Quote from: Arch on September 26, 2011, 05:55:37 PM
I hate to keep harping on this, but I don't want people to get inaccurate information. By current lab standards, 43 is not at all low for a "girl."

^^^ this comment confuses me.

I had the same problem of my voice not changing fast enough for my taste.  My counselor had warned me about it, talking about a guy she knew who started T and it took almost 2 years for his voice to finally even begin dropping.  What made it worse was 80% of my job at the time was talking.  I found some advice to sing along with Johnny Cash or Elvis or other deep singers (Sinatra worked best for me) and try to match there tone, without paying too much attention to the notes.  This is how I learned what everyone meant by "talking from your throat and not your chest".  Once I got that all figured out, it started to drop, rather than just occassionally cracking like it was.  I thought I was going to be stuck in the horrid 12yo puberty voice stage for the rest of my life.  So sing your little heart out.

Quote from: mruriah on September 30, 2011, 10:46:31 AM
^^^ this comment confuses me.

What part confuses you? I hope you don't think I was insulting Gentleman by calling him a girl...that's why I put quotation marks around it.

Let me know, and I'll try to be clearer.

Quote from: mruriah on September 30, 2011, 10:46:31 AM
This is how I learned what everyone meant by "talking from your throat and not your chest".

talking from your throat and not your chest doesnt really make sense to me i used to sing and your chest voice is low and your head voice is high. your supposed to sing with your head voice ... especially if your a soprano like me.

also i would suggest listening to the men your related to see how deep their voices are. on my dads side all the men have high voices but my aunt has a deep voice for a girl. on my moms side the men have average voices that sound really nice. so i dont really expect my voice to get super deep.

Quote from: Luc on September 29, 2011, 09:25:58 PM
Um... where was your endo licensed? I know this has been covered, but there are tons of ftm guys with ovaries who have no problem growing facial hair, myself included. I could grow a full beard by 6 months on T, and 3 years on T now, I'm pretty well hairy from head to toe and have no plans of having a hysterectomy/oophorectomy any time soon. It doesn't really sound like your endo knows what he's talking about... and is it possible that your problems are stemming from that (as in, is it possible that he's not too adept at his job and may be giving you misinformation as per your dosage?)?

I know it's recommended to get your levels checked regularly, and that a lot of doctors will adjust T dosage according to test results. Personally, though, I've been on a full dose, weekly, for 3 years, have never been able to afford T level testing, and have had faster changes than most of the ftm guys I know.

She Said I'd grow facial hair, but not a full beard.

My doctor only had one other trans patient that was an MtF. I don't know if she knew I had to get my T levels checked every 3 months... Good thing I said something b/c my T levels were high, but not sure for how long though... could have been months?

You never got your T levels checked? Isn't that dangerous?

Quote from: Dominick_81 on September 30, 2011, 10:04:35 PM
She Said I'd grow facial hair, but not a full beard.

Again, this is not consistent with what I've seen.

I'm curious, though--exactly how high is your T level? I got my T checked recently, and they told me I was high but still in normal ranger. I guess they forgot to mail me the results; I got a copy of the lipid panel but not the T blood work. I'll ask about that next time I'm there.

@arch: I'm not sure exactly. She didn't tell me.

Quote from: Dominick_81 on October 01, 2011, 12:21:47 AM
@arch: I'm not sure exactly. She didn't tell me.

Ah. Too bad. It would be interesting to see your dosage correlated with your blood level. You couldn't post your dosage here, of course--that would have to be communicated privately--but I'm sort of curious to see what other people's labs look like on whatever dosage they're on. I wonder if anyone has done a study on this.

Well, I can at least satisfy my curiosity about myself. I'm getting a flu shot next week; while I'm there, I'll drop by the records office and get a copy of my labs.

Quote from: Arch on September 30, 2011, 06:24:34 PM
What part confuses you? I hope you don't think I was insulting Gentleman by calling him a girl...that's why I put quotation marks around it.

Let me know, and I'll try to be clearer.

Well, my docs have all told me my levels need to be in a normal male range, so having them in the range of a female means they are out of range...

For example: my first level check came back as being at 90something.  WAY too low for males, so I had to increase my dosage.

Quote from: mruriah on October 01, 2011, 06:38:44 PM
Well, my docs have all told me my levels need to be in a normal male range, so having them in the range of a female means they are out of range...

