When I was on injectable estradiol before I had a really pleasant and enjoyable sex drive at the higher dose range of a healthy female in her prime. But that really kicks in the feminization even if you take a SERM which I did two months in for a total of 7 months. I went down in dose the last two months and my sex drive was close to zero but I still felt really good. Just not as good as the higher dose range. I still would have to have to go lower than that, like the bottom level dose and then slowly increase it and watch for nipple soreness. If I get some I'll back off. It's possible that I can find a sweet spot where there's very little or slow feminization, along with very little fatigue and other problems, and no sex drive or erections. I've had natural levels of T at 149 to 180 for over two years prior to having my balls removed and I could still get it up. I had morning wood once in a while but nothing under 150 unless I worked for it.

After my system cleans out I figure 3 -6 months is a good indication of what to expect. I had to go on hormones before because of long covid. Other than weight gain that was hard to get rid of, I was handling it well. Once I got covid within 3 months my blood work had cholesterol and sugar issues. I've since put the blood sugar issue into remission with weight loss. Everything else is in check and the long covid finally went away. Diet is a factor and its' controllable. Small quantities of low calorie high Nutrional value food that curbs appetite is what I need once my body is hypogonadal. Low dose E gives me more calories to play with is a big bonus. I don't need to get chubby again and go back to high blood sugar.

FloridaEunuch (imported) wrote: Fri Aug 09, 2024 4:14 am I tried estrogen for a few months and was pretty happy with the way I felt. I didn't have any breast development in that short time, but could feel it was about to happen. In the past I wasn't too crazy with the prospect of having breasts, but I can accept that it will happen. I had intended on staying the course, but Florida changed laws and all of my refills were canceled. Now I have a whole set of new hoops to jump through before I can get prescribed. For the most part providers don't even want to prescribe and those that specialize in gender half very long waiting lists.

That's awful, the trans kids argument has some merit but they should not be restricting adult access. Estradiol is easy to access through DIY sources. You have to buy enough and prepare for shortages at times. What was your dose range? I was doing .9ml to 1ml of estradiol Enanthate at 40mg per 10ml. I felt really good but I needed a doctor to really feel my best by optimizing it. The estimated range was 275 pg/ml, which dipped around 200 at weeks end. If anyone is wondering, I could get a great erection and stay hard as long as I wanted. It takes a lot more simulation and time to get off but it was an intense full body orgasm. Which means less than half the sensation in the penis and just explosive everywhere else. My sex drive was cut in half and much better because it was different. Over time my orgasms got a little milder. I had no spontaneous or nocturnal erections so you have to keep masturbating or having sex at least 1-2 times a week otherwise your penis will start to shrink and atrophy. When I lowered it to half that dose I was going two weeks without bothering to work up an erection. I got used to not thinking about it accept for once in a while. E at 125 pg/ml or less looks like a good range to test out when needed down the road.

I originally started with sublingual tabs 2mg twice a day. Those gave me insane headaches for a couple of hours after each dose, so I was switched to estradiol valerate injections. A pretty low dose, equivalent to 5mg/wk. E was right at 100pg/ml for my first labs, which ended up being my only labs on e. I was using an online service (Plume) who set up consult with MD, prescriptions sent to my local Walgreens. I already had letter from therapist, but now I need another approval from a Psychiatrist. In the meantime my local Planned Parenthood has stopped offering hrt. Once I get a letter from a local in person consult with a psychiatrist, things should be fine going forward.

I've seen a pretty large number of cautions about oral E online, and my TG doc was also quite emphatic that it can be a problem. (Sublingual MIGHT not be as bad, but still not great because some is going to end up being oral no matter what...) Basically doing oral means it has to be processed through the digestive tract, which sends it through the liver.

The result is that you need to use a MUCH higher dose in order to get a given blood level (The Transfeminine Science site had a chart that said it was on the order of a 10X difference!) which is hard on the liver, etc. and reportedly doesn't work as well.

My doc's preference is the patches but she says those are expensive, and if that is a concern she is OK with the injectables. The patches have the obvious advantage of no needles, and are supposed to give the most constant levels since you get a constant tiny dose from them, so no peaks and valleys...

WheelyFixed