Well, the egg “cracked” I guess. After 24 years, I’ve realized that I’m probably NB or trans. Looking back, I think that for a long while now, there’s been something in the back of my mind. Like a seed of doubt. I can think of any number of things that could’ve contributed to it. And it’s weird to me because I haven’t really felt any dysphoria, at least I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. But I know that there’s something off.
But anyway, over last weekend I was thinking about it a lot and after I came to that conclusion it was like this buzzing in my head that I hadn’t realized was there went quiet. And now that I know that… I have no fucking clue what happens next. The only people that know are close friends and I will absolutely not be letting anyone else who knows me know. HRT may be a very long ways (potentially 2 years, haven’t looked into it too much yet) away depending on a pending federal job.
$200 is on the cheap end for buying raws for a lifetime supply, I would put that more like $300 - 500 depending on route of administration (the quantity of raws you need to make a lifetime supply of estrogel is different than for homebrewing your own injectable vials) - but either way, I don’t think homebrewing from raws is a reasonable starting place for most people, and I can’t tell if that’s even what you’re suggesting.
Vials expire because the oils in them go rancid after a year or two, so I’m not sure what you have in mind for getting a lifetime supply for $200, I would budget for around $100 / year for injectable vials, maybe more esp. since we can anticipate supply chain problems and crackdowns in the long term.
closer to 4-5 years
I think 4 - 5 years is rather optimistic. I agree it’s commonly stated vials can last that long, and that it’s possible, but the reason I don’t communicate that to a beginner is that you can’t always count on every vial lasting that long - it’s like a best case scenario, not the default you should rely on when organizing your stockpile.
Oils can go rancid and turn cloudy after a year or two. It depends partially on the oils used to make your vial and the conditions under which they were manufactured, shipped, and then stored. As pointed out already, the rubber stopper is another issue - I think with DIY coring is more of a risk because EEn vials are used for much longer than EV vials you get from a pharmacy. In addition to all of this, the FDA recommends not using a vial longer than a month due to the repeated contamination of the vial from puncturing the rubber stop over and over. While preservatives in the vial help reduce the risk, and the FDA guideline is thus ignored by most of us in the community, but it’s still legitimate advice aimed to reduce possibility of infections (and we as a community are taking risks not because it’s the safest for our health but for economic reasons).
All these factors make it seem a little irresponsible in my mind to not communicate a different range, though it’s absolutely fair to point out vials can last 4 - 5 years in best cases.
I am in fact suggesting that one could choose to do injectables from raws. There’s every indication that raws themselves are shelf stable if stored properly and the learning curve is quite shallow, particularly if you’re doing terminal heat sterilization. The numbers I’ve read give a lifetime of ~5 years for prepared vials and indicate that the rubber stoppers are the weak point, but if you’re preparing your own vials, that’s sort of irrelevant. It takes maybe an hour to prep a vial, which if you’re doing 10ml of estradiol enanthate at 50mg/ml, will last most people at least a year at a sane dosage.
Given the fact that many places are literally sliding daily into fascism, I see no other viable way than DIY for folks to ensure their supply going forward and injectables are the cheapest way to do that (and are likely much better for your health than oral, which is what almost every doctor will start you on). The exact price was not my point- those I imagine will be changing somewhat daily given the state of things. I was mostly just letting OP know that she does not have to be subject to waiting lists or hoops to jump through if she doesn’t want to.
huh, well - I like where your head is at, but I do think it’s an unrealistic expectation that the average person will 1. be able to afford the lab equipment, and 2. be able to use that lab equipment competently to homebrew their own vials safely. (Terminal heat sterilization is criticized as a method because steam doesn’t reach the inside of the vial, there is a bit of controversy on this within the DIY community AFAIK, generally the preservatives are being relied on too much in those cases. I think filtering is one way to help with the risks but there are additional complications with that, and it is onerous and takes a long time, esp. if you are filtering many vials.)
The standards realistically should be even lower for trans populations, considering we tend on average to struggle depression and executive functioning more, tend to be poor and struggle with unemployment, tend to be less educated & literate, and so on.
I guess my point is that homebrewing from raws is maybe an option for a small percent of the trans population (I would guess less than 10% of us), but realistically the people who can homebrew should probably be thinking about becoming distributors within their local communities (and picking up testosterone raws and making T vials accessible as well so half the trans population isn’t dropped). That’s a tall order (and a big risk), but I think it’s more realistic in terms of guaranteeing HRT than assuming most of us can homebrew ourselves.
Either way, it’s true that DIY exists and that OP can access HRT without medical gatekeepers (though you will face other barriers, like having to navigate grey markets that might be daunting for people who don’t have familiarity with crypto or computers). Thanks for holding down for DIY!