Questions about Anti-Androgen?

This seems like a health question better posed to a gender psychologist or other such licensed professional.

I doubt that what you're relating about risks is true of all anti-androgen medications, but there are risks associated with some of them. I have sourced this without independently verifying either the claims or the site's qualification to make the claims. However, on a cursory look, they seem to support that some anti-androgens but not others make sense in a feminization regimen; and some anti-androgens are actually indicated for other uses, such as in cancer treatment.

As always, it's best to talk to a medical professional about these concerns, and pretty much nobody on EC is going to make a medication recommendation for you. It's not because we don't care. On the contrary, our caring for you leads us to be honest about the fact that EC is a great support community but not as a qualified source for medical diagnosis or treatment.

Also, note that while what I sourced has an ethical policy about disseminating information related to transgender care, they also do not claim that their information should be taken as a basis for making treatment decisions either.

 

I agree with Pret, this is absolutely a question for your doctor.

What I will say is that hormones are powerful drugs. While they have effects that you might find positive, like the ones you mentioned, they are really designed to treat problems on the inside as well as the outside. Doctors might have other solutions if what you really need is to be more outwardly feminine. I am absolutely NOT saying you are not "trans enough" if that's the case. In my book, if one gender fill-in-the-blank, be it gender role, gender presentation, your physical sex, or what have you, if it's getting in the way of your life, you're "trans enough", period. What I am saying, is that if for whatever reason keeping the place where testosterone is made inside your body is important to you - and it is totally okay if it is - then I would bring this up with a doctor; it's very possible HRT isn't the right treatment for you. It's okay if it is, it's okay if it isn't, but your doctor will know. There are many ways to skin a cat here if you can't take HRT, so do not despair. The goal is you being comfortable with your body and able to live your life day to day without obstacles, and that goal in all likelihood may be totally reachable without HRT for you.

If you want to discuss, with dignity, how you feel about things like castration, or anything to do with being trans, we can absolutely help in that department Just as with being gay, there are a ton of things that we're taught are bad things, to the point where people are embarrassed to even talk about them. Of course, just as with being gay, we don't want to head into "war stories" territory here. Meaning, that there is a difference between having a safe place to say that you like giving blow jobs with dignity, and talking about how amazing this guy was in sordid detail. But I mean, generally, that rarely happens, and I have found that the closet means that even here among all us queer people sometimes you have to push in the former direction so people are comfortable.

So trans equivalent, if you want to talk about how you want to be a woman, and anything related to that that you are scared to talk about elsewhere, we're the place for that. I myself was planning on getting castrated at one point (I prefer the more dignified term "orchie" to "castration"), and am completely comfortable talking about it. Just as long as we remember that there are tons of people struggling with their identities reading this, there should not be any problems. It would hurt them a lot (and not be really true besides) if we said something like "I want to do such and such because I'm trans". I want to be a woman because I'm trans. I need to be a woman because this "want" is at a deep enough place that it causes friction in my life I can't control in areas like relationships, hiding this part made me deeply ashamed, and knowing people are treating me like a man or doing things like using the men's restroom cause tons of stress, anxiety, and hopelessness that are serious problems by themselves. But I don't need HRT because I'm trans; HRT is just one way I can be a woman and fix the problems that being trans causes. If someone else solves their problems without HRT, that's a success. You should also know that you are safe from other people doing the same thing; no matter what, you're trans as far as we are all concerned, because that's what you told us you are.

So with that in mind, did you want to talk about how the idea of castration makes you feel, or why you want HRT?

 

My doctor told me a few negatives of taking them. Stress on your liver from constantly processing the hormones, although I think that was for the estrogen. Also he mentioned blood clots in the legs and of course long term HRT hasn't been really studied much so there isn't much info on really long term effects.

I am not sure if that helped any. I probably forgot a few of the things he mentioned I was just too eager to start and maybe should have paid more attention. I just knew that I wanted hormones and was doing it no matter what bad side effects he listed off. I would imagine anti androgens are almost as important as the estrogen itself. Taking just E would lower your T levels a bit, or that is what my doctor told me. But then you would just have female level E and a bit below male level T which probably wouldn't work out well. So I take both so that I can have female levels of E and T (yes, women have some T it isn't just a guy thing!).

You should probably find a doctor knowledgeable on the subject and see them to ask some questions. If that is a difficult thing to do, perhaps I could get some of the info from my doctor for you? Just send me a message on my wall (or PM) with questions you may want to ask and I could maybe send them to my doctor?

 

So by and large, it really is the only safe way. The trouble is that there are health risks if you are doing it long term without getting rid of some of your equipment. The "chemical castration" that some people, controversy, advocate for sex offenders, is really just HRT. This stuff has a lot of known dramatic effects on people, especially their sex organs. But again, none of us here can give any kind of medical advice aside from basic health.

I so so did not want to put you on the defensive I am really sorry if I did. You're definitely a woman in my book, period. All I really wanted to do was to help us work out the best way to deal with your circumstances.

I can definitely understand all that. Especially not wanting to get surgery. I've read some pretty in depth stuff regarding what people go through when they're recovering from bottom surgery. For a while it was giving me serious second thoughts. That's a huge part of why I was thinking about just an orchie instead of the whole shebang to be honest. It's definitely not something I think anyone should go through if they don't think it's going to be worth it.

The only reason I think everyone here is pushing to ask these kinds of questions of a doctor, is because there are some health risks that doctors do want everyone to be aware of when you do anything that messes with hormones. The biggies are that they make things like testicular and prostate cancer harder to detect.

So as far as softer skin and all that jazz, my entire first year after coming out I could not do hormones. My laser hair removal did me no end of good in this department. It kept me sane and helped me deal with all the BS that comes from living a double life with no end or hope in sight. I know it sounds corny and grade school, but eating right and exercising have done a ton to help me pass too. Sometimes I do wear shapewear, but like any woman you have to be careful and not wear it too long. I have to be even more careful because my HRT gives me a blood clot risk, but again, eating right and exercising help here too. With that, and learning how to put on make-up, and of course all the trans 101 stuff like practicing my voice, I had gone a fair way into my transition before I even started HRT. I can easily see how some people manage a transition without any medicine at all. If my hormones themselves, and the way they affect me mentally, weren't so much of a problem, and I did not have so much body dysphoria, I probably would have opted to try without medicine.

I will flat out say that it sucks, going online and into trans spaces, and seeing everyone else on hormones. So I mean I really, really want to make sure you really understand, I see you as every bit as much a woman as I am and as any cis women I've met are. I have been there. And I'm not trying to scare you off HRT or push you to change your mind about surgery, at all. Just the opposite. I'm trying to say, that you're trans. I'm trans. HRT is powerful medicine. It can make life bearable and possible for some of us. But it's not the only tool in your arsenal. If it's right for you though - including a likely future commitment to some surgery, although again, we're not doctors - then go for it! The important thing is that you find a way to live your life, and you fully understand any risks you take before you take them.