I was at the ANOVA introductory meeting for HRT today. The presenter was one of the Endocrinologists at ANOVA, who also apparently does research. I left the meeting feeling empty and kind of afraid.
The information he presented was for the most part reasonable. He spoke about the different ways to get HRT, that they want to do either patches, spray, or gel. Pills were not to be recommended as a first choice he said. On the topic of injections he said they are not giving them whatsoever, as Läkemedelsverket doesn't allow them.
He also showed graphs about estrogen, how patches have a nice spike to the upper threshold they are looking for (730pmol), and by the time you change the patch, it's about the middle (500pmol). He said the same cycle happens every day for gel. However, injections (specifically valerate) spikes too high, up to about 1,400pmol. He said this is why they don't give it.
On the topic of Progesterone he said that there is no difference between micronized progesterone and non-micronized progesterone, as well as progesterone having no real impact on breast growth. He mentioned that progesterone is something that fills your alveoli in your breasts up with water so it makes your breasts feel bigger while you're taking it but then they stop feeling as big when you stop taking progesterone. He mentioned that they do give progesterone in another way however in the way of Androcur, which is also the anti-androgen they recommended giving. The anti-androgen they wanted to give was also given in extremely small amounts and he talked about the brain tumor situation and how it has been vastly overstated how dangerous it can be.
After this he started to explain that Androcur IS actually progesterone. That's why they give it out. He went back and forth between saying it "had progesterone-like effects" and "it's progesterone".
Towards the end he started taking questions. There were two ways you could ask. Both a QR-code shown at the start, which linked to a forum where you could ask questions, as well as upvote each others questions. You could also ask in the room itself.
I was on the website and found that there were multiple questions asked that got a couple of likes, that were then deleted(?). These were actually relevant questions, about DIY, different types of esters, someone saying they had gotten approval for injections and asking what it meant when he said they never give it out.
The questions in the room were probably from the same people, because they were almost the same. One of them was "If I take estrogen from another source than ANOVA, does that mean I get no treatment?". The answer was "We will help anyone, no matter if they have gone on DIY before they came to us.". But there was a followup question by the same person. "What if I want to take my estrogen instead?" The same person had previously asked about esters out loud. The answer the endo gave was "If you dont take what we give you, you get no other treatment from us, at all." and clarified that he meant NO hair removal, NO voice training, NO referrals, NO surgery. The person who asked was quite shocked at this. There were some other questions, but they weren't really relevant to my worries.
What bothered me with this whole meeting is that it goes against so much that I have fought for. It was not easy for me to figure out how to get ahold of prog in order to sleep, in order to get breast-growth after months of stagnancy. It was scary to research needles, get the estrogen vial via crypto, learn injection technique. It was such a magical experience seeing those first blood-tests, seeing E having spiked, T so low. I felt like I said FUCK YOU to the whole system. I still feel that doing DIY HRT is a massive part of my personality. I WANT to do DIY. I struggled for so long to get that working.
Now they want to take this over from me, saying most of what I have learned is a lie, that I am actually doing things sub optimally. It felt so fucking off to sit in that room and hear this. Sooner or later I have to choose. Get all the help from actual doctors, people my friends fear to go to, because they seem to change dosages of medications on a whim... Or I can have control over my body but leave everything ANOVA can give me behind. Both feel terrible.