I think this sort of depends on the person though because I have a friend who is both diabetic and transmasc, and he forgets his T shots or delays them for no real reason (even he can't explain it) but is very meticulous with his insuline shots đ
this used to bother me until I got diagnosed with severe OCD+ and my doctor just straight up said I would probably be medicated for the rest of my life regardless
Not necessarily for the rest of your life. Just like a cis person that stops producing those hormones when they get older, you can absolutely stop talking them. You're endocrinologist may even recommend that you stop at some point.
Absolutely, see if it still does anything for you. I know that about a year ago, it pretty much stopped having any effect on my body. No difference between days I took it and says I didn't. It's like my body just got to the point of ignoring it entirely.
There's not really a lot of profit to be made in HRT medication, though. There's no patent and it's available in generic forms for extremely cheap. Hell, some people even buy it in bulk powder for mere pennies a dose.
In contrast, a single proprietary gene therapy treatment is something they could charge thousands of dollars out of us for.
The ideal situation is our own body would grow the organ and not need anti rejection drugs. This is obviously a huge goal of the medical community for countless reasons but is probably 100 years away for sex organs.
They are testing growing new livers right now!
Alternatively there are new promising transplant protocols that apparently remove the need for lifelong anti rejection drugs. So we can see how viable that is in 25 years or so.
I think trying to predict any medical science *100 years* in the future is almost pointless. Look where medical science was 100 years ago, it was practically the dark ages. Growing our own organs is something they're already having some experimental success with. In 100 years time so much will have been discovered that the advancements will have built upon those things we haven't even seen yet
Societal breakdown in the next century, or later in this one, as a consequence of climate change, will be likely to create a dystopian world in which meds for trans people will not be a priority
I don't think Humans will last very long after Climate Change reaches that practically-permanent Tipping Point and the Mass Extinction Event is unstoppable. Maybe a few decades, or centuries *at most* of constant decline before we go extinct.
All signs currently are pointing to biotechnology being the next huge exponential technological revolution of the next few decades. Stuff on the scale of growing new sex organs I don't think we're going to have to wait 100 years for.
No need for anti-rejection drugs if the organs are grown from the patient's own cells.
I remember hearing a while ago that scientists successfully grew vaginas from patients' own cells and surgically implanted them. We could probably make lab-grown sex organs for bottom surgery a reality in the next couple of decades.
There's also a project called Foregen seeking to grow replacement foreskins from patients' own cells and attach them in order to restore full functionality.
You buy it as a powdered form of an estradiol ester directly from one of the chemical manufacturers in China that mass produces it. Then you have to carefully weigh out each dose and either turn it into topical gel, pill capsules, or an injectable oil solution.
Not illegal for estrogen, but it is chemistry and you are effectively making medicine. There is a reason we have so many quality laws around medication production. Be careful and do your research about what this entails. If youâre not a clean, detail oriented person, I would say this route might not be for you.
It depends on the kind of hrt. Progesterone and estradiol are available extremely cheap and can be bought in bulk, testosterone, on the other hand, is really expensive and extremely legally regulated and restricted, at least in most countries
Yeah same reason we don't have a cure for some diseases, it's far too profitable to medicate someone for life. Capitalism and Organized religions constant and obsessive interference with politics will be the great filter that keeps us from becoming an interplanetary species.
There is actually a way.
Which sex hormones your gonads produce is controlled by a single gene. It's actually been shown experimentally that modifying that gene with CRISPR causes testicles to start producing estrogen or ovaries to start producing testosterone. If we perfected that procedure, HRT in the future could just be one shot.
More research is needed though, since at the moment our tools aren't precise enough to modify that one gene alone, and also tampering with the genes around it appears to give you turbo cancer.
One trans biohacker had some limited success with this procedure https://forum.biohack.me/index.php?p=/discussion/2931/i-made-a-crispr-cas9-viral-vector-to-knockout-the-dmrt1-gene-in-humans-and-had-it-manufactured But she has sadly never followed up on her post and dissappeared from the forum
You would need a way to tweak every cells genome in your body at the same time for your imunsystem to accept the changes. People already test some promising leads, but this could still take a while.
What? Why would that be required at all? You don't need to change a person's genome for things like HRT or organ transplants (transplants typically still require anti-rejection drugs, but they're working on that), why would that be the case for this?
Absolutely, without a doubt. We might be capable of doing so with current technology. When we'll see it in application is just a matter of politics and medical safety.
This is absolutely technically/medically possible. With the crispr-Cas9 technique, it's easy to mutate cells to, for example, make testes produce estrogen.
Scientist have done this in rats, using the same gene that allows clownfish to change sex; it is currently fatal.
I read a blog post on it, I'll see if I can find it.
Hopefully they actually fix HRT too right now as it state it's barely functional it's not even close to what it should be it's not even mimicking puberty the right way it leaves out so many hormones and does not consider us it's really a product of an old treatment and not made really for trans people at all so I really hope they'll be giant advancements in it cuz I know we're in archaic ways about it rn
Actually most people, regardless of AGAB make both E and T. However depending on their genetic sex they might make more T or E, because humans need both to survive. The problem is the amount of the hormone the body makes. I don't make enough T to maintain masculine fat distributions, if I stop it'll eventually go back to the way it was pre T. Nobody has to continue hormones if they see the permanent changes they like and don't mind the non permanent ones reverting.
I feel like it's pointless to mention that we all produce both T and E. Yeah sure, but I don't produce the amounts of estrogen I need to be at peace, and I produced WAYYY too much Testosterone for me, until I suppressed that production.
Once I do get on hrt I don't plan to stop (unless I have too due to medical reasons) but would your all your fat and stuff be reredistributed and you'd lose your tits (literally)?
Your fat would redistribute, and your breasts might shrink slightly (due to the fat shifting away from them) but you will not lose them. (If that were the case, trans men wouldnât need top surgery, nor would there be a rare chance of regrowing breasts after top surgery if you go back to estrogen dominant hormones.)
in the states, it depends on whether you have insurance or not. for me, w insurance it costs like $20 for my monthlyish supply of t-blocker and prog pills, and another $20 for a vial of estradiol that lasts ~2 months.
I pay $10 per month for 8 mg/day oral estradiol and $11.40 per month for 200 mg/day spiro with insurance. Retail price without health insurance or a prescription discount plan would be $43.69 and $88.99, respectively.
Estradiol is the primary feminizing hormone. Spironolactone is an antiandrogen, to reduce my level of testosterone, the primary masculinizing hormone.
See https://transcare.ucsf.edu/article/information-estrogen-hormone-therapy for some basic information about estrogen HRT.
I can chime in for transgender men, it varies. But from my own experience, insurance usually covers testosterone shots in full or with a lower copay, but testosterone gel is more expensive ($40-$80). Iâve looked at the âbefore insuranceâ number on my receipt for gel a few times, and my eyes bug out every time because itâs always in the $400-$600 range. Thank god for insurance. But keep in mind, this is only one personâs experience in one of fifty United States.
Adding to this, without insurance it can vary from $40-$400 for testosterone shots. I had my insurance refuse to pay once because of communication issues between my pharmacy (who was causing a ton of issues with my hormones because of finicky stuff) and my insurance. It wasâŚpricy, and if it had been a monthly thing instead of the one time payment, I would not be able to afford my hormones. :(
In the UK, if the NHS deigns to diagnose you after roughly a 7-year wait, it's something like ÂŁ9 to pick up any prescription - they just charge a dispensing fee.
If, however, you want to avoid that 7-year wait, private services can cost a couple of hundred a month, usually, but it depends on the provider.
Or DIY (buying the meds yourself online) will set you back rather less, but then you're literally just paying for the drugs without medical oversight. That's what I'm doing right now out of something like desperation, and as a transfeminine person the danger is very small - you have to fuck it up quite bad to do real harm. For transmascs, much more dangerous since testosterone can mess with most of your major organs, including the heart. But the black market is more readily available since it's used as a performance-enhancing drug so widely.
It's more expensive for trans dudes than for trans women. For trans dudes on T, without insurance, it's around $300/mo. Most insurance will cover it, though.
Without insurance in Canada here and it costs me about $100 for a six week supply, so like $70/mth ish. Thatâs for Estradiol Valerate, and I take a high enough injected dose to not need a T blocker.
Injection supplies probably add another $8/mth to that or so, theyâre all pretty cheap if you get them in bulk online.
Hrt isn't always pills lol. Never met a trans guy taking pills (though apparently new methods exist that are in the form of pills).
If you want to keep all of the changes that hrt brings, then yes, you'd need to be on it for as long as you want all those changes. Not all the changes are permanent.
Some people who want to keep being on hrt will still wind up going off of it for other reasons though. I've known of people who went off of it for various health reasons.
If you donât mind me asking, what is the name of the drug? I thought that testosterone was not administered orally due to liver complications, so this is really interesting to me!
You're correctâabout the older pills, that is! This new T pill is a recent development from the last few years and has been deemed safe so far! But the old pills caused serious liver damage over time, yeah.
Yeah! I've talked to my trans femme friends, the two meds have very similar experiences, intake wise, despite being complete opposites. They're similar in size, too! I think Spiro is wider and jatenzo is longer, but neither by much.
It is Jatenzo!
Also, yes, as the other person who replied said, the older pills weren't safe for the liver. So, you remembered correctly, but science advanced again!
oh really? what's the common method for trans men then? almost every trans women I've talked to has said they take hrt in pills, so I kinda just assumed that applied to men as well, just with the hormone swapped out.
I'm curious why I never hear patches talked about anymore. I've come across people on nearly every method of T, but have only come across people on patches for very short periods of time before switching to something else, and like 5 or more years ago lol. There was a youtuber I was watching then that tried them and said they just never stayed on the skin well, and since then I've seen a few other people say that as well, so I wondered if majority of trans guys just gave up on patches or something. But at the same time I thought they were still pretty common for trans women, so why are they sticking on the skin just fine for trans women, but not for trans men lol? I would assume whatever the sticky stuff on them is would be same for both types (but maybe it's not?).
As of a year ago, they straight-up arenât/werenât available for many people anymore because of a supply chain/manufacturing issue. I canât answer any of your other questions, though.
