Well, the egg “cracked” I guess. After 24 years, I’ve realized that I’m probably NB or trans. Looking back, I think that for a long while now, there’s been something in the back of my mind. Like a seed of doubt. I can think of any number of things that could’ve contributed to it. And it’s weird to me because I haven’t really felt any dysphoria, at least I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. But I know that there’s something off.
But anyway, over last weekend I was thinking about it a lot and after I came to that conclusion it was like this buzzing in my head that I hadn’t realized was there went quiet. And now that I know that… I have no fucking clue what happens next. The only people that know are close friends and I will absolutely not be letting anyone else who knows me know. HRT may be a very long ways (potentially 2 years, haven’t looked into it too much yet) away depending on a pending federal job.
I think 4 - 5 years is rather optimistic. I agree it’s commonly stated vials can last that long, and that it’s possible, but the reason I don’t communicate that to a beginner is that you can’t always count on every vial lasting that long - it’s like a best case scenario, not the default you should rely on when organizing your stockpile.
Oils can go rancid and turn cloudy after a year or two. It depends partially on the oils used to make your vial and the conditions under which they were manufactured, shipped, and then stored. As pointed out already, the rubber stopper is another issue - I think with DIY coring is more of a risk because EEn vials are used for much longer than EV vials you get from a pharmacy. In addition to all of this, the FDA recommends not using a vial longer than a month due to the repeated contamination of the vial from puncturing the rubber stop over and over. While preservatives in the vial help reduce the risk, and the FDA guideline is thus ignored by most of us in the community, it’s still legitimate advice aimed to reduce possibility of infections (and we as a community are taking risks not because it’s the safest for our health but for economic reasons).
All these factors make it seem a little irresponsible in my mind to not communicate a different range, though it’s absolutely fair to point out vials can last 4 - 5 years in optimal cases.