Nope, that'll come later when I start weight cycling and taking Domperidone on my gaining cycles
no tiddy pics for anyone though, unless I get a bf at some point.I just take one drop and let it absorb for 2-3 mins under my tongue and then swallow it with a bit of water. If 20 drops = 1mL and there is 50mg minoxidil in 1mL, that should mean I'm dosing about 2.5mg. Also keep in mind I'm not doing this every day.
what's your current hrt dosage?
"My regimen"
How often should i do it ?? And how do i know if it is effective?? any sides?Nope, that'll come later when I start weight cycling and taking Domperidone on my gaining cycles
I just take one drop and let it absorb for 2-3 mins under my tongue and then swallow it with a bit of water. If 20 drops = 1mL and there is 50mg minoxidil in 1mL, that should mean I'm dosing about 2.5mg. Also keep in mind I'm not doing this every day.
minoxidil half life is 22 hours. By diluting your minoxidil in water (1:1), you can achieve ~1mg a day with one drop.
Holy ghost, you are at 15mg/14 day. EEn is best spread on 7 days cycle to avoid peaks. I use this simulator as a reference:
transfemscience.org
How is your hair on top/crown?? also after how many months does gyno went visible on T-shirts??
I know about this and even thought about what you are suggesting: injections every week. However, there is no evidence that this is better for hair growth. There is also speculation that E receptors are dulled if the E level is stable, and respond better to E if the E level fluctuates. Considering all this, I decided not to change anything in the mode and just continue, because it is convenient and I see the result. Thanks for the nice calculator with graphs, it's interesting.Holy ghost, you are at 15mg/14 day. EEn is best spread on 7 days cycle to avoid peaks. I use this simulator as a reference:
Injectable Estradiol Simulator
A simulator for estradiol levels with injectable estradiol esters.
Select your choice of E2 and use repeat. You can see the difference between 7 and 14 days with EEn. Do you see that valley at 14 days? tthat's what you want to avoid. if your E serum level is fine, my recommendation would be to half the dose and poke yourself weekly.
Progresses slowly, as does temple hair
When you took bicalutamide alone did you have any hair thickenning and improvement??
That's actually a really good insight, will the additional water mess up the solution though? I may take a sacrificial bottle and try to dilute it 1:1 like that soon to see. 2.5mg seems higher than I really need, given that people in the sublingual study got pretty decent results from like as low as 0.45mg. And the lower I go, hopefully the lower my chances of hypertrichosis/bloat/skin sides.
Idk what your goals are or even enough about OM to give you recommendations like that. I can only say what I'm doing which is 1 drop 2-3x a week (topical 5% on days where I don't do oral). As for how to know if its working: if it grows hair its working. Lol. For sides, watch out for bloat (water retention), skin changes, heart/blood pressure problems, hypertrichosis, edema.
I'm not trying to be obtuse but are there any studies you know of that point to stable levels being bad? AFAIK, stable levels are preferable in the majority of trans girls doing HRT. This is why I'm on a 3.5 day cycle with EV for example: more stable levels, less intense peaks/valleys. It helps a lot with keeping mood stable and personally I feel like I am getting better results this way too. This is the reason most trans girls now prefer to get pellet implants whenever possible: they offer the most stable levels available and most girls say they get better results from them. Dr Powers says that this is partly because of the stability, but also because pellets (and injections as well, but to a lesser degree) do not spike SHBG as much as other delivery methods. He claims that the best indicator of feminization on a lab result is not E2 levels directly, but Free E2 % (with 1-2% being 'ideal'). Transfemscience has a relatively accurate calculator for this if you have any recent lab results. SHBG binds to estrogen and prevents it from acting in the tissues around the body, which is what free E2 does. Hence it being higher = better feminization, and likely better hair growth as a result. I'd recommend reading his subreddit a bit (/r/drwillpowers), maybe going over his V6.0 powerpoint presentation, etc. Boron is a nice supplement to take to increase free E2 % as it binds to SHBG and prevents it from gobbling up E2. The formula for getting the best feminization is not a simple one: you want your E2 levels high, but not so high that it spikes SHBG and lowers Free E2%. This level is different for everyone, some people can go up to 700pg/mL trough levels without SHBG becoming a problem and others have problems keeping it in line with Dr Powers goals at like 300pg/mL trough.
the only reason to mess it up is if you were using it topical too. then you would need to add Ethanol. But oral, not at all. It's like saying your saliva would mess up the solution you are putting in your mouth.