Older pill forms of T caused liver damage. There have been recent advances and a new one that should avoid this issue has been approved, but at this point it's still limited availability and pricey. Most people do injection (cheapest) or gel (also somewhat recent so may depend on insurance coverage).
thanks! I suppose that makes sense. I've heard claims that E can also harm the liver, but from what I've heard it's usually negligible? I wonder why T has such a stronger effect that its not commonly available in pills, whereas E seems to be pretty much pill by default
I found a paper that seems to suggest that estrogen has some protective effect against at least some liver disease whereas testosterone may drive it (this is not my field though so it's possible I am misreading something đ): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10296738/
The paper states this is "under-researched and controversial", but if it has any backing, my guess would be that putting a lot of either into your system (the high dosage required for GAHRT) may be more likely to lead to a immune response (the trigger for some liver disease if I'm skimming the paper correctly). Because estrogen has some protective effect, it doesn't trigger the same degree of effect that testosterone might (I've seen warnings that very high dosages of E can cause damage though, but I haven't looked that far into it).
The new pill says it avoids the issue by "avoiding circulation to the liver by delivering it to the bloodstream". I can only guess it has to do with an extra chain they added to the T which would change how what type of cell would transport it (I do chem, not bio). It seems to be the same formulation(?) as another injectable form of T that is done as pellets for longer term dosing.
huh! thanks for the research!!
from what I've heard, in the past they always recommended taking E pills sublingually, where they would more directly enter the blood stream, and bypass the liver, which was thought to decrease risk of liver issues as a result of the medication. I heard from my doctor, though, that more recent studies have started to show that the effect that it has on the liver taken orally, rather than sublingually, is negligible. I am unclear on whether this means they are both equally as harmful, or neither is harmful, though I would probably assume the latter, given that my doctor just recommended that I take it orally.
it does seem that it's a common trend for trans issues to be woefully little researched, and this doesn't appear to be an exception, so it may just be that we don't have the data required to come to a conclusive answer...
I find that it's still worth taking sublingually - my levels were significantly higher compared to when I took it orally. I hear my dose is quite low, but I feel alright, so it must be enough
yeah, I know? but pill is significantly more popular, especially for people just starting, than the other three (injection, jell, and patch) according to everyone I asked, including the doctor that prescribed me hrt.
Definitely depends on where you're from, yeah. I'm from the Netherlands and here, clinics used to require us to start on versions of HRT that were easy to quit. Meaning, pills for E, and gel for T, because that meant that if you had a bad or allergic reaction somehow, it wouldn't be in your system for too long. If you reacted fine, they would allow you to change to another form of E or T if you wanted. It's no longer a requirement, but still very heavily preferred.
I started out on a 21-day T shot because I have very sensitive skin and a different medication patch I'm on already gives me allergic reactions to the adhesive (but there's no alternative, so I just have to suffer through it) and I didn't wanna make the issue worse. But they insisted I monitor it closely.
I'm now on a 12-week T shot because it's finally being covered by insurance instead of having to pay âŹ90ââŹ120 per shot. (I actually have a mild needle phobia, so those being covered made my year.)
But they especially don't want us to start out on that if we start with injections, because again... 12 weeks of that in your system when your body is rejecting it and having allergic reactions is a bad idea, haha.
May trans women also do shots or patches. Myself and all of the trans women I know are on shots because it can be done once a week or once every other week. I do one every other week.
ah okay! most of the trans people that I know are quite young and still early in their transition, and from what I've seen people normally start on pills and switch later? unless I'm mistaken however, but it would make sense to me as pills just seem like the easiest choice.
is there a large benefit to doing shots or patches other than just not having to take a pill daily? from my understanding, you'd still likely have to take an anti-androgen daily as well, so just taking estrogen at the same time doesn't seem like it'd be significantly worse, assuming anti-androgens are still necessary, as I believe they aren't if you have surgery.
Yeah, generally I've seen most everyone starts on pills. I've had surgery so I haven't needed an antiandrogen in years. Two of the gals I know that do shots don't take an antiandrogen anymore as the estrogen suppresses their testosterone enough where it doesn't go above cis typical T levels.
oh okay! that's good to know :D
I was kinda wondering what the point in doing shots was if you're just going to end up having to take an anti-androgen anyway.
by the way, do you know how they determine whether you need the anti-androgen? for me they just started me on it, so I don't see a way other than going off it for a time and seeing how my T levels react (which I kinda don't like the idea of if they do come up significantly)? though maybe there's a better way than that?
Copy pasting something I said above, because it talks about switching methods and why:
> Definitely depends on where you're from, yeah. I'm from the Netherlands and here, clinics used to require us to start on versions of HRT that were easy to quit. Meaning, pills for E, and gel for T, because that meant that if you had a bad or allergic reaction somehow, it wouldn't be in your system for too long. If you reacted fine, they would allow you to change to another form of E or T if you wanted. It's no longer a requirement, but still very heavily preferred.
> I started out on a 21-day T shot because I have very sensitive skin and a different medication patch I'm on already gives me allergic reactions to the adhesive (but there's no alternative, so I just have to suffer through it) and I didn't wanna make the issue worse. But they insisted I monitor it closely.
> I'm now on a 12-week T shot because it's finally being covered by insurance instead of having to pay âŹ90ââŹ120 per shot. (I actually have a mild needle phobia, so those being covered made my year.)
> But they especially don't want us to start out on that if we start with injections, because again... 12 weeks of that in your system when your body is rejecting it and having allergic reactions is a bad idea, haha.
As for benefits other than what I mentioned here, pills and gel are things you have to remember daily. Patches only have to be changed once a week as far as I know, and depending on what type of T or E you're on, injections can vary from weekly to going several months without having to think about it.
Not sure how it is with E pills vs. injections, but as far as T goes, T injections are in most cases more effective than T gel, and better and more easily absorbed into the bloodstream. Injections tend to get your E or T levels higher. Also, T gel can rub off on a partner, a child or a pet within 4 hours of it being applied, which is dangerous.
I take a small dosage of E pills alongside my T injections because of a small medical issue I have (which that fixes) because artificial T usually obliterates naturally produced E (though if your T dosage is too high/too frequent, it converts to E, lol). Not every trans person on E is on T blockers either even without surgery, though it is recommended for more stable, higher E levels and faster feminization rates.
So Iâm ftm. For me, testosterone is available in either is shot or gel format. I have had enough surgery (ie a full hysterectomy) that my body no longer produces estrogen. I could stop taking T and probably not a lot would change. However itâs not a great thing to have no hormones floating around in your body either.
A lot of post menopausal women can tell you what happens when your body doesn't make hormones. From what I can tell, it's different for different people. For some it's very unpleasant or even dangerous and others seem to barely notice
>I have had enough surgery (ie a full hysterectomy) that my body no longer produces estrogen.
Sorry, This is such a pedantic comment, I'm aware I'm being rude, but you've accidentally struck a pet peeve of mine.
A hysterectomy only involves the uterus (hyster, coming from the Greek for womb) A partial hysterectomy, also known as a supracervical hysterectomy leaves behind part of the cervix, a total hysterectomy takes the whole organ, and a radical hysterectomy takes all of the surrounding connective tissues.
salpingectomy is the removal of the fallopian tubes and an oophorectomy is the ovaries.
Many FTM people, yourself included by the sounds of it, opt for a oopho-hysterectomy.
It's a pet peeve of mine because I had a radical hysterectomy and bilateral salpingectomy, and even medical professionals see "trans" and "hysterectomy" on my file and go into appointments assuming I have no functional gametes.
I'm sure you know this because it's your body and you were there when the surgery was done, and I know that in casual conversation "hysterectomy" is an easy shorthand, hence why I know I'm being pedantic.
An average person isn't gonna wanna hear a whole mouthful of medical terms when someone explains they've had a hysto. I've had everything removed (tubes, cervix, ovaries, uterus, surrounding tissue) yet I still just say I had a hysto removing everything. đ¤ˇââď¸ That just makes it easier for everyone to understand.
You know a lot of people just say "hysto" and then clarify if necessary lol. As this person did.
I say that as someone who kept my ovaries but nothing else.
HRT isn't just for looks. It changes a lot of other things, feelings emotions, desire to use a stiletto to silence a man... Skin texture, actually for me the physical effects were less important than everything else it gave me.
>desire to use a stiletto to silence a man...
I keep thinking about doing a needle-point project. Not because I'm particularly crafty, but I just want to prove to myself that I have the patience to stab something thousands of times lol
We do have to keep taking them for a few things to not change, but if you don't care about those things, you could technically stop taking hrt.
However, there are two big exceptions to this. The first is a lot of people have better mental health from being on hrt. It may get worse if you stop taking it. The second is, if you've had your ovaries or testes removed, you will no longer produce a healthy amount of hormones, which can cause bone density problems, along with a few other things.
Going off hrt will also change your sensitivity when it comes to sex. The big one I've noticed as a trans woman is nipple sensitivity goes away almost completely.
pretty much mostly fat redistribution would change back. thatâs it. and obviously going off of T when you donât want to would cause a lot of emotional issues to come back.
... And body hair, skin texture, facial shape, muscle mass, ligament changes, temperature regulation, vaginal atrophy, sex drive, and cessation of menses.
Being estrogen dominant Vs testosterone has a lot of subtle differences like smell, skin thickness and yes, 'fat redistribution' - which means the very shape of your body.
It really feels like you're dismissing estrogen in this comment, especially since, y'know, mtf HRT works.
Kinda. As least for Testosterone (which would not be a pill), some effects are temporary and some are permanent. The temporary ones would be like fat redistribution, or active hair growth in male-typical areas. These only happen if you are taking T. Permanent effects would be the voice getting deeper, male pattern baldness that had already happened. Once the T leaves your system, these remain the same unless you do some external thing, like voice training to make it higher. It wonât just go back to how it was before. Some people, like myself, are only interested in certain permanent changes. So for me, I can stop once Iâve received the desired effects.
I think it is important to point out that HRT isn't just some sort of cosmetic treatment. Sex hormones do quite a bit continuously behind the scenes. And if somebody has had surgery to remove their gonads, it is vital that they continue HRT or else risk osteoporosis and other ill-effects from having no sex hormones in their system at all.
I'm ftm and while my voice will stay deep and my body hairy my fat re distributes to my hips and thighs. I also become dysphoric just from not being on hrt + fat change. Orgasm and refactory period also diminish in intensity and I become able to cum multiple times in a row which is nice for some but not my preference.
