Had my one month follow up with my endocrinologist earlier this week. Everything's going great with my HRT (injected estradiol valerate every 2 weeks): much calmer, happier, and more connected to the rest of the world; plus very early signs of quite pleasing physical changes-- the usual things: nipple growth, skin softening, etc. Overall I feel dramatically more like myself and cannot begin to describe how much this has improved the quality of my life.

But the interesting thing (to me anyway) was how quickly and dramatically my testosterone level dropped. Won't share specific numbers of course, but let's just say my baseline T level taken 2 days before I started HRT was mid-range for a cis-gender male. Now, little more than a month and 3 injections later, it's dropped all the way down to low/mid-range for a cis-gender female. I'm absolutely delighted and hopes this bodes well for continued success.

But I was wondering: how does this compare with other people's experience? I suspect there's likely a wide range. And if anyone else experienced such a dramatic drop, was it sustained over time with just estrogen or was some other medication necessary to keep the T level down? I'd prefer to be on as few medications as possible.

That was my experience with injections too. It's normal. It's almost like a night and day difference when that occurred for me. Hugs
Mariah

I had similar results (on a super low dose by patch); my T level dropped by about 80% within a couple months. In my case, at any rate, it was sustained on estrogen only for the next three years until I had GRS.

I do not know my starting T. I started hormones and had my blood tested the same day. I had my life insurance blood work with me at my PCP's from 3 months prior but it did not have T measured.

For 15 months I was on E from a pill and my T was roughly 23-32 ng/dl. I have been on IM for 10 months and my T is below 20 ng/dl. 20 ng/dl is as low as that test goes. You can state your blood levels but not hormone dosages at Susan's Place.

With IM I am on a 9 day cycle and all but the last two days are great. I can feel the hormones drop on the 7-9th days. I am on a high dose and my PCP assures me I have plenty of E in my system. So perhaps it is in my head but I do not think so.

Mine dropped 650 points after the first 2 months, although it was still well over the female range.  That was with a normal dose of estrogen, spiro, and progesterone.  I haven't had it tested again yet though so I have no idea what it is now although subjectively it feels like it might have dropped more.


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Quote from: DianaLM on June 26, 2015, 09:09:40 PM
But I was wondering: how does this compare with other people's experience? I suspect there's likely a wide range. And if anyone else experienced such a dramatic drop, was it sustained over time with just estrogen or was some other medication necessary to keep the T level down? I'd prefer to be on as few medications as possible.

There is a form of hrt where estro only is enough to maintain testo levels in the female range.
This only works with implants and injections.


hugs

Laura, I have to politely disagree, since (as I posted) I had no trouble controlling T on patches. It also used to be typical to use estrogen-only HRT by pill decades ago, and that worked as well, though the doses often had to be very high and that's why the modern trend is towards safer lower dosages coupled with an AA.

I'm atypical in any case because I was on a very, very low dose by patch, but generally speaking E *does* control T to some degree and it's just a question of how much of it a given person will have to take (regardless of administration method).

Quote from: Jenna Marie on June 27, 2015, 11:21:14 AM
Laura, I have to politely disagree, since (as I posted) I had no trouble controlling T on patches. It also used to be typical to use estrogen-only HRT by pill decades ago, and that worked as well, though the doses often had to be very high and that's why the modern trend is towards safer lower dosages coupled with an AA.

I'm atypical in any case because I was on a very, very low dose by patch, but generally speaking E *does* control T to some degree and it's just a question of how much of it a given person will have to take (regardless of administration method).

I thought about the wording...

well some people only need low doses of e. There are all kinds of variations, and for example people with low testo before hrt...
it was only to not encourage too high doses in ways of application which are not considered safe for higher doses.

Anyways there are quite a few endos who have e well in the female range while t goes down to the female range as well, all with implants or injections and without anti androgen.

Its good you are an exception in not needing higher doses


hugs

Laura : Oh, OK, I agree 100% about not encouraging people to take really high doses rather than use an AA.

Based on current evidence, I believe that estrogen alone is better than combined with any anti-androgen, even in high doses, if need be. I don't consider high doses of bio-identical estrogen taken non-orally to be harmful to the organism. This is science fact opinion but to each their own. Not condoning anything but just stating my opinion on the matter.

The belief that AA is better with E than E alone is based on studies and practices that involved the use of estrogen that was NOT bio-identical and taken orally like ethinyl estradiol and Premarin. These forms induced an exaggerated clotting response, could increase blood pressure and even cause liver problems. This appears (based on several studies) not to be the case for bio-identical estradiol, especially if taken non-orally. Recommendations continue to be based on old practices and old forms of estrogen and have, unfortunately, not been updated, based on the new data (and new practices) that have come up in the last 2-3 decades.