So I recently got my bloodwork done. Apparently my hormone levels, for both estradiol and testosterone, are in the female reference range now.

This is pretty surprising to me because I’m only on 4mg daily, taken sublingually, with no anti-androgen. I had an inkling within a couple weeks that my body was perhaps reacting more readily to the low dosage than community wisdom suggested, but I didn’t expect to be capable of monotherapy with just pills.

I had read so many confident statements on Reddit about how such dosages without an anti-androgen is effectively just a placebo. It’s hard for me to believe that I just so happen to be such a huge outlier, so I wonder if perhaps more people could achieve monotherapy with oral forms of Estrogen if only they try to. Transfeminine people are often prescribed an anti-androgen when they start HRT, either Spirolactone or Cyproterone Acetate (CPA). The assumption that an anti-androgen is required is so taken for granted that medical providers jump straight into prescribing it.

I suspect another factor is how people looking to medically transition are typically extremely eager to do so, and the idea of spending months doing a gradual ramp up seems like forever, so they start immediately on a dosage regimen with a known high chance of working.

In any case, I’m elated that this works for me. I wasn’t so keen on the health side-effects of anti-androgens, though I was willing to take them if needed. If karyotype tests weren’t so expensive, I’d be interested in getting one, if only out of curiousity to see if perhaps I have an intersex chromosomal condition that makes me more predisposed towards Estrogen.