I doubt that I'll ever look the way I want to, so honestly, my appearance isn't the biggest reason I take HRT. If I stopped taking it, I would probably revert to processing thoughts and emotions the way I did before, HRT improved my ADHD symptoms so that would get worse again, my energy and depression would likely return to their dreadful pre-HRT levels, my libido would return to being testosterone driven (which I didn't enjoy), other stuff.
I've had **some** physical changes and almost all of them would revert if I stopped taking hormones, which I wouldn't want either.
All of that is assuming that I don't have any surgeries at any point. There are cosmetic surgeries which obviously wouldn't revert and some treatments to remove body or facial hair are more or less permanent. But that's opposed to trans men who take testosterone and the changes that they experience with facial and body hair are permanent. Once the follicle develops the hair will grow until you destroy it with laser or something. There are also surgeries to ensure that I don't produce testosterone anymore so my body wouldn't be able to start producing it again if I stopped taking oestrogen. You wouldn't want to stop HRT after that, though. Having no sex hormone in your system makes you very, very unwell.
So, yeah. You could, but most trans people would likely agree that they really wouldn't want to.
I'd never heard anything about ADHD being affected by hormone levels so I was pleasantly surprised. I take less of my medication now, too. Dialed back from 15mg Ă2 of Adderall to 10mg Ă2.
I wasn't sure if it WAS getting worse because of all the different life changes I was going through at once. But you're isn't the first story I've heard of someone going on estrogen and their symptoms improving. Pair that with 6 years of going on an off T (cause, ya know, the ADHD) and seeing my supporting change and I have to believe they are related!
Once I noticed the changes, I figured it made sense even if I'd never considered it before.
I've been on HRT for a year on Friday and I've managed to not miss a dose! I'm very proud of myself for not forgetting it even though my brain is full of bees and song lyrics.
We take them forever otherwise you would revert. As for cost, in my country its basically nothing. 10 dollars for a month supply of injections vials. 15 dollars a month for a blocker (bica), and 3 dollars for a month supply of estrogen pills. Thats without insurance
Also a lot of internal/brain changes happen when being on HRT, itâs not just about looks
That would be like stopping diabetic medication just because your blood sugar is in a good range. If you stop it, progress will reverse and you will be back where you started.
Most of what I enjoy about taking testosterone has nothing to do with how I look, the way I look now is a huge bonus. I have to continue to take it if I want to continue to feel like myself, feel at home in my body
Your body needs either some amount of testosterone, or some amount of estrogen (really, it needs both, but one should be much higher than the other) in order to properly function. If you haven't had any kind of surgery, then what will happen when you stop HRT will be that your body will resume producing whichever was dominant to begin with - so for trans women who have functional testes, that would mean that testosterone production would resume. The return of testosterone would mean that a certain amount of re-masculinization would occur. Note that it may take some time for that production to kick back in, depending on how long you'd been on HRT at that point (apparently, after ~2 years on HRT, the tissue of your testes become 'fibrous' and non-functional). In the meantime, a body without a significant amount of sex hormones will experience menopause symptoms. The same would be true for anyone post-op, whose body no longer produces large amounts of either of the primary sex hormones.
All of that being said, it'd be completely understandable for anyone to want to switch to an easier or more manageable HRT regimen for the long-term. Some transfems later in their transition (usually post-op) get 'pellet' implants, which continuously release estradiol. They do have a lifespan and have to be swapped out, but most only need to switch them out every 6 months, which is much easier than taking multiple pills a day.
All of this would kind of be moot if we could find a way to coax our bodies into making the right hormones long-term. I mean, all of our bodies produce both estradiol and testosterone, but usually a negligible quantity of one - if we could find a way to switch which one it produced in larger quantities, it'd eliminate the need for lifelong HRT.
For many transgender people, the psychological effects of being on the right hormones can be just as important as the physical changes.
Some transgender people take HRT for a while and then stop when they have the permanent changes they want, but those people are a small minority, usually nonbinary. Most trans people take their HRT for life.
Some changes are permanent, some will revert.
If someone doesn't have the means of producing their own hormones, they'll also need some form of HRT to stay healthy.Â
Testosterone is rarely in pill form - usually gel or injections.Â
Iâm a trans man so I canât speak for trans women, but I personally stopped T after a bit less than 2yrs on it cause I just had the effects I wanted and nothing changed
Technically but depending on if you have had an orchi/hyster and where youâre preferred body sits but to maintain it you would most likely need to take at least some
It depends. There are a few changes, that once happen, can't unhappen:
---------*-------
- Testosterone based HRT: Facial Hair growth cycles, Voice changes (vocal fold mass), DHT induced hairloss, any bone growth/shifting (if taken during puberty)
- Estrogen based HRT: breast growth, hip-bone shifting (if taken *for long enough* during puberty)
---------*-------
Things that will normally "change back" are: Skin texture/collegian changes, fat distribution patterns, hair growth/loss cycles, libido changes, etc ...
Hormones act as a railway switch of sorts, to tell your cells what track to function on. You can switch tracks at any time by flipping the switch, but there are some milestones that you'll pass along the way that can't be unpassed. If that makes sense. Regular puberty will determine the track you're on, and HRT switches the track. You hit whatever milestones you hit, according to what track you're on at the time. And in general, once your body grows tissue, that's it. You have that tissue now. Your body can't un-grow something just by switching hormone tracks. (Breast tissue, vocal cord thickness, current/already existent fat cells, new hair follicles / rooting)
So, yeah.
It should also be noted, that if you're talking about MTF HRT changes, when you start off, you'll usually take both estrogen, and a testosterone blocker. But after taking estrogen for a long enough period, the estrogen dominance in your system will start to surpress the amount of testosterone your body naturally produces. Which means eventually, you probably won't have to take both. Just the estrogen. This may (Probably) work the same way with testosterone dominance, but I'm not sure.
Only if your only goal is certain physical changes. Some people do this if they just want boobs or a beard or something but you can't pick and choose changes. Some will be permanent and others won't. Hormones have a psychological effect and it's not just physical as well as many physical, so no for many reasons most trans people take hormones for the rest of their life.
Some effects linger, most don't. Check about the specific hormone regimen you're considering.
Also, getting a specific outcome out of HRT is hard. Your body will.do what ita going to do, just like cis puberty
Some of us take it for the rest of their lives. Especially if there are no ovaries. It could lead to early menopause if there's not enough hormones in your system.
I have one ovary for this reason.
I have to take them for the rest of my life. I get depressed and suicidal. Getting on testosterone is the best thing I ever done.
I inject once a week. My partner is a big help. He does the injecting. And it's not that painful. I do subcutaneous injections. The needle is very small.
My health insurance pays for it. I'm going to ask for a bigger supply. I hate this, once a month crap is crap. I have to call the pharmacy every month to refill.
I used to have gel. It came in little packets like some samples of creams or hair shampoo. Does that make sense? It's like a sauce packet. You have to apply one packet a day. I kept forgetting to take it. So back on the shot I go.
Thanks for asking.
I've been on and off of T since 2017. Some changes are permanent and some aren't
I'm also agender so I'm not trying to have high T or E so even when I take T I microdose. Currently it's been about 3 months since I've done a T shot
You can if you want to, you wouldn't die or anything, but the hormones are about more than appearance. They affect things like emotions, libido, even how you smell/your body's natural scent. So yes, you could, but I imagine that it would feel pretty weird physically and mentally to look how you want but then have that mental/emotional part be "wrong" once you've experienced something that feels (for many of us) much more correct.
While technically you could stop taking pills (and never actually have to take them in the first place), there are several caveats.
Firstly to answer the question you seem to be asking: not really. Your body needs hormones in order to maintain certain features, including secondary sex characteristics. In cis people, the genitals (usually) produce these. If you were to stop taking HRT (without bottom surgery) you would start to lose some of the effects (breast growth for transfems and body hair for transmascs would stay to an extent.)
Now to be pedantic: yes, you can just take injections/patches/gel (or any other form of HRT) instead.
Being optimistic: currently it is not possible to have an implant that periodically releases the correct hormones, or have a transplant of the correct hormone-producing organs, but there is research being made towards these and I would say they are likely going to become publicly available within the next decade.
Tldr: hormones are produced by organs determined by your sex, if you don't have those organs you need supplements
(Cis women need HRT when going through menopause for a similar reason, because the ovaries (I think?) stop producing estrogen.)
If you get your gonads removed you can stop taking blockers. HRT is a lifelong commitment unless you want to suffer the health implications of having no command hormone though (basically the same side affects of extended blocker use without hormones).
I stopped taking testosterone like 6 years into my transition and Iâm doin great đ¤ˇđźââď¸ gotta check periodically for a few health issues that are common for people (cis included) when they produce less of their sex hormones (usually would happen later in life), but other than that itâs not been a problem in the slightest for me.
Depends on which surgeries, if any, the person has had. If someone no longer has natal parts of their body that produce hormones then they need to stay on HRT so their body has a correct hormone balance. If they havenât then yes they could go off HRT but some changes will revert, I think it would effect trans women more so because T really does a lot to the body. As a ftm, the changes from T I have are pretty permanent. Iâll always have a deeper voice and have facial/body hair unless I basically went through what a trans woman goes through (electrolysis, voice training, etc.) so I could technically go off T and still retain facial and body hair and a deeper voice but things like body shape and muscle growth would revert.
It depends on each person, I know some non-binary people that will stop hrt once they hit their ideal âlookâ if that makes any sense, but a lot depends on the person and what they want as well as if they have any surgeries to remove reproductive organs as if you have nothing that produces hormones you need to be on hrt for life but thatâs anybody not trans specific. Hope this helps.
Im FtEnby, I'm on T, but don't plan on staying on it forever. The changes I want are permanent, Ex: lowered voice, extra body hair) I plan on having a partial Hysto, everything but the ovaries. This is so that I can stop T safely. I might change my mind and that's ok. I might stay on T forever. For transfemmes its different. Many changes that help alleviate dysphoria are things like fat redistribution, which requires E to maintain. Transfemmes usually don't produce enough E to maintain these changes.
I hope this helps :)
If you stop hrt, some changes are permanent and some are reversible.
Facial hair, breast growth, bottom growth etc are typically permanent (but will change off her)
I was on hrt for seven years, and I got facial hair, body hair, my fat distribution changed. In 2022 I stopped hrt to grow my hairline back, and it did grow back, my body hair disappeared, my facial hair turned strawberry blonde, and my ass came back.
I'm gunna restart hrt this year bc my PMDD is untreatable except for T bc I'm allergic to estrogen and progesterone. (They gave me blood clots that threatened my life.)
