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Hi, i received my blood test results after approximately one month of HRT via gel applied scrotally, 4mg per day (2mg every 12 or so hours). This was taken on 9th october right after my first morning dose of the day, and i started hrt on 12th of september. Should I increase my dosage? Because these levels don't look good.

Value Unit Min Max

E 241 pmol/L 43.3 146

T 7.5 nmol/L 5.72 26.1

Hello, I'm a trans girl from Italy, 26. I'd started DIY monotherapy with 2-4mg daily in estradiol pills and after they ran out a friend gave me her gel packets. The gel is called Sandrena, and online the closest similar one I could find is Divigel for the US and Oestrogel for the UK. Now, the recommended dose for Sandrena WITH T-Blockers is 0-5/1mg daily. I'm not taking T-blockers, of course, so I would like to know if you have recommended quantities for monotherapy. Rn I'm taking 4 gel packets a day (4mg) but my mammaries feel less hard and sensitive than before, and at the same time I feel soreness in my thighs. So I'm afraid I might be taking too much gel for my vasculatory system (I'm deathly afraid of trombosis, perhaps irrationally?) and at the same time too little for monotherapy. What are your thoughts?

I have had to change from enanthate to valerate due to disability, while I injected 4mg/week enanthand and now valerate 2mg every 3 days. It is normal that it hits me very hard, it makes me very sleepy and tired, it is from Hera, I used to use the astrovial one, could it be stronger? What I have noticed is more heaviness in my breasts although they are still small. Help. Thank you.

I’m taking 4mg/day sublingual +100mg Spiro twice a day. I’ve been considering going down to one Spiro a day for the sake of having more energy. Is that okay, or would it cause my E levels to drop too low?

Basic Info

Hi, I'm Stelle. I'm 21 years old.

I started HRT on 23rd January 2026. I am on subcutaneous Estradiol Enanthate injections weekly.

I was never on an anti-androgen or 5-AR inhibitor. I do not take any supplements (no biotin or multivitamins).

I am pre-orchi.

Marked as NSFW because of discussion of bottom functioning. Those parts are spoilered as an extra measure.

This is going to be a long post. Scroll down to the Levels sections and read from there if you want to skip the story.

Initial Dose

My initial dose was 5 mg (23rd Jan-30 July). On this dose, my feminization results were mixed.

• In the first week-ish, my mood improved but then went back to pre-HRT depressive baseline. The only persistent emotional change was being able to cry more easily.
• My skin got somewhat softer.
• I don't think there was any noticeable change in my mild acne, oily forehead, body odor, body hair, etc.
• Libido dropped.
• Bottom changes:
  • In the first few weeks, my semen actually increased and orgasms felt better than before.
  • Then, it became clear, reduced in volume, and orgasms went back to feeling like normal.
  • Finally, it ceased altogether. Erections became difficult to maintain.
• Chest development has been slow.
  • I got puffy nipples (Tanner 2) just a few weeks in. They were VERY sensitive in the first few weeks. Since then, the sensitivity has become more manageable but never went away.
  • The mound has started to expand beyond the areola but you can only really tell by touch, not sight.
  • There's very little fat accumulation.
• Fat distribution has been slow.
  • Measurements indicate that my buttocks increased in size but not much else.
  • I think this is partially because I was underweight when I started (50 kg @ 172 cm). By the end of 6 months, I was 55 kg.
• My CBC improved.
  • Pre-HRT, I was being investigated for polycythemia vera. When the investigations began, my Hb was 17.5+ and PCV/Hematocrit was 50.
  • I got a bone marrow biopsy done and all mutations came back negative (BCR-ABL1, MPL, JAK2). So, I was diagnosed with idiopathic polycythemia. It was chalked up to my body's natural tendency to run high Hb.
  • It was controlled through therapeutic phlebotomy and medicines (Ecospirin 75 mg) with Hb kept around 16-16.5 and PCV < 50.
  • When I started HRT, my Hb fell to 14.5-15 and PCV to 43. After July, I no longer had to get phlebotomies or continue the medicines.

I noticed that a palpable bump under the skin would develop after each shot. Each bump would take a few weeks to clear.

On April 19, we got a blood test done at the trough (7 days after last shot).

Second Dose

Seeing that my E2 was high, my dose was reduced to 4 mg, July 31 onwards. I know this should've been down immediately after the April test but due to personal reasons, it was delayed by 3 months.

