So as the title suggests I’m about to start DIY HRT soon, due to waiting lists for official HRT being long as hell (at least one year and I am just about to have everything to get put on the list). So I did some research on transfemscience.org and I also found someone through which I could get access to Injections (from voix Celeste) and Cyproterone Acetate (i will refer to it as CTA, because fuck that name). I will try to get Blood work done next month beforehand so that I know what my levels are, but I Am assuming, that my T shouldn’t be that high (I always struggled with building up muscle mass and dont have that much thick body hair). The expected levels for my injections have been calculated using the simulator on transfemscience.org. Here are the graphs
Currently my plan on dosage and bloodwork looks like this:
- 1: Get levels checked
- 2: Do a first injection with 5mg E and wait a week
- 3: 3 weeks with 3mg E for levels to stabilise at around 150-200 ng/ml
- 4: Get another Bloodworm done (so in total 4 weeks after the first injection)
- 5: Depending on where my T-Levels are suppress them with CTA (I have no exact clue how much I will need, but depending on how close I Am to the goal of levels below 50 ng/ml I will probably start with a small dose like 2.5 or so mg/d)
The first dose with 5mg is used as a “kick starter” because as you can see in the graphs, after one week I Am landing directly at the low of the 3mg steady state.
In terms of fine tuning I think that its probably a good idea to wait 4 weeks after changing intake to give my levels enough time to settle. This is based on the about 4 weeks it takes for the E levels to reach the steady state after starting the therapy (this can be seen in the graphs). My goal is to land within the range of about 150-200 ng/ml for E and <50 ng/ml for T. I am aiming at these levels due to these levels, at least according to the introduction for transfem HRT, having the best feminizing (my autocorrect constantly changes this to demonizing lol) effects and at the same time minimizing other risk factors like liver toxicity or blood clots. I Am healthy, so I should be fine, but better safe than sorry.
Now my additional questions:
- Is there anything that I should also get regularly checked except E and T (The introduction to transfem HRT article mentions prolactine levels and to get regular MRIs with CTA, but says, this is only needed when going above 12.5 mg/d, which has no therapeutic value, so I am not going there)?
- Is 4 weeks a good enough interval to get blood work done after adjusting intake?
- Is there anything, that I should know about in terms if the safety of injecting (apart from that I need a good enough syringe/needle)?
- Anything else that I should consider that I did not mention here?
+1 for monotherapy (blocking with high E), and not taking blockers
It is better to have separate needles for drawing and injecting - both to prevent a blunted or dulled needle which can cause more bruising or trauma, and also for cleanliness reasons.
I like to use Leur lock 1 mL syringes with no deadspace to prevent waste. I find 18G cores my vials, so I draw with 1 inch (25 mm) length 21G needles and inject with 1/2 inch (13 mm) length 27G needles.
I prefer a thinner needle for drawing as it’s less harsh on the rubber stopper. Since DIY vials are used for a long time I figured it would be a good thing to prioritize. But yeah you’re right about switching needles being better.
I have cored vials with 18G, but never with 21G - though my EV vials are not lasting as long as DIY vials, usually a DIY vial might be used for a whole year? Honestly that’s not the best, a vial can get contaminated, and the official medical advice is to bin vials older than a month, though I use all my vials longer than a month, I wasn’t using them for 12 months.
My current post-op dose is 2 mg EV once a week, so a 100 mg vial theoretically lasts me a little less than a year now, but back on my pre-op monotherapy doses the same vial usually lasted around 60 days.
I’ll report back if 21G cores a vial, but I have a hard time getting thinner needles to actually penetrate the rubber without bending, and of course drawing takes much longer, otherwise it seems like a good idea to protect the vial.
Some friends have had 21G eventually core their vials, but I doubt it’s assured that it will happen. There’s also techniques to mitigate the coring risk a bit, like the penetrating the rubber stopper at 45 degree thing and such.
I have heard of 21G coring vials too, so I agree it’s not a guarantee.
I do use the technique of penetrating at first at 45 degrees and with the needle pointing up, etc. - that might be part of why I have trouble with smaller gauges is that this technique damages the needles when they are too thin.
Do you just stick the smaller gauge needle straight into the rubber, then?
Yep. With a thin enough needle that technique is not required to spare the rubber stopper, and as you say the 45 degree thing tends to bend the needle (when it’s a high gauge)