Mastodawn

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)

~7 to 7.5 mg (~0.14 to 0.15 mL; 50 mg/mL concentration) estradiol enanthate injected intramuscularly into the vastus lateralis in our right thigh using our Union Medico auto-injector 💉🩹

Did it about maybe an hour ago, but forgot to do the post immediately afterwarss. It was still 2-3 hours late, but that's kind of become the default 😅 All that matters really is that it was a perfect injection: easy, painless, and no bleeding 🥰

Every injection also feels like a big middle finger up to the NHS and NICE for refusing to prescribe estradiol injections within the UK 🖕🤘

#TransDIY #TransHRT #TransGAHT #OpenGAHT #OpenHRT #DIYGAHT #DIYHRT #GAHT #HRT #TransFemGAHT #TransFemHRT #TransFemGAHT #FeminisingGAHT #FeminisingHRT #EstradiolEnanthate #estradiol #transition #trans #transgender #NonBinary #TransFem #FemEnby #injection #injections #TransHealthcare #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #LGBTQIA2S+ #AutoInjector #UnionMedico

Mux2000 (exfoliating)Dec 13

@SleepyCatten
Good girl!

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 13

@SleepyCatten
What needle size are you using?

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 13

@koalou 25G 25 mm for injection

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 15

@SleepyCatten
Looking at the sizes table of a seller, and I’m wondering if the gauge used in France isn’t different from yours x)
This one recommends a 20G (40x0.9mm), 21G (40x0.8), or 22G (40x0.7) for IM, and 24G (25x0.55) or 25G (25x0.5) for SubQ 🤔

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 15

@koalou If the needles are using the international standard (Birmingham gauge), then they should be the same.

There is a different French system, but it's only for catheters, not needles.

Birmingham gauge - Wikipedia

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 15

@SleepyCatten
I had the Birmingham gauge page open but it seems I didn’t compare the correct lines (shouldn’t have done that while in a work meeting xD)

Still, it seems like a substantial difference between the 25G 25 mm you are using and the 20G 40 mm that this seller is recommending for IM with a oily product Oo

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 15

@koalou Some places recommend much thicker needle gauges than required, or base their recommendations on vials with much-thicker carrier oils.

Homebrew vials tend to use MCT oil for a number of reasons, but a major one is that it's less viscous than carrier oils that are commonly used in commercial vials (e.g., sesame, sunflower, castor oil etc.).

With a less-viscous oil, you don't need thicker needles, so you can easily use something like a 22G (black) needle for drawing up and a 25G (orange) needle for injecting.

In fact, some folks swear by thinner 27G (grey) or even thinner needles, typically up to around 30G (yellow), with some going as thin as 32G (deep green)!

The suggested needle lengths depend on what it's going to be used for.

For a drawing up needle, 25 mm, 31/32mm, and 38 mm are typically fine.

For intramuscular injection, the shortest recommended is usually 25 mm and the longest is broadly 38 mm. 25 mm is fine for most legs (including rather chonky ones like ours).

For subcutaneous (subQ), the longest recommended is 16 mm, with 13 mm being the shortest commonly available without moving to fixed needles. With fixed needles, it's possible to get 30G or even 32G 8 mm needles!

For thick, intramuscular injections on commercial products, particularly where it's one injection per vial or package, the needles are often much thicker.

For example, Nebido recommends an 18G drawing up needle, and a 20G to 22G injection needle (for intramuscular).

As another example, triptorelin (Decapeptyl) commonly uses a 20G needle for mixing the powder into the suspension liquid, and another 20G for injection.

For any vial where you will be drawing up liquid multiple times, the goal is to use the thinnest needle needed, as this reduces the risk of "coring" the vial (i.e., making a hole too large for the stopper to seal, which can let contaminants into the vial liquid).

Hope this makes sense. Our mind isn't exactly firing on all cylinders today.

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 15

@SleepyCatten
Thank you for the great explanation

I’m pretty sure I read/heard all that at some point but didn’t remember u_u

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 15

@koalou offers hugs

Happy to repeat again if you need. You know where to find us any time 🩷🫶

@SleepyCatten
I would definitely recommend not going much thinner than 25g for IM injections that involve a carrier oil. 18-23 is generally the recommended range, but 25-27g is definitely fine when the solution is less viscous. The general "rule" is to use the thinnest needle the medication will reasonably push through.