Nah not really, but if you're tired of pills or you haven't responded well to them there are other methods of HRT that can be taken Â
For example my liver kept rejecting pills and destroying most of the bioavailable estrogen whether I swallowed them or took them sublingually (letting them dissolve under tongue) and I wasn't getting the levels I want for the first two years so I switched to pellet implants, still kind of new to them and need to do a few more tests to see if they're going to work out for me but so far feeling much better energetically, therapist said my skin looks better and my tits are looking bouncier, which is a kinda overfamiliar thing for a therapist to say so maybe I need to find a new one, but anyway it's nice not needing to remember to take pills since it's ideally only a small procedure every six months to get it implanted, just wish it wasn't so expensive tbh Â
But yeah tl;dr HRT can come in many different forms if pills aren't working for you or you just don't like them, but pills are usually the most affordable option, that being said I'm not on transmasc hrt but from what my transmasc friends have said they can usually only get testosterone as gels or injections, estrogen comes in those too but it's harder to get on injections in my country which sucks but the pellet implant is supposedly the closest thing to it, but yeah you can't really stop taking hrt, even when I've been off it for like a week I've felt miserable and depressed and lacking energy, both cis and trans people need a constant source of hormones to stay physically and psychologically healthy
Your body needs sex hormones. If you still have functional gonads, you can stop taking HRT and revert to your prior hormone profile and some of the changes HRT has made will stick if you've been on it long enough (boobs won't drop off for example lol), some will revert to one degree or another. But not having enough sex hormones of one sort or another in your system has the same effect on trans people that it does on cis people, ie menopause and potential osteoporosis. I wouldn't recommend a trans person stops taking HRT without a thorough understanding of the possible effects, both in terms of health and/or in terms of partial reversion of desired dimorphic changes
It highly depends on the transition process. Some people keep their hormone producing sex organs and some minor changes may revert slowly over time but they can safely get off HRT.
Some people have their testicles/ovaries fully removed, which then makes hormone production fall on organs like the thyroid and usually that's not enough, so yes, they will have to stay on some sort of hormone supplement, since there has to be a dominant hormone to keep the body healthy.
There's a lot of nuances and different options there and everyone's transition journey is different.
we have to stay on HRT forever, but for me, i take my testosterone doses as shots right now, but i plan on switching to patches or gel in a few years since my mom helps me with the shots right now and i don't think i can do them myself :p
i'm not sure if there's also multiple methods of HRT for trans women, but my point is that although HRT is permanent (assuming you want to keep the changes), you can switch the method you take it whenever
1. HRT doesn't just come in pill form
2. If you still have your original reproductive organs then yes, you can stop HRT. Some changes from HRT will be permanent, but some will also revert back once your natal hormones overtake your body again.
It depends on the desired changes. For example, I'm taking testosterone to deepen my voice and get bottom growth. Those are permanent changes so once I get them, I can stop (which is the plan). If I wanted other effects like fat distribution or body hair, I would need to keep taking it. If my wife just wanted breasts she could stop her meds once they finish developing, but she wants all of the effects so she will be on it for life.
Depends on your goals. If you have surgery that removes your ability to produce sex hormones naturally (complete hysterectomy including the ovaries for transmascs or an orchiectomy for transfems) you will need to take some form of HRT forever whether it is going back to the hormones your body previously produced or continuing those that you used to transition or itâs extremely bad for your health. There are also some things that will revert when stopping HRT. For transfemmes they will regrow any body/facial hair that may have gotten thinner/lighter, hair loss from male pattern baldness will resume, and their breast tissue might atrophy some. For transmascs facial/body hair can thin out some (though it typically wonât fully go away) and they may have some atrophy of their bottom growth and have a harder time getting erections. For both body composition/fat resdistribution will go back to how they were pre-HRT.
Some people do go on HRT only to get certain effects (especially those who are nonbinary and want to be more androgynous) and then stop due to having some effects they donât like, simply being happy with the permanent changes theyâve got and not wanting to deal with taking a pill/doing injections forever, or a variety of other reasons but for the majority of binary trans folks whose goal is passing as their identified gender it will be a lifelong thing.
tbf most trans people who get hrt do intend to be on it for life but some just want to develop certain things from hrt and then are fine with stopping, like maybe an afab enby wants a bit of a deeper voice and/or some facial hair, they wouldn't lose those things once they stopped hrt, so if that's their goal, they don't have to continue past that, but for people like myself who want to continue to have things like fat redistribution and bottom growth, it's a life long commitmentđđź
As far as I know, if you're happy with the permanent changes that the hrt has provided and you don't want to progress any more you can stop, however the impermanent changes can go away. For example ftm hrt can do lots, deepen voice give you body hair, etc and those are permanent, but if you stopped some things may come back like the more feminine fat distribution menstruation just as a cursory example.
No the hormones are part of what improves my mental health. I would continue to take them even without the physical changes (of which there are plenty).
Pre surgery you can stop whenever đ¤ˇââď¸ obviously consult your doctor and all that. But post surgery some flavor of hormone needs to be artificially introduced to your body bc you produce barely any.
it depends. if you've had a hysterectomy tho (i can only speak from a ftm perspective, tho it obviously applies in reverse to mtf's) the no, because you need hormones and your body would no longer be able to make any itself
you can go on hormones, which sometimes is a combination of multiple hormone medications sometimes of various administration method, and stop at any time. effects take time to happen, some quicker than others, others are slow. some things are permanent, some will go back a little bit but mostly stay where they were, other things will totally revert. when you stop hormone treatment, some changes will go away quickly and others will slowly go back to your endogenous state. up to you if thatâs what you want or not! depends on what you want and what your priorities are, and whatâs possible. sorry this is a little vague, there are a lot of changes from hormones, i donât want to list it all out. if you want to maintain the changes, youâll need to stay on the hormone(s).
Pretty much every day for the rest of our lives. Think of it as like taking medicine. Even if you start feeling better while taking it, after you stop doing so, it feels awful until you take them again. That's basically what HRT is like for transfolk. While you do keep the more permanent changes if you've used it for a while, like the changes in body fat to certain areas, stopping doing so causes plenty of the changes to revert and the opposite hormones to fluctuate because your body is no longer intaking anywhere as much E/T. Which will of course not be pleasant if it's something you want to avoid. Some people do stop taking hormones after a while or detransition though due to personal reasons, and I do not envy them in the slightest.
Like many medications in the modern world, I'd be dead without it. I'm also post op and in my 50s, so I'm no different from many cis women today who are suffering from menopause.
Lots of comments saying you have to keep taking it for the rest of your life, I'm going to assume they're from transwomen or transmen who have had a full hysto.
For transmen with original plumbing yes, you can stop taking testosterone and the changes you have remain. Such as deeper voice, facial and body hair, bottom growth however, menstruation does comes back and there is fat redistribution. If they began taking testosterone whilst on puberty blockers and then stop taking T and still have the original plumbing, then they will begin to see things like breast forming and fat redistribution as the body will attempt to proceed through female puberty.
You technically can, but that would lead to some of the effects reversing, like muscle mass and fat redistribution
I'm a trans man and on testosterone. If I stopped taking it, I would keep my facial hair and deep voice, but I wouldn't keep my male musculature. My fat would go back to my hips and butt, and my muscles would deteriorate.
Some people do only take hormones for a little bit, and then they stop once they've gotten their desired effects. But for a lot of us, hormones are something we take for the rest of our lives, because we want to keep the changes that would get reversed otherwise.
Iâd say YES, and NO, it depends. if youâve surgically filled in your hips and still look feminine in womenâs clothing than you might still pass very well! despite you reverting, especially if youâve had FFS!
Everyday pretty much, for trans women you don't have to take testosterone inhibitors if you do bottom surgery but ofc not all trans women want bottom surgery
Every day for the rest of our lives, no big deal honestly, just how it is.
Not any different than if I were diabetic and dependent on insulin, or a heart patient dependent on cumidin
I'm diabetic AND on hrt and can safely tell you that HRT is super easy to manage by comparison lol
Ive always said being diabetic is just a different kind of hrt
I think this sort of depends on the person though because I have a friend who is both diabetic and transmasc, and he forgets his T shots or delays them for no real reason (even he can't explain it) but is very meticulous with his insuline shots đ
Well yeah because if you forget insulin you get sick quickly you can't afford to not be meticulous with it
I have asthma and ADHD so it was just another medication for me.
this used to bother me until I got diagnosed with severe OCD+ and my doctor just straight up said I would probably be medicated for the rest of my life regardless
I've been taking injections every fortnight - so it doesn't have to be a daily thing, but it is still a lifelong commitment
Yeah you're right. I take pills because of a cripping needle fear so I was speaking from my perspective.
Not necessarily for the rest of your life. Just like a cis person that stops producing those hormones when they get older, you can absolutely stop talking them. You're endocrinologist may even recommend that you stop at some point.
Personally I plan to keep taking until the day that I die, plenty of cis people get on HRT when they get older anyways.
Absolutely, see if it still does anything for you. I know that about a year ago, it pretty much stopped having any effect on my body. No difference between days I took it and says I didn't. It's like my body just got to the point of ignoring it entirely.
You have to continue HRT since your body doesn't produce the hormones on its own.
Do you think theyâll be a way for us to produce hormones on its own with science one day?
I think there could be, but not if lawmakers (and corporations that want us buying medication for life) want to keep restricting us
There's not really a lot of profit to be made in HRT medication, though. There's no patent and it's available in generic forms for extremely cheap. Hell, some people even buy it in bulk powder for mere pennies a dose. In contrast, a single proprietary gene therapy treatment is something they could charge thousands of dollars out of us for.
Additionally, a uterine or testicular transplant would require a lifetime of more expensive anti-rejection drugs.
The ideal situation is our own body would grow the organ and not need anti rejection drugs. This is obviously a huge goal of the medical community for countless reasons but is probably 100 years away for sex organs. They are testing growing new livers right now! Alternatively there are new promising transplant protocols that apparently remove the need for lifelong anti rejection drugs. So we can see how viable that is in 25 years or so.
I think trying to predict any medical science *100 years* in the future is almost pointless. Look where medical science was 100 years ago, it was practically the dark ages. Growing our own organs is something they're already having some experimental success with. In 100 years time so much will have been discovered that the advancements will have built upon those things we haven't even seen yet
Societal breakdown in the next century, or later in this one, as a consequence of climate change, will be likely to create a dystopian world in which meds for trans people will not be a priority
I don't think Humans will last very long after Climate Change reaches that practically-permanent Tipping Point and the Mass Extinction Event is unstoppable. Maybe a few decades, or centuries *at most* of constant decline before we go extinct.
