Only Smarties Have The Answer

[suzyscottdotcom]

During the week, I said “I'm starting something new and potentially exciting...” So, what happened?

To the non-transpepople reading this, this may take a bit of explaining, and I shall try!

As many of you readers will be aware, I’ve been on Premarin (conjugated estrogen tablets) since early 2006. These are yellow or brown, or green/purple in the states.

(Most transpeople call their pills “smarties” because of the colours and shapes, which is interesting because there are no longer blue Smarties in the UK – but they do make them for Canada, apparently. That explains the title, in case you wondered!)

Quite a few people have taken these for a while, and then moved onto others – and noticed better results. The main hope is a more stable (sorry!) reaction. Premarin is an inconsistent product, due to the way in which is it made (if you’ve not heard the gags, click on one of the links above). It has also been suggested that this may be eventually phased out, although there is no timeframe for this.

Having said all that, on Wednesday, I obtained some Progynova, or estradiol valarate tablets. This is a lower dose (2 x 2mg instead of 4 x 1.25mg, but they are absorbed differently), and a short-term experiment. If they work better than the others – and all the indications are so far, that they are – I will ask about swapping when I am next up to see the docs next month.

Oh, and these are a lighter blue colour, not the same blue used for Smarties. The patient information booklet (which is 60 pages long, but only 3 inches by 2 inches) says that they are coloured with Indigo Carmine (E132) which is not the Brilliant Blue (E133) colour used for the kids chocolate Smarties.

Comments

[auntysarah.livejournal.com]

Progynova has a specific advantage over Premarin in that the estrdaiol valerate in Progynova is processed by the liver into 17ß-estradiol, which is the exact same molecule that human ovaries would produce.

Premarin, on the other hand, contains susbtances which chemically look a bit like estradiol, enough to hopefully activate the receptors, but it's not the same as the human hormone. It's also been implicated in clotting abnormalities and liver damage to a far greater extent that human-equivalent oestrogen too, AIUI.

There are, however, a small number of people who cannot cleave the valeric acid part of the estradiol valerate molecule, to leave estradiol in their liver, and are thus insensitive to Progynova. For such people, estradiol hemihydrate pills such as Zumenon will always work and provide human equivalent estradiol, but the release is a bit spikier, which is why estradiol valerate is generally preferred.

[suzyscottdotcom.livejournal.com]

Thanks... knew you'd know! But, how do I find out which estradiol will work best - try it and see?

[auntysarah.livejournal.com]

Estradiol valerate (Progynova/Climaval) will either work completely, or not at all, if you can't process it. Assuming you can process valeric acid esters (and most of us can), then it's probably the HRT drug of choice.

[suzyscottdotcom.livejournal.com]

OK, so how do I see if it works or not?

So far I've had no crying fits when I've been marginally upset, which could happen at any time on the Premarin.

(I didn't get much bodily changes or feelings out of it... but, getting no bad feelings by stopping it and replacing it with Progynova)...

thanks again hun
Suzy xxx

[auntysarah.livejournal.com]

OK, so how do I see if it works or not?

Going cold turkey on oestrogen is, IME, something you'd notice...

[suzyscottdotcom.livejournal.com]

i stopped taking the androcur like that (it was around the time you'd just left Brighton after your op) and my head felt like it would explode! This is why I am suprised at I've had no reaction to the switch so far. If I was t switch back, I am sure I would.

thanks for everything!
Suzy xxx