My New Career

My latest blood test results are in. Normal, except in the area of hormones and cholesterol. As always.

Oestrodiol level is a record high, 241 PMol/L! Of course, with the dose I'm on, anything less than 400 is distinctly odd. I know a woman on a similar dose of hormones whose level is 450, and she's having problems because of that. Most people would have 900-1200 at least. And I did have 195 pMol/L before HRT, so it's not exactly a huge increase, just over statistical signifcance in fact.

SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin) down, when it could be expected to be up. Prolactin down too, which is sorta good as too much is dangerous, but indicates that the HRT isn't doing quite what it should to my pituitary.

Testosterone now at midrange of female levels, very good since LH and FSH hormone levels indicate zero testicular activity. So I won't need T supplements when I'm post-op, and may indeed need anti-androgens.

Cholesterol.... not good. Pretty woeful in fact. The protective HDL is down from an already abnormally low 0.8 to 0.7, the dangerous LDL up from 2.2 in January to 4.1 now, definitely dangerous. Total cholesterol 5.2, double what it was before HRT began, but still a tadge lower than it was before the metabolic storm hit.

All in all, it looks like the matebolic storm is over, and my system is back to pre-storm levels, only modified by the HRT I'm on. I'd say "normal", but there's not much normal about it, it's normal for me, which is to say, as odd as it's always been. Bad inasmuch as feminisation will now be at the usual glacial rate for someone in their 40's, good inasmuch as maybe things will be more predictable, and the time before surgery when I have to discontinue HRT won't be the Hormone Hell that I experienced in May-July 2005, just before HRT.

I'm now in a pre-approval test programme for a new anti-cholesterol drug not yet available in Australia, which specifically targets LDL levels.

My new career? Experimental Animal (Voluntary)