I talked about starting on hormone replacement therapy back in November. I started on a very low dose, as you might imagine since people react to the hormones very differently, and there can be negative, and even dangerous side effects.

So I started on some baby doses, and that was fine by me. I didn’t expect to feel anything, or should I say didn’t expect to feel any changes, and I didn’t. Which is good, because it also means I didn’t feel any negative side effects.

So my doctor, (who isn’t a doctor at all, but a nurse practitioner) increased my dosages on Thursday. The Estradiol (a form of estrogen) has doubled, and the drug that blocks testosterone, Spironolactone, has gone up four times.

Will I feel that? I don’t know. It takes a long time for hormone replacement therapy changes to happen, even longer in older people. And even though I don’t feel anything, my hormone levels changed quite a bit on the low doses.

Estrogen increased 79%, from 48.8 pg/ml to 87.3. Testosterone decrease by 85%, from 526 ng/dl to 77.

And no, I don’t know what either pg/ml or ng/dl mean.

But I know those are pretty big percentages of change. Ideally, though, testosterone will be as close to zero as we can get it, and estrogen should be between 200 and 400 pg/ml, so I have a way to go there.

What’s it all mean?

To you, nothing.

But these are numbers trans people pay attention to because they are signposts of change. And change is what we’re all after isn’t it.

Anyway, I said I’d let you know, so here I am, letting you know. No change!

WRITTEN BY A HUMAN