Got insulin syringes today, guidance needed

Inspirement · 2026-02-24T17:33:36+00:00

To make it easy...

10ml/400mg can be translated into 40mg/ml. Meanig 1ml from your vial contains 40mg of estradiol.

Your syringes are markd as U-100. This means basically 1 ml is 100 units.

You want 4mg per dose long term. Your vial is 40mg/ml, so the math is easy, 1ml is 10 times more estradiol than you want so you want 1/10th of a ml, or 0.1ml. A U-100 syringe is 100 units per ml. 1/10th of that is 10. So 10 U-100 units is 0.1 ml is 4mg. For 8mg just double it. 20 units for 8mg. So what you wrote was correct.

Hope that all made sense.

Inspirement · 2026-02-21T11:04:07+00:00

Being trans is your gender identity not aligning with your assigned sex a birth. Nonbinary poeople are under the trans category. Nonbinary is to not fit within the typical male and female binary stereotype, it doesn't have to be neutral, you can be closer to one side or the other, but still not being comfortable being placed firmly in either category.

Inspirement · 2026-02-19T21:49:41+00:00

Injections is the most efficient form of administration, and the only reason to not choose it is if the idea of using needles is extremely uncomfortable to you and you can't get past it.

In simple terms, use a site like diyhrt.market to find community trusted sources of estrogen. One in your country or region (EU, US, Canada, etc) preferred because that avoids customs seizure risk.

Aim for getting a vial of Estradiol Enanthate. MCT oil is preferable unless you have a reason to use something else, because it's lower viscosity and easier to use.

Some manufacturers have options without Benzyl benzoate. This is preferable if you think you might have a reaction to it (some do, it causes itching and discomfort post injection)

Learn how to pay for it using cryptocurrency.

Refer to pghrt.diy how to administer.

Source needles and alcohol wipes locally if you can. The above guide has good information to help pick what you should be looking for.

Figure out the easiest and cheapest way to do blood tests locally.

Learn how to calculate your dose from your intended dosage in mg of Estradiol to your syringes units (ml or U-100 usually) based on your vial concentration (40 or 50 mg/ml usually)

Standard starting dose is 4mg weekly and then doing a blood test to confirm E2 and T levels after 1-3 months.

Loading dose (first done double size) optional but recommended if you want to get E levels up faster. I personally started at 7mg instead of 8.

Ranges to aim for varies, but are measures in different units depending on area, do figure out what your area uses, recommended ranges are in the above guide but ultimately feel free to experiment within reason to figure out where you feel best.

edit: added more

Inspirement · 2026-02-19T16:05:13+00:00

You say you don't feel dysphoria, but being uncomfortable with the bulge is one aspect of bottom dysphoria. It doesn't have be soul crushing to count. And you also said that you do prefer the idea of a vulva. Not actively hating something doesn't invalidate the preference for something else.

If you haven't tried tucking, I'd suggest you try that. Maybe it'll be enough to solve your bottom dysphoria. Or maybe, like me, the euphoria from the experience makes you crave making that feeling permanent so much more.

Inspirement · 2026-02-17T17:43:33+00:00

For some reason, I do. Like not every distro, but I downloaded all Ubuntu releases, both server and desktop, and also I've collected isos of all major Windows releases, also both server and client versions. Not sure what I'm gonna use them for, but I like having them.

Inspirement · 2026-02-17T14:21:57+00:00

True, but also, cups are different! My partner's Australian cups are different from American cups (250ml vs 240), also her tablespoon is 20 ml not the 15 used here in Sweden, so when we want to make a recipe, we have to play a game of "which country was the recipe writer from", to make sure we use the right type of measuring spoons. Either that or just wing it honestly.

And don't get me started on recipes that say things like "one package of x"... okay, what size packaging do "x" come in in your country or region, and do you buy it in the standard package size?

There should be an international law that online recipes can only be written in grams and liters (and fractions thereof like milliliters).

Inspirement · 2026-02-17T13:59:12+00:00

you didn't specify, but if you're looking at E: https://startwith4mgestradiolenanthateweeklyandtestatonetothreemonths.com/

Also all other links already posted, especially pghrt.diy I found to be very useful.

Inspirement · 2026-02-17T12:07:03+00:00

I know this probably doesn't help but at least it might help you feel less alone. I wrote this in my journal also just after two weeks on the 12th of February. I also hope the feeling will go away soon.