Considerations should include risk of clogging while in the muscle tissue, and bending/distortion in cases of involuntary contractions of the muscle. Considering how fragile 29g and smaller can be, it's definitely something to think about. Especially given that IM injections are typically done with longer lengths than what you'd use for subcutaneous or IV shots. I second the recommendation for 25mm needles. For many people it's less intimidating. The main thing is you want to ensure it actually goes into the muscle. Most folks don't need much longer than 38mm to reach the muscle, but some do.

Since the oil is there to create a depot that is absorbed over time, less viscous carrier oils tend to be the ones to be processed faster (meaning you'll end up needing to inject more frequently) and the oils that are processed more slowly tend to be more viscous as well. This isn't any sort of judgement, just an FYI. The most viscous thing I've had to inject is one of my past immunosuppressants. Almost as thick as honey that was.

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 15

@h3mmy
Thanks

One good thing about being anxious about ordering the wrong things is that I'm puting some things in order around the house to not think about it 🙈

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 15

@h3mmy @SleepyCatten
Alright, better look silly now than later when I discover I forgot something or bought something inappropriate.

(Don’t worry too much if you something wrong, I won’t actually order before tomorrow, probably after lunch at the earliest)

So, here’s my current list of things to order:
- hand sanitizer – my understanding is that it’s better to use soap then that to get rid of everything?
- sterile nonwoven compresses – come in pairs in the same packaging; to use with 70% alcohol, one to clean the vial before inserting the needle to draw, the other to clean the skin before injection
- 1 mL syringes
- 25G 25mm needles – both drawing and injecting

What do you think?

For the needles, I could also go for 26G or 30 (both at 12mm) for drawing to reduce hole size but it’ll take longer to draw, won’t it? (Should have payed better attention to what we used when I went to the injection "workshop", it took some time to draw the 0.1mL)

Also, do you recommend changing needle between drawing and injection even if the gauge doesn’t change? (As I understand it, it would be better)

@koalou
Soap and water is your friend and is the preferred approach to cleaning your hands

Compresses are fine. I personally use 91% IPA, but then I also just use paper towel for the application of my shots (eg immunosuppressants) Some folks prefer cotton balls, and some folks absolutely despise the squeaky little things.

Yes, you want to clean the vial and then separately clean the injection site with the alcohol.

At first I was like 1mL syringes are pricier, especially with a luer lock. But then you said you only have a 0.1mL draw, for which a 1mL makes a practical difference compared to a 3mL, and you probably have that right.

0.1mL sounds really small to me, but I don't know the specifics of your regimen. Almost every transfem I know does 0.5mL shots at different concentrations, and a couple do 0.3 or 0.6 (again depending on concentration and ester).

25g at 25mm sound okay. I don't know your carrier oil so I'm assuming it's fine for that diameter. If in doubt 23g is what works for cottonseed oil based on folks I've helped with shots.

Yes, use a separate needle to draw vs inject. The stab dulls the needle, and would make it more painful.

No, don't stress about needing a thinner needle for the draw. Assuming you have a vial that has an elastomeric seal that meets pharmaceutical standards, it can withstand a lot more stabs than people think. I can send you a write up with more details. But in short, you should technically be able to make holes once around the inner ring and once around the outer ring (to avoid stabbing the same area multiple times) before it is considered "worn out" or the seal ineffective. So you should be fine using the same needle gauge as you are for injecting. If it's drawing too slow, then it's also probably not the right gauge for injecting for you.

https://lgbtqia.space/@h3mmy/114132969617459619

Data about self-sealing stopper durability: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23636157/

BewilderedKat :nonbinary_flag: (@[email protected])

@[email protected] I'm guessing you have a standard 5ml vial and you're using 0.16 at a time (~31 pokes). The USP standard for the self sealing stoppers is 10 pokes. However, they are usually good for significantly more pokes most of the time. I think they do most testing with a 21g as well. I think as long as you give it a cleaning swipe after draws (IPA), it should be fine? I get extra nervous with a rough textured stopper but it's a personal thing. I like to use 23g for both draws and shots. 25g for draws because I have a bunch of extra 25g tips that I use for my dogs subcutaneous shots. For those readers that might be unaware, depo-style shots are usually some sort of oil/lipid suspension. This is true for both estrogen and testosterone. Drawing an oil suspension with a 25g can be very slow.

