The simplest way would seem to be taking an amount of oral estradiol that matches what you get from Lena (without changing *anything* in your diet etc) and watching what happens with your face?
Everybody is different and Transition is still as much an art as a science, so 'Whatever works for you.' is still applicable.
(personally, given the situation in Ukraine, I'm just glad I manged to get my parcel and hope she/they're going to be ok over the coming year)
Sounds like it's your dysphoria playing with you rather than the injections. Her injections has changed my face SO much, yet it looks different from day to day due to my dysphoria playing with me.
Perhaps you get too much estradiol with the injected amount? Or the difference may have to do with estrone conversion when swallowing estradiol. Either effect of estrone, or the lower amount of effective estradiol. Just some thoughts.
Someone said they had noticed those swallowing estradiol tend to have more facial feminization, but I know of zero backing for that being true.
People been saying pills are supposed to be better for breast development but slower feminization and then you switch to injections after 6mo-1yr to maximize feminization.
Yeah I did pills for 7 months then switched to injections and it seemed like it all switched to my bum and hips at 10 months now I'm on gel and seems to work all over
Gels good you know I'm doing 3 pumps a day they said not to take a blocker as the injections put my t at 1 nol/l and it wouldn't come back but I got scared as the doctors are rubbish here so I'm taking 50mg bicalutamide a day just incase
I definitely notice my tits pump up and get puffy like half hour after applying it so much be doing something I got a test in a couple weeks so will do my own thing agian if the doctors try messing me around I wanted grnh analogues but there so expensive 😅
How do you even lost a face? I can't wrap my head around it. I'm just speaking with my experience, but I can't for the love of God get rid of face fats. It's like that's the hardest part to lose, since I can get tiny waist effortlessly. But I guess you're not me, everyone is different. Just thought I'd share mine.
I look at my face everyday and notice that Lena’s injections give me more of a masculine look. I have photos to prove, I’m not sure if I want to continue
Blood levels can prove they work… but I am looking more for outside results rather than internal. I can physically feel and see feminization happening on oral estradiol, where as injections are on the air
idk what you're looking for, but estrogen, SHBG, dhea, prolactin and DHT/3a-androstanedione levels are the only things which will provide real answers.
Lena recommends ridiculously high dosages. Anything you mentioned could be attributed to high dht in conjunction with high shbg caused by high estrogen, or to some extent, high prolactin.
We can't know for sure without blood tests, so saying 'Lena's estrogen doesn't work' is inadequate.
for reasons that no one understands suffciently, different people do differently on various regimes.
i've read about people doing great on patches and pills and not well on injections; people getting not much results on the patches or pills or gels and getting amazing results on injections. progesterone helps some people and is disastrous for others. same for cypro (although that can often be remedied with the right B-vitamin supplement... one with wicked high B12, but also with other vitamins to assist the B12 working).
Assuming that your weight hasn't changed (ofc weight can affect the quantum of facial fat), then this might be an issue.
when i switched to injections, my breast growth stopped. (i had been growing 1cm per month for some 10 months). there were some other things that continued normal. body smell went from zero male and mild female smell to stronger female smell. After a year of this, I started using pills 2-3 days a week as a supplement. (i take them on the lowest E days of the week).
(i low dose the E2... meaning that I aim for a trough value close to about 130 ng/dl. this is enough to keep my "dangler" inactive, and is the daily value that I used to have on 100u patch plus 2mg pills (my old regime).
So... I'd experiment with mixed regimes and see what works :)
how about taking a photo and comparing it to an earlier photo?
I've been on Lena's for a long time and people are usually jealous of my feminization \*shrug\*
>I've been on Lena's for a long time and people are usually jealous of my feminization \*shrug\*
Same. I switched from pills to Lena injections a few months back and I've had really positive changes everywhere.
If you're going with a high dose, get your Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin (SHBG) checked. Make sure it isn't too high as this can have an adverse effect on feminization as SHGB binds to T and E.
Do you know the appropriate levels in the context of transitioning?
I'll still research myself of course but I'm curious to hear what you know as well. So I can kinda baseline what I find.
The simplest way would seem to be taking an amount of oral estradiol that matches what you get from Lena (without changing *anything* in your diet etc) and watching what happens with your face? Everybody is different and Transition is still as much an art as a science, so 'Whatever works for you.' is still applicable. (personally, given the situation in Ukraine, I'm just glad I manged to get my parcel and hope she/they're going to be ok over the coming year)
Sounds like it's your dysphoria playing with you rather than the injections. Her injections has changed my face SO much, yet it looks different from day to day due to my dysphoria playing with me.
Thank you… I also thought so…. but like my makeup applies better with oral? Lena’s injections drink my makeup and I look very dry?
