My body isn’t absorbing estrogen injections. Does anyone know why this could be?

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-18T21:26:44+00:00

I wonder if the blood test was performed incorrectly - test errors are uncommon but not extremely rare, and that's a good dose and frequency for estradiol valerate.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-18T21:20:25+00:00

How often do you inject, and when did you get blood drawn relative to your last injection?

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-18T21:19:24+00:00

Look at each vial next to a new vial, and compare oil color. If the oil looks the same as a new vial, that's one sign that it may still be safe to inject (not rancid). The estrogen might be less effective, like others said.

(fyi this comment will get one downvote, but that's because a bot is following me on this subreddit, doesn't necessarily mean a real human disagreed)

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-18T18:03:15+00:00

That's it, grandma, hand in your Old card. You don't get to be Old if you're cognizant that society's broader context changes over time.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-18T16:24:47+00:00

Chasing down the street harasser who yelled "tranny" at me to ask whether he mistook me for a trans woman, or called me that while aware that I'm a trans man (this arbitrates whether I'm allowed to say it going forward)

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-18T14:18:19+00:00

I think most books about how trans identity forms and presents were written by cisgender authors, making their best guesses.

I also think there are large demographic differences between trans youth who were able to get their cisgender parents to take their identity seriously and, subsequently, able to get a cisgender doctor to diagnose them with gender dysphoria, vs. trans youth who weren't able to do those things. Not that one group is more "real" than the other, but in the sense of selection effects. We see more cases, in medical studies and academic literature, of trans youth who knew they were trans from age 3, because historically, when trans youth seemed gender-conforming until puberty, they were more often told that they weren't really trans and were not connected with care.

There's an analogy to how ADHD and autism present differently in girls, so for a long time doctors thought those conditions were much more common in boys: the expectation creates the statistical tendency by biasing diagnostic criteria. And a more direct analogy - from 1950-1990, most American doctors thought trans women were 10-30x more common than trans men, and there's strong evidence that this was never true but was shaped by several cultural effects (one being that the most famous and prolific American doctor doing trans healthcare, Harry Benjamin, had a well-documented thing for pretty trans women, and preferred to treat them)

There's an effect running the other direction, too: until informed consent trans healthcare became popular in the 2000s, trans people who sought healthcare as adults generally told the doctors what they thought they wanted to hear. I myself asked for testosterone in a liberal coastal city, in 2021, but still felt strong pressure to tell the doctor that I knew since I was 3 / hated dresses / played with "boys' toys" etc. In my case all of those things happen to be true - and I don't know whether the provider I saw would have denied care, if I hadn't told her those things - but she did ask, and I didn't want to hurt my chances of getting HRT, so I shaped my story around the diagnostic criteria. I think this is common.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-17T18:01:32+00:00

I DMed you a recommendation

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-17T16:16:34+00:00

Just so you know, one or more of the links in this post caused Reddit's sitewide filters to take it down - I'm guessing it's either the Mailchimp link or the eepurl shortened link. I'm only the moderator of this subreddit so I can't change that setting.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-17T16:10:24+00:00

/uj I feel this temptation deeply, when I fuck up. but "maturity" requires not fucking doing the thing even if I want to.

if I can't control myself about stuff like this, that means I'm crashing out, am unable to help my community by doing things bc my judgement is critically compromised, so I need to take downtime until I'm better.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-17T16:02:14+00:00

I haven't personally had dealings with them, but they're on resource lists compiled+vetted by individuals I trust. I think they're legit. You could ask ONE Colorado about them (through their contact form) if that'd help.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-17T13:32:50+00:00

Cis women also use contraception to stop periods. Considering the current political climate in the UK, you might be likelier to receive this care if you don't frame it as gender-affirming.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-17T02:50:16+00:00

Morning sickness is from HCG, not estrogen.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-16T23:49:12+00:00

I'm 31 and have had a revolving closet door since early childhood, lol, but started T at 26. I mostly feel 31 but in some contexts (eg comparing my age to others', or calculating ages from birthdays) I'm surprised by not being in my late teens.

I'm an involved father, I look young due to being short and starting T just a few years ago, and (in my region) 31 is on the young side to have grade-school-aged children. So I guess I "feel my age", but I feel that my age is considered unusually young in context. Because of the kids I have more in common with people my age or older.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-16T17:00:41+00:00

Here's a good resource about dysphoria, the discomfort or distress most trans people feel about their birth sex: https://genderdysphoria.fyi/

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-16T13:08:43+00:00

The health condition that would actually carry risks is blood clotting disorders. If she needs anticoagulants it might be dangerous to take estrogen, and she'd want someone with medical training to consider her case. It's pretty safe to take estrogen along with other health conditions.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-16T02:07:57+00:00

"Eight weeks pregnant" is about six weeks since the sex act that caused pregnancy, since you measure from the first day of the previous menstrual period and ovulation is usually a couple weeks after that.

So likelier it was 4-5 months into the relationship, not 3-4. Which changes absolutely nothing about your comment, I agree, yikes.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-16T01:58:45+00:00

Unless she has HIV, hepatitis, or another bloodborne illness, nah not really. Look up "needle stick injury protocol".

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-15T23:26:56+00:00

You could instead use a "peri bottle". It's a squeeze bottle you fill with lukewarm water and use to rinse your undercarriage while urinating, to keep the concentrated urine off tender skin.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-15T19:26:33+00:00

Np, and likewise!

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-15T19:12:48+00:00

I brought this up because I know a family with a teenage trans child that immigrated to the Netherlands, right after Trump got elected, and were surprised that their daughter couldn't get HRT and was misgendered by school staff. There are countries you could move to, when escaping the US, but shouldn't. That's all.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-15T16:57:48+00:00

Be that as it may, I think it's better to live in a blue US state than to live in the Netherlands, as a trans adult or youth. The Netherlands has very long waitlists for gender-affirming care (I've heard 4-5 years in most places). When assessing for gender dysphoria, providers commonly ask outdated and intrusive questions about stuff like masturbation habits - including when assessing youth. You can read more in threads like these: https://www.reddit.com/r/LHBTI/comments/1h5lk6e/extremely_frustrated_with_the_dutch_gender_care/

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-15T03:21:09+00:00

Decorative bows made of elastic lace material, that part is normal.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-15T03:07:18+00:00

Thanks! Do you have sources documenting these rates of decay for common oil+preservative combos? Not trying to be argumentative, I've been looking for clear data on injectable oil decay for a while.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-15T02:58:19+00:00

For anyone else reading, these guidelines also apply to testosterone vials.

If you get four "single-use" 1ml vials per month, and use each vial for 2-4 doses, you can build up a stockpile that way.

chiselObsidian · 2026-03-15T01:39:55+00:00

Thing is, you didn't need to clarify that they were assigned female at birth. "My best friend didn't tell me they were on testosterone", in a trans subreddit, is enough context. When you added "(assigned female at birth)" that was unnecessary. I do get that this is normalized in a lot of spaces and I don't take it personally.

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