I just read an article that said that if a male were to take oral birth control that it'd do more or less the same thing as antiandrogens. Seeing as how I could quite possibly get ahold of birth control much easier than I could get ahold of any other antiandrogen, I was just wondering about the other side affects of taking oral contraceptives. So, my question would be whether or not it'd be a bad decision to get ahold of birth control? Lately I've been feeling so terrible about not being able to get therapy or antiandrogens that suicide seems inevitable if something doesn't give soon... Please don't turn this into a thread about that, suicide's bad, so much to live for, etc, etc.
Self-medicating, using the wrong medication, for anything, let alone as gender reassignment is a beyond terrible idea. I'm sure KB can speak in more detail as to why, but this is not stuff you mess around with, and the hormone systems in the human body are delicate, particularly for someone 16 years old. I realize this isn't what you want to hear, and I also get that when it seems like there are no other options, something crazy like this starts to seem sensible. But it isn't. If you are out to your parents, why is it not an option to at least start therapy? In nearly all parts of the country, there are therapists that will work for very low fees based on income or circumstances, so I'm sure if you really look into it, there are options you can find to help. At the very least, you might try calling the Trevor Helpline 866-488-7386 and talk to them about what you're feeling. No one deserves to go through the depression and suicidal thoughts, and there is definitely a solution that doesn't involve self-medication in a way that could potentially be very dangerous.
I know its not a particularly safe idea, but I figured it was worth a shot. I've been waiting to get income taxes back to really push on therapy. I've tried and tried ut have generally passive about it. I wasn't aware of therapists that work for lower wages. The only ones that I've found have been $80/hour minimum. If provided the opportunity, I absolutely will not self medicate. But, I still haven't been provided the option yet. I'm not implying that I'm self medicating, I'm just saying.
Dirty little secret: Very, very few therapists in private practice have full practices. The ones who really care about what they do would much rather have a client who is motivated and wants to help him or herself, who is paying $25 (if their normal rate is $80 or $100) than no client, or an unmotivated client. But you have to ask, and you may have to ask 4 or 5 therapists before you find one that is a good fit, and will work with what you can afford.
Birth control pills are usually a synthetic form of the hormone that a woman makes during pregnancy. It works by fooling the body into thinking that it is pregnant. It doesn't have much value without estrogen. Estrogen is the primary female hormone, just as testosterone is the primary male hormone. Hormones should be taken only under a physician's supervision. There's a lot of side effects to these drugs and they should be part of a program that includes psychotherapy. In general, prices on any healthcare service are negotiable. A physician may bill $150 an hour for a service but an insurance company may pay only $70. Most physicians will accept the same price from you as they would from accept from the insurance company if you are paying cash at the time of service. And therapists in particular are used to offering slide-scale payment options to patients for the reasons that Chip mentioned.
That's a bad idea, contraceptives has different portions of all those sex hormones and this could damage your hormone receptors so they'll be less sensitive by the time you really stat transitioning. As well as it may cause tons of other side effects and well pills are never good for your liver.
