Chemically Female?

[Breeze 57]

Had my 3-month HRT check-up yesterday and got my hormone level results.  I'm not an expert on all this, but I took this as positive.  In fact, I kind of got a kick out of it.  The blood test paper said the normal range of testosterone in males is 250-1100.  I'm at 4.  Unfortunately, I don't know where I was at before the HRT, but 4, that's seems amazingly low.  My Estradiol serum was a 95, which I guess is okay to.  My doctor said he wants to get it to 100.

All I can say is, this stuff is really effective.  I also feel like, though outwardly I still look very male, chemically I'm now female.  Maybe someday I will even socially transition, though if I do, that will mean my wife has probably left me.  I'm out of the closet to my wife and we are trying to make it work, but she has said our marriage will be over if I socially transition.  We would still be friends (good friends), but she couldn't stay married to me.  Unfortunately, I totally see and understand her point of view.  But at least, right now, I know I'm female chemically as well as mentally.

[KatieP]

T ranges are age-dependent. On my T lab tests results there is a link to the web page that shows the ranges by age. It was truly eye opening to see the range difference between 20 and 60. :-)

And, I expect 4 is low for any age!

[PurplePelican]

Had my 3-month HRT check-up yesterday and got my hormone level results.  I'm not an expert on all this, but I took this as positive.  In fact, I kind of got a kick out of it.  The blood test paper said the normal range of testosterone in males is 250-1100.  I'm at 4.  Unfortunately, I don't know where I was at before the HRT, but 4, that's seems amazingly low.  My Estradiol serum was a 95, which I guess is okay to.  My doctor said he wants to get it to 100.

All I can say is, this stuff is really effective.  I also feel like, though outwardly I still look very male, chemically I'm now female.  Maybe someday I will even socially transition, though if I do, that will mean my wife has probably left me.  I'm out of the closet to my wife and we are trying to make it work, but she has said our marriage will be over if I socially transition.  We would still be friends (good friends), but she couldn't stay married to me.  Unfortunately, I totally see and understand her point of view.  But at least, right now, I know I'm female chemically as well as mentally.

When you quote your levels, you really need to include the units of measurement, as without them the numbers are fairly meaningless.. A T of 4 could be good, or it could be way too low - depends on the units. Again 95 might be good or bad, just don't know..

[Breeze 57]

Like I said, I'm no expert on this at all.  On the testosterone, it said ng/dl after the number.  Not sure what that means at all.  Would actually like to know if anyone has any information.  My doctor didn't seem phased by it at all just saying my T level was near zero.  I'm cool with near zero T.  And he wanted the Estradiol serum at 100.  Wish I was smarter at all this, but I am much more educated about this stuff than I was a few years ago.  Just a slow learner I guess.

I'm one of the older ones here too btw.  57, yikes.  It even sounds old to me.  Sure don't feel that old, but the calendar doesn't lie.

[Jessica]

My last blood test showed T at 21 ng/dL and E at 101 ng/dL.
I've been told that a T range around 20 is good for your libido to stay alive.

[Breeze 57]

Well, looks like I am in the ballpark with you Jessica.  And I would agree with your assessment, my libido is pretty much non-existent.   

[Deborah]

4 ng/dl T is fine according to my Dr.  Mine is less than 3.  While that's lower than normal female levels it's not bad for a transition dose of HRT.  100 pg/ml E is fine also.  My Dr aims for between 100 and 200.  My last test was somewhat higher though.

The value you get for E is highly dependent on how long after your dose you took the test since E has a pretty short half life.  So if you took the blood test immediately after a dose then 100 might be kind of low.  If you took it the morning after a dose then it's fine.


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[PurplePelican]

Some of the info in this thread is at least 5-10 years out of date. T should be higher than 4 ng/dl, current data suggests 10-20 ng/dl gives far better results as far as general and mental health. Actually, what the data shows is that adrenal T is sufficient and that nothing more is needed than suppressing testicular T production. Suppressing testicular T production is fairly straight-forward, just supply an adequate level of E - 200 is not sufficient for that.

[Roberta W]

So we all know ... ng/dl is nanograms per deciliter.  A nanogram is 10^-9 gram.  A deciliter is 1/10 of a liter.  Both units are metric, and can be converted to English units ... But nobody does.  That's for T-Level measurements.

pg/ml is typically the units for E-levels.  pg/ml = picograms per milliliter.  A picogram is 10^12 gram, 1000 times smaller than a nanogram.  A millileter is 1/1000 of a liter.  Obviously also metric.

[Breeze 57]

Thank you Roberta.  I think I will make a note of that.  I'll be honest, I'm not sure what the optimal hormone levels are or what the current research says.  I've tried to read some of it but find it so dry.  I wish they had a big yellow book entitled, "Transitioning for dummies - MtF edition".

[judithlynn]

Hi Breeze;
I have been on HRT now for just over 5 years (Oestrogen - Progynova -2 times daily) and (Micronised Progesterone - Promethium 1 times daily) and my levels are as follows:-
Estrogen pg/ml = 164 =604 pmol/L
Testosterone ng/ml =54.75 = 1.9 nmol/L

My end tells me that CIS Females T levels are between 0-2.5 mol/L.

I am on No Blockers.

When I started on HRT my T Levels were 5.8 mol/L that is 167 ng/ml which is very low for a male. Normal range is 8-280

My Endo now says that my Oestrogen levels are just about perfect, but would like to see them up to about 200. Certainly I feel that since I added Micronised Progesterone on a 14 day cycle  my feminisation has increased more rapidly.

She told me I was now hormonally female.

One thing though is that I have had to add Magnesium and Vitamin D supplements and also because a bad case of Mastitis in my breasts - a Probiotic capsule each night.

JudithLynn