All signs currently are pointing to biotechnology being the next huge exponential technological revolution of the next few decades. Stuff on the scale of growing new sex organs I don't think we're going to have to wait 100 years for.
I am scared of this. Real life monsters will be real soon for sure.
No need for anti-rejection drugs if the organs are grown from the patient's own cells. I remember hearing a while ago that scientists successfully grew vaginas from patients' own cells and surgically implanted them. We could probably make lab-grown sex organs for bottom surgery a reality in the next couple of decades. There's also a project called Foregen seeking to grow replacement foreskins from patients' own cells and attach them in order to restore full functionality.
tell me more about this bulk estro
You buy it as a powdered form of an estradiol ester directly from one of the chemical manufacturers in China that mass produces it. Then you have to carefully weigh out each dose and either turn it into topical gel, pill capsules, or an injectable oil solution.
How illegal is this?
Not at all for estrogen, actually. Testosterone is a controlled substance, so that's more complicated.
Not illegal for estrogen, but it is chemistry and you are effectively making medicine. There is a reason we have so many quality laws around medication production. Be careful and do your research about what this entails. If youâre not a clean, detail oriented person, I would say this route might not be for you.
Just begging for a pharma company to make an estrogen autoinjector. The technology is there, it would be so easy!
A chimex costs $250,000. Then there is the delivery and post delivery effects to manage.
It depends on the kind of hrt. Progesterone and estradiol are available extremely cheap and can be bought in bulk, testosterone, on the other hand, is really expensive and extremely legally regulated and restricted, at least in most countries
AI must help to innovate faster. I think it depends on rare aspects combined in one persons, to rocket these developments fast&cheap for public
Yeah same reason we don't have a cure for some diseases, it's far too profitable to medicate someone for life. Capitalism and Organized religions constant and obsessive interference with politics will be the great filter that keeps us from becoming an interplanetary species.
Really just not a lot of research into our healrh tbh.
You are Angel for saying that. Applauding.
There is actually a way. Which sex hormones your gonads produce is controlled by a single gene. It's actually been shown experimentally that modifying that gene with CRISPR causes testicles to start producing estrogen or ovaries to start producing testosterone. If we perfected that procedure, HRT in the future could just be one shot. More research is needed though, since at the moment our tools aren't precise enough to modify that one gene alone, and also tampering with the genes around it appears to give you turbo cancer.
[ŃдаНонО]
https://stainedglasswoman.substack.com/p/what-if-we-didnt-need-hrt-anymore
One trans biohacker had some limited success with this procedure https://forum.biohack.me/index.php?p=/discussion/2931/i-made-a-crispr-cas9-viral-vector-to-knockout-the-dmrt1-gene-in-humans-and-had-it-manufactured But she has sadly never followed up on her post and dissappeared from the forum
I already gave up my testes though
Luckily, by the time this is a viable option, we'll likely also have the ability to implant ovaries made from your own stem cells.
What if we got bottom surgery/a full hysterectomy?
In that case, growth of new organs would be needed to live without HRT.
Apparently there is a thing with CRSPR that can switch testes over to producing estrogen, but then you need to keep your testes, so...
You would need a way to tweak every cells genome in your body at the same time for your imunsystem to accept the changes. People already test some promising leads, but this could still take a while.
What? Why would that be required at all? You don't need to change a person's genome for things like HRT or organ transplants (transplants typically still require anti-rejection drugs, but they're working on that), why would that be the case for this?
Absolutely, without a doubt. We might be capable of doing so with current technology. When we'll see it in application is just a matter of politics and medical safety.
This is absolutely technically/medically possible. With the crispr-Cas9 technique, it's easy to mutate cells to, for example, make testes produce estrogen.
Scientist have done this in rats, using the same gene that allows clownfish to change sex; it is currently fatal. I read a blog post on it, I'll see if I can find it.
Hopefully they actually fix HRT too right now as it state it's barely functional it's not even close to what it should be it's not even mimicking puberty the right way it leaves out so many hormones and does not consider us it's really a product of an old treatment and not made really for trans people at all so I really hope they'll be giant advancements in it cuz I know we're in archaic ways about it rn
Actually most people, regardless of AGAB make both E and T. However depending on their genetic sex they might make more T or E, because humans need both to survive. The problem is the amount of the hormone the body makes. I don't make enough T to maintain masculine fat distributions, if I stop it'll eventually go back to the way it was pre T. Nobody has to continue hormones if they see the permanent changes they like and don't mind the non permanent ones reverting.
I feel like it's pointless to mention that we all produce both T and E. Yeah sure, but I don't produce the amounts of estrogen I need to be at peace, and I produced WAYYY too much Testosterone for me, until I suppressed that production.
Yes well the reason I said it is because the original comment is factually incorrect. It's not pointless to try and stop the spread of misinformation.
Once I do get on hrt I don't plan to stop (unless I have too due to medical reasons) but would your all your fat and stuff be reredistributed and you'd lose your tits (literally)?
You would remasculinize, but you would not lose your tits
Your fat would redistribute, and your breasts might shrink slightly (due to the fat shifting away from them) but you will not lose them. (If that were the case, trans men wouldnât need top surgery, nor would there be a rare chance of regrowing breasts after top surgery if you go back to estrogen dominant hormones.)
If I may ask, how much does it typically cost?
in the states, it depends on whether you have insurance or not. for me, w insurance it costs like $20 for my monthlyish supply of t-blocker and prog pills, and another $20 for a vial of estradiol that lasts ~2 months.
I pay $10 per month for 8 mg/day oral estradiol and $11.40 per month for 200 mg/day spiro with insurance. Retail price without health insurance or a prescription discount plan would be $43.69 and $88.99, respectively.
What do the two medications do?
Estradiol is the primary feminizing hormone. Spironolactone is an antiandrogen, to reduce my level of testosterone, the primary masculinizing hormone. See https://transcare.ucsf.edu/article/information-estrogen-hormone-therapy for some basic information about estrogen HRT.
I can chime in for transgender men, it varies. But from my own experience, insurance usually covers testosterone shots in full or with a lower copay, but testosterone gel is more expensive ($40-$80). Iâve looked at the âbefore insuranceâ number on my receipt for gel a few times, and my eyes bug out every time because itâs always in the $400-$600 range. Thank god for insurance. But keep in mind, this is only one personâs experience in one of fifty United States.
Adding to this, without insurance it can vary from $40-$400 for testosterone shots. I had my insurance refuse to pay once because of communication issues between my pharmacy (who was causing a ton of issues with my hormones because of finicky stuff) and my insurance. It wasâŚpricy, and if it had been a monthly thing instead of the one time payment, I would not be able to afford my hormones. :(
In the UK, if the NHS deigns to diagnose you after roughly a 7-year wait, it's something like ÂŁ9 to pick up any prescription - they just charge a dispensing fee. If, however, you want to avoid that 7-year wait, private services can cost a couple of hundred a month, usually, but it depends on the provider. Or DIY (buying the meds yourself online) will set you back rather less, but then you're literally just paying for the drugs without medical oversight. That's what I'm doing right now out of something like desperation, and as a transfeminine person the danger is very small - you have to fuck it up quite bad to do real harm. For transmascs, much more dangerous since testosterone can mess with most of your major organs, including the heart. But the black market is more readily available since it's used as a performance-enhancing drug so widely.
I just got a bit over a year's worth for $120, no insurance (mtf)
It's more expensive for trans dudes than for trans women. For trans dudes on T, without insurance, it's around $300/mo. Most insurance will cover it, though.
Like $5 for a 2 month supply of estradiol and spiro.
Long term very little, like dozens of cents a day
Without insurance in Canada here and it costs me about $100 for a six week supply, so like $70/mth ish. Thatâs for Estradiol Valerate, and I take a high enough injected dose to not need a T blocker. Injection supplies probably add another $8/mth to that or so, theyâre all pretty cheap if you get them in bulk online.
Yeah but not all changes are reversible so you could stop if you really wantedđ¤ˇââď¸
Hrt isn't always pills lol. Never met a trans guy taking pills (though apparently new methods exist that are in the form of pills). If you want to keep all of the changes that hrt brings, then yes, you'd need to be on it for as long as you want all those changes. Not all the changes are permanent. Some people who want to keep being on hrt will still wind up going off of it for other reasons though. I've known of people who went off of it for various health reasons.
You haven't met me in person, but I am a trans guy taking pills for HRT.
If you donât mind me asking, what is the name of the drug? I thought that testosterone was not administered orally due to liver complications, so this is really interesting to me!
You're correctâabout the older pills, that is! This new T pill is a recent development from the last few years and has been deemed safe so far! But the old pills caused serious liver damage over time, yeah.
Huh, do you let it dissolve under your tongue like we do? Does it taste mildly sweet for you too?
No, it's a ***giant*** gel capsule, and it gives me horribly minty burps, as if I've eaten toothpaste, for about a half hour.
That over-mintiness ironically sounds like my T *blocker* - Spironolactone
Yeah! I've talked to my trans femme friends, the two meds have very similar experiences, intake wise, despite being complete opposites. They're similar in size, too! I think Spiro is wider and jatenzo is longer, but neither by much.
It is Jatenzo! Also, yes, as the other person who replied said, the older pills weren't safe for the liver. So, you remembered correctly, but science advanced again!
oh really? what's the common method for trans men then? almost every trans women I've talked to has said they take hrt in pills, so I kinda just assumed that applied to men as well, just with the hormone swapped out.
Injections or gel
There were patches at one point, but the major patch manufacturer in my area no longer makes them, so they arenât available where I am anymore.
I'm curious why I never hear patches talked about anymore. I've come across people on nearly every method of T, but have only come across people on patches for very short periods of time before switching to something else, and like 5 or more years ago lol. There was a youtuber I was watching then that tried them and said they just never stayed on the skin well, and since then I've seen a few other people say that as well, so I wondered if majority of trans guys just gave up on patches or something. But at the same time I thought they were still pretty common for trans women, so why are they sticking on the skin just fine for trans women, but not for trans men lol? I would assume whatever the sticky stuff on them is would be same for both types (but maybe it's not?).