LGBTQIA.Space

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 15

In case it helps at all, we've tried a bunch of different needles (gauges and lengths) and the best combination we've found is:

25G 25 mm needles for injection - link
22G 32 mm needles for drawing up - link
- They come in 38 mm too: we've just never needed extra length for any vial
1 mL luer lock syringes - link

We wash our hands with Carex handsoap and use 70% alcohol wipes for wiping the vial top and the injection site.

We also use this Union Medico 90° auto injector, which works with the Unifix syringes (just with different placement to the BD syringes, which we did try, but found the Unifix to be superior).

Whilst we've found 22G to be the sweet spot for drawing up without risking coring, we also don't have the best dexterity or precision (due to RSI in both hands), so we can see how 25G could work well for others.

We've cored zero vials so far with 22G needles, FWLIW, in the last few years of trying those.

And for injections, we have tried thinner needles than 25G, but honestly 25G is great with MCT-oil based vials, especially for intramuscular injections into the vastus lateralis, like this Plume guide. We can totally imagine needing a 23G needle for thicker carrier oils, but if you do it properly, it really doesn't feel like anything.

Total Dose: Orange 25G 25mm (1 inch) Low Dead Space needle

Total Dose: Orange 25G 25mm (1 inch) Low Dead Space needle. Total Dose: A low dead space 25G, 25mm, (1 inch), orange hypodermic needle, originally developed to ...

@SleepyCatten @h3mmy @koalou I've cored exactly one vial ever while using 18g to draw, and I still think it was a defective needle that did it.

Keeping in mind I go way beyond four stabs per vial.

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 15

@raeve We used 18G needles for our first ever vial too, back before the DIY sites made a culture switch to recommend 22G needles. Despite being a total newbie, had zero issues with that vial either if memory serves.

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 16

@SleepyCatten
> We also use this Union Medico 90° auto injector

Looking at their shop, they want me to select a syringe and needle, so 1/ I’m wondering if there is a risk of incompatibility with they syringes I’ll get and 2/ when selecting 23G, it’s 40mm long Oo (which doesn’t match the row of needles underneath 🙃)

Also, they have a picture showing how to measure the length one needs and, according to it, I’d need 30mm 🤔 (not by much–if I did it properly, which is less than certain…)
On the site I plan to buy from, I have the choice between 23G 25mm and 23G 30mm, would it be a bad idea to go to the 30mm to be safe?

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 16

NGL: we found this very confusing too. Union Medico make good products, but aren't great at explaining things clearly.

We'll try to explain more clearly 🫶

Their 90° Super Grip auto injector comes with multiple adapters. (See image 1.) The ones it officially supports are:

BD 1m Prefilled Glass Syringes
BD 0.5ml Micro-Fine+ (Ref 324827)
BD 1ml Micro-Fine+ (Ref 324827)
BD 1ml Luer-Lok tip (Ref 309628)
BD 3ml Luer-Lok tip (Ref 309658)
BD 5ml Luer-Lok tip (Ref 309649)

(The BD syringes refer to luer lock as Luer-Lok for unknown reasons.)

Union Medico don't officially support other syringes, but there are other syringes that are compatible.

For example, we use Unifix 1 mL luer lock syringes. These fit into the BD 1 mL Micro-Fine+ holder perfectly, but require slightly different placement, due to a different design.

Image 1 shows the BD syringe's "flange" (aka "finger flange", i.e., the sticky-outy-bits at the end, before the plunger) located after the second thick part of the holder. Image 2 shows a different placement for the Unifix 1 mL syringe, with the "flange" right at the end of the holder.

If you'd like, we can get you approximate dimensions for all of the holders, as they sent us one of each type (and an additional one of the holder we selected).

In terms of needles, it makes zero difference whatsoever. They don't allow you to order without selecting some, basically, even if you don't intend to use theirs ever. You can just pick the closest to the ones you want and keep them as backup.

Hope this makes some kind of sense 😅

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 16

@SleepyCatten
> The BD syringes refer to luer lock as Luer-Lok for unknown reasons.

They don’t seem to have proofread the website too well ^^
"Fits aslo", "Switch off adblock can make trouble" (does this mean I should *not* turn it off? 😛)

> If you'd like, we can get you approximate dimensions for all of the holders, as they sent us one of each type (and an additional one of the holder we selected).

I’m unsure it would help right now as I don’t know the syringes dimensions yet.
I guess I can bookmark your message if you send them, but you don’t have to.

