Quote Originally Posted by vetteman08 View Post
Slimmer, thanks for sharing that. It's real interesting to see what they do for females.

Kind of curious, what levels do they aim to get you at on testosterone and estradiol? Do you do a lot of lab work sessions to keep this monitored? Also, I didn't realize that HGH is so popular with women on HRT.

Also, what was your life like before getting on HRT? Did it change everything for the better (sleep, mood, libido, etc.)? Any problems, issues?

Some of this is aimed with helping my wife. At 40, she has gone through her own roller coaster ride over the past few years, and it's obvious that it is hormonal related. Her doctor changes up her BC pill, which has helped somewhat, but I know that's just a temporary patch. She will probably start a thread here to get some thoughts from you, PPC, and others who can give her some solid advise.
I'm thinking of posting a (hopefully) brief, mini guide to female HRT. It will include hormonal ranges to shoot for, types of treatments and a little of my own experience. If I get time this week I'll do it.

You mentioned birth control pills. That subject needs it's own thread too at some point. I don't want to preach too much fire and brimstone about their dangers but they are commonly libido killers. BC pills inhibit normal ovarian function and then intoduce synthetic estrogens and progesterones to replace natural ones. While that has it's own concerns, nothing is done to replace testosterone!!!!

As females we make about 1/10 of the T men do and we need every bit for our confidence, libido, energy etc. The pill reduces about 70% of our testosterone and then dramatically raises SHBG due to the oral hormones which basically make the left over 30% unusable by our body.

My experience with the pill was disasterous on my mental health. There are studies showing the pill raises depression markers in women who have never previously had depression. This happened to me. Of course I didn't know I was naturally low in T at the time but the pill stripped me of what little I had and my husband hardly knew the person I became. I'll post those studies at some point.

Some women who have naturally high levels of T can feel somewhat okay on the pill and it can help reduce acne since these women often have an imbalance of T-E in thier body. But there are much healthier ways to restore this balance.

We need to start a thread sometime that offers ideas for alternatives to oral birth control pills that are healthier. I have compiled quite a few studies and info on BC pills and it's pretty startling. As women, we are handed BC pills out by our docs like they're candy. Atleast if women have access to this sort of info they can have the knowledge to ask hard questions of their docs and take charge of their own health.

I understand it can be a hard decision to go off birth control when pregnancy is not desired at the time so I don't want to slam anyone who uses them.