#low dose

Every morning, within minutes of applying the gel to my shoulders, I find I have more energy and happiness is easier to access. While I'm not sure if this is hormonal or placebo, I did not experience my usual beginning-of-period irritability and upsetness. No outwardly noticeable changes yet.

Something from here might be worth a read :)

Microdosing Estrogen

What is Hormone Microdosing

Information on Estrogen Hormone Therapy

What is feminizing hormone therapy?

Feminizing Hormone Therapy

There are several reasons:

a. You are not sure if you want the “standard” dose, or how masculine/feminine you want your body to be/look. Taking a low dose lets you start the process, try it out, and take things slower. You can always stop too.

b. Gives your body time to adjust. It also gives your mind time to adjust. Puberty doesn’t happen in a day, or even a year, and the changes can be physically and mentally jarring.

c. Mental or physical health: everyone reacts differently. Some people feel worse on a higher dose (I know I experienced extreme anxiety) while others feel better on a higher dose.

d. Some people are still undisclosed, so with slower onset of changes this starts your physical transition while buying you time for social transition. 

e. Until relatively recently, there had been few studies on what the “standard” dose should even be, so this was truly an arbitrary number. Now many doctors agree that the touted “200mg/mL x 2weeks” for T is too high for a lot of people.

Even though I’ve been on a low dose for 8 years, I doubt I’ve reached the “maximum” amount of changes. That is, if I took a higher dose, my voice would probably continue to drop, and I would see a significant increase in hair, etc. I’m in the “middle” zone and that’s where I like it.

So why do I keep taking hormones if I’m not seeing changes? Well, I think my body is changing, just very very slowly - too slow to notice day to day, yet noticeable over the years. And staying at a low dose continues giving my body some of the non-permanent effects of T, such as body-fat distribution or muscle mass, even if I experience these in a lower intensity than at a higher dose.

5.5 months on low dose T belly fuzz coming in nice. webcam really doesn’t do it justice 

Hey there!

Yes, I had my partner there for the first several days full time, and part for another couple weeks. (We also live together, but like he knew he would be helping me much more for the first weeks of recovery).

Here is what advice I can give.

I think the first day or so is the most important to have help. In fact, my surgeon required I had someone with me for that long or I would not have been able to have surgery. So you will likely need to find someone for that amount of time. If you live in a big city, I have seen lots of people offer to help people after surgery. I really encourage looking into facebook top surgery groups, there are some that are pretty popular and a great resource. It would also be a good place to ask this question and you may be able to find someone who recovered more independently than I did, but also can ask about recovery help if you need it. 

Okay my general advice is to set yourself up for sustainability. If you are going to be alone, you need to over prepare. Get all the pillows, get disposable kitchen wear so you can throw away dishes instead of clean (I wouldn’t have been able to reach my dishes in my cabinet without help for several weeks, and I never even thought of that before surgery), get a long charging cable and a small desk to set up on your bed. Have things things to do because it is easy to recover when you aren’t bored. Meal prep, and make sure you can make those meals (My microwave is also at head height, I wouldn’t have been able to reach it).

A lot of recovery is just rest, and you don’t really need anyone around for that. But for your safety I would encourage you to have someone on call. Someone who, worst case scenario, if you need a ride or just a meal or help with something urgent they can come over and help you, rather than be with you all the time. 

I found that I had a lot of independence much quicker than I was expecting. I was back to school after 11 days, so I don’t think you would need a lot of help for very long. I think having someone there the first day is good so you can understand what you need and how you are feeling. My worst day of recovery was day 3, I just felt my worst but I had a bad reaction to my medicine. It was nice to have someone there so I could talk out my symptoms and get support, but I didn’t necessarily need it. 

Also some insurances cover over night stay after surgery. It really isn’t necessary for top surgery, but it might be good for you if that is an option.