A part of our polarized gender illusion is the notion of
testosterone as the male hormone and estrogen as its equal
and opposite number in the woman's body. The reality is clearly
far more complex than this and much is still shrouded in
controversy among medical researchers. There's much to indicate
that testosterone is the prime mover of libido in both
sexes, and some recent studies have highlighted the surprisingly
calming effect of testosterone on some males who had deficiencies
of the hormone.
A complex array of sex hormones are created and processed in the
human body ... testosterone and estrogens are found in both
sexes; it's the balance that is critical.. and even this shows
wide variations among individuals of the same sex. References do
not agree completely as to what constitutes the normal
ranges for these hormones, and the customary measuring scales
obscure the interesting observation that testosterone (chemically
C19 H28 O2) predominates in the blood of both
sexes; just dramatically more so in males.
Testosterone levels are typically quoted in nanograms per
deciliter of blood. Sobel & Ferguson (The People's Book of
Medical Tests) give the range of male testosterone as 300 to
1200 ng/dl, while Pinckney & Pinckney (The Encyclopedia of
Medical Tests) say 500 to 1200 ng/dl. The comparable
testosterone levels for females are cited as 30 to 95 ng/dl or 25
to 50 ng/dl in the same two sources.
Estrogens comprise a group of related substances, such as estriol
(C18 H24 O3) and estrone (C18 H22 O2), though
estradiol is generally the subject of measurement. Without
getting into the structural formulas, one can already see that
estrogens are not the opposite of testosterone, but rather
closely related in the scheme of things. Now estrogen is given in
picograms per milliliter. Divide these numbers by ten to pair
them with the scale used for testosterone.
Progesterone (C21 H30 O2) is a female hormone
associated with some of the discomforts of the menstrual cycle;
in some ways its actions are contrary to those of the estrogens.
Progesterone is responsible for water retention and related
swelling of breast tissue, in females it stimulates the rebuiling
of the uterine lining. Progesterone is typically one of the
components in birth control pills, and it is sometimes
prescribed to transsexuals (as Provera* or Cycrin*) for one
week out of every four, in order to partially mimic the monthly
period. Other doctors feel strongly that progesterone should
not be administered, considering the medical risks and
questionable benefit for the transsexual patient.
Sobel & Ferguson state that males normally have from 40 to 115
picograms of estradiol per milliliter of blood, whereas the
Pinckneys offer a flat value of 20 pg/ml. For females, levels are
of course cyclical. Sobel & Ferguson say 61 to 394 pg/ml for the
first two weeks of the menstrual cycle, 122 to 437 at ovulation,
156 to 350 during menses ... with a level of under 40 pg/ml cited
for post-menopausal women.
The Pinckneys divide the menstrual cycle differently: 50 pg/ml
average for the first ten days, with 125 pg/ml average for the
last twenty days. If your cycle is less than the 30 or 31 days of
the standard wall calendar, other numerological oracles can be
consulted. Are we confused yet? Hormone replacement
therapy offers possibility of naturally derived conjugated
estrogens, such as Premarin* or synthetic ethinyl
estradiol, such as Estinyl*. The 1.25 mg tablet of the former
is roughly equivalent to a 0.05 mg tablet of the latter. Either
might be prescribed in HRT. Interestingly enough, these are
generally available over-the-counter in Mexico and several other
countries ... another instance of variability in the human
condition.
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