Changes were as follows:

• First week, I noticed improved mood. It tanked the week after. But since then, I've noticed that I'm feeling quite lighter overall.
  • But the confounding factor is that I found a job at the same time so that was a LOT of stress off my mind.
• I was unable to cry anymore. But negative emotions also felt less "sticky". They didn't get me down anymore.
• I thought my body odor got worse but I could be forcing myself to see it. No changes in oilyness or acne.
• Libido was still shot.
• Chest development and fat redistribution still continued slowly.
• Bottom changes spooked me the most.
  • Semen returned both in color and volume. Whether it's the same as pre-HRT, I can't say because I don't remember. But I don't think it's far off.
  • It became easier to maintain erections.

The bumps started to clear faster I think.

At some point, I had a very bad panic attack while doing my injection and developed a sudden phobia of injecting (shaky hands, racing heart). From the get-go, it always hurt a little when the needle pierced my skin but I never panicked this hard about it.

Anyways, we decided to use a Prilocaine 2.5% + Lidocaine 2.5% cream off-label as a topical anesthetic. That took away the pain and helped my anxieties.

Then, we got another test done on 4 October at the same lab. The last injection before the blood test (27 September) was a bit too close to one of the old bumps (at least 2-3 weeks old) but I doubt it matters.

Family History

My mom has hypothyroidism but my pre-HRT TSH levels were 0.783 uIU/mL.

My dad has diabetes but my pre-HRT FBS was 84.8 mg/dL. Unfortunately, I do not have HbA1c available from that time.

Levels

If you directly skipped here, then a TL;DR of the above: On 5 mg/week (Jan-July), feminization was mixed. My skin softened and I cried more easily, but chest and fat changes were slow, libido dropped, and semen stopped. On 4 mg/week (July onward), my mood felt lighter, though a new job confounds that. I could no longer cry, my semen and erections returned, and everything else stayed slow.

¹ Fully automated electrochemiluminescence competitive immunoassay (ECLIA)

² Solid-phase two-site chemiluminescent immunometric assay (CLIA)

I know immunoassay is inaccurate. However, LC-MS/MS is not routinely offered by labs in my country. You need to especially order it and it is quite expensive (LC-MS/MS for one analyte costs the same as yesterday's panel). As such, I can't get it done before January 2027. Even then, certain analytes like DHT or 3a-ADG aren't available.

We did a liver panel along with the hormone panel and it came back clean.

Questions

We are baffled by these results. Neither me nor my endo have any hypothesis for this.

• In the first 6 months, what produced such an astronomical level (500 pg/mL) at a normal dose (5 mg)? At the time, we chalked it to me being a slow metabolizer.
• How did reducing my dose by 1 mg reduce my serum E2 by half?
• Even at this new E2 level, why is my T so wildly unsuppressed? It's 3x the upper suppression limit (50 ng/dL).
• How is LH unsuppressed but FSH is suppressed?
• How is SHBG so low? Although that's a good thing.

Right now, we are planning to go back to 5 mg and test again. If indicated, we might add bicalutamide.

If you’re new to the community, introduce yourself! It would be great to know who you are and what you are hoping to find here. Feel free to DM me with suggestions.

After more than twelve months of htr with estradiol enanthate, I stopped the treatment, I just resumed it and I don't know if it is the excitement of starting over. Something happens to me that has never happened to me, I feel very sexually excited, but I can't have any erection, I'm just wet but when I exert force to try an erection, I only manage to get heat/pleasure in my pelvis from the inside, which is It's almost 20 minutes, it's something pleasant, but what leaves you wanting more leaves me exhausted and with that inner burning that I don't know how to calm down,.

does anyone know what it is, and why does it happen to me? It generates horrible discomfort in me, it is very deep where it comes from and rises inside me. Thank you for whoever can give me an explanation/solution.I need stop continuous, exasperating inner pleasure,.

The blood was drawn immediately before my next weekly injection, exactly 7 days after the previous injection.

Done on September 14, 2026:

Estradiol: 2128 pmol/L (579 pg/mL)
Testosterone: 1.36 nmol/L (39 ng/dL)
Prolactin: 465 mIU/L (~22 ng/mL)
LH: <0.3 mIU/mL
FSH: <0.3 mIU/mL

For comparison, I had bloodwork done on March 28, 2026, shortly before starting HRT:

Estradiol: 112 pmol/L (30.5 pg/mL)
Total testosterone: 26.2 nmol/L (756 ng/dL)
Free testosterone: 32.8 pg/mL
SHBG: 55.46 nmol/L

My main concern is the estradiol level. It seems very high, especially considering that this was a trough measurement, immediately before my next injection.

