[Ava6]

I am a trans woman and I am taking estradiol and I also have a bottle of WP (white peony). I have heard to avoid phytoestrogens because they will compete with estradiol for estrogen receptors (and be much weaker of course). That’s why I want to know if white peony is still safe to use, that being the case. Does it have many phytoestrogens? I know it converts testosterone to estrogen but I don’t know if that’s the result of phytoestrogens or if that’s something else.

I would be using it for its anti-androgenic effects and I want to make sure it’s not going to decrease my ability to absorb estradiol because of as I said any phytoestrogens binding to estrogen receptors.

[Bustyprincess]

First off welcome! So personally I use a heap of phytoestrogens and have grown great! and have had no major issues with my estrogen and progesterone levels theyve always still been within normal estrogen levels for trans women and cis women, so from personal experience you have absolutely nothing to worry about using phytoestrogens ontop of your hrt, my endocrinologist is the best of the best in my country people fly interstate just to see him, hes been doing this for over 20 or 30 years he knows Im on a bunch of herbs and has said absolutely nothing about it concerning him infact he was very fascinated by my knowledge on herbal medicine, on the note of white peony yes it is VERY mildly estrogenic, however the process in which it converts testosterone to estrogen is through it increasing the bodies natural aromatase process so it it is converting testosterone to actual estrogen ontop of giving you very small amounts of phytoestrogens. So do with all that info what you will, but there is no harm in adding phytoestrogens to your program(especially if you are post op) hope this helped xx
PS. Im on bio identical estrogen pellet implants every 10 months/year and bio identical progesterone capsules have been on this since I was 16, every time I get my pellet redone ofcourse the levels are lower as Im due.