[CM213]

Took my first dose of Spiro today. Per Endo I'm supposed to take half a pill twice a day for a week and then move up to a full pill twice day from there on out. I am not sure if I will also start estrogen this week or if I will just run Spiro and nbe for a few weeks to see how I tolerate it.

Endo said by no means do I have to start both at the same time, that I can start Spiro first and add in estrogen at a later date.

When I do start estrogen I'm supposed to do 10mg of ev every other week, which I know is low, but I'm just starting and low and slow is the way they do it. If after 6 months I'm still on the same doses I'll be looking for a new endocrinologist lol

[Eloise]

Congrats on starting HRT.   Spiro will tank your T levels so get ready to be tired and because it is a diuretic, get ready to pee a lot!  Both are good signs it’s working.  Enjoy the ride of Estrogen.  Don’t drop all NBE items though.  I’ve found Omega 3, D3, B6, Forskolin, and L-arginine to all really help support my HRT.

[CM213]

Yes I wasn't sure if I should just reduce the nbe dosages, or stop all together once I start taking the estrogen. I have heard mixed things. 

A part of me wants to stop all NBE and see what and how well HRT works, without having any other supplements influence it. But the other half of me wants to continue taking bo, RR, MSM, and the bio labs bi-est 5.0 cream (keep the estrogen cream until I actually take my first shot of ev.)

But maybe I'll keep the Bio labs estrogen cream since my ev dose is once every 14 days so there may be some days of low e in my system. Maybe the cream will help elevate some of those issues going from high to low until I take another shot)

[CM213]

I have only been on Spiro for a day so far and already I feel like I'm using the bathroom a lot more.

[OOO]

CM,

JUST MY OPINION,NO SCIENCE TO BACKUP ANYTHING, JUST WORKING IN THE HEALTH CARE FIELD.

When I started I was led to believe that it was there way or no HRT.  Also if I did anything that might change my labs the DR. might see a false reading and might not increase my HRT as needed.  In my opinion if your serious about transitioning do it the DR. way but the final decision is yours.

Good Luck,

Caylee

[CM213]

Caylee, I'm all for reducing the amount of pills and supplements I have to take every day lol. I know long term I'll prob come off all NBE. But I guess it's prob good to come off so that the DR can figure out the correct dose for me long term vs find a dose that works with nbe and remove nbe and come to find out that the hrt dose won't work as well without the nbe. 

If any of that makes sense

[CM213]

Got my first appointment for laser therapy scheduled (an actual appointment to have the procedure done, not just a consultation) for Sat Nov 16th. Can't wait. I'm starting with chest and arms. Currently the VA only covers face, chest, arms and Brazilian areas, anything else needs to be specifically mentioned in the referral. So for any other areas I have to go back to mental health and try to get them to approve hair removal for my back, shoulders, legs and anything else.

[CM213]

My most recent blood work was back in the beginning of Oct (if I remember correctly around the 11/12th of Oct) not sure why it took so long for them to get my my starting baseline testosterone levels. I had to email them and ask since it wasn't included in the other labs. And these are based off of NBE only (I had only just started taking Spiro Nov 3rd of 2024)

estrogen level is at 54 pm/ml and the reference range they have for that is 10 to 44

My testosterone levels are total test is at 140L normal range is 250-1100.

My free testosterone levels are at 27.9L normal range is 35-155.

So there's my baseline levels for documentation purposes. 

My current weight is 193 in the mornings fasted. When I get time I'll take my measurements again and post them here for documentation purposes as well. 

Again I'm not sure when I'll start my first dose of EV. Possibly in a week or two since I want to slowly tip toe into the waters and get a feel for it, And see how I react to being on a full dose of Spiro for at least a week. But I won't wait too long. No later than Dec. 

Also not sure if I will keep using NBE or not. My Endo said that as long as I don't use anything to promote testosterone she's ok with me taking supplements like bo, Reshi, MSM.  So we will see. 

Opinions welcome.

[CM213]

As of Sunday I have started taking 100mg of Spiro a day (split 50 am and 50 pm). Per my endocrinologist this is the dosage I will use till we have our first appointment to re check blood work to see how the medications are doing. I have not started E yet. I'm thinking next week, or the beginning of Dec. 

I will continue my NBE protocol for now till I start E. Then I'll stop or greatly reduce nbe so that I won't interfere with lab work, so my endocrinologist can make accurate changes to meds/dosage. Once we find the sweet spot for my dosages then I will most likely re add nbe into the program.

[Heaven's Night]

Your plan sounds similar to what I did when I started HRT. I kept the supporting stuffs but stopped PM back then and next day I was on estrogen. I kept things simple at first and started to add things in swloly one by one. This helped to find what works and what doesn't, too bad I didn't get a startingpoint blood check, I got my first labs was it nine months in.

When you do it like this, it'll be easy to troubleshoot NBE items if something doesn't feel right.