My prolactin may also be elevated because I was told some really terrible personal news shortly before the blood draw. I was extremely nervous, stressed and crying, but unfortunately I couldn’t postpone the test because I was flying to another country shortly afterwards.

My HRT history:

I started HRT on April 23, 2026.

Initially, I was using Lenzetto spray + 12.5 mg Androcur (cyproterone acetate).

Lenzetto:

April 23–30: 2 sprays/day
May 1–6: 3 sprays/day
From May 6: 4 sprays/day (2 in the morning, 2 in the evening)

I also started taking finasteride daily on May 29, then switched from finasteride to dutasteride on June 18.

I switched to EEn injectable estradiol on June 11 with 4 mg.

The decision to use 5 mg was partly because I was travelling and, for a period of time, had no access to injections, so I used Estreva gel instead. I felt that it wasn’t giving me enough effect, so I initially increased my estradiol dose with EEn after i came back. I continued with 5 mg weekly after switching to injections.

After switching from Lenzetto to injections, I gradually stopped Androcur:

~20 days: 12.5 mg/day
~20 days: 6.25 mg/day
then completely stopped

By the time of my September bloodwork, I had been off Androcur for more than 20 days and on a stable injection regimen for 10 weeks.

I also never increased my injection dose above 5 mg.

What I’m wondering about:

Is 579 pg/mL (2128 pmol/L) unusually high for a trough level on 5 mg / 12.5 units of injectable estradiol once a week?
Should I consider reducing my dose from 5 mg to 4 mg/week?
What are the potential risks of maintaining estradiol at this level long-term?

Thanks!

12 month enantato 4mg / week intramuscular injection , since 0 a 12 months, What breast maturation stagee?

I have often seen sisters asking about needle void space, wasting precious juice, and such. These issues are particularly important if you use high strength juice, 40 or 50 mg/mL for example (I don't; mine is a measly 10 so I can be precise setting luteal doses when cycling).

I have a simple solution for void space: purging bubbles. Unlike IV injections\*, air bubbles are innocuous in IM and subq injections. I have been using purging bubbles for about two years, with zero problems. I took these pics just now, injecting 4mgEEn subq.

Here's how I do it. After drawing my dose and withdrawing the needle, I draw the plunger back. With my 1cc syringe, assuming about 50uL (0.05mL) dead space, I pull 150uL (0.15mL) of air and swap to the injection needle. I turn the syringe over, and let the bubble rise up while I swab the injection site.

When injecting, the bubble will shrink proportional to the pressure applied — it's a pressure gage! If it reduces to a third of the original size during injection, then you're applying 3atm gage pressure. This scratches my autistic brain. Aaaaahhhh.

Anyhow, once the plunger drives all the way down and the fluid is injected, the bubble will expand. If it was three times the void space to begin with, it should effectively purge at up to 3atm. You will know the purge is successful when you hear a little fart sound. This scratches my juvenile second-puberty autistic brain. Hee hee, tummy farts!

AMA about this technique, sisters! Or about my cycling protocol if you're intrigued.

\* The danger of IV bubbles is dramatically overblown as well. I've looked into it, to get a truly dangerous IV push of air requires hundreds of cc of air. If you hit a vein with a hundred microlitre air bubble, that's likely to do nothing, it'll soon dissolve.

Hi everyone!

Just did my first blood test after dosages to what I'm happy with on monotherapy, I have:

E2 - 350.6 pg/ml

T - 0.57 nmol/L

SHBG - 76.4 nmol/L

What worries me hovewer, is DHT. I have 9.9 ng/dL, which is just pushing it with recommended <10 ng/dL. Should I start dutasteride, or is it still an okay amount? I don't have particular problems with hair, if only it being rather thin and fragile, but I address it more to bunch of stress from work. Certainly a little confused with what to do.

Edit: I am on EEn injections, 0.11ml per 5 day, 10ml/400mg vial

I was on 6 pumps of Oestrogel and 150 mg of Spiro and everything was great, except peeing quite often from Spiro. The only concern was the price. I spent quite a lot of money on Oestrogel. I'm from eastern Europe, so the government or insurance won't pay for my hormones. So, I ordered Een injections online. I've been using 5mg Een a week. In terms of feminization everything is going great. However, I've been feeling really low energy since I started. It's been only two weeks, but I'm worried because I can't function very well. What could it be? I suspect either getting adjusted to a new dose, higher doses of estrogen are not good for me and I should do a lower dose and AA, or an individual intolerance of some components in the solution. I should note that I used to have chronic fatigue syndrome in the past (before HRT) but recovered from it. Have any of you had these issues on estradiol injections and were you able to resolve it?