For example: my first level check came back as being at 90something.  WAY too low for males, so I had to increase my dosage.

Does anyone know how long it usually takes for someone to get into the "normal male range"? I tried to get my dosage increased because I feel like I am on a low dose and want faster changes. I have been on T for four+ months and blood work from about a week ago came back with some testosterone number as 192. My endo (who honestly I've never had a single good experience with, but he's the only one who will treat trans people within 2 hours of my house) said that he absolutely would not consider upping my dose at this time, because in his mind, it's just not needed, end of story.

Quote from: mruriah on October 01, 2011, 06:38:44 PM
Well, my docs have all told me my levels need to be in a normal male range, so having them in the range of a female means they are out of range...

Oh, I see what you mean. No, I was commenting on the pre-T level. It isn't low for a trans man who ISN'T on T. In another thread, he was saying that it was too low even for a woman, but it's right in normal range for a woman.

For a trans man on T, it's definitely unacceptable!

Of course, it depends on how it's measured. My bad. I'm thinking ng/dL--I think that's what most of us are talking about. That scale runs up over a thousand for normal range.

JesseO, are you talking about ng/dL?

Hey have you thought about getting a second opinion? Maybe you should see another endo? Specifically one experienced with Transfolk.
The fact that she didn't know when to check your levels and has kinda given you mixed info is concerning. You should try to look up another endo, tell them your situation, get a test from them and see what they think. Better safe than sorry, especially with the cost that comes with doing all this.

Arch - honestly, don't know - I believe that sounds familiar.

Quote from: BMXJake on October 02, 2011, 02:43:18 PM
Hey have you thought about getting a second opinion? Maybe you should see another endo? Specifically one experienced with Transfolk.
The fact that she didn't know when to check your levels and has kinda given you mixed info is concerning. You should try to look up another endo, tell them your situation, get a test from them and see what they think. Better safe than sorry, especially with the cost that comes with doing all this.

Yeah... and any endo who could tell you you won't grow a "full beard" until you've had your ovaries removed is a quack.

7 months on T: http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu14/cogito_ergo_sebastien/7mo1.jpg

About 15 months on T: http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu14/cogito_ergo_sebastien/image201004100026.jpg

I never really grow it out long, but you get the picture (lol). Still have all my parts, as aforementioned, and at 3 years on T now, the facial hair is still climbing. I'd put a current pic up, but I've been doing only a mustache lately... would need to grow it out for a week to make it visible to the camera.

But still... get a second opinion. This isn't the kind of thing you want to take your chances with.

Quote from: BMXJake on October 02, 2011, 02:43:18 PM
Hey have you thought about getting a second opinion? Maybe you should see another endo? Specifically one experienced with Transfolk.
The fact that she didn't know when to check your levels and has kinda given you mixed info is concerning. You should try to look up another endo, tell them your situation, get a test from them and see what they think. Better safe than sorry, especially with the cost that comes with doing all this.

I don't want to insult her and I feel it would be mean to see another endo b/c she's doesn't have experience with trans people. I know it better to be safe than sorry I just can't bring myself to do it.

Quote from: Luc on October 02, 2011, 05:34:19 PM

Yeah... and any endo who could tell you you won't grow a "full beard" until you've had your ovaries removed is a quack.

7 months on T: http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu14/cogito_ergo_sebastien/7mo1.jpg

About 15 months on T: http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu14/cogito_ergo_sebastien/image201004100026.jpg

I never really grow it out long, but you get the picture (lol). Still have all my parts, as aforementioned, and at 3 years on T now, the facial hair is still climbing. I'd put a current pic up, but I've been doing only a mustache lately... would need to grow it out for a week to make it visible to the camera.

But still... get a second opinion. This isn't the kind of thing you want to take your chances with.

Awesome facial hair!

There might be one place, but I don't think it's an endo doctor...? It's a place actually that they would pay for my T. But I need a referal from my main doctor.  What would I ask this 2nd opinion endo doctor?

Genetics do have a role in facial and body hair.  If you don't have the genes for it you won't get it.

@Andy8715: Really in body hair too? That sucks! I know one of my uncle's has hair on his back, stomach, chest and on his upper arms and I think another one of my uncles has a hair chest, and maybe a hairy stomach too... not sure.  Not sure about my other uncles though.  My back is my only concern b/c it's hard to reach it to shave it, I can only shave parts of it.  I should be able to grow facial hair, my uncles have facial hair.