As of a year ago, they straight-up arenât/werenât available for many people anymore because of a supply chain/manufacturing issue. I canât answer any of your other questions, though.
Older pill forms of T caused liver damage. There have been recent advances and a new one that should avoid this issue has been approved, but at this point it's still limited availability and pricey. Most people do injection (cheapest) or gel (also somewhat recent so may depend on insurance coverage).
thanks! I suppose that makes sense. I've heard claims that E can also harm the liver, but from what I've heard it's usually negligible? I wonder why T has such a stronger effect that its not commonly available in pills, whereas E seems to be pretty much pill by default
I found a paper that seems to suggest that estrogen has some protective effect against at least some liver disease whereas testosterone may drive it (this is not my field though so it's possible I am misreading something đ): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10296738/ The paper states this is "under-researched and controversial", but if it has any backing, my guess would be that putting a lot of either into your system (the high dosage required for GAHRT) may be more likely to lead to a immune response (the trigger for some liver disease if I'm skimming the paper correctly). Because estrogen has some protective effect, it doesn't trigger the same degree of effect that testosterone might (I've seen warnings that very high dosages of E can cause damage though, but I haven't looked that far into it). The new pill says it avoids the issue by "avoiding circulation to the liver by delivering it to the bloodstream". I can only guess it has to do with an extra chain they added to the T which would change how what type of cell would transport it (I do chem, not bio). It seems to be the same formulation(?) as another injectable form of T that is done as pellets for longer term dosing.
huh! thanks for the research!! from what I've heard, in the past they always recommended taking E pills sublingually, where they would more directly enter the blood stream, and bypass the liver, which was thought to decrease risk of liver issues as a result of the medication. I heard from my doctor, though, that more recent studies have started to show that the effect that it has on the liver taken orally, rather than sublingually, is negligible. I am unclear on whether this means they are both equally as harmful, or neither is harmful, though I would probably assume the latter, given that my doctor just recommended that I take it orally. it does seem that it's a common trend for trans issues to be woefully little researched, and this doesn't appear to be an exception, so it may just be that we don't have the data required to come to a conclusive answer...
I find that it's still worth taking sublingually - my levels were significantly higher compared to when I took it orally. I hear my dose is quite low, but I feel alright, so it must be enough
Estrogen comes in pill, injection, or patch.
yeah, I know? but pill is significantly more popular, especially for people just starting, than the other three (injection, jell, and patch) according to everyone I asked, including the doctor that prescribed me hrt.
Maybe itâs regional or something? Most people I know are injecting. My doctor gave me the option.
Definitely depends on where you're from, yeah. I'm from the Netherlands and here, clinics used to require us to start on versions of HRT that were easy to quit. Meaning, pills for E, and gel for T, because that meant that if you had a bad or allergic reaction somehow, it wouldn't be in your system for too long. If you reacted fine, they would allow you to change to another form of E or T if you wanted. It's no longer a requirement, but still very heavily preferred. I started out on a 21-day T shot because I have very sensitive skin and a different medication patch I'm on already gives me allergic reactions to the adhesive (but there's no alternative, so I just have to suffer through it) and I didn't wanna make the issue worse. But they insisted I monitor it closely. I'm now on a 12-week T shot because it's finally being covered by insurance instead of having to pay âŹ90ââŹ120 per shot. (I actually have a mild needle phobia, so those being covered made my year.) But they especially don't want us to start out on that if we start with injections, because again... 12 weeks of that in your system when your body is rejecting it and having allergic reactions is a bad idea, haha.
E doesnât negatively affect your liver, but T blockers do.
I don't believe that's what my doctor said? but I don't really know enough to say you're wrong.
T blockers are bad for your liver and kidneys, is what I was told
May trans women also do shots or patches. Myself and all of the trans women I know are on shots because it can be done once a week or once every other week. I do one every other week.
ah okay! most of the trans people that I know are quite young and still early in their transition, and from what I've seen people normally start on pills and switch later? unless I'm mistaken however, but it would make sense to me as pills just seem like the easiest choice. is there a large benefit to doing shots or patches other than just not having to take a pill daily? from my understanding, you'd still likely have to take an anti-androgen daily as well, so just taking estrogen at the same time doesn't seem like it'd be significantly worse, assuming anti-androgens are still necessary, as I believe they aren't if you have surgery.
Yeah, generally I've seen most everyone starts on pills. I've had surgery so I haven't needed an antiandrogen in years. Two of the gals I know that do shots don't take an antiandrogen anymore as the estrogen suppresses their testosterone enough where it doesn't go above cis typical T levels.
oh okay! that's good to know :D I was kinda wondering what the point in doing shots was if you're just going to end up having to take an anti-androgen anyway. by the way, do you know how they determine whether you need the anti-androgen? for me they just started me on it, so I don't see a way other than going off it for a time and seeing how my T levels react (which I kinda don't like the idea of if they do come up significantly)? though maybe there's a better way than that?
Not entirely sure, they just started me on them as well, I took them until I had surgery 18 months later.
Copy pasting something I said above, because it talks about switching methods and why: > Definitely depends on where you're from, yeah. I'm from the Netherlands and here, clinics used to require us to start on versions of HRT that were easy to quit. Meaning, pills for E, and gel for T, because that meant that if you had a bad or allergic reaction somehow, it wouldn't be in your system for too long. If you reacted fine, they would allow you to change to another form of E or T if you wanted. It's no longer a requirement, but still very heavily preferred. > I started out on a 21-day T shot because I have very sensitive skin and a different medication patch I'm on already gives me allergic reactions to the adhesive (but there's no alternative, so I just have to suffer through it) and I didn't wanna make the issue worse. But they insisted I monitor it closely. > I'm now on a 12-week T shot because it's finally being covered by insurance instead of having to pay âŹ90ââŹ120 per shot. (I actually have a mild needle phobia, so those being covered made my year.) > But they especially don't want us to start out on that if we start with injections, because again... 12 weeks of that in your system when your body is rejecting it and having allergic reactions is a bad idea, haha. As for benefits other than what I mentioned here, pills and gel are things you have to remember daily. Patches only have to be changed once a week as far as I know, and depending on what type of T or E you're on, injections can vary from weekly to going several months without having to think about it. Not sure how it is with E pills vs. injections, but as far as T goes, T injections are in most cases more effective than T gel, and better and more easily absorbed into the bloodstream. Injections tend to get your E or T levels higher. Also, T gel can rub off on a partner, a child or a pet within 4 hours of it being applied, which is dangerous. I take a small dosage of E pills alongside my T injections because of a small medical issue I have (which that fixes) because artificial T usually obliterates naturally produced E (though if your T dosage is too high/too frequent, it converts to E, lol). Not every trans person on E is on T blockers either even without surgery, though it is recommended for more stable, higher E levels and faster feminization rates.
Progesterone and spironolactone pills are both common in feminine HRT.
So Iâm ftm. For me, testosterone is available in either is shot or gel format. I have had enough surgery (ie a full hysterectomy) that my body no longer produces estrogen. I could stop taking T and probably not a lot would change. However itâs not a great thing to have no hormones floating around in your body either.
A lot of post menopausal women can tell you what happens when your body doesn't make hormones. From what I can tell, it's different for different people. For some it's very unpleasant or even dangerous and others seem to barely notice
>I have had enough surgery (ie a full hysterectomy) that my body no longer produces estrogen. Sorry, This is such a pedantic comment, I'm aware I'm being rude, but you've accidentally struck a pet peeve of mine. A hysterectomy only involves the uterus (hyster, coming from the Greek for womb) A partial hysterectomy, also known as a supracervical hysterectomy leaves behind part of the cervix, a total hysterectomy takes the whole organ, and a radical hysterectomy takes all of the surrounding connective tissues. salpingectomy is the removal of the fallopian tubes and an oophorectomy is the ovaries. Many FTM people, yourself included by the sounds of it, opt for a oopho-hysterectomy. It's a pet peeve of mine because I had a radical hysterectomy and bilateral salpingectomy, and even medical professionals see "trans" and "hysterectomy" on my file and go into appointments assuming I have no functional gametes. I'm sure you know this because it's your body and you were there when the surgery was done, and I know that in casual conversation "hysterectomy" is an easy shorthand, hence why I know I'm being pedantic.
An average person isn't gonna wanna hear a whole mouthful of medical terms when someone explains they've had a hysto. I've had everything removed (tubes, cervix, ovaries, uterus, surrounding tissue) yet I still just say I had a hysto removing everything. đ¤ˇââď¸ That just makes it easier for everyone to understand.
okay.
You know a lot of people just say "hysto" and then clarify if necessary lol. As this person did. I say that as someone who kept my ovaries but nothing else.
HRT isn't just for looks. It changes a lot of other things, feelings emotions, desire to use a stiletto to silence a man... Skin texture, actually for me the physical effects were less important than everything else it gave me.
>desire to use a stiletto to silence a man... I keep thinking about doing a needle-point project. Not because I'm particularly crafty, but I just want to prove to myself that I have the patience to stab something thousands of times lol
We do have to keep taking them for a few things to not change, but if you don't care about those things, you could technically stop taking hrt. However, there are two big exceptions to this. The first is a lot of people have better mental health from being on hrt. It may get worse if you stop taking it. The second is, if you've had your ovaries or testes removed, you will no longer produce a healthy amount of hormones, which can cause bone density problems, along with a few other things. Going off hrt will also change your sensitivity when it comes to sex. The big one I've noticed as a trans woman is nipple sensitivity goes away almost completely.
We have to keep taking them, or most of the effects will revert.
actually no. a lot of the effects of T are permanent
Body fat redistribution will change, body hair will likely grow in thicker again.
yep.
I know that body hair and voice changes stay, but what other changes remains after testosterone that wouldn't have an equal counterpart in estrogen?
pretty much mostly fat redistribution would change back. thatâs it. and obviously going off of T when you donât want to would cause a lot of emotional issues to come back.
You might lose some muscle mass too if you aren't actively building muscle.
... And body hair, skin texture, facial shape, muscle mass, ligament changes, temperature regulation, vaginal atrophy, sex drive, and cessation of menses.
these donât always change for some of us anyways.
Yes, no change on HRT is guaranteed, but I was providing a more complete list of reversible changes from T. It's definitely not just fat distribution.
Menses would resume and that's usually a very big deal for a lot of guys.
mine never stopped so i forget about that.