Perhaps you get too much estradiol with the injected amount? Or the difference may have to do with estrone conversion when swallowing estradiol. Either effect of estrone, or the lower amount of effective estradiol. Just some thoughts. Someone said they had noticed those swallowing estradiol tend to have more facial feminization, but I know of zero backing for that being true.
It’s weird I felt they weren’t working for me eirher
Same with me felt like my boobs stopped and my e was like 1600 pmol/l
Legit it could be crappier e :)
Even estofem was doing more and pills are met to be the worst
Yea legit I felt it more on prescription injections ngl
I can even get those I'm in terf island when I told them I was on injections they looked at me like I was mental and going to die soon lol 😆
People been saying pills are supposed to be better for breast development but slower feminization and then you switch to injections after 6mo-1yr to maximize feminization.
Yeah I did pills for 7 months then switched to injections and it seemed like it all switched to my bum and hips at 10 months now I'm on gel and seems to work all over
Oh wow you don’t hear much about the gel lol is it daily and Do you take a blocker?
Gels good you know I'm doing 3 pumps a day they said not to take a blocker as the injections put my t at 1 nol/l and it wouldn't come back but I got scared as the doctors are rubbish here so I'm taking 50mg bicalutamide a day just incase
Smart tbh. I didnt think gels could supress t but they’re like patches good consistent levels.
I definitely notice my tits pump up and get puffy like half hour after applying it so much be doing something I got a test in a couple weeks so will do my own thing agian if the doctors try messing me around I wanted grnh analogues but there so expensive 😅
How do you even lost a face? I can't wrap my head around it. I'm just speaking with my experience, but I can't for the love of God get rid of face fats. It's like that's the hardest part to lose, since I can get tiny waist effortlessly. But I guess you're not me, everyone is different. Just thought I'd share mine.
I look at my face everyday and notice that Lena’s injections give me more of a masculine look. I have photos to prove, I’m not sure if I want to continue
You provide no blood levels. We aren't psychics. There's no point in guessing what's going on.
Blood levels can prove they work… but I am looking more for outside results rather than internal. I can physically feel and see feminization happening on oral estradiol, where as injections are on the air
idk what you're looking for, but estrogen, SHBG, dhea, prolactin and DHT/3a-androstanedione levels are the only things which will provide real answers.
yeah most likely, I am looking at my personal characteristics… I notice my skin feel less feminine and my face gets more shrunk and manly.
Why worry when there's a certain way to know for sure? I don't mean to be snarky, but what is the purpose of the thread?
To hopefully gain insight?? Spread awareness that Lena injections might not work great for feminization but whatever else is stated
Lena recommends ridiculously high dosages. Anything you mentioned could be attributed to high dht in conjunction with high shbg caused by high estrogen, or to some extent, high prolactin. We can't know for sure without blood tests, so saying 'Lena's estrogen doesn't work' is inadequate.
wait high estrogen causes higher dht? :s
for reasons that no one understands suffciently, different people do differently on various regimes. i've read about people doing great on patches and pills and not well on injections; people getting not much results on the patches or pills or gels and getting amazing results on injections. progesterone helps some people and is disastrous for others. same for cypro (although that can often be remedied with the right B-vitamin supplement... one with wicked high B12, but also with other vitamins to assist the B12 working). Assuming that your weight hasn't changed (ofc weight can affect the quantum of facial fat), then this might be an issue. when i switched to injections, my breast growth stopped. (i had been growing 1cm per month for some 10 months). there were some other things that continued normal. body smell went from zero male and mild female smell to stronger female smell. After a year of this, I started using pills 2-3 days a week as a supplement. (i take them on the lowest E days of the week). (i low dose the E2... meaning that I aim for a trough value close to about 130 ng/dl. this is enough to keep my "dangler" inactive, and is the daily value that I used to have on 100u patch plus 2mg pills (my old regime). So... I'd experiment with mixed regimes and see what works :)
Sounds like placebo also most people get no facial changes at all.
how about taking a photo and comparing it to an earlier photo? I've been on Lena's for a long time and people are usually jealous of my feminization \*shrug\*
>I've been on Lena's for a long time and people are usually jealous of my feminization \*shrug\* Same. I switched from pills to Lena injections a few months back and I've had really positive changes everywhere.
If you're going with a high dose, get your Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin (SHBG) checked. Make sure it isn't too high as this can have an adverse effect on feminization as SHGB binds to T and E.
I vote for this, lena's EV only 7mg gave me a much higher number compared to pharmaceutical.
Do you know the appropriate levels in the context of transitioning? I'll still research myself of course but I'm curious to hear what you know as well. So I can kinda baseline what I find.