Bad effects of HRT

[kristyk]

Question does being on hormones for a long period of time make you more exceptable to cancers or some other bad health concern. I have been on formones for about 5 years now and my concern is how healthy is that for me

KristyK

[Shikyo]

No one hear can answer that question. You should talk to your doctor about it. Only the doctor who is supervising you can tell you more details about how harmful it is to your body etc.

[Ashlie Marie]

yup she said it perfectly. I havent even gone to see me new endo but my primary even gave me a whole bunch of stuff to read about all the labs i have to look fwd to ..

[Jessinthesprings]

i know there is a need to talk to your doc, but I wonder if there is a differance between natural vs. plant based in this reguard. I would say that we would breast cancer risk would be up there with gg.

[Shikyo]

i know there is a need to talk to your doc, but I wonder if there is a differance between natural vs. plant based in this reguard. I would say that we would breast cancer risk would be up there with gg.

What do you mean natural and plant based? If with plants you mean herbs and other stuff like that, I've never found any real prove that those work. I'm not saying they won't give anything, but as I've not tried them myself I can't really say how well they work. All I can do is tell of what I've read and other people's experiences with those. I don't think that what origin the estrogen has, it is not like the body can really tell a difference and higher or lower the cancer risk through it. The risk exist and is a fact we all have to accept. Transition is not an easy way or even safe.

The herbs cost the same if not more than the real hormones. Even though they are not counted as medication it does not mean that they can't harm your body. Hormone balance is not something you want to play around with.

[helenr]

This is a very vexing issue-and surely one that I don't have any special knowledge. I do belive that upsetting my endocrine system with anti androgens caused my cancer-causing a weakened immune system and vulnerability to the neuroendocrine cancer that I had radiation for in January. The darn body is programmed to work a certain way and trying to turn blue into pink can create internal havoc. But I am neither an MD or expert on anything and I am just relating my isolated experience. Frankly, I don't think there is enough data for definitive conclusions. You are sensible to think of risks and I presume regular blood work would be adviseable. helen

[JOANNE]

Any person on HRT should have regular blood tests. I have been having them annually for years. As for breast cancer problems, from the information I have gleaned from various sources, there has been little among M2F. If you are worried, there is always mammograms

[Anna the Dub]

Question does being on hormones for a long period of time make you more exceptable to cancers or some other bad health concern. I have been on formones for about 5 years now and my concern is how healthy is that for me

KristyK

I have been on them for 10 years and am suffering no ill effects that I can tell. One of my aunts, who is 87, has been on HRT for decades and is showing no effects either. But you should get blood tests periodically just to make sure that you are not having anything untoward going on. I have had an orchidectomy, so my endo has told me that I will have to be on a dosage of HRT for the rest of my life. I can't say I am particularly concerned about this at all.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

well it's too late to start worrying now!!! but you are smart to think of your health do you see a doctor? this debate has raged around here in a couple threads...

no doubt there are changes to your risks...bone density, osteoporosis, breast cancer, cholesterol are all negatives...but there are positives as well..slower aging when you start, less risk of prostrate cancer etc....

but i'm not aware that overall you are hurting or helping your overall health...doctors know although they dont know everything....i just heard from a friend that had dosages cut in half by her doc due to issues with her pituitary gland that began after 9 months of hormones..i never heard about that one before..

[kristyk]

Thanks for the thoughtful answers that's exactly what I was looking for :)

I am current with my 6 month blood work although I am due very soon that brings up why I ask the question. My wife and I are unemployed and we can not afford Ins that means I can not afford blood wor, doctor visits, etc. I will be out out all my Meds by end of next week. What can I expect when I go cold turkey of all three of them.

Any help would be great I will not because of money be seeing a doctor until we gety Insurance and back ob our feet. This has been a very bad 3 months and now it is about to get really bad.

KristyK

[Diane24]

You should be seeing your Doctor at least twice a year, if not more often for blood work and a good check-up. I see mine every 3 months and he checks me head-to-toes. I'm on a low dose of estrogen, so it's important to check my liver readings and he always checks my legs for good circulation. I'm fortunate to have health insurance through the school where I work. But, it's money well spent for you to have regular medical checkups! Too many of us have lost their lives because of blood clots and/or liver problems. Yes! I do mean to scare you! Hormones do wonderful things for us, but are also dangerous!

Diane

[kristyk]

Diane I relize everything your saying I have been seeing my doctor regulaly until the bottom fell out in late December. I can not agree more blood work is essential. I have one of the best endo doctors in teh Cincinnati area he is very knowledgable about in areas I need him to be Dr. Francis Collins. Since everytime I mention a hormone here I get in trouble I wont say the hormone but I will say I have 3 hormone Rx I take every day they I have done this for over 5 years. I feel very confident in my doctor and al the tests being down.

