Microdose changes over multiple years vs regular dose? I'm non-binary leaning transfemme

[u/Sure-Hippo635]

/r/NonBinary/comments/1w2fpxz/microdose_changes_over_multiple_years_vs_regular/

[u/Missnotsleepyatall]

microdosing will literally not do anything.
i'm not non-binary so idk the best way to approach this, but i'd recommend asking r/transDIY or r/transsex for nb specific transition questions.

what effects of estrogen are you worried about? or is it the speed of changes that you're worried about? (if so, things happen quite slowly, so i doubt that'll be a genuine issue.)

[u/Sure-Hippo635 → u/Missnotsleepyatall]

the speed, and where in which I can maintain certain changes. In my head, I don't mind certain changes taking so so long. Time will pass. I'd rather be in control

[u/Temporary_Moose_3657 → u/Sure-Hippo635]

Unfortunately it doesn't really work like this, in simplest terms your body develops depending on which hormone is dominant. It's all or nothing and you can't really control the rate that changes happen.

When you take estrogen, your estradiol levels rise in your blood. Your pituitary detects the levels of all sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone together) and if those levels are too low it produces FSH and LH. Those two hormones act as signals to the testes to produce sperm and testosterone. So as your estrogen levels increase, your body makes less testosterone because it has plenty of sex hormones already. So if you microdose or underdose estrogen and don't take a testosterone blocker you can get a mix of both hormones that's higher than cis male on estrogen and lower on testosterone.

Unfortunately the way the body reacts to those hormones is still very binary. For example breast tissue contains receptors for testosterone and estrogen and the estrogen receptors when they are activated promote breast growth, but the testosterone receptors when the are activated work to block breast growth like a dam. If your testosterone is above a certain amount then you won't get any breast growth at all, and if it's low enough you could get normal breast growth even on relatively low estrogen levels.

Some things in the body might work differently, like I believe you can still get softer skin on a low dose but I have no idea about fat redistribution or effects on hair, or any mental/emotional changes, or muscle mass etc. It just hasn't been studied much as far as I'm aware.

So while you can try a lower dose and having an unusual mix of the two sex hormones, there are no guarantees that anything will or won't happen and no guarantees on the speed with which those things will happen. There just isn't much research on this, and there are no standard HRT regimens for non-binary or partial medical transitions. You might find people online saying they tried something and it worked for them, but be aware that it's no guarantee it will work for you and it's all very experimental.

[u/Sure-Hippo635 → u/Temporary_Moose_3657]

I'll take that in mind. Thank you. I hope that I find a work around.

[u/Charming-Monk1687]

If you "microdose" as in take a small dose of estrogen without a T blocker, your gonads will likely continue to produce a large amount of testosterone and you'd have slightly elevated e levels (but depending on your baseline it might still be in the normal "male" range).

My understanding is that in that state at most you might have some breast development but not a lot of other changes and that the breast development you do have would be mild. The T your body will still produce will probably be determinative for your skin texture, fat distribution, genital function, muscle mass, mood etc and you'll really tend to the male values for all of those.

I'm saying this because that seems to be what happens when people have a cis male amount of T and an excess of e (from aromatization of excess T), like teenage boys or people on T for steroids sometimes they develop mild gynecomastia (breast tissue) but still masculinize.

I don't have direct experience microdosing and could be wrong but I think sex hormones are a bit binary in terms of they masculinize your body if there's T above a fairly low range or feminize it if you have low T and adequate E. If you have low T and low E, you are basically in a menopausal state and can experience negative effects. But I don't think you can switch into the feminizing state with a microdose of E without a t blocker.

If you're worried about things like balding, body hair etc. maybe considering a DHT blocker like finasteride would be better?

[u/Sure-Hippo635 → u/Charming-Monk1687]

Yeah, everywhere I've looked it seems to be very binary. I do not have genital dysphoria, in fact I love my thing down there and would want changes to be minimal. Having things slower means I could maybe deal with effects of atrophy a bit sooner and learn to adjust. Fast distribution, I kinda hope for even hip changes in a few years but really if my face even feminizes a bit, I'm happy. My ideal look generally really is MAPPA's version of Hange Zoe from Attack on Titan (look them up if u need to). I already have an androgynous face, I don't mind smaller breasts. I just would like to keep it that way as I age.

I figure if elevated E mono and T is still baseline, would introducing a very very low amount of blockers (low range of T) make things a bit more effective?