New friend just out of closet and hoping for GRS is worried that she has only one testicle and might be actually a hermaphrodite and wants to know if this makes any problems for surgery or if in fact she could get other treatment for being intersexed rather than being seen as just transsexual as Gp seems to think transsexuals are just normally endowed males rather than interesed/hermaphrodites.

how old is she?

does she actually only have one testicle or is one just undescended?

haven't doctors picked up on this before?

i'd get it checked out irrespective of anything else.

and, wait,

Quote:

as Gp seems to think transsexuals are just normally endowed males rather than interesed/hermaphrodites.

what does this mean?

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From what I know, many doctors will basically treat intersex people the same as trans people. You might get more sympathy, but the guidelines for HRT and SRS will be the same.

However, an undescended testicle could mean many things, not necessarily anything to do with being intersexed, and is common enough in males.

Well, I have one testicle, from birth. they thought it might have been in my abdomen so I had an operation to look for it when I was younger, but it didnt exist.

Other then that no one cared about it and the GIC haven't told me its a problem and they've known about it from the start, I don't know if they've even looked at it with significance or not. No one has ever told me that it could be an intersexed thing or anything.

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just transsexual

removing 2 is more hassle

- i am avoiding the other is in the old barn door

sorry :\

seriously though - testicles are the easy part of GRS its all the neo vagina work and neo clitoris placement etc thats the problem - so i doubt that this will affect any treatment plan - other than checking its not hanging around up there somewhere that would probably be removed at the time

speak to the surgeon at the time

if its hoped that an intersexed person maybe in some way 'fast tracked' - i would be very surprised unless it was something like unrinary problems that can damage the kidneys and even then it would not be GRS

in actual fact it can slow up treatment as an intersexed person may already have had GRS as a baby (forced by the DR at the time) and now want corrective surgery - this is very complex and adds another layer of confusion and shady practices of the time can be hushed up - communication breakdowns and medical practitioner guilt

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I have only one testicle and instead of it being basically spherical its a long sausage thing from being about 11/12 years old when everything swelled up and got very sore. GP didnt know and parents were too embarrassed to do anything so when the pain subsided I was left with this one long thing tucked across from side to side under my penis.
It has been getting sore for he last few weeks so Last week as part of GRS I mentioned it to GP as I was thinking why they hadn't done any medical or endocrinology tests prior to hormones (might just as well self prescribe really hadn't I?) and GP was really surprised as though it was something rare. So he did a blood test but no one knows what the figures mean except they aren't a normal male level - more like post menstrual female - and I'd been off hormones for a few weeks before due to having surgery on my knee so I perhaps didn't have any residue of estrogen from the hormones. GP asked about at the PCT and one specialist seems to think the long thing might be an ovotestis(?) which might explain the weird blood figures and my being TS. So now I'm waiting to have the scan to see what is what.
I asked the GP if he wanted to have a look but he refused a bit sharply!

Hi there,

I'm curious about the blood test levels you mention above as well, I also have what I would call underdeveloped testicles, and wonder if anyone else can help shed some light on this, and whether theres any correlation to testicular development and T levels.

I've just had my own blood results to monitor E and T levels, I'm 3 months into estrogen treatment, at 1mg a day, not yet started ggoserelin, as there have been problems getting blood test results for some reason...

But they finallyt came through, and perhaps the reason for the delay is in the numbers....

Now I've nopt seen the actual results myself as yet as I had a phone call this afternoon, in which the GP told me the following, and it was only after I had written everything down and was looking at the figures lately that I started wondering about them....

OK heres what I was told:

Serum E levels - 167 (normal female range 28-156)
Serum T Levels - 18.6 (Normal female range 9.9 - 27.8 )

So according to the blood test results, on the lowest possible dose of E which the Dr started on as he intended to increase the dose gradually, then if what my GP has said is correct then my E level is slightly above the normal female range, and my T level before starting any kind of T suppression is within the normal female range as well.

I was a bit surprised as my other Dr. had been waiting for the blood test results before increasing my Estrogen dose, and starting the Goserelin, so I made a point of asking if the normal range values on the results, were M/F, and was told that they are F, and that my levels were correct and nothing further was needed.....

Can anyone give me any idea if any of ths is right as I'm really worried that they've messed up somewhere or that my GP isn't interpreting the results correctly, as it just doesn't make sense to me that after 3 months on the lowest possible dose of Estrogen and no Testeosterone syuppression, that both my E and T Levels are in normal female range levels......!!!

Any help on this will be appreciated, I tried a google search, but most sites just say that reference normal ranges vary from lab to lab, so theres no way of saying what results indicate.

Thanks all

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T levels on normal males are 9.4 - 37.0
T levels on normal females are @ 0.7 - 2.9
O levels on normal males are < 130 ( 30 - 70 normal )
O levels on normal females are 60 - 600 pre menopause, 20 - 100 post menopause ( T levels often rise ) (( Hence facial hair on old auntie ))

If you are on any hormone you should have :-
1) first 3 months 1 test of T + O levels and liver + kidney functions at monthly intervals
2 ) Further tests at 3 month intervals ( or sooner if you suspect a problem )

It may take a while for any H to have an effect

yeah, my first thought was that those normal ranges quoted were actually the normal ranges for males, at least in the testosterone results.

the discrepancy in the serum E level could be a mismatch between the units you're using to measure the E. i just found this

Quote:

Estrogen levels vary in women, ranging from 24-149 picograms per ml of blood.

which tallies up with karens quoted normal range. however, my E levels are ~1140 (i can't remember the units), which is at the top of the normal female range according to my GP, so obviously the units being used there are not picograms per ml. i'm guessing karens quoted normal range is in pg/ml, but her readings have been done using similar units to mine (whatever the next order up from picograms is, i can't remember off the top of my head, nanograms?, per ml), hence the apparant discrepancy.

also remember that the 'normal range' may vary depending on which lab does the testing as well.

irrespective, my guess is that it sounds 'normal', but without knowing the units of you measurements it's impossible to know exactly what the numbers mean! i would be tempted to query your doctor and make sure they're reading it right though, because, like you said, it's a bit of a wild result to get. of course, your doctor could be using a totally different scale to measure it all on and they could be right..... but i'd get the units of measurement just to be sure.

Foxy pulled a crafty one , I asked for a copy of my test results ( apparently you can ) on the the results were the scales and mins / limits to show the relevant range to the doctor!
Try it see where it gets you

I was at a meeting last night , one of the others got in first with a withering attack on the PCT executive who came !!!