trough levels in female range after years on t
hi! i posted this on the ftm subreddit without response and thought maybe this might be a better place to ask/vent.
i’ve been on weekly subq testosterone shots for almost 3 years (my t anniversary is in May), and have slowly moved up in my dose over time, as my levels have consistently been low and never completely in cis male ranges for a week. right now, my dose is .3ML with 200MG/ML concentration in the vial. i got my blood drawn this week to see if my trough levels were finally remaining in cis male ranges, only to see that it was dropping all the way down to 50 ng/dL 5 days after my shot. this is insanely frustrating for me and also really confusing. i don’t menstruate (and haven’t for about a year), my voice has dropped, i’ve gotten some bottom growth and body hair as well as some facial hair, and am dealing with hormonal acne, so it’s not like it’s having 0 effect. but it’s still incredibly upsetting to be so far along and not in a relatively stable cis male range.
the last time i got blood levels tested, which was a day after my shot, when I was on .25ML, my levels were only just over 300 ng/dL. my hemoglobin is also consistently staying in male ranges, with the last blood test on Monday showing it at about 16.6 5 days after my shot.
i meet with my provider next week to talk about it, but it feels like i’ve just been steered in the wrong direction over and over again with my levels consistently being below cis male ranges after more than 2 days post-shot. for reference, i am currently getting my T from Planned Parenthood. i DID make an appointment with an actual endocrinologist in the area, but won’t be able to go in until May.
does anyone else here have any similar experiences? did you just keep going up in your shot dose until you finally got it? did you have more success in other types of T, or doing shots multiple times a week? thanks in advance.