So this is a super late response (been a while since I used beehaw), but hopefully this helps you out. My dose is 0.22mL of EEn, so 8.8mg, every two weeks. In my (potentially intersex) body it works pretty good! T gets suppresed, and at through I’m around 150pg/mL of E. But I’ll warn you that people on the TransDIY subreddit have tried similar dosages and it has not worked out for them. Hope this helps 😅

Yeah if your insurance covers HRT then it might be for the best to stick with valerate until you find a pharmacy. Sadly I don’t have any tips for getting it officially. I do DIY so I buy EEn from Otokonoko. If you are here then I assume you would avoid using Reddit lol, but you might have a better chance if you ask in one of their subreddits.

Honestly I’ve never injected in thighs and find the tummy more reassuring lol, to me I barely feel it there. Ig people sometimes are built different ig

Regardless, glad I could help :3

It’s worth noting that quantity of semen can vary throughout your progress in HRT. In my case I produced little to almost none around the first 4 months but now (6 months) my semen is in much more quantity but more diluted. That seems pretty normal according to what other trans people go through, in fact you might eventually notice more pre-cum. Some say it could be related to cis women’s lubrication and your body trying to replicate that.

I would incline to say, based on what you say, maybe you are experiencing too little estrogen, but hopefully you are aware that self diagnosing has the problem of confirmation bias and placebo, which is the reason I don’t put them that much weight into them.

My advice is three things: first, next time you inject make sure you have at least one or two inches of fat between your fingers, if you don’t use another area like your tummy. Probably use 45 degrees especially if you’re on the skinny side; besides, imho I don’t get why people that want SubQ inject in 90 degrees anyways, afaik there are no advantages to it and only risks hitting muscle instead, and IM can hit a blood vessel. Second, if you haven’t had issues before this incident then perhaps you have nothing to worry about but make sure to keep in mind your blood test. Third, if it’s an option for you perhaps consider getting estradiol cypionate, or even better enanthate? Those have a longer half life than valerate so they might make your levels more consistent and you could inject less often (people on cypionate commonly inject weekly, and on enanthate every 10 days or even every two weeks).

If it helps, it’s unlikely you hit a vein with SubQ injections, especially if you did it at 45 degree and especially if your needle is short enough and you aren’t hitting the muscle. So it’s a bigger chance you didn’t, and your E is fine, even if you got hurt. If you are with a doctor (or if you are on DIY then the doctor is yourself), talk with them about injecting more often (and maybe a higher dosage) just in case. For some people the ups and downs can cause mood swings and stuff. It’s also important to know mood swings are not reliable as estrogen indicators, since they are influenced by many factors. A better though not completely reliable option is (cw sex and AMAB genital mention)

Obviously though, the best way is blood test. But not everyone has that option sadly.