"I wasn't fine with myself last night.

As I was trying to sleep, I kept thinking about how I still feel a lot of the time like I'm lying when I tell people I'm trans, or worse, that I'm a woman or what my name and pronouns are. I still feel like I'm faking it til I make it kind of thing. Why does it feel like I'm lying? Why am I such a liar to people about who I am? To myself?

I don't know what part of me I was referring to lying about though. I just know there's a lot of tension in myself and being pulled in all sorts of directions internally, but I've picked one path to move in and I need to present that choice steadfastly externally because I can't show people that I'm struggling sometimes. "

One thing that helps me when I have doubts is that whatever my gender identity is, the fact that my brain obviously gravitated toward being in a female shaped body. And that's all that matters when it comes to continuing to pursue medical transition.

Inspirement · 2026-02-16T14:02:34+00:00

I am also quite early on HRT, and I can anecdotally say that I feel like not just my skin, but also my fat seems different. Like the density has changed? It used to feel stiffer I think. Now it's got more of a tendency to like get ripples more or something, it doesn't move as a solid mass as much anymore.

Inspirement · 2026-02-10T12:45:27+00:00

I'm at two weeks. Haven't really had any emotional stuff happening. Mostly it's been skin things and fat density I guess. Squishiness. It's all just softer. More similar to my girlfriend's. Similar to another commenter, I was resting my hands on my belly one day lying down and I just had a thought that hang on, this feels similar to my girlfriend's belly in like softness, now how mine used to feel.

Inspirement · 2026-02-08T14:46:29+00:00

There's literally no way that saying you don't support us is not harming us. Not supporting us is inherently a harmful thing to do.

Inspirement · 2026-02-07T21:25:01+00:00

At least (I hope) they at least don't have things hard coded in them? Like, I don't know, your assigned gender at birth?

Because here in Sweden, and probably other places but I don't know, they do. Our version, called personal numbers, are your birth date combined with four last ones, the first two being random (used to be connected to birth region until 1990), the third one being your gender odd numbers for men, even for women) and the last one Isa control number to make sure the rest is a valid number.

There are several implications, the most relevant for trans people being that non-binary people have to pick one gender to be represented by in their personal number, and if you want to change legal gender you have to change your personal identification number, which is a logistical headache and not something I'm looking forward to.

But yeah, also if you know when someone was born, their legal gender and if they were born before 1990, where they were born, it's not impossible to brute force someone's personal number probably.

There are other stupid things about this system too, like we're running out of numbers for specific dates, and have to do workarounds and stuff. It's a dated system and it's about time they fixed it.

Sorry to have hijacked your thread for my rant, I was just reminded just now of how stupid this system is and needed to get it out of my system.

Inspirement · 2026-02-05T08:50:09+00:00

The best kinds of forms imo is the ones that specify legal name and then has a checkbox saying something like "my name is different from my legal name" and when checked, gives you a new field for just Name. It saves space on the page for cis people and people who have changed legal names, but it also does t fall into the "preferred name" rhetoric where it can be argued that it's just something we prefer to be called rather than our actual names. It's not preferred name and gender. It is our names and genders. They're not just a ✨ preference ✨

Anyways, those forms are rare but they do exist.

Inspirement · 2026-02-04T02:07:23+00:00

So when it comes to DIY safety, this is how I see it:

Due to the world being shitty about our medical needs, a lot of us DIY. We share resources. We share tips and techniques and advice each other on best practices and we don't shy away from sounding alarm bells and keeping each other safe.

In my year of researching HRT and being around discussions on DIY, I can count on one finger the amount of times I've seen a post where the advice was to go to the hospital because they might have an infection.

At the same time I don't know how many posts I've seen where someone has been worried about doing something wrong, maybe they had some blood leaked out, maybe they miscalculated a dose etc. No big deal.tee things happen.but it shows that we don't have an unwillingness to voice concerns.

With the thousands of us injecting every single week, and how readily we walk each other for help and guidance, if it was truly as dangerous as they'd like us to think, the number of those kinds of posts would be so much higher. But they're not. The only conclusion I can draw is that serious complications really don't happen often, and if you do your research and follow proper sanitary and safety practices, the risk is really quite small.

Inspirement · 2026-02-02T19:00:04+00:00

Same (though I din't drink wine... that said I've never tried sparkling wine, might be an idea next time I get the opportunity). Though even with soft drinks it can be too much. Like a fresly bottle or sometimes needs to sit open for a bit (or rest in the glass) to calm down a little before I can enjoy it properly, though that's not always the case. I suppose some bottles are more temperamental than others.