> In terms of needles, it makes zero difference whatsoever. They don't allow you to order without selecting some, basically, even if you don't intend to use theirs ever. You can just pick the closest to the ones you want and keep them as backup.

Sure, but the question about the needles’ length wasn’t about the ones sent with auto-injector but more generally about whether 25mm would be enough or to go for 30mm. (I does comes from looking at the "Skinfold thickness measurement" on the auto-injector page.)

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 16

@koalou We use 25 mm needles and our thighs are at least moderately chonky.

If it'd help at all, we can measure the circumference of our thighs, around the vastus vateralis, to give you a comparison point.

25 mm is long enough for most folks to reach into the vastus lateralis, as the layer of other tissue above it really isn't that thick.

We think we actually started off with 38 mm long needles, as our thighs are noticeably thicker than a lot of other gals 😅 When we got our next batch of needles, we just decided to try 25 mm and found that they worked absolutely fine still.

@koalou
25 and 30 are very similar. Either should be fine for a thigh in my experience as long as you are injecting properly. You'll definitely feel it in the muscle differently than a subcutaneous shot.

I dislike autoinjectors personally so I don't have good advice for you on that front. Some of my fancy immunosuppressants come in autoinjectors and if you mess up, you need to replace it and can't simply redo the shot (and those are like 10-15k USD per shot billed to insurance - way less for the same in other countries). And I like to control my own pacing and angles for different types of shots and regions. But I've also been doing injections since I was little helping my grandmother with insulin so that might be a part of it.

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 17

@h3mmy
> as long as you are injecting properly.

That's a big if 😛

> You'll definitely feel it in the muscle differently than a subcutaneous shot.

Well, obviously 🤭
But also, I'm not sure I had a subQ shot recently enough to feel the difference, if I ever had at all. All the shots I've got so far were for vaccines and most were IM in the arm (or ass, but the one I vaguely remember was a long time ago). Heck, I'm not even sure I remember well enough how the COVID and flu shots I got three months ago felt to compare 😅

> you need to replace it and can't simply redo the shot (and those are like 10-15k USD per shot billed to insurance

🫂
*sends Capitalism to burn in the sun, and gives all the meds they need to Kat and others thanks to actual universal healthcare* (I wish… u_u)

> But I've also been doing injections since I was little helping my grandmother with insulin so that might be a part of it.

Meanwhile I only ever did a single injection and it was on a fruit, less than two months ago x)
We're not playing in the same category 😛

I'll never say it too much: thanks again to you both
I'm pretty anxious about messing up, it's kind of you to answer my silly questions 💜

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 17

@koalou There are zero silly questions, Lou 🩷

Asking questions, making mistakes, asking more questions, and learning from past mistakes: those are how we all got to the point where we're answering your questions 🫶🏻

And all of us are always learning, so we're always asking more questions... and (in our case) worrying that we're asking silly questions too 😅

If it might help, we do our injections on Fridays. If you ever want to see one in action by an experienced amateur (😝🤭), just let us know in advance and we'll make plans 🩷

> That's a big if 😛

You'll do great! It's easier than it seems. And practice definitely helps

> Meanwhile I only ever did a single injection and it was on a fruit, less than two months ago x)
> We're not playing in the same category 😛

I think a great many fruits would be happy to be poked if you need more practice. Sometimes it can be easier to stab someone else for some folks. You just need to socialize some more.

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 17

@h3mmy
> Sometimes it can be easier to stab someone else for some folks.

Could I interest you in crossing the ocean to come help me practice? /j

> You just need to socialize some more.

@koalou If I'm ever able to get a passport again, sure. I think I have several folks in my Fedi circle in France, and I am pretty sure I have at least one family member currently doing school over there for something.

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 17

@h3mmy
We need teleportation >_<
And in a way that don’t let cis people have a say in our using it!

I hope you can get a passport again soon, that can be useful 🤞

@koalou Seconding all of Kat’s information on needle length and gauges, and the sanitising info!

Even if I’m injecting 1ml or less, I personally prefer the 3ml syringe which is shorter and wider than the 1ml syringe usually. For me, the 3ml are much easier to handle because I’m typically holding the syringe in one hand, and a tiny bat patient in my other hand. Depending on your injection site and dexterity, this might not be an issue for you though. ☺️ @h3mmy @SleepyCatten

Just imagining the tiny bat patient

neofox_floof_happy

@koalou @SleepyCatten

@h3mmy 🥹🤏 v smol patients.
@koalou @SleepyCatten

neofox_floof_cute

neobot_melt_sob_heart

neofox_melt_sob_heart

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
@koalou @SleepyCatten

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 16

@SaucySwampHag
So cute!

