r/FTMdiyhrt

I got blood tests a month and half ago after stopping Testosterone enanthate for a month (125mg every 14 days) and my e2 skyrocketed to 9x my natural baseline (239.26 pg/ml vs 26 pg/ml) , total T got even lower than my natural baseline (crashed to 50 ng/dl). It also said that my SHBG was slightly lower than normal (all in female reference ranges bc of my ID). I was recently able to buy enough T to last me 9 months (20 ampoules), If i switch to weekly injections it will only last me half of that.

Should I just switch to weekly shots and hope the future is going to be less harsh or is it not worth it?

Do I also take AIs or not because it seems that ever since I started T, my e2 levels just keep rising.

last blood test results (exactly 28 days after 175mg TEn shot):

-Free Testosterone: 10.0 pg/mL
-FSH: 6.3 mIU/mL
-LH: 16.9 mIU/mL
-Prolactin: 10.6 ng/mL
-Estradiol (E2): 239.26 pg/mL
-Progesterone: 0.80 ng/mL
-Total Testosterone: 50 ng/dL
-Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG): 27.3 nmol/L

Currently on legal HRT but not following endo's suggested dosing and having problems since switching from DIY to legal so I thought here would be a good place to ask.

I was on dosing between 100-120mg of testosterone enanthate once weekly when I stopped menstruating on testosterone (was 7 weeks on testosterone at the last time of menstruation). I finally found that 105mg of testosterone enanthate once weekly was my happy spot at 31 weeks and I stuck to that schedule until 56 weeks. of course since I was on DIY my actual dose could've been higher or lower than 105mg weekly.

at 58 weeks, I switched to testosterone cypionate at 100mg once weekly (legal prescription so dosing should be accurate). the concentration was only 100mg/mL so I was having problems with PIP, leaking, and bleeding post injection because of the 1mL volume. to manage this at week 65, I began splitting my 100mg/week dose into 50mg injections injected twice weekly (so 100mg/week in total, just split). I continued having low T symptoms with low mood, fatigue, weight gain, and apathy. at 69 weeks, I upped my dose to 120mg (split 65/60) to cause an initial spike in testosterone levels so I could reach stable levels faster than waiting for the tapered increase. I lowered my dose to 110mg (split 55/55) on week 70 and I've stayed consistent with that dosing since. I noticed an initial improvement (after the 120mg dose) in mood, libido, and energy before noticing a decline in all of the above, and additionally with more mood instability, around week 72 which has continued into week 75.

paired with my current state with some low T symptoms, I observed abdominal/uterine cramping on September 24th, followed by some very light spotting from September 24-28, then an absence of any symptoms until a recurrence on October 3rd with both mild spotting and cramping. I have had some atrophy symptoms starting initially around week 11 (dryness) with symptoms worsening around at week 58 (pain, mild cramping, I do not receive PIV penetration).

I started microdosing tirzepatide August 24th and have gradually tapered my dose since then. my BMI has decreased from 23.8 to 21.4 (18lb/8kg loss) since starting tirzepatide so I don't think the recurrence is related to weight loss or tirzepatide.

I'm considering raising my dose to 120mg weekly and seeing if there's any improvement in my symptoms. I'm open to other advice but unwilling to use hormonal birth control or topical estrogen, and too poor to afford GnRHa treatment. I am hoping to get hysto within the next 10 months but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do about these symptoms for the time being.

TL;DR: Cramping and light spotting 73 weeks on testosterone after over a year without menstruation or spotting. Should I raise my dose from 110mg to 120mg to see if that changes things?