Hi! I’ve been using gel for several months, but a few weeks ago I made the change to injections. Each injection has resulted in some pains in random areas in my left leg, but mostly concentrated in the muscles below the knee. I also started waking up with muscle spasms in the same leg, which is something I used to have before puberty. The pain mostly subsides after a day or two.

I suspect the issue is vasodilation which I understand is more common in women than men because estrogen dilates the blood vessels, but I wanted to hear other peoples thoughts.

Wearing overknee socks (to compress) helps, as does ice and exercise/movement, which I think is in favour of this being vasodilation.

I will be bringing this up with a doctor in a couple of weeks, but I’m afraid he won’t be able to help much or have someone to refer me to as competence regarding trans stuff is pretty low here in Norway (also I’m diy).

I would like to know as much as possible about what this could be so I have something to present to him.

    • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      0·
      9 months ago

      Where are you injecting? Why do you think the muscle spams are caused by the injections (and not, for example, lack of hydration or sodium or potassium deficiencies)?

      If it were vasodilation you would be able to measure your blood pressure to tell, since vasodilation lowers blood pressure. My blood pressure hasn’t changed significantly since injecting estradiol subq, so I doubt estrogen is going to significantly cause vasodilation.

      • WillStealYourUsername@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
        0·
        9 months ago

        I’m injecting in the thigh, alternating between left and right, with the discomfort being strongest the first two days after injection. I don’t know that the spasms are caused by the injections (I don’t think they are, I think they are related to estrogen, but that they started around the same time as I started injecting so I felt I had to mention it).

        I do often wake up dehydrated despite drinking lots of water and might also have a potassium deficiency (I had a slight deficiency a year ago). I actually took a blood test a week ago which among other things checked my creatine levels and they were on the low side as well. I will be looking into this, thank you.

        I had something which was probably vasoconstriction when taking ADHD meds prior to starting hrt which was so uncomfortable and painful I had to stop. I tried the medication again after HRT and the side effects had significantly lessened, but this could be for any number of reasons. The side effects from the stims affected both legs, but the left leg was affected more.

        I don’t regularly check my blood pressure and doubt I have records of earlier tests to compare to unfortunately.

        Estrogen is known to be linked to vascular function and increases the risks of vasodilation or at least to certain vascular issues, per my light skimming of the web at least. This is not to say that it is something most people have to worry about.

        My pet theory is that I have some sensitive vasculature or whatever the proper term is in my left leg causing changes from stims and estrogen to be extra noticeable, but if it’s just a diet thing then that would be a huge relief.