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It's been a bit over a year since I last shared my transition progress on here so I thought I want to update you all.
Here is my last post: https://phtn.app/post/lemmy.dbzer0.com/7781431
Forgot to add:
dose, route of administration, and lots of other factors play a role as well, though
Does it? Even when accounted for blood level of E2 and T?
Yes, there are many factors and reasons for that.
Certainly dose and route of administration do determine things like E2 blood levels and does impact T, but if you are taking oral, for example, your blood E2 levels are fluctuating throughout the day much more than with, for example, injections. Your blood labs are a single snapshot, not representative of your blood levels all the rest of the time. I always try to get my blood labs done at trough, just before my next injection, when my levels are likely to be the lowest.
Even what ester you use matters, e.g. injecting estradiol valerate (which has a shorter half-life) causes your blood levels to fluctuate (higher and then lower) than an ester like estradiol enanthate, which is slower and more gradual.
All of this can influence the feminizing effects, and of course genetics, diet, hydration, exercise, age, and so many other things can play a role as well.
Most of the estrogen taken orally is absorbed by the liver, so it's an inefficient method of raising blood estrogen levels, and anecdotally I notice a slower / reduced feminizing effect from trans women I know taking oral routes rather than injections.
Whether you've had surgery also plays a role, again anecdotes, but I've read reports that feminizing effects were slower before gonad removal and increased after surgery.
Anyway - when I see progress pics I want to know what dose, route of administration, and other relevant notes to contextualize the progress.
I know trans women IRL who have been on oral estrogen for over a year and seen very little effect despite "good" blood labs (she didn't have the numbers so I don't know what she thought "good" was, and she was just repeating what her doctors told her).
I know another trans woman IRL who has been on oral estrogen for months and still has male levels of testosterone and very mild feminization.
I also have a trans woman friend and colleague who has been on oral estrogen for nearly a year and she likes her results, but I've been on estrogen about the same amount of time with injections and I would subjectively say she hasn't feminized as much in the same amount of time.
Still, ultimately it's about what your goals and desires are, my friend has no motivation to change her setup and is happy with her changes. That's ultimately what's important.
For reference I take my estradiol through patches and take cypro as anti androgen.