One of the most basic facts about biology we have known for decades is that a woman's estrogen levels are supposed to go up and down quite significantly during the course of her cycle. A cycle that starts around the same time as Puberty and which ends during menopause.
It makes no sense to me that in spite this being common knowledge doctors and even fellow trans people will parrot the idea that you can just average a woman's cycle out and as long as you stay around that average (often far below average) you'll be fine.
To me this comes from the transphobic idea that trans women and cis women are these fundamentally different creatures who respond to estrogen very definitely.
I didn't test this intentional at first but "luckily" Hrt isnt a thing in my country (trans people as far as the medical system is concerned don't exist) so I've been forced to DIY. As a result of fumbling around trying to figure out my doses without really checking levels I came to realize multiple things.
My sex drive changes depending on my dose. High doses meant for the week my libido would be very high low doses meant the opposite.
Where I felt changes (my skin stretching from fat redistribution) changed depending on dosage. Typically a lower dose meant more chest development while a higher dose meant I felt more stretching in my hips)
Emotional changes where either more present or less present depending levels
After doing a bit o research I found that all these things are natural things the majority of women go through during their cycle.
The trans people who completely lose their ability to have a libido are likely just on a dose which represents a low for them and since they constantly stay at a low they don't experience what their natural libido is supposed to be.
And on the flip side the trans people who become hyper sexual have the reverse issue. They are constantly at a level which represents a "high" for them meaning they never get a break from it and are also robbed of what a natural libido is supposed to feel like.
I'm tired of people trying to claim at x dose you should experience changes as if looking feminine is the only function of estrogen in the human body and as if "average levels" Don't already look way different from person to person.
Trans women are normal women and shouldn't be robbed of as natural of a hormone system as possible. Our current system is working backwards from the idea that trans women are just men who "want" To look like women when that's not true.
uhm so first of all, the medical doses that doctors prescribe you are set to avoid getting sued. if you take high / low levels, something might happen to your body that is outside the range that was tested. so the doctor can not take responsibility for that. this is why they don't recommend it. however, that doesn't mean that you can't do it. the pills are in your hand, you can take as many/little as you like and nobody can stop you.
that being said, i really don't like the idea of recommending people to experiment around with medical doses on their own. things can go wrong when people accidentally overdose. if you want to experiment, you need to listen to the feedback of your body closely. if you can't do that, because you don't feel your own body, then better not experiment.
also when you write
I really don't like the idea of a "normal libido" is supposed to feel like. like, this sounds a whole lot like "there should be a normal amount of horniness that you should experience and any more or less than that is a deviation from the norm". medicine is not supposed to make you normal. it is supposed to make you healthy, which are very different things. and health includes well-being, which is different levels for everyone.
on top of that, when you write
that is your experience. mine is very different. i don't take estrogen, but my sex drive is highest when i take t blockers, so when i have the least amount of sex hormones in my brain, ironically.
How much E do you have to take for an "accidental overdose"? Who slips up and injects themselves with a liter of EEn?
I believe that "overdosing" doesn't have to mean "single lethal dose". It can also mean "persistently taking damaging doses over a long time"
So "intentionally overdosing" as opposed to "accidentally" like that person said.
Would it be intentional, if you didn't know it would be harmful? Think of the insane bull that Clavicular was doing, taking toxic amounts of hormones to the result of going sterile. In my mind at least, he appeared to be mentally ill, and his intention wasn't to overdose (and therefore go sterile).
Would you call that intentional? If so, sure. All this is kinda quibbling with meanings, I don't think it matters a lot, but I wouldn't.
Tl;dr an E overdose is not possible
You're all over the place here,. I'll try to answer all your questions and untangle all these crossed loops.
An "accidental overdose" is ODing on a drug unintentionally. If you OD because you did not even look at dosage recommendations, or you did and ignored them, then that's intentional.
If I open my sink cabinet and just close my eyes and drink a cleaning solution, I am not "having an accident". I did not know what I drank, I did not know what it's effects are, but I did know that was a bad idea and I willfully put myself at extreme risk.
When it comes to Clavicular, he did not accidentally OD, he was intentionally, willfully, knowingly putting himself into harm over and over. That man is so very obviously mentally disturbed and committing self-harm. His sterilization, though he may not have specifically set out to do it, was certainly part of this intentional self harm.
To reach the LD50 of estrogen, the point at which 50% of people will die, you have to inject yourself with 77 gallons of EEn solution! Even if you put E into your veins pure, you will asphyxiate from lack of red blood in your veins, long before you die of estrogen toxicity.
40% of us are going to commit suicide. 40%. To even hint at the idea you could OD on E, in a society where we are ignored and untreated to the point where we are eating bullets, is extremely dangerous.
I am not "quibbling with meanings" with you . I am explicit yelling to the sky and anyone who can hear me, to tell them to do what they need! It is far far far far more dangerous to simply live in your trans body while receiving less E than you need, than it is to experiment.
You can not OD on E.
I now understand what you were trying to say, and I have to first clarify, you're absolutely right in this case.
Also, being a trans person today sucks indeed.
What I was focusing on with my previous comment was more on the Word-Nerd side of things, what overdosing means, by common use, and my use-vote of what it should mean.
Being a bit of an HRT nerd too though, I have to note that outside of this very specific case of estradiol, experimenting with medication dosage can actually have severe negative effects, and that includes many other parts of the HRT family of treatments.
I'm going to be brief, but, for a couple of examples:
Yes gpt, don't fuck around like a silly gal with just any medication.
But
Do fuck around with injectable estradiol all you want.
Well fuck. Communication is hard. What are you trying to say? Or is this conversation kinda overdone and missing the point? I am genuinely curious about what you think in this case, you don't have to work to convince me of something.
Your phrasing and formatting is chat gpt. That's what I meant by "yes gpt". If you want to discuss this, that's fine with me. Are you passing your ideas through them because English is your second language, or because you are autistic, or are you yourself a datal person and that's just your natural cadence?
We agree on estrogen. I just wanted to make sure the last statement about estrogen in this chain is the most important statement because you clouded the conversation with warnings about other medications.
Injectable estradiol is harmless and you can't OD on it.