ask fedi, hrt, boosts appreciated
Hi there #trans and #biochemistry fedi, do you know any way of taking your own blood for getting lab results that show the effects of #HRT in the blood?
As in: I'd want to check my own hrt levels and get a result saying how high my #estrogen / #estradiol, #testosterone and other relevant levels are in my blood. For doing that I'd assume I somehow need to draw my own blood and then either analyse the blood myself or send it to a lab for analysis who will get back to me with my results.
If you know any other way of determining those values that doesn't involve drawing blood, please let me know!
What would also be important is that this doesn't cost much as I'd like to take several samples to track progress (or lack thereof) over a period of time.
Relevant information: I'm situated in BW, Germany.
Boosts are highly appreciated!
re: ask fedi, hrt, boosts appreciated
@taminaminam Are you ready to try to get your hands on a number of things that are either prescription only or otherwise generally only sold to medical professionals? Granted, this is only as far as I'm aware, but analyzing it yourself isn't gonna happen. (Not without somehow getting a massive overkill chemistry analyzer anyways.) It's questionable whether a lab would accept something you've drawn yourself. As for drawing it yourself...
re: ask fedi, hrt, boosts appreciated
@taminaminam Of course, this said, I don't know off the top of my head if any waived assays exist. (Here in the US, some tests are considered "waived" because they're easy enough to do. Generally, these are point-of-care assays (aka small) and many are easy enough for home use.) If any do, I don't know which you'd even be able to get your hands on and which would use the much easier capillary blood sample. That would be your only hope, though, AFAIK
re: ask fedi, hrt, boosts appreciated
@taminaminam Okay, yeah, I just checked the FDA's waived test database and there are not any waived tests for HRT stuff. The closest there is is for Esterone-3 glucuronide which is not (as far as I'm aware) tested for or relevant to HRT. So, yeah. Analyzing it yourself is unlikely.
re: ask fedi, hrt, boosts appreciated
@taminaminam Good luck getting the supplies. In particular, good luck getting needles. Once you've got those, have fun learning how to do venipuncture on yourself! (Assuming you don't already know venipuncture, of course.) Also, make sure you use the right tubes, lest whichever lab actually accepts it reject it for being in the wrong tube. All this to say, you're probably not going to do your own bloodwork. Not easily, anyways.