Blood Testing
Blood tests do not give you that much in terms of useful information. Sure a blood test can tell you you have elevated testosterone level (for females) but it’s not clear that you would actually benefit from suppressing that further with an anti-androgen. You might be better off just having high T as a female.
Common Reference Levels
| Hormone | Group | Time | Levels (mass/vol)c | Levels (mol/vol)c | Production rates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estradiol | Women | Follicular phase | 5–180 pg/mL | 20–660 pmol/L | 30–170 μg/daye |
| Mid-cycle | 45–750 pg/mL | 170–2,750 pmol/L | 320–950 μg/daye | ||
| Luteal phase | 20–300 pg/mL | 73–1100 pmol/L | 250–300 μg/daye | ||
| Men | – | 8–35 pg/mL | 30–130 pmol/L | 10–60 μg/day | |
| Progesterone | Women | Follicular phase | ≤0.3 ng/mL | ≤1.0 nmol/L | 0.75–5 mg/day |
| Mid-cycle | 0.1–1.5 ng/mL | 0.3–4.8 nmol/L | 4 mg/day | ||
| Luteal phase | 3.5–38 ng/mL | 11–120 nmol/L | 15–50 mg/dayf | ||
| Men | – | ≤0.5 ng/mL | ≤1.6 nmol/L | 0.75–3 mg/day | |
| Testosterone | Women | Menstrual cycle | 5–55 ng/dL | 0.2–1.9 nmol/L | 190–260 μg/day |
| Men | – | 250–1100 ng/dL | 8.7–38 nmol/L |
Mean integrated estradiol levels are around 100 pg/mL (367 pmol/L) in premenopausal women and around 25 pg/mL (92 pmol/L) in men. The 95% range for mean estradiol levels in women is around 50 to 250 pg/mL (180–918 pmol/L). Estradiol levels increase slowly during normal female puberty, when breast development and feminization take place. Mean estradiol levels during the different stages of female puberty are quite low—less than about 50 to 60 pg/mL (180–220 pmol/L) until late puberty.
Mean testosterone levels are around 30 ng/dL (1.0 nmol/L) in women and 600 ng/dL (21 nmol/L) in men. Based on these values, testosterone levels are on average about 20-fold higher in men than in women. In men who have undergone gonadectomy (castration or surgical gonadal removal), testosterone levels are similar to those in women (<50 ng/dL [1.7 nmol/L]).
Transfeminine hormone therapy aims to achieve estradiol and testosterone levels within the normal female range. Commonly recommended ranges for transfeminine people in the literature are 100 to 200 pg/mL (367–734 pmol/L) for estradiol levels and less than 50 ng/dL (1.7 nmol/L) for testosterone levels (Table). However, higher estradiol levels of more than 200 pg/mL (734 pmol/L) can be useful in transfeminine hormone therapy to help suppress testosterone levels. Lower estradiol levels (≤50–60 pg/mL [≤180–220 pmol/L]) are recommended and more appropriate for pubertal and adolescent transfeminine individuals.
Emulating Female Puberty
Normal female puberty involve a slow increase of estradiol over a period of 6 years. This however does not mean emulating cis female puberty is ideal, unless you specifically want to experience something similar to what cis females go through (requiring you to start early). There are plenty of cis females with small breasts and you probably do not want that. We can do better than what’s ‘natural’.
If your estradiol dosage is low then it will be harder to suppress testosterone, if are still able to successfully suppress your testosterone levels (such as via Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Antagonist) your health may suffer because you didn’t replace the missing testosterone with estrogen