[Sullaria007]

I know, weird post for this forum but hopefully this is the best spot because of your friendliness to gender spectrum stuff and also individuals' research on glandulars and the endocrine system.

I’m curious if anyone here has experience using testicular glandular supplements during hormonal recovery or re-masculinization.

Background: I was on estrogen for about 1.5 years and have now been off for around a year. During that time I had fairly typical feminizing changes (breast development, softer skin, body fat redistribution, etc.).

As part of trying to move back toward a more masculine baseline, I started experimenting with freeze-dried powdered bull testicle (from brand "Heart and Soil"--It's expensive at the recommended dose but right now I've only been taking 1/3 of the manufacturer-recommended dose so it works for my budget). I know these supplements are controversial and the evidence base seems thin, so I’m mostly trying to compare experiences.

Some things I’ve personally noticed since stopping estrogen and taking the glandular:

* Testicle size has returned close to what it was before estrogen.
* My breasts have shrunk from roughly a B/C cup down to a small A. There is still noticeable nipple size and some remaining tissue.
* Strength and muscle are coming back, especially in my legs and thighs.
* Fat loss from my lower body has made my legs feel and look noticeably “harder” again.
* Skin is still softer and paler than it used to be.

The difficult part is separating cause and effect. I don’t know how much of this is simply natural hormonal rebound after stopping estrogen and how much might be related to the supplement.

My question is whether testicular glandulars are thought to have any real endocrine signaling effect in the body, similar to how bovine ovary glandular supplements are sometimes claimed to influence feminization.

Is there any science behind the idea that consuming freeze-dried reproductive gland tissue could influence the endocrine system, or is it basically just protein/nutrients once digested?

Interested in hearing experiences or any research people know about.

[flamesabers]

Hello again Sullaria, 

I'm not particularly familiar with any research on this. My layman take on this is once a person stops taking exogenous hormones, their endogenous hormonal system will take over (given enough time, and presuming the person has functioning natal gonads). 

If you have a doctor, I would recommend talking to them about it, especially if you could get some bloodwork done to see where your T and E levels are at currently.

[BullBreast]

Hey, 

I'm actually taking them. 

Glandulars, if properly processed at manufacturing, work. There's no science as far as I know, in the sense that it's not something I've found people do studies about. At least not official scientific research. 
In any case, we've got plenty of proof in this forum that they work. There's things to consider though.

They work, more drastically and therefore visibly, when the ones you take are the opposite of what your body has. Simply because they're adding what it doesn't have in the first place, at least not in those quantities.
 So when a male takes BO, it's adding feminizing compounds that are not present in those amounts before, that's why there's changes like breast development and fat redistribution. 
Now, if a male takes masculine glandulars, that's a different story. A male body, that functions as expected, already has those compounds so what the body does is actually notice the imbalance and "corrects it" back to what it's used to or what it considers balanced. 
So, I guess it depends on what hormonal state you currently are, it will help you more, or less depending on that. 

Just like with BO, it requires a larger dose than the suggested one.
Now my personal experience:
I've taken up to 20 tablets Orchic (testicle) glandular. Didn't notice much at all. I think tablets are not processed properly for what the intent would be with this, so maybe end up just being nutrients as you said. Caps containing powdered Orchic, on the other side, I believe retain better the cofactors, hormones, etc in active form. Same as BO does, since it comes in caps. 
Regarding the effects, since I'm a man with no previous NBE nor HRT attempts yet, the effects have been minimal so far. I always get what I believe is a spike in hormones on the first day I take it, followed by my body's regulation that cancels out any further effects. My reason to believe this is my boosted morning wood on the first night after taking the caps. Every single time after having stopped taking them I get that morning wood on the first day back on them. So that's what I've been doing, just getting the occasional-weekly spike (I guess), hoping it means something long-term, by for example activating receptors instead.
Also what I've been taking last months is prostate glandular instead. I thought it's supposed to have more DHT or its cofactors than Orchic, because 5α-reductase is abundant in prostate tissue. So I'm taking it hoping it gives me stronger changes due to that, since DHT is more masculinizing. 

From all this and to summarize, what I learned is that if it's something you don't have, it will give you notable changes, but if that's not the case, the approach has to be to focus on activating the receptors instead. So that they use the circulating hormones you already have, as increasing them will only lead to down-regulation.
Long-story-short, changing is easier than boosting what you already have/are...

Hope that helps