my suggestion ;) ). The cool news is, my T has never measured above 25 since starting HRT despite constantly having rather low E levels. Maybe the dopplegangers stopped working permanently (HOPE SO!) So.. I asked if I could discontinue Spiro, and she recommended taking me off of the Finasteride instead.
Now, I've not really experienced any significant balding or anything. My corners go in about an inch or 2 but they're gaining hair now. I'm wondering if this regrowth will continue even though I am stopping Fin. She said if my hair starts falling out or anything like that, continue the Finasteride but with T levels constantly being in female range I doubt they'll fall out. I just hope I've been on Fin long enough for the follicles to be cleansed of any left over DHT.
An interesting thing of note. She said one less known side effect of Finasteride is that it can INCREASE the amount of BODY hair growth, while Spironolactone decreases it. I Googled it and didn't find much about it... a couple forum posts here and there say that it increased body hair but those are only anecdotal. The only real thing I found on the issue was a study that showed it MAY increase body hair in women.
I hope my body hair goes away lol!! It's thinned out and become much finer but I still have to shave every other day :(
Thoughts ladies? (And gents if you have insight!)
Fin also rids follicles of DHT that's built up over the years. I just wonder how long you'd have to be on it to cleans the follicles. I guess it doesn't really matter because my hair is fine though. I do want my corners to come back as much as possible!
But everything I read is that if T is low, Fin wont do anything for you. So maybe that's why it works against many women, since they never had high T in the first place thus never had any DHT buildup in their scalp. IDK I guess I'm just posting the thread to hear everyones view on it and maybe we can all share some knowledge :)
I asked her why not take me off Spiro instead, and she told me because Fin isn't as important in keeping total T down. She went on to mention that Spiro made you lose body hair but Fin can make you gain it. It doesn't make much of a difference to me, tbh I'd rather not take either at this point because it seems that my testes have been shut off anyways. My T has been bottomed out for the past 16 months or so even when my E has been down to as low as 72 (which is only elevated for a male).
But like I said... I'm not really showing any male pattern baldness so it's not like I care about the Fin, but another thing I do know from reading online is that DHT can really counter the effects of estradiol. But without any T in the body, where's it going to come from anyways? Maybe the body tries to find any remaining T that it needs from the follicles?
I guess there's always Nioxin if I really wanna make sure my follicles are cleared out.
I would consider staying on both. Spiro is good at blocking total testosterone levels, but as long as you still have some testosterone in your system some or all of it could be converted to DHT (dihydrotestosterone) which is much stronger than regular testosterone. Children born with normal levels of testosterone but lacking the ability to develop DHT develop more female characteristics despite having the normal testosterone levels. There is some theory Finasteride or other DHT blockers may aid in more than just hair growth and prostate shrinkage, such as possibly speeding up feminization. I would recommend you have your DHT level drawn and compare to your overall testosterone level. The Finasteride may be doing more than you think.
She doesn't want to do that. She says if I start getting negative results (hair loss), there's no reason to test... I'd just go back on Finasteride. Plus, as far as feminization... I think I'm good on that ;)
What you say about children developing more feminine characteristics makes sense though. It's why I took Fin in the first place, in fact. However with T always being tested in the small child range, I think it's time to come off of SOME drug because it IS getting processed by the liver (all three get processed extensively by the liver).
Honestly I don't want drugs in my body period. If I could just get away with injecting hormones into my body I would.
I would say so! You definitely have the feminization down! BTW if you find a way to do an ovary transplant or grow your own, please let me know. I would like to stop taking medications too!
Ha! Right? If I figure out how to do that, this board will totally be the first place I tell!!!