Transfem
A community for transfeminine people and experiences.
This is a supportive community for all transfeminine or questioning people. Anyone is welcome to participate in this community but disrupting the safety of this space for trans feminine people is unacceptable and will result in moderator action.
Debate surrounding transgender rights or acceptance will result in an immediate ban.
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This community is supportive of DIY HRT. Unsolicited medical advice or caution being given to people on DIY will result in moderator action.
Posters may express that they are looking for responses and support from groups with certain experiences (eg. trans people, trans people with supportive parents, trans parents.). Please respect those requests and be mindful that your experience may differ from others here.
Some helpful links:
- The Gender Dysphoria Bible // In depth explanation of the different types of gender dysphoria.
- Trans Voice Help // A community here on blahaj.zone for voice training.
- LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory // A directory of LGBTQ+ accepting Healthcare providers.
- Trans Resistance Network // A US-based mutual aid organization to help trans people facing state violence and legal discrimination.
- TLDEF's Trans Health Project // Advice about insurance claims for gender affirming healthcare and procedures.
- TransLifeLine's ID change Library // A comprehensive guide to changing your name on any US legal document.
Support Hotlines:
- The Trevor Project // Web chat, phone call, and text message LGBTQ+ support hotline.
- TransLifeLine // A US/Canada LGBTQ+ phone support hotline service. The US line has Spanish support.
- LGBT Youthline.ca // A Canadian LGBT hotline support service with phone call and web chat support. (4pm - 9:30pm EST)
- 988lifeline // A US only Crisis hotline with phone call, text and web chat support. Dedicated staff for LGBTQIA+ youth 24/7 on phone service, 3pm to 2am EST for text and web chat.
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Hormones are active in the brain and if you are low it can cause mood problems. Most sources I've seen show a 4-5 day half-life for estrodial valerate. This can leave you pretty low before 7 days are up if you are on weekly injections. There are two ways that people typically work around this:
This is an example simulation with a once weekly 5mg injection vs a twice weekly 2.5mg injection to illustrate the difference between the two:
I guess what I am saying is that there are options if the dosing schedule you start off with causes you problems that you can work through with your Dr. Also, the 5mg I used for the simulation was a semi random number and not a recommended dose.
Thanks for explaining it. That makes good sense!
+1 for injecting every 3.5 days for more mood stability.
I will also say that my mood instability was reduced when I was able to lower my dose after an orchiectomy - but that was because testosterone seemed to make me feel miserable (the problem was not low estrogen, but the way low estrogen caused my body to produce T).
Either way, estrogen isn't going to "mess up your dopamine levels" - I think you are likely to feel better on injections than on pills, pills cause hour-by-hour fluctuations in your hormone levels while injected estradiol valerate has more gradual change in hormone levels compared to oral route, the half life being around 3.5 days.
Also, I struggled with depression and anxiety a lot pre-transition, and estrogen significantly improved my mental health - maybe you will have a similar experience?