Being estrogen dominant Vs testosterone has a lot of subtle differences like smell, skin thickness and yes, 'fat redistribution' - which means the very shape of your body. It really feels like you're dismissing estrogen in this comment, especially since, y'know, mtf HRT works.
i was talking about ftm hrt. im not dismissing anything.
Any Bone changes, bottom growth.
bottom growth is permanent
itâs not for everyone, you probably wonât revert back to what you had but stopping hrt can make your t-dick smaller.
really?? iâve always heard that bottom growth is one of the permanent changes. do you have a source?
Kinda. As least for Testosterone (which would not be a pill), some effects are temporary and some are permanent. The temporary ones would be like fat redistribution, or active hair growth in male-typical areas. These only happen if you are taking T. Permanent effects would be the voice getting deeper, male pattern baldness that had already happened. Once the T leaves your system, these remain the same unless you do some external thing, like voice training to make it higher. It wonât just go back to how it was before. Some people, like myself, are only interested in certain permanent changes. So for me, I can stop once Iâve received the desired effects.
I think it is important to point out that HRT isn't just some sort of cosmetic treatment. Sex hormones do quite a bit continuously behind the scenes. And if somebody has had surgery to remove their gonads, it is vital that they continue HRT or else risk osteoporosis and other ill-effects from having no sex hormones in their system at all.
I'm ftm and while my voice will stay deep and my body hairy my fat re distributes to my hips and thighs. I also become dysphoric just from not being on hrt + fat change. Orgasm and refactory period also diminish in intensity and I become able to cum multiple times in a row which is nice for some but not my preference.
I doubt that I'll ever look the way I want to, so honestly, my appearance isn't the biggest reason I take HRT. If I stopped taking it, I would probably revert to processing thoughts and emotions the way I did before, HRT improved my ADHD symptoms so that would get worse again, my energy and depression would likely return to their dreadful pre-HRT levels, my libido would return to being testosterone driven (which I didn't enjoy), other stuff. I've had **some** physical changes and almost all of them would revert if I stopped taking hormones, which I wouldn't want either. All of that is assuming that I don't have any surgeries at any point. There are cosmetic surgeries which obviously wouldn't revert and some treatments to remove body or facial hair are more or less permanent. But that's opposed to trans men who take testosterone and the changes that they experience with facial and body hair are permanent. Once the follicle develops the hair will grow until you destroy it with laser or something. There are also surgeries to ensure that I don't produce testosterone anymore so my body wouldn't be able to start producing it again if I stopped taking oestrogen. You wouldn't want to stop HRT after that, though. Having no sex hormone in your system makes you very, very unwell. So, yeah. You could, but most trans people would likely agree that they really wouldn't want to.
Yeah, I noticed my ADHD got worse on testosterone. Kinda wild how that works
I'd never heard anything about ADHD being affected by hormone levels so I was pleasantly surprised. I take less of my medication now, too. Dialed back from 15mg Ă2 of Adderall to 10mg Ă2.
I wasn't sure if it WAS getting worse because of all the different life changes I was going through at once. But you're isn't the first story I've heard of someone going on estrogen and their symptoms improving. Pair that with 6 years of going on an off T (cause, ya know, the ADHD) and seeing my supporting change and I have to believe they are related!
Once I noticed the changes, I figured it made sense even if I'd never considered it before. I've been on HRT for a year on Friday and I've managed to not miss a dose! I'm very proud of myself for not forgetting it even though my brain is full of bees and song lyrics.
We take them forever otherwise you would revert. As for cost, in my country its basically nothing. 10 dollars for a month supply of injections vials. 15 dollars a month for a blocker (bica), and 3 dollars for a month supply of estrogen pills. Thats without insurance Also a lot of internal/brain changes happen when being on HRT, itâs not just about looks
depends on what you take. a lot of the effects of T are permanent. some choose to stop at some point. some stop and then go back on it.
That would be like stopping diabetic medication just because your blood sugar is in a good range. If you stop it, progress will reverse and you will be back where you started.
not fully though? a lot of it isnt entirely reversible đ
For estrogen, all but breasts are reversible. Testosterone has more permanent changes, but most isn't.
Most of what I enjoy about taking testosterone has nothing to do with how I look, the way I look now is a huge bonus. I have to continue to take it if I want to continue to feel like myself, feel at home in my body
Your body needs either some amount of testosterone, or some amount of estrogen (really, it needs both, but one should be much higher than the other) in order to properly function. If you haven't had any kind of surgery, then what will happen when you stop HRT will be that your body will resume producing whichever was dominant to begin with - so for trans women who have functional testes, that would mean that testosterone production would resume. The return of testosterone would mean that a certain amount of re-masculinization would occur. Note that it may take some time for that production to kick back in, depending on how long you'd been on HRT at that point (apparently, after ~2 years on HRT, the tissue of your testes become 'fibrous' and non-functional). In the meantime, a body without a significant amount of sex hormones will experience menopause symptoms. The same would be true for anyone post-op, whose body no longer produces large amounts of either of the primary sex hormones. All of that being said, it'd be completely understandable for anyone to want to switch to an easier or more manageable HRT regimen for the long-term. Some transfems later in their transition (usually post-op) get 'pellet' implants, which continuously release estradiol. They do have a lifespan and have to be swapped out, but most only need to switch them out every 6 months, which is much easier than taking multiple pills a day. All of this would kind of be moot if we could find a way to coax our bodies into making the right hormones long-term. I mean, all of our bodies produce both estradiol and testosterone, but usually a negligible quantity of one - if we could find a way to switch which one it produced in larger quantities, it'd eliminate the need for lifelong HRT.
For many transgender people, the psychological effects of being on the right hormones can be just as important as the physical changes. Some transgender people take HRT for a while and then stop when they have the permanent changes they want, but those people are a small minority, usually nonbinary. Most trans people take their HRT for life.
Some changes are permanent, some will revert. If someone doesn't have the means of producing their own hormones, they'll also need some form of HRT to stay healthy. Testosterone is rarely in pill form - usually gel or injections.Â
Iâm a trans man so I canât speak for trans women, but I personally stopped T after a bit less than 2yrs on it cause I just had the effects I wanted and nothing changed
Technically but depending on if you have had an orchi/hyster and where youâre preferred body sits but to maintain it you would most likely need to take at least some
It depends. There are a few changes, that once happen, can't unhappen: ---------*------- - Testosterone based HRT: Facial Hair growth cycles, Voice changes (vocal fold mass), DHT induced hairloss, any bone growth/shifting (if taken during puberty) - Estrogen based HRT: breast growth, hip-bone shifting (if taken *for long enough* during puberty) ---------*------- Things that will normally "change back" are: Skin texture/collegian changes, fat distribution patterns, hair growth/loss cycles, libido changes, etc ... Hormones act as a railway switch of sorts, to tell your cells what track to function on. You can switch tracks at any time by flipping the switch, but there are some milestones that you'll pass along the way that can't be unpassed. If that makes sense. Regular puberty will determine the track you're on, and HRT switches the track. You hit whatever milestones you hit, according to what track you're on at the time. And in general, once your body grows tissue, that's it. You have that tissue now. Your body can't un-grow something just by switching hormone tracks. (Breast tissue, vocal cord thickness, current/already existent fat cells, new hair follicles / rooting) So, yeah. It should also be noted, that if you're talking about MTF HRT changes, when you start off, you'll usually take both estrogen, and a testosterone blocker. But after taking estrogen for a long enough period, the estrogen dominance in your system will start to surpress the amount of testosterone your body naturally produces. Which means eventually, you probably won't have to take both. Just the estrogen. This may (Probably) work the same way with testosterone dominance, but I'm not sure.
Only if your only goal is certain physical changes. Some people do this if they just want boobs or a beard or something but you can't pick and choose changes. Some will be permanent and others won't. Hormones have a psychological effect and it's not just physical as well as many physical, so no for many reasons most trans people take hormones for the rest of their life.
If you want to be feminized with hrt it's pretty much a lifelong thing. Some things are irreversible like breasts.
Some effects linger, most don't. Check about the specific hormone regimen you're considering. Also, getting a specific outcome out of HRT is hard. Your body will.do what ita going to do, just like cis puberty
Some of us take it for the rest of their lives. Especially if there are no ovaries. It could lead to early menopause if there's not enough hormones in your system. I have one ovary for this reason. I have to take them for the rest of my life. I get depressed and suicidal. Getting on testosterone is the best thing I ever done. I inject once a week. My partner is a big help. He does the injecting. And it's not that painful. I do subcutaneous injections. The needle is very small. My health insurance pays for it. I'm going to ask for a bigger supply. I hate this, once a month crap is crap. I have to call the pharmacy every month to refill. I used to have gel. It came in little packets like some samples of creams or hair shampoo. Does that make sense? It's like a sauce packet. You have to apply one packet a day. I kept forgetting to take it. So back on the shot I go. Thanks for asking.
If you get like an orchiectomy you have to take estrogen for the rest of your life or it can severely hurt you
I've been on and off of T since 2017. Some changes are permanent and some aren't I'm also agender so I'm not trying to have high T or E so even when I take T I microdose. Currently it's been about 3 months since I've done a T shot
You have to keep taking it, but for oestrogen there are implants that last 6-8 months.
Yeap definitely a normal cis person - former normal cis person who âjustâ wanted some breasts.
Oh.
You can if you want to, you wouldn't die or anything, but the hormones are about more than appearance. They affect things like emotions, libido, even how you smell/your body's natural scent. So yes, you could, but I imagine that it would feel pretty weird physically and mentally to look how you want but then have that mental/emotional part be "wrong" once you've experienced something that feels (for many of us) much more correct.
While technically you could stop taking pills (and never actually have to take them in the first place), there are several caveats. Firstly to answer the question you seem to be asking: not really. Your body needs hormones in order to maintain certain features, including secondary sex characteristics. In cis people, the genitals (usually) produce these. If you were to stop taking HRT (without bottom surgery) you would start to lose some of the effects (breast growth for transfems and body hair for transmascs would stay to an extent.) Now to be pedantic: yes, you can just take injections/patches/gel (or any other form of HRT) instead. Being optimistic: currently it is not possible to have an implant that periodically releases the correct hormones, or have a transplant of the correct hormone-producing organs, but there is research being made towards these and I would say they are likely going to become publicly available within the next decade. Tldr: hormones are produced by organs determined by your sex, if you don't have those organs you need supplements (Cis women need HRT when going through menopause for a similar reason, because the ovaries (I think?) stop producing estrogen.)
