How Much Hormone
I was told by a so called 'Gender Expert' that feminisation does not last much more than two years and breast development only takes two years.
He went on to say that progesterone has no beneficial effect and any benefit is outweighed by the risks.
He is absolutely right, the way he and many clinics prescribe, including Charing X ensure that they are right. After two years and particularly if you are post op. they reduce your hormone to a post menopausal level and any future feminisation is halted.
They almost certainly will not have prescribed Progesterone, so any breast development will always be immature. Proper breast development during puberty depends on a balance of oestrogen and progesterone. Often these levels go sky high. Breast development lasts for five years plus and full puberty eight to ten years. This is why in the
Feminisation, provided a proper, adequate and well balanced regime of oestrogen and progesterone, will follow a very similar pattern. Why shouldn’t it? We have the same receptors. We all have oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone flowing through our bodies. Just that testosterone is our dominant hormone and females, oestrogen progesterone, their dominant hormones. There are others but have less or no
effect on our changes.
Why Oh Why do they treat us so badly and it seems, with almost
contempt?
What is a well balanced regime?
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Our needs are all different, it varies for body weight, receptiveness, the amount you have masculanised both in the womb and after, etc.
If you are small, like me, I am 5’ 3”, always slight, very immature looking. I did not start shaving until I was 18, my voice did not break until 17 and then never completely and when I got married at 21, I looked like a 14 year old and weighed 126 pounds. In all probabilities, I was never really subjected to very high levels of testosterone.
Pre-op. at one point, I was taking 12mg per day and this was giving me, at one blood test 3640pmol/L of oestrodiol. My normal oestrodiol range is 1200- 1460pmol/L. on 6mg zumenon.
Not a problem because young girls going through their puberty their hormone levels often go through the roof. This is to kick start their breast development. This will also involve high levels of progesterone also essential for full breast development. During feminisation, are we that much different?
During the normal female cycle, their oestrodiol levels go up to about 1960pmol/L and progesterone 59nmol/L.
Girls going through early puberty 3000+ is not that unusual.
I aim for about 66% of those levels, hence my 1200-1400pmol/L and 40nmol/L. oestrogen/ progesterone. Obviously, we do not need to cycle as we do not have periods. (worst luck).
We are all born with hormone receptors, except our oestrodiol, progesterone receptors are just kept ticking over with low levels of hormones. Like all body cells these are regularly renewed, I believe it is over a 7 year cycle. So being bombarded with high levels of female hormones our bodies do feminise and the male hormones give up to the unequal task. They are completely overwhelmed. The main difference is nature looks after their hormones, whereas chemists look after ours.
Do try to get prescribed adequate levels of oestrogen and progesterone. I do not think that 8mg oestrogen and 200mg progesterone, pre-op. is unreasonable. 6mg oestrogen and 200mg progesterone is a fair post op. regime. Pre-op. an anti-androgen is useful and aids the female hormones. In most cases 200mg spiro. is adequate.
I believe that this should be maintained for a total of at least 7- 10 years. Breast development lasts about 5 years.
The above is only a guide and should be adjusted to suit yourself but is probably a good starting point.
Your prescriber should not be allowed to greatly reduce your hormones at 2 years or post op. because you will only achieve partial feminisation.
What happens if you have been on an incomplete or inadequate regime for many years, certainly more than 5 years?
This is often the case when attending an NHS Clinic or several Private Clinics. Many will only prescribe fairly low levels of oestrogen, perhaps 100mcg patches, changed twice a week. This can be compared with a post menopausal female dose. Most will not prescribe progesterone but at least now will prescribe an anti-androgen. I consider these inadequate and incomplete.
I have heard that some post ops. and other pre-ops. who have been on hormones for a long time and have managed to get an increase and progesterone as well, have restarted feminising. Is this true? Could be, their feminising could have been held dormant, just as ours was pre. cross sex hormones. |
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What are these ‘Experts’ motives. Is it ignorance? Is it they are scared of being ‘done’ for the treatment as several of them managed to get Russell Reid prosecuted? He was prepared to help us and prescribe more realistic, feminising levels of hormones. Or are they just not interested.
The problem is that organisations like Gires who should be researching and supporting us have these ‘experts’ as advisors who prepare their documentation. So when they say no benefit from progesterone, then Gires go along with this and it then gets written in and approved.
There is masses of anecdotal evidence to say that higher levels of oestrogen, the use of progesterone and for an extended period are important and do not significantly pose a risk.
It makes me so cross. It is our bodies and so our risk. I am sure that we would all be prepared to sign disclaimers, in exchange for being treated and prescribed properly, with respect and not treated as idiots and being incapable of making our own decisions.