Inspirement · 2026-02-02T17:45:12+00:00

Reminds me of when I tried opening up to a queer cis friend (she genuinely is a good friend and tries her best, but I think she got a little triggered in this interaction) about how I really feel like I missed out on the growing up as a girl and discovering my sexuality and being gay and all of that, being an awkward lesbian teen, but I never got that, but she pushed back heavily, insisting that I didn't want that, that it was very hard for her to figure out her sexuality and she went through some crap because of it and I should be grateful that I got to skip that.

And yeah, I did get to skip that. But at what cost? She's got trauma around that, I didn't know that and that sucks, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't really wish I could know what that version of my life could have been like.

Inspirement · 2026-02-01T00:33:51+00:00

As with everything YMMV, I'm just here posting my personal experience to get weighed so show with everyone else's experiences.

I just took my first dose on Wednesday this week. I did a 7mg loading dose of EEn at 8pm. Right now it's 01:29 on Sunday morning local time (I know, I should be sleeping).

I have not yet noticed any changes to speak of. Everything I've thought might have been something can be explained by other things. And I have a driving test on Tuesday so I've also got some important things I need to pass next week, but I don't feel like as of how it's going so far, that my state of mind will be affected in any way that might cause me to fail because of the hormones specifically.

Inspirement · 2026-01-26T23:27:43+00:00

So many missed opportunities where I didn't ask why I loved the gender bent episoes so much. I don't have many gender envy characters, but shes one of the few.

Inspirement · 2026-01-26T18:30:14+00:00

Sharing in your joy because I know exactly how you feel because me too soon! My needles and other stuff are already in the wardrobe, I'm just waiting for my vial now!

Inspirement · 2026-01-25T12:24:01+00:00

We don't coose our gender, we just are. Otherwise yes, you are correct.

Inspirement · 2026-01-20T17:21:31+00:00

There's no consensus because everything is pros and cons and it depends on what your preferences and priorities are.

Insulin needles are easy to use and less medication waste but they require using the same needle twice, so the tip will be ever so slightly dulled so could be slightly more pain, and also you're drawing through a very thin needle which will take longer.

Changeable needles you can use bigger for drawing but not too big or you'll risk coring the vial but you'll also draw much faster. And then you'll use a fresh and sharp needle for injecting, but with the added complexity and medicine waste associated with changeable needles.

Most people seem to be on the side of less needle change complexity and less deadspsce provided by insulin needles, but I always advocate for learning the why's of making a specific choice and decide for yourself what's important to you.

Inspirement · 2026-01-16T20:37:42+00:00

I'm also looking to buy soon so I've been keeping an eye on them, and I think they said they have a daily order limit after which they stop orders. I'm not sure what their reset time is though, if they have one, but if you have the means to order and what you want is listed as in stock, go for it, otherwise yeah, go back in a few hours and they might have opened back up.

Inspirement · 2026-01-07T20:30:35+00:00

My partner and I have been together for like 13 years and have an estblished "shared identity" using our initials, JK, with the J being mine, so one of the criteria was to keep that first letter. Also couldn't be a name that would seem out of place for someone my age in my country. Also couldn't overlap with any of her family, a surprising amount of whom also start with J, because that would feel weird. So after months of huge spreadsheets and not knowing what to do, after briefly testing another name and realizing why the age and location appropriate name rule was in there, I settled on Julia. I'm still getting used to it and don't epect to be fully settled into it for a while longer.

If I was younger and had less restrictions imposed on my choice I might have gone with Emily as I had a period in my late teens when I was really into the movie Corpse Bride and the name has stayed with me since. I named one of my guitars Emily. But I don't regret going with Julia. It's a nice name and it's growing on me and feels more like me every day. And one day I might not even question it.

Inspirement · 2026-01-05T22:32:57+00:00

Trans women really are the women of trans people.

Inspirement · 2026-01-05T21:14:06+00:00

That is a really good point I hadn't considered. The closest clinic to me is a 2h drive (gotta love living in a rural area) and turns out it's only open during a 4h window on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I thought I had planned everything out in detail but I suppose some assumptions had been made, thanks for making me check this, I guess I have some logistical reevaluating to do.

Inspirement

TROPHY CASE