You are not obtuse and absolutely spot on on that one. The peaks and valleys are really bad for everything in your body including your hair. I was on EV with 7 days then went to 3.5 days for the same reason. Guess what: hair recovered much faster on smaller cycles. In fact, Lena recommended the half cycle for EV and EEn (she has amazing hair btw.) the fluctuations that are caused by longer cycles are really bad for your hormone balance, your hair (why would I want to have half the E level on the last day?) and to your mood. I can backup what I am saying. I doubt there is any real science on this fluctuating model or any studies showing it's better, because it's not.
I was mostly concerned that the additional water would mess up the solubility of minoxidil in solution, cause it to precipitate out, or that the water wouldn't play nicely with the eth/PG mixture and it wouldn't mix properly causing the dosing to be inconsistent.
No, I continued to go bald. Therefore, I had to switch to HRT.
I have not seen any research on this topic, only read about it from someone for a very long time. I'm not sure about that myself. However, since my T is suppressed and my E levels are always in the female range, I have no problem. But more importantly, the quality of hair in women improves during pregnancy, when the E level is very high. Therefore, I do not know which levels are the best for hair and decided to just not fool myself and do it as it is more convenient.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
I read this. Powers said that the optimal E level is between 300 and 900 pg / ml. This is exactly the range that I cover the peaks and troughs of levels.
I know he is not an authority but there is a reason that his waitlist of new patients is so long. He's one of the only doctors in the US that actually listens to his patients and tries to stay on the cutting edge of trans science. Girls from all over the country fly in to see him and are happy to pay for flights and hotels to do so because he gets them results when other doctors do not. I realize that doesn't guarantee his ideas are the best, but I am happier with my progress since adopting his methods. I've gotten more feminization in just the last few months than I had in years of doing things the old school way. And while feminization may not be the goal for you, hair growth and feminization go hand in hand when you're talking about HRT. You are going to get feminization as is with the regimen you are on, so imo you might as well try to max out your results through any means possible. Especially when the only change you're talking about making is dosing frequency and maybe adding a very inexpensive supplement such as boron. It's not a huge change to make but the potential benefits are massive.No, I continued to go bald. Therefore, I had to switch to HRT.
I have not seen any research on this topic, only read about it from someone for a very long time. I'm not sure about that myself. However, since my T is suppressed and my E levels are always in the female range, I have no problem. But more importantly, the quality of hair in women improves during pregnancy, when the E level is very high. Therefore, I do not know which levels are the best for hair and decided to just not fool myself and do it as it is more convenient.
The main thing is to raise E enough for T to fall to the castration level. The rest, I think, does not play a significant role.
Therefore, I adhere to the rule T <35-50, E> 200-300
There is research that a T level of less than 20-30 is more likely to be cured of prostate cancer than a T between 20 and 50. Therefore, the key for me is reducing T
Prognostic significance of castrate testosterone levels for patients with intermediate and high risk prostate cancer - PMC
Testosterone level of < 50 ng/dL has been used to define castrate level after surgery or after androgen deprivation treatment (ADT) in metastatic prostate cancer (PC). To evaluate the effect of two different castrate testosterone levels, < 50 and < ...
I read this. Powers said that the optimal E level is between 300 and 900 pg / ml. This is exactly the range that I cover the peaks and troughs of levels.
I can't help but add that Dr.Powers is not an authority. For example, Powers claims that taking Bicalutamide without E will make you feel like sh*t because you won't have a dominant hormone. Just an idiot.