For those of you worried about testosterone levels, or who have been told that they aren’t trans and “just have low testosterone” or something similar, I thought I would take the chance to show my pre transition T levels.
The image shows the average testosterone levels for cis men, by age. That upper red line is the 97.5% percentile line, meaning that 97.5% of cis men have T levels below this rate. And if you look, there I am, above that line!
Yet, I transitioned 7 years ago now, and I’m still here :)
My partner (jokingly) refers to themselves as a “recovering alpha male” because their testosterone levels were also super high
T aromatises to E so if you have high T you probably have high E also.
Coincidence? 🧐
There’s antagonism though unless levels are bonkers high (e.g. people on gear for ages).
No such luck for me!
I’d also add that it’s okay if your testosterone is outside of cis women’s range as long as your estrogen is higher. I was extremely worried that I was ruining my transition, but it really didn’t and I still made excellent progress despite it. Certainly do all that you can to get it lower, but in the mean time don’t fret too much if it is.
Edit: Also if you’re on tablets, you can increase their testosterone suppression by evenly dividing them throughout the day as much as reasonably possible.
So my egg has (very) recently cracked, and I just so happen to have fresh T levels results at hand. Kinda shocked to find I apparently have higher T levels than 95-ish percent of cis men lol, was fully expecting the opposite.
Thank you for sharing both the graph and your story too, that’s cool as heck! :)
Thank you for sharing this! I don’t see this type of discussion often and it’s important information.
I have a similar background, I was measuring at ~40nmol/L (~1150ng/dL), and it was probably higher than that when I was younger. I knew from early childhood that I wasn’t cis, but by my mid-teens I was struggling with a lot of internal dissonance between my internal ethos and identity and how my hormonal state affected by emotions and cognition. There were also physiological issues from excessive T that I needed medical intervention to address. I struggled through that for years, but when I finally started HRT I very quickly found an enormous relief and much calmer and happier state of being.
Our cases are good examples of how more of the wrong hormonal profile doesn’t make you cis. It might just make someone’s problems worse and create new problems along the way.
While I think ‘low t levels’ is totally bullshit, are you sure your testosterone levels aren’t elevated by the type of anti androgen you’re using? Even estrogen is supposed to have some t reducing effects so having a higher than average t is curious
This was before I started any form of HRT.
This is super anecdotal and obviously does not apply to everyone. But I find interesting that at least a decent chunk of trans people, their pre-HRT levels tend to be outside the normal ranges.
In my personal case, it’s quite the opposite actually. My T was pretty much the 25% line (18 years old btw) with 422 ng/dl (14.63 nmol/L). So normal range if on the lower side. But my E is 112 pg/ml, which is twice as high as the male range and low-normal female range. And ever since I started on HRT my range has been wacky, with my E being way higher for the dosage I was getting. Granted, my case is sadly currently undiagnosed and it’s certainly not something I have ever heard from another person, but I do hear about stuff like that. Just kinda curious about how common it is.
