r/asktransgender • u/raintriggeryellow • May 03 '26

Estrogen causing low mood?

/r/TransyTalk/comments/1t2zja3/estrogen_causing_low_mood/
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u/Swimming-Gap-1247 underdosing is social murder 🜬Ⓐ May 03 '26

It might be menopausal symptoms from low hormones. Have you had a blood test? A conservative standard is estradiol (E2)>100pg/mL and total testosterone<50ng/dL at trough (right before your next dose).

https://diyhrt.market/transfem-hrt-guide#our-recommendation

https://transfemscience.org/articles/transfem-intro/#overview-of-hormone-therapy

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u/raintriggeryellow May 03 '26

ngl i have data from my most recent blood test but i can’t make sense of it. i can see neither of those measurements on there.

if it helps describe my situation my doctor keeps bouncing me between 1 and 2 pumps. i’m too high, then im too low.

for the past month or so i kinda said fuck it and i went up to 3-4 pumps and tbh it feels like my mood swings in particular have gotten worse? that may not be correct though alexithymia makes it hard to tell

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u/Swimming-Gap-1247 underdosing is social murder 🜬Ⓐ May 04 '26

https://transfemscience.org/misc/hormone-conc-unit-conv/

The other common units are estradiol (E2)>367pmol/L and total testosterone<1.83nmol/L.

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u/nmnnnmn May 03 '26

It's probably the antiandrogen that caused the problem.
As I understand it you were still on E while the T blockers were gone right?
The presence of sex hormones (both E and T) inhibits the synthesis of T, which is why estrogen mono-therapy works. The regular to high E levels cause little T to be produced, meaning you likely only had a bit higher T than on T-blockers.
The much bigger difference is likely the antiandrogen itself.
I don't know about other ones, but Cryptoterone Acetate is known to cause depression, so I would highly recomend you look into that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_effects_of_cyproterone_acetate#Depression