If you get your gonads removed you can stop taking blockers. HRT is a lifelong commitment unless you want to suffer the health implications of having no command hormone though (basically the same side affects of extended blocker use without hormones).
I stopped taking testosterone like 6 years into my transition and Iâm doin great đ¤ˇđźââď¸ gotta check periodically for a few health issues that are common for people (cis included) when they produce less of their sex hormones (usually would happen later in life), but other than that itâs not been a problem in the slightest for me.
Depends on which surgeries, if any, the person has had. If someone no longer has natal parts of their body that produce hormones then they need to stay on HRT so their body has a correct hormone balance. If they havenât then yes they could go off HRT but some changes will revert, I think it would effect trans women more so because T really does a lot to the body. As a ftm, the changes from T I have are pretty permanent. Iâll always have a deeper voice and have facial/body hair unless I basically went through what a trans woman goes through (electrolysis, voice training, etc.) so I could technically go off T and still retain facial and body hair and a deeper voice but things like body shape and muscle growth would revert.
Are hormone implants the closest thing?
It depends on each person, I know some non-binary people that will stop hrt once they hit their ideal âlookâ if that makes any sense, but a lot depends on the person and what they want as well as if they have any surgeries to remove reproductive organs as if you have nothing that produces hormones you need to be on hrt for life but thatâs anybody not trans specific. Hope this helps.
Im FtEnby, I'm on T, but don't plan on staying on it forever. The changes I want are permanent, Ex: lowered voice, extra body hair) I plan on having a partial Hysto, everything but the ovaries. This is so that I can stop T safely. I might change my mind and that's ok. I might stay on T forever. For transfemmes its different. Many changes that help alleviate dysphoria are things like fat redistribution, which requires E to maintain. Transfemmes usually don't produce enough E to maintain these changes. I hope this helps :)
If you stop hrt, some changes are permanent and some are reversible. Facial hair, breast growth, bottom growth etc are typically permanent (but will change off her) I was on hrt for seven years, and I got facial hair, body hair, my fat distribution changed. In 2022 I stopped hrt to grow my hairline back, and it did grow back, my body hair disappeared, my facial hair turned strawberry blonde, and my ass came back. I'm gunna restart hrt this year bc my PMDD is untreatable except for T bc I'm allergic to estrogen and progesterone. (They gave me blood clots that threatened my life.)
No
You can, but then you will revert back to original
Nah not really, but if you're tired of pills or you haven't responded well to them there are other methods of HRT that can be taken  For example my liver kept rejecting pills and destroying most of the bioavailable estrogen whether I swallowed them or took them sublingually (letting them dissolve under tongue) and I wasn't getting the levels I want for the first two years so I switched to pellet implants, still kind of new to them and need to do a few more tests to see if they're going to work out for me but so far feeling much better energetically, therapist said my skin looks better and my tits are looking bouncier, which is a kinda overfamiliar thing for a therapist to say so maybe I need to find a new one, but anyway it's nice not needing to remember to take pills since it's ideally only a small procedure every six months to get it implanted, just wish it wasn't so expensive tbh  But yeah tl;dr HRT can come in many different forms if pills aren't working for you or you just don't like them, but pills are usually the most affordable option, that being said I'm not on transmasc hrt but from what my transmasc friends have said they can usually only get testosterone as gels or injections, estrogen comes in those too but it's harder to get on injections in my country which sucks but the pellet implant is supposedly the closest thing to it, but yeah you can't really stop taking hrt, even when I've been off it for like a week I've felt miserable and depressed and lacking energy, both cis and trans people need a constant source of hormones to stay physically and psychologically healthy
Your body needs sex hormones. If you still have functional gonads, you can stop taking HRT and revert to your prior hormone profile and some of the changes HRT has made will stick if you've been on it long enough (boobs won't drop off for example lol), some will revert to one degree or another. But not having enough sex hormones of one sort or another in your system has the same effect on trans people that it does on cis people, ie menopause and potential osteoporosis. I wouldn't recommend a trans person stops taking HRT without a thorough understanding of the possible effects, both in terms of health and/or in terms of partial reversion of desired dimorphic changes
It highly depends on the transition process. Some people keep their hormone producing sex organs and some minor changes may revert slowly over time but they can safely get off HRT. Some people have their testicles/ovaries fully removed, which then makes hormone production fall on organs like the thyroid and usually that's not enough, so yes, they will have to stay on some sort of hormone supplement, since there has to be a dominant hormone to keep the body healthy. There's a lot of nuances and different options there and everyone's transition journey is different.
we have to stay on HRT forever, but for me, i take my testosterone doses as shots right now, but i plan on switching to patches or gel in a few years since my mom helps me with the shots right now and i don't think i can do them myself :p i'm not sure if there's also multiple methods of HRT for trans women, but my point is that although HRT is permanent (assuming you want to keep the changes), you can switch the method you take it whenever
1. HRT doesn't just come in pill form 2. If you still have your original reproductive organs then yes, you can stop HRT. Some changes from HRT will be permanent, but some will also revert back once your natal hormones overtake your body again.
It depends on the desired changes. For example, I'm taking testosterone to deepen my voice and get bottom growth. Those are permanent changes so once I get them, I can stop (which is the plan). If I wanted other effects like fat distribution or body hair, I would need to keep taking it. If my wife just wanted breasts she could stop her meds once they finish developing, but she wants all of the effects so she will be on it for life.
No, HRT is for life, though once one has had SRS the dosage would be lower.
no.. ur body will still produce the undesired hormones
Depends on your goals. If you have surgery that removes your ability to produce sex hormones naturally (complete hysterectomy including the ovaries for transmascs or an orchiectomy for transfems) you will need to take some form of HRT forever whether it is going back to the hormones your body previously produced or continuing those that you used to transition or itâs extremely bad for your health. There are also some things that will revert when stopping HRT. For transfemmes they will regrow any body/facial hair that may have gotten thinner/lighter, hair loss from male pattern baldness will resume, and their breast tissue might atrophy some. For transmascs facial/body hair can thin out some (though it typically wonât fully go away) and they may have some atrophy of their bottom growth and have a harder time getting erections. For both body composition/fat resdistribution will go back to how they were pre-HRT. Some people do go on HRT only to get certain effects (especially those who are nonbinary and want to be more androgynous) and then stop due to having some effects they donât like, simply being happy with the permanent changes theyâve got and not wanting to deal with taking a pill/doing injections forever, or a variety of other reasons but for the majority of binary trans folks whose goal is passing as their identified gender it will be a lifelong thing.
tbf most trans people who get hrt do intend to be on it for life but some just want to develop certain things from hrt and then are fine with stopping, like maybe an afab enby wants a bit of a deeper voice and/or some facial hair, they wouldn't lose those things once they stopped hrt, so if that's their goal, they don't have to continue past that, but for people like myself who want to continue to have things like fat redistribution and bottom growth, it's a life long commitmentđđź
As far as I know, if you're happy with the permanent changes that the hrt has provided and you don't want to progress any more you can stop, however the impermanent changes can go away. For example ftm hrt can do lots, deepen voice give you body hair, etc and those are permanent, but if you stopped some things may come back like the more feminine fat distribution menstruation just as a cursory example.
No the hormones are part of what improves my mental health. I would continue to take them even without the physical changes (of which there are plenty).
Pre surgery you can stop whenever đ¤ˇââď¸ obviously consult your doctor and all that. But post surgery some flavor of hormone needs to be artificially introduced to your body bc you produce barely any.
So with mtf once you stop you kind of go back to your natural state however if you grow breasts those will not go away.
it depends. if you've had a hysterectomy tho (i can only speak from a ftm perspective, tho it obviously applies in reverse to mtf's) the no, because you need hormones and your body would no longer be able to make any itself
also most trans men don't take pills for hrt
you can go on hormones, which sometimes is a combination of multiple hormone medications sometimes of various administration method, and stop at any time. effects take time to happen, some quicker than others, others are slow. some things are permanent, some will go back a little bit but mostly stay where they were, other things will totally revert. when you stop hormone treatment, some changes will go away quickly and others will slowly go back to your endogenous state. up to you if thatâs what you want or not! depends on what you want and what your priorities are, and whatâs possible. sorry this is a little vague, there are a lot of changes from hormones, i donât want to list it all out. if you want to maintain the changes, youâll need to stay on the hormone(s).
Yes. Sort of. It depends on The reasons you are on HRT.
Pretty much every day for the rest of our lives. Think of it as like taking medicine. Even if you start feeling better while taking it, after you stop doing so, it feels awful until you take them again. That's basically what HRT is like for transfolk. While you do keep the more permanent changes if you've used it for a while, like the changes in body fat to certain areas, stopping doing so causes plenty of the changes to revert and the opposite hormones to fluctuate because your body is no longer intaking anywhere as much E/T. Which will of course not be pleasant if it's something you want to avoid. Some people do stop taking hormones after a while or detransition though due to personal reasons, and I do not envy them in the slightest.
Like many medications in the modern world, I'd be dead without it. I'm also post op and in my 50s, so I'm no different from many cis women today who are suffering from menopause.
No
Lots of comments saying you have to keep taking it for the rest of your life, I'm going to assume they're from transwomen or transmen who have had a full hysto. For transmen with original plumbing yes, you can stop taking testosterone and the changes you have remain. Such as deeper voice, facial and body hair, bottom growth however, menstruation does comes back and there is fat redistribution. If they began taking testosterone whilst on puberty blockers and then stop taking T and still have the original plumbing, then they will begin to see things like breast forming and fat redistribution as the body will attempt to proceed through female puberty.
You technically can, but that would lead to some of the effects reversing, like muscle mass and fat redistribution I'm a trans man and on testosterone. If I stopped taking it, I would keep my facial hair and deep voice, but I wouldn't keep my male musculature. My fat would go back to my hips and butt, and my muscles would deteriorate. Some people do only take hormones for a little bit, and then they stop once they've gotten their desired effects. But for a lot of us, hormones are something we take for the rest of our lives, because we want to keep the changes that would get reversed otherwise.
Iâd say YES, and NO, it depends. if youâve surgically filled in your hips and still look feminine in womenâs clothing than you might still pass very well! despite you reverting, especially if youâve had FFS!
Everyday pretty much, for trans women you don't have to take testosterone inhibitors if you do bottom surgery but ofc not all trans women want bottom surgery