As you all know by now, I have been on an estrogen and anti-androgen regiment for some time now. I have just been to my doctor today so I will give you an update on my progress. I have told my doctor that my HRT progress has seemed a bit slow up until now. He has agreed with me that I should be farther along now with the dosage that I have been on. My doctor has decided to change my HRT to the following dose: Spironolactone 200mg daily, up from 100mg, 8mg of estradiol has been dropped, in place of this I will now be taking 6 tablets daily of 1.25mg Cenestin[conjugated estrogen]. This is a higher dose than the estradiol.

I was curious of my current blood levels, so my doctor has agreed to do blood work for me. I won't know the results of the blood work for another week and a half, but I will post them for all. After 30 days on this new regiment, another blood test will be done.

Blood pressure was a bit high, it was taken when I first walked in eg.160/90. But after a five minute rest sitting on the table, a normal pressure was recorded, 125/80.

P.S. My doctor was quite amazed at my weight loss since my last visit. I was also given a flu shot while I was there, just in case of a bad flu season.

P.S.S. I have a prescription for Wellbutrin also, as an aid to quit smoking.

Christina..

Hello...

I will introduce myself to the group on the general forum shortly.

I have a couple of comments / questions about your post...

I have been on estrogen for two years now...

under a doctors care.. first on Premarin now

on estradoil.

I also have high blood pressure and am awaiting

an appointment with my doctor to begin a drug

treatment for hypertension. I am (was) goint to

try to persuade him to let me try spiro for blood pressure (and to get anti androgen benefit) but am curious as to what your dr. says as to why the spiro has not lowered you B/P?

Also.. I to am a smoker and years ago tried

welbutrin... warning.. at least for me it made

me very aggressive and angry and had to stop!

It did not help with the smoking.

then again... it may have been the excessive testosterone that caused that effect with the welbutrin..

GOOD luck...

I would first like to welcome you to the Archive. Thank's for your reply to my post. I will try to answer your questions the best I can.

I would like to give you a little background on my HRT usage up to this point in time. When I started HRT I did not follow the normal route one should take. I had started on my own to administer the hormones need for feminization. I did much research before atempting this, so I was very careful not to try and gain a fast response to the hormones. I started with small doses at first and worked my way up to the normal levels for the hormones I was taking. This was not the best way to accomplish what I wanted, because I did not know what my blood levels were. I ended up using 200mg spiro and a combination of patches and oral estradiol. This combination seemed to give me some of the desired effects I was seeking. I did this for over a year. Then I entered a gender program and agreed to follow the doctor's regiment of hormones. I was given 4mg estradiol only at first for three months, after that, it was increased to 8mg estradiol and 100mg of spiro was added. This was continued until 10/8/02 when my dosage was changed again to the levels in the above post.

Some of the reasons my BP is a bit high is because several factors may be at work here. One, I am a bit overweight still, two I smoke, and three, I may be a bit resistive to the treament of oral medications.

I have done some research on the spironolatone, and as much as 400mg a day can be administered. 200mg was working for me before and it has just been increased to that level now. So I will have to give it some time before it works on reducing my BP.

I hope I have answered your questions. Please feel free to ask at anytime if you have questions about this or anything else, I am glad to give you this information.

Thank's again for your reply!

Hi again...

The reason I was qustioning spiro and B/P..

I have an appointment next week to discuss my

blood pressure with my doctor. He is the same doc that is prescirbing my estrace so I am not worried about drug interactions.

In my meager research I find that there are several drugs used to treat hypertension... most commonly diuretics are tried first and one of those is Spiro. If that don't work they try calcium blockers, beta blockers etc.etc. till they get you under control.

I was curious as to what your doc's said since you are already on their first drug of choise for hypertension (spiro) a diuretic.

I do not know the starting dose of spiro when used as an anti-hypertensive. I assume it is less than 100 mg though. What I am trying to decide is IF I should ask him for spiro as my first try to reduce my B/P.. and if so should I ask for 100mg if that dose is higher than what he would normally prescribe.

My doc is experianced with treating TS patients, but i know that he mostly just gives me what I ask him for. I do not want to make him think that I am trying to manipulate him though... after all the doctors must belive that they are smarter than there patients.

I'll let you know next week what he has to say.

As far as I know, 100mg spironolactone, is a starting point to treat hypertension. It may be that I am a bit resistive to the treatment, that's why it was just increased to 200mg daily. My doc wants to keep me on the spiro, as it has already dropped my BP somewhat. He takes my BP twice, once when I walk in and a second time while I am resting. In the past both times were high, but this time the second measurement was lower. So if fact it may be working, just not as well as expected.

I have just been to my doctor for another blood test. While I was there, I got a copy of the blood test that was done on the 8th of October, before another increase in my dose.

I have some conflicting levels as far as the reference range goes, so I hope someone could give me the range for both male and female.

These numbers are taken right from my report:

Total testosterone is 53 ng/dl, male reference range 241-827.

Total serum estrogen is 870 pg/ml, male reference range 130 or less.

These are the numbers I have gotten from another source for female levels:

Testosterone, female reference range 10-100.

Estrogen, female reference range 25-700.

So, if the numbers are correct, it looks like I am in the range and beyond on the female hormones. Now all I should have to do is give it enough time to do their work!

Christina (imported) wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2002 8:46 pm So, if the numbers are correct, it looks like I am in the range and beyond on the female hormones. Now all I should have to do is give it enough time to do their work!

Yup, the numbers seem to be good enough. Congratulations, and please let us know of your progress.

Christina,

I can only tell you about reducing the testosterone count. My doctor said normal is 500 -- 900 so that fits your range, 250 to 300 time for Vieira when mine was checked last March it was 35, a woman should be between he said 50 and 90 so that also fits your range. Looks like your right on track.

My doctor said I was doing good with all the other problems I have had and said time for the flu shot. I think there is a conspiracy. Any way he wants to take another Testosterone count on my next visit and also do a bone scan. He thinks my T will be down even further, we will see.

Good luck Christina, sounds like your on the right track.

Hugs. River

Hi all,

Just a quick message on my progress so far. I was at my doctor's today for a follow up on my HRT. Good news! After reveiwing my lab tests and a general check of my heath and the effects of the HRT, the doctor is quite pleased with my progress so far. After an examination and a check on some measurements from a previous visit, he told me he is seeing very good results with the effects of the HRT. I guess that I was a little premature in thinking I wasn't getting the results I had expected. There were no changes made in my medication at this time, but I did have to discontinue the Wellbutrin due to the fact it was causing aggressiveness and just playing hell with my emotional state.

BTW, here are some of the numbers for those interesed:

BP: 130/78

Testosterone: 35 (down from a previous 53!)

Estrogen: 230 (due to the fact that this is a synthetic estrogen, not a natural one. It's harder to measure a synthetic.)

Liver function: normal

Cholesterol,

Total cholesterol: 167

HDL (good): 41

LDL (bad): 78

Triglycerides: 242 (slightly high, but below abnormal)

All results of cholersterol are improvements over previous measurments!

So, with my continued good health and excellent results on the HRT, I won't have as many frequent visits from now on! My next visit is in 4 months, I will post again if there is any change.

Hugs,

Christina (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2002 9:32 pm So, with my continued good health and excellent results on the HRT, I won't have as many frequent visits from now on! My next visit is in 4 months, I will post again if there is any change.

Hugs,

Congratulations on your committment to keep yourself properly monitored. Yes, do keep us informed. (My next visit to my Physician is 24 February.)