There are several routes of taking HRT and the main forms are: pills, gels, patches and injections. There are less common forms too that are mainly used in the DIY scene such as Transdermal Estradiol Spray and Sublingual Estradiol Oil Drops.
diyhrt.info lists a general price range for the more common methods but that is very US targeted and obviously differs for DIY and different health cares so here I will go over a few specific forms, their common dosages/concentrations and any other relevant information on those methods.
Pills
Pills come in two common formulations Estradiol Valerate and Estradiol Hemihydrate.
the most common concentrations are 1mg and 2mg pills.
Generally in pill form the bioavailability is low so right off the bat I recommend taking them the sublingual route(placing the pill under your tongue and letting it slowly dissolve).
Sublingual is around 1.5x more effective at absorbing oestrogen compared to the oral route.1
See Pill dosage for dosage infor
Injections
Estradiol Undecylate
Footnotes
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See DOI: 10.1089/trgh.2023.0138 for more information. the 1.5x claim is specifically from “Table 4 - Mean Estrone/Estradiol Ratio”. Fig 2 is a great visual comparison. this paper can also be found on Research Papers.
paper name: Comparison of Estrone/Estradiol Ratio and Levels in Transfeminine Individuals on Different Routes of Estradiol ↩