So I’ve officially been on estriadol patches twice per week, .1mg/day for a month now. Prior to these I was diy with Xulane patches one per week since December.

I’ve since stopped the Xulane for the Dotti’s exclusively. Just got my first results back; T116ng/dl, Free T2.6pg/ml and Estriadol 46.6pg/ml.

I’m in no rush, and I’m pleased with the physiological results I’ve seen and felt thus far. But on this baseline, could I push harder for some faster results without risking adverse effects?

I am a trans girl aged 16. I started on hormone therapy over 5 months ago and I was prescribed 1 pump of estrogen and 100mg of spiro. In this time frame nothing happened, my skin didn’t soften, and I didn't feel like the spiro was stopping the testosterone. I found myself after my 2nd blood test going to 2 pumps because I knew my doctor would increase my dose, and then they lost the blood test results, so 10 days before the redo of the blood test I went back down to one. (I should mention even though my parents are letting me, they are still not sure about it, so I don't want them to know I am increasing my dose without a doctor.) In the weeks of 1 pump I felt shit and only felt good again when I went back to two pumps.
I have just been prescribed 2 pumps and 150mg of spiro. My next appointment is in 6 months, and my hormone levels are still way below where they need to be. My hormones before were 68.1 pmol for estrogen and 13.1 for testosterone, and after one pump of estrogen it was 106 for estrogen and 14.2 for testosterone. I feel like I am still going through male puberty because I still have high testosterone (and I know that spiro blocking doesn't show on blood tests).
I really want boobs and I am really self conscious and I always wear jumpers even in the heat. I can't ask my doctor to increase me faster because my parents act like they don't want me on the medication even though I have been out for 4 years. I just don't know what to do, should I go to 3 pumps of oestrogen and even then when, or should I drop down to 2 again before my next appointment? And even if I do, I was doing research that you need to wait 28 days on 2 pumps for your testosterone to increase again to pass the blood test. I really want to get into female hormone range, but I can't risk letting my doctors and parents find out, but also I am not sure if I can wait another year and a half just to get into female range.

Is it normal for breasts to grow but not have any other noticeable effects

I've been on EEn 8mg weekly SubQ injection for 8-9 weeks and have a 31A or 32A, but I have seemingly zero loss of upper body muscle (I used to workout a couple years ago) but don't work out besides walking to and from college everyday carrying a somewhat heavy backpack. I also have zero noticeable fat accumulation in any other feminine areas or in my face

I know with hrt everybody needs to wait several months to see prominent changes but it's just weird that I seemingly started noticing early effects but only in breasts

Edit: I meant outside of mental effects. My mental health significantly improved

If you’re new to the community, introduce yourself! It would be great to know who you are and what you are hoping to find here. Feel free to DM me with suggestions.

Im 23 without any previous HRT regimen, I decided to do DIY recently. These are my results after 5 weeks EEn monotherapy. I did a loading 10 mg first dose and after that, 6mg every 7 days SQ. Blood was drawn 24h before my next dose. Looking good?

Transfem enby, 22, one year and three weeks on E. I recently had my levels checked and my estrogen is at 197 pg/mL and testosterone is at 12 ng/dL. I inject .15ml (20mg/ml, so 3mg) every five to six days. I've had changes: my face is a different shape, my ass looks good, I have small breasts, my body hair is much thinner and lighter, and my skin is softer. These are great. No complaints.

However, I'm still missing the big emotional changes and the crying. I remember hearing that I would feel everything times 10 and cry over tiny things and those just haven't happened. I guess my happiness has become more full (I didn't literally jump for joy before) but that's it.

I don't really know what's going on. I've heard these things should happen fast and they were some of the changes I looked forward to most. If anyone has any ideas I'd really appreciate it.

I've been on 6mg (oral) a day monotherapy for about 4 months, previously was on lower dosage for 8 months, started off on gel. Definitely noticed some changes but still only subtle.

Where to from here? Obviously I'll get bloods done but I'm guessing I still don't have enough T suppression. Should I talk to my doc about other routes eg. injections?

Can anyone link to some good monotherapy resources?

Thanks

Currently taking 6mg of 40mg/ml estrogen valerate per week. I’ve just started HRT, and just curious of how it works. About how long should it take to see feminine effects? And most importantly, how long should it take to suppress testosterone sufficiently? Thank you 🫶