I live in the UK and I get everything off the NHS. Can you ask your GP for a hormone level check without any particular reason? Also what do they do is it a blood test?
I'm female bodied, not on T. I watched a video of a young non binary person who's T levels were really really really low and now they have a small dose of T to fix that, though still within the female range. I'm not currently interested in actual T but I have been perpetually tired ever since I hit puberty and more recently i've had some dips of depression and such and over all now it seems like it takes way too much willpower to do a lot of things. I thought it could be iron like my anemic mum, but I take iron supplements and it's still not much better, so I'd be interested in seeing if I have low T since I have a lot of the issues listed under low T in women (though most of those things could be anything). Particularly I almost hope that I haveow T so I can fix my sex drive which is nowhere as of late haha.i just entered uni and my sex drive is nowhere to be found...
This wasn't really a question I was intending to ask on this forum till I saw one of you guys talking about having problems from E dominance in another thread, and it reminded me of my curiosity.
Come to think of it, comparing to my mum again, we both have fatigue issues and so I've thought about iron and vitamin D, two deficiencies she has, but you know what she has that I don't have - muscles, all the time, no matter what. She doesn't go to the gym. The doctors told her she has super high muscle density. I have none of that... that could be cos of low T I dunno... Whatver, I'm just curious since I watched that video.
Well you can ask, surely... but it's fair to assume they'd want to know why you wanted the test. So you might have to tell them why and potentially disclose what you think may be T-related issues, because it's not likely they'll go testing for T otherwise.
I had the obligatory battery of hormone tests before T and they found out I had super low T and E right before being signed off on male level T dosage. I had zero sex drive and was constantly fatigued, felt weak, sore and my muscles always had difficulty healing up after extra exertion. Was negative for anemia and had a healthy blood count. T immediately fixed all of those for me, low sex hormones was apparently the problem.
Yeah, of course i would tell them about my general issues. I just meant, usually people would ask for a hormone test if they were planning to start transition or if they were going through the menopause or perhaps on treatment that could affect hormones. I feel slightly like if I just go ask because I'm tired they'll think I'm being stupid. I did go to he doctor before for fatigue and she told me to excercise more. Similarly I had weird pains when running and another doctor told me it was just lack of running regularly (DO I LOOK THAT UNFIT?!), which is bull->-bleeped-<- and i should probably go back for that because its genuinely worrying... Ffs this is why I don't go to the doctor....
A detailed blood test would be in order if you haven't had one. You are on iron but if you are losing it faster than you are replacing it, that could be a problem. Another possibility is you might not be able to absorb the iron you are consuming. Low thyroid, low blood sugar and several other issues could also cause fatigue. The body has many chemical process that take place and just one being out of whack can cause issues.
Quote from: TomTuttle on February 21, 2017, 07:46:33 PM
Yeah, of course i would tell them about my general issues. I just meant, usually people would ask for a hormone test if they were planning to start transition or if they were going through the menopause or perhaps on treatment that could affect hormones. I feel slightly like if I just go ask because I'm tired they'll think I'm being stupid. I did go to he doctor before for fatigue and she told me to excercise more. Similarly I had weird pains when running and another doctor told me it was just lack of running regularly (DO I LOOK THAT UNFIT?!), which is bull->-bleeped-<- and i should probably go back for that because its genuinely worrying... Ffs this is why I don't go to the doctor....
Yeah, I've had that happen to me in the past, long before I went in there talking about gender issues.
Now I'm on the records as requiring regular blood work, it's easier to get them to check up on these things, and to ask for them. I guess some GPs are in the habit of trying to get people to deal with it without tests unless they come back in looking ill, or are persistent in asking.
It's aggrevating because I have never been an unhealthy person. I could do more excercise I suppose (but not when they leave me having random occasional bouts of crippling pain after running - that's offputting) but I've always eaten fairly well and walked everywhere. You know what does make me unhealthy tho? Having to do a project for uni and feeling so unable that all else I can do is eat constant crisps because what is cooking when I have to actually have to do work? Those are the sort of problems you have when you have no energy for things, am I right.
I suppose I will actually have to be persistent and make them give me an expansive blood test. And also investigate my running thing.
Having a low hormone level or a high one does affect people in all sorts of ways. I have felt like crap for a really long time and the doctors never bothered checking hormone levels and the culprit was mostly an insanely high E number. I'm talking WAY over the maximum a female bodied person should have which is Estrogen Dominance. When one hormone is ruling over all it throws your body out of whack. I googled Estrogen dominance after my test results came back and the list of symptoms is amazing. IMO more GP's and Gyno's should check that number more often when people are struggling with a lot of the symptoms.
I told my mother about this as she has health concerns and all she had to do was suggest it to her doctor and explain what her symptoms are and she also mentioned my results and they cleared having her E and T levels checked. It turns out her E was fine but she had 0 Testosterone in her system which is also bad. So they have her on a super low dose of T to get her number to the normal range a female should have in there system.
If you're having muscle issues and stuff I think it's called Creatine or something like that which is checked in one of the big blood tests they do to get a baseline to see how your overall health is. It's the thing that helps with muscle development and repair. Mine was very low :( It couldn't hurt to try mentioning your concerns and I'm pretty sure that most insurances let you request blood work.
Hormone issues aren't localized to the trans population, so I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to request tests to see what is going on with you. I had low E prior to starting HRT, which is part of the reason I think it worked so well for me.
I'd caution anyone who is female bodied taking even a low dose of T in an attempt to correct a hormonal imbalance. There's really no way to tell how T will affect you and many of the changes on T are irreversible.
The T they give you is the tiniest amount. Its not low T as in a transguy asking for half-dose to start off with. Its like a 10th of that or something. There is a 200ng gap between the highest female T level and the lowest male level. So theres next to no chance of getting transition changes if you ask for a dose to fix low T for a woman, staying within the female range. If I were to end up taking that tiny dose and i get more muscluar - great, i already have moustachey hair that I shave so whatever, I find it highly unlikely that it'd make my voice drop but I don't like my voice tbh etc. You see my name is Tom on the forum - I'm not adverse to be slightly manlier, but I'd prefer it not to change much since I'm fairly used to how I am. Probably wouldn't. Anyway, I dunno if I have this problem, I'm just curious.
Thanks for the advice, Silver Centurion. I'll have to ask them when I can to get a proper expansive test. Pfft the NHS would not be giving me regular blood tests. I don't do regular check-ups, and I didn't even know what a gynecologist was until I realised every American seems to have one. I swear I've never heard of anyone in the UK going to one haha. I'm sure they do but not regularly.