@h3mmy @SleepyCatten

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 16

@SaucySwampHag
The seller I’m looking at doesn’t seem to have 3mL. They do have 2.5mL and it seems to be precise enough to draw 0.1mL but won’t be if I go up to something like 0.12mL as a friend is taking, I expect it’d be worse with 3mL.

While my dexterity isn’t the best, I’ll be less fidgety than a tiny bat so it should be fine 🤭 (also, going for the thigh, it shouldn’t be moving during injetion)

@h3mmy @SleepyCatten

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 16

@h3mmy
> some folks absolutely despise the squeaky little things.

🙋

> 1mL syringes are pricier

Not on the website I got recommended on French Fedi, it’s €3.30 for a box of 100 1mL, €4.14 for 2mL, and continues to go up in price with the size 🤔

> 0.1mL sounds really small to me, but I don't know the specifics of your regimen. Almost every transfem I know does 0.5mL shots at different concentrations, and a couple do 0.3 or 0.6 (again depending on concentration and ester).

My local friends are using between 0.12mL and 0.17mL per week (all subQ though).
Also, it didn’t take a lot of gel (and no blocker) to get to good levels while others don’t have enough with twice the gel I take so I don’t find it too surprising to start low 🤷
And I’ll go see my GP again about a month after starting, with a blood test, to see where I’m at with 0.1mL to adjust.
As for concentration, I don’t know it (and don’t yet have a vial to check) but my GP was familiar what I’ll be using and knew the corresponding concentration so chose the dosage based on that.

> I don't know your carrier oil

Grape seed oil.

> Yes, use a separate needle to draw vs inject. The stab dulls the needle, and would make it more painful.

It was my understanding as well but I was also seeing recommendations about using fix needles, which obviously can’t be replaced.

(In the paper’s results)
> The median number of needle punctures with maintenance of self-sealing ability before failure for 22-, 20-, and 18-gauge needles was >100 (range all >100), >100 (all >100), and 60 (30-90), respectively, for sulfur colloid and >100 (all >100), >100 (50 to >100), and 50 (20-70), respectively, for tetrofosmin.

That’s a lot! 😲
I shouldn’t need as many stabs, at 0.1mL per in a 5mL vial ^^
But it would be entirely safe to use 22G for drawing as @SleepyCatten does.

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 16

Dose / volume / concentration

If you have 2 out of the 3 variables (concentration; dose; volume), you can calculate the other.

Volume = Dose / Concentration
Dose = Volume * Concentration

There's a handy online converter on Trans Fem Science here.

For example, our current vial of estradiol enanthate has a concentration of 50 mg/mL. Our weekly dose is currently about 7.5 mg. As such, we inject about 0.15 mL.

Starting dose (loading vs no loading)

In terms of starting dosage, it's a myth that you need to start "low and slow". Instead, you should be doing the same as trans masc folks do with testosterone: doing a loading shot (or series of smaller loading shots).

For example, a typical dose range for estradiol enanthate is between 4 mg (low) and 8 mg (high) weekly, so a good starting maintenance dose is 5 to 6 mg. For the first injection, your loading dose should be roughly double this (i.e., 10 to 12 mg).

These are just limited simulations (and your own results may be much higher or lower), but here's the difference between:

... with each showing a stable weekly dose curve for comparison.

Without a loading dose, it will take several weeks to get up to a stable estradiol range.

With a loading dose, you're up within that range within 2 weeks.

Needles

As grapeseed oil is a little bit more viscous than MCT, you might find that 25G is a little too difficult to inject comfortably with. In theory 23G should be a good balance between ease of injection and comfort.

22G should still be fine for drawing up grapseed oil, in theory.

Dose, Volume, and Concentration Conversion for Injectables

A page for converting between dose, volume, and concentration for injectable medications.

Transfeminine Science

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 16

@SleepyCatten
I’ve asked a friend to give me the concentration of the vial: 50mg/mL

> Starting dose (loading vs no loading)

Interesting 🤔
Fiddling with the simulations you sent, starting at 9 mg (for a 5mg/week reference) gives a graph similar to your 11 mg simulation.

