If you take a high enough dose of estrogen, generally referred to as estrogen mono therapy, it will knock down your T levels. But high estrogen levels have some risks as well, and different doctors have different preferred approaches. My doctor is willing to do estrogen monotherapy, but I would have to switch from oral pills to injections as the higher dosages taken orally would be hard on the kidneys. Before switching to injections, I just wanted to see how finasteride worked for me. It is okay, but not perfect.
It is hard to tell if what I am experiencing is a side effect of the finasteride unrelated to my T levels, or it is due to some reduction in the effects of testosterone because of the mechanism of action of the finasteride. If it is the latter, switching to injections and doing monotherapy to lower my T could have the same effects. The fact of the matter is the penis functions better with testosterone in my system but testosterone also leads to hair loss, so trying to get both is somewhat of an imperfect balancing act.
But hey, I'm having the best sex of my life and the people I am attracted to think I am hot as hell so I don't mind a little experimentation to see what works best! Actually its super cool what we can do with a little hormonal alchemy.
"High" E dosages enough to knock down your T are not that high at all.
Also fin won't reduce your T, it might actually increase it, and by using fin instead of duta you still produce dht.
Chances are you are still irreversiblly masculinizing if you are on a low dosage of E (including oral). Please consider an actual T blocker, and consider a suitable medication to help with erections.
Im not on a low dose, I take 8mg oral estradiol per day. It’s just not a particularly high dose, just the highest my doctor is comfortable giving someone orally. I don’t care about the testosterone in my system I only want to stop hair loss (I’m very genderfucked non-binary). It was my doctor from the UCSF Transgender Care center that suggested finasteride may have effects similar to that of reducing T (specifically a more estrogen dominant arousal style). I’m already on cialis and previously I’d take 5mg a day normally and 10mg on days where I would have sex, which is a pretty high dose. On finasteride I’ve noticed reduced erection performance even with 15mg cialis which is the most I want to take in a day (20mg is the maximum recommended daily dose).
Also I’m 39, so whatever masculinization I’m due for I suspect has all happened already.
Alternatively it might be worth trying sublingual, turning pills into stickies for extended-release direct absorption (https://stickies.neocities.org/stickies though I suspect the author dosed low), or switching/supplementing with other routes of administration (you mentioned injections).
I mean I can just ask my doctor for a higher dose. I’m currently not interested in suppressing T if finasteride works for me. I literally just started finasteride so I’m going to evaluate it until my next appointment in December and decide with my doctor how to proceed. I actually explicitly do not want to suppress my T unless doing so would result in better erection performance than not doing so and taking Finasteride. I’m extremely happy with where my body is.
Honestly it’s a little unnerving being told by strangers on the internet I should change my HRT. I’ve got a transgender doctor at one of the best Trans care clinics in the country. I get that folks are trying to help but really I’m fine.
Right. I am not trying to suppress T. I’m super genderfucked non-binary and happy with T in my system. Estrogen has done wonders for me and I’m happy with that. I only want to prevent further recession of my hair line while optimizing erection performance. If suppressing T ends up being better for that I will try it. But I just started finasteride. I have a check up in September and at that time my doctor and I have already discussed that we can consider switching to injections and higher E doses if we want to suppress T instead of relying on Finasteride.
It’s just one thing at a time, and giving it some months to balance out in my system.
Honestly I have a transgender doctor at one of the best trans care clinics in the country. I’m all set. Just wanted to share that finasteride is not always without side effects. My doctor and I can figure out my HRT.
It is hard to tell if what I am experiencing is a side effect of the finasteride unrelated to my T levels, or it is due to some reduction in the effects of testosterone because of the mechanism of action of the finasteride. If it is the latter, switching to injections and doing monotherapy to lower my T could have the same effects. The fact of the matter is the penis functions better with testosterone in my system but testosterone also leads to hair loss, so trying to get both is somewhat of an imperfect balancing act.
But hey, I'm having the best sex of my life and the people I am attracted to think I am hot as hell so I don't mind a little experimentation to see what works best! Actually its super cool what we can do with a little hormonal alchemy.