I was on 2mg Estradiol pills for a bit over a month and I had a blood test that showed my levels were very good! Estradiol at 363 pmo/L (very close to 100 pg/mL) and T within the normal female range (I was taking low-dose CPA).

However, my liver wasn't happy so my doctor switched me to, safer, Sandrena gel sachets. I was originally instructed to take half a 1mg sachet every 2 days, but the pharmacist said that was weird and got confirmation that I can take a whole 1mg every 2 days instead.

I later looked online and got conflicting information about equivalent doses for different deliver-E methods. Generally, I think 1mg gel sachet is said to be roughly equivalent to a 2mg pill, but it can vary, and a wiki quote suggests you'd need 3mg to be as effective as a 2mg pill: "Topical estradiol gel at a dosage of 3 mg/day has been reported to be equipotent with 2 mg oral estradiol in terms of therapeutic effects and FSH suppression, as well as to produce similar estradiol levels."

I also found a UK site that specifically listed timing for blood tests, saying it should happen 4-6 hours after taking a pill or applying gel.

A helpful wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacokinetics_of_estradiol) has colourful graphs showing E levels over days/hours after taking it via various routes.

I had my most recent test a bit less than two hours after taking a pill. This may have artificially inflated my level a bit so the 2mg may not have been a sufficient dose for me, but it's difficult to tell because I'm confused by the graphs (or distracted by the colours).

My main concern is that the gel dosage and frequency I am currently taking is not enough, and I just don't know when I should take my blood test for helpful science reasons. If I take it 4-6 hours after application, it'll look high. If I take it 24 hours after (on my off day) it will be very low. (Graphs suggest that levels could be quite low after that time?)

I haven't felt much of anything in the past three weeks on a low dose of gel and I want to make sure I'm working toward a good, consistent level ASAP.

I read somewhere that it's always ethical to manipulate your blood test results if that will help you get the prescription results you want, but I do want to be open with my doctor (I have autism) about my concerns and wanting a higher dose and how I am testing.

I just don't know how long after a once-every-two-days gel application I should get a blood test if I want the data to be useful in my next appointment.

Does anyone with experience with gel and/or HRT blood tests have suggestions?!

(It would be so much easier if patches, with their gradual release and consistent levels over multiple days, weren't in such short supply right now!)

#HRT #Transgender #Trans #Gel #TheminisingHormoneTherapy #GenderFluid #TransMissionFluid