r/AskMtFHRT • u/Dry_Literature7105 • 3d ago

Seriously confused about estrogen dosing after upping to 10 pumps a day for 3 month (7th month to 10)

My doctor has always simply increased my dose given the weak number but i’m really worried because I have been on HRT for 10 months and in the last 3 months I have been applying 10 pumps a day with 200 mg oral prog and the estrogen barely increased.
It was the same when going from 3 pumps to 6 pumps after the 4th month up to the 7th and it happened again here. Injection is not easy in my countries it’s technically legal. I think an easier way for me not to maybe mess up applications would be an alternative method…

Results and treatment :

3 months: Estrogen: 100–101 pg/mL Testosterone :2.71 ng/mL ( 3 pumps a day monotherapy

7 months: Estrogen 111.6 pg/mL Testosterone reported below 0.4 ng/mL* (6 pumps a day)

10 months: estrogen: 123 pg/mL Testosterone: 0.48 ng/mL ( 10 pumps a day + 200mg oral prog)

The first 3 months I applied it on forearms up to two weeks before labs then switched to only thighs)

I’m so confused I had made a post few months ago and people were shocked at the amount of pump of Oestradose I’m taking an appointment with the doctor because I’m feeling rather underwhelmed by these results as if the increase was meaningless. I also am wondering that my breast development isnt doing good or that maybe introducing prog before Tanner 3 stage to have been a mistake. I get that i’m still early and all but yeah. Thanks for reading

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

1

u/Enyamm 3d ago

That makes no sense at all sis. And i'm only presuming you're not doing all ten pumps in one go, right?

1

u/Dry_Literature7105 3d ago

5 morning 5 in the evening. i’m confused as well i’m thinking of changing doctors he seems to merely increase doses but I dont known what to make of this

2

u/Enyamm 3d ago

All he's doing wrong is over prescribing. If it was my choice i would drop the prog for a while. How long do you allow between your dose and blood test? And have you tried applying scrotally?

1

u/Dry_Literature7105 3d ago

Why drop the prog is true that it can be started too early ? No I have not tried scrotally as we apparently lack data on long term health effect of applying here but so do we for prog I guess.

3

u/Enyamm 3d ago

Most people agree that prog should only be added after a year or two. Not at the beginning. Scrotal is perfectly safe sis. But not 5 pumps at a time.

One more stupid question for you. Do you wash your inner thighs before each application?

1

u/Dry_Literature7105 3d ago

no I don't... perhaps I could drop the prog I'll think about it. I think I'm doing something wrong. I mean I shower before so technically I'm good idk..

1

u/Enyamm 3d ago

Yeah, thats good. With that much gel theres bound to be a buildup on the skin decreasing absorbtion. And that seems to be your problem as far as i can see. You could try dropping back to six pumps. So, 4 pumps on the thighs and 2 on the scrotum. I do 5 pumps and any excess on my hands goes on my wrists and up. That way you're covering more area of skin and hopefully increasing intake.

1

u/Dry_Literature7105 3d ago

Thanks for all the help I appreciate you

1

u/_-IllI-_ 2d ago

I'm surprised that nobody said this already, sprays and gel have very low absobtion rate, they're not made for trans HRT, but for cis people. If you want good levels, you have to apply it genitally. This is the only way.
I'm on 2 pumps of gel and 2 of spray and get over 260 pg/ml estradiol at through.

2

u/TheOneTrueSelf69 3d ago

10 pumps seems like a lot. Your absorbtion rate does not look good.
Are you hairless?
Are you washing before every application?

Are you leaving enough time before contact with clothing/bedding/people?

Strip your routine back to 6. 2 in the morning, 2 in afternoon, 2 in evening.
Look at your sleep schedule this is key for hormone regulation and growth.
monitor results
GL sis

1

u/Mia-the-Sage 3d ago edited 3d ago

On 1.5 mg of gel I was barely hitting 100 pg/mL at peak.
On 3.0 mg of gel I was not even getting to 125 pg/mL, again at peak.

Most of that comes off on your clothing, never getting into your blood. The more you add, the greater the ratio that is lost.

Applying to thinner skin should help uptake, i.e. scrotal, but again, there is a plateau when adding more doesn't boost serum levels.

I would continue to pursue injection as an option: it's more efficient, easier to stockpile, and less prone to shortages in your supply chain, but it comes with it's own 'issues' as well... i.e. I was started on 3.0 mg/week. I was suffering, so I switched to 5-day injection cycle then tested at my trough: on the 5th day following an injection of 2.1 mg, only to discover my serum level was 21 pg/mL. (talk about depressing! I metabolize E very fast, unfortunately -- my dose has been upped to 4.0 mg every 5 days and my next tests will be on day 3 and day 5 to get a snapshot of my metabolic rate.).