For a series of smaller loading shots, 7 mg then 6 mg then 5 mg seems to work to get about at the same point on the morning of the 4th injection, when I’m supposed to have my blood drawn.
I’m guessing it’s hard to know if a single loading is better/worse than two smaller ones?

Now, my GP is expecting me to not do loading and should interpret the results in that light; but at the same time, it’s about a 100 pmo/L diff when comparing the graphs, so maybe it won’t even be visible once the measure uncertainty is taken into account? 🤔

> Needles

Alright, going for 22G drawing and 23G injection then.

Again, thank you for all your help

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 16

@koalou On loading, it's honestly about personal preference.

For high-volume injections, the standard is multiple loading doses, as otherwise the injection volume would be much higher.

For example, Nebido (testosterone undecanoate) is a high-volume injection of 4.0 mL (1000 mg) , compounded at 250 mg/mL. The typical dose frequency is every 12 weeks, ±2 weeks (10 to 14 weeks). Due to the high volume, there are effectively 3 loading doses, as a starting regimen is typically:

First injection
Second injection - 6 weeks after first
Third injection - 6 weeks after second
Every other injection - 12 weeks after last one

For feminising GAHT, the closest equivalent is estradiol undecylate, which is typically available at concentrations of 50 to 100 mg/mL, and which is considered suitable for injections from every 2 weeks up to monthly.

For monthly injections, a single, larger loading dose can be done, or several fortnightly loading doses could be done instead.

It's similar for fornightly or 3-weekly injections, where you either do a single large loading dose, or a series of smaller ones. It mostly comes down to preference over volume, especially where a lot of folks baulk at anything over typically 0.25 to 0.50 mL.

For comparison, we used to do an injection of triptorelin pamoate (a GnRH agonist) every 12 weeks, back before we switched to DIY estradiol injections. If memory serves, the glass ampoule contains about 2.0 mL of purified water. It might look like a lot, but it's honestly really not when you're doing it.

Our current weekly injection is 0.15 mL, but if we ever switch to monthly estradiol undecylate injections, we'd be looking at injections typically of 0.40 mL monthly, along with a loading dose of 1.0 mL, using a vial compounded at 100 mg/mL.

estradiol pharmacokinetics playground - estrannaise.js

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 22

@SleepyCatten
Thinking back on that while I was trying to nap (I gave up 🤭)

> Without a loading dose, it will take several weeks to get up to a stable estradiol range.

While I'm starting injections, I've been on gel for 3 years, so I'm not actually starting from 0 🤔

Last results say 600 pmol/L, previous ones 920 pmol/L (even though I added an extra dose per day… I don't know how much I trust these results)
Looking at the graph (https://estrannai.se/#i1_cu,5,0,2-5,7,2-5,7,2-5,7,2-5,7,2-5,7,2-5,7,2-5,7,2_cu,5,7,2), that'd put me at the 2nd or 3rd week right from the start.
Am I missing something or would this make loading less useful?

estradiol pharmacokinetics playground - estrannaise.js

SleepyCatten (Joint Pain Arc)Dec 22

We're not sure of the elimination half-life of estrogel (and -- if we understand correctly -- it can vary a lot from brand to brand), but we do know that some folks taking masculinising GAHT can be advised to take a form of testogel for a couple of weeks when first starting on Nebido injections.

Source - NHS London GIC (Tavistock and Portman) - Shared-Care-Protocol-Trans-Masculine-v13.1_FINAL-Web-Version.pdf

Stage One:
Nebido 1000 mg/4 mls IM is administered, accompanied by either: Sustanon IM at the current dose (or testosterone enantate), or two weeks of topical testosterone gel at the current dose (Testogel, Tostran, Testavan). Thereafter, the Sustanon (or testosterone enantate) or testosterone gel should be stopped.

By the same logic, you could continue to take estrogel daily alongside your weekly estradiol enanthate injection for the first couple of weeks or so, if you wish to avoid a loading dose (or doses).

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 22

@SleepyCatten
I don't mind the loading dose(s), I was only wondering how that would interact.

I guess continuing to use gel would waste less of the current bottle but I'd prefer not have to use it anymore 😅

Thank you for your reply

@koalou @SleepyCatten

You don't really need a loading dose if your levels are fine. You can just switch as I understand it.

Lou 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 22

@h3mmy
Could explain why no one else mentionned it to me so far, as all of the people I talked to offline about switching also started with something else for at least a year (although, it's possible none of them knew about loading)