However I have come to a cross road I know the meds have helped me signifacantly

I CAN NOT AFFORD THE DOCTOR VISITS OR LAB WORK THERE IS NO WHAT IFS AT THIS POINT OR TO TELL ME WELL YOU NEED THIS. I CAN NOT AFFORD TO SEE MY DOC, GET TESTS OR BY MY MEDS. I hope both me and my wife get back to work very soon when that happens I will be the first one to be making my appointments.

That being said please help me address some issue I have

1- How danergous is this to my health I believe it will not be a fun ride and one I never saw coming but when times get really bad you will do what it takes to feed your family

2-Any idea how long it may take my system to get stablized
(two weeks/ a month a year)

3-I reasearched this question on the internet I found woman that come off hormones get very irratable and have headaches but found nothing telling me helth issues.
4-What do you think happenes when I ask the doctor to start over will he be as receptive or will I not be able to continue.

If WE FOUND A JOB TOMMOROW THIS PROBLEM WOULD GO AWAY HOWEVER WE LOOK EVERY DAY, WE NETWORK AND CALL PEOPLE BUT STRESS HERE IS AT A PRIMIUM AND NOT A GOOD TIME TO RUN OUT OF MEDS.

Sorry if I come across to strong however I seem to get people answering that don't really rad my message. If they did they would understand and instead of badgering me with statments they would possible give their ideas or thoughts on what I can expect.

KristyK

[Shikyo]

Diane I relize everything your saying I have been seeing my doctor regulaly until the bottom fell out in late December. I can not agree more blood work is essential. I have one of the best endo doctors in teh Cincinnati area he is very knowledgable about in areas I need him to be Dr. Francis Collins. Since everytime I mention a hormone here I get in trouble I wont say the hormone but I will say I have 3 hormone Rx I take every day they I have done this for over 5 years. I feel very confident in my doctor and al the tests being down.

I don't understand why would you get into trouble by saying that you're taking hormones? It's not like you're doing anything illegal, but you're on prescription medications, aren't you?


I CAN NOT AFFORD THE DOCTOR VISITS OR LAB WORK THERE IS NO WHAT IFS AT THIS POINT OR TO TELL ME WELL YOU NEED THIS. I CAN NOT AFFORD TO SEE MY DOC, GET TESTS OR BY MY MEDS. I hope both me and my wife get back to work very soon when that happens I will be the first one to be making my appointments.

No one has said that going on HRT is cheap. So if you can't afford to take care of your medical check ups, you shouldn't be on HRT at all. The damage they can cause to your body can be permanent. Unless you want to risk your life over the HRT.


That being said please help me address some issue I have

1- How danergous is this to my health I believe it will not be a fun ride and one I never saw coming but when times get really bad you will do what it takes to feed your family

Stoping to take the hormones should be dangerous(physically) to your body at all. As all in all you're just returning back to the way you were born. However, I can imagine lots of mental problems coming up. You've been taking them for five years already and now suddenly you'll have to stop. The mental changes that happened when you first started taking them, should reverse. Also you might get depressed because of the "old bad feeling" you'll be in again. You've learned to know the feeling of being a girl and now you'll have to return back to being a boy, this ain't going to be easy for your mind.


2-Any idea how long it may take my system to get stablized
(two weeks/ a month a year)

My guess would be it'll take as long as it took you to get used to the HRT in the beginning. It's not like you're doing anything differently when you first begun, just this time it's reversing the whole thing.


3-I reasearched this question on the internet I found woman that come off hormones get very irratable and have headaches but found nothing telling me helth issues.

I haven't been taking the hormones for that long, but even when I just get delayed by the times when I'm supposed to take the hormones I can feel slightly different than if I'm taking them normally. The mental feeling will change, so you should expect something coming up after you stop taking them.


4-What do you think happenes when I ask the doctor to start over will he be as receptive or will I not be able to continue.

Depends of your doctor, but I don't think they'll have any problem with having you restart your HRT as long as you had a plausible reason why you had to stop it; for example not being able to afford it anymore. For sure they'll want to know if you were hesitation with your decision and other questions surrounding your transsexualism.


If WE FOUND A JOB TOMMOROW THIS PROBLEM WOULD GO AWAY HOWEVER WE LOOK EVERY DAY, WE NETWORK AND CALL PEOPLE BUT STRESS HERE IS AT A PRIMIUM AND NOT A GOOD TIME TO RUN OUT OF MEDS.

Finding a job has nothing to do with the HRT at all. Either you can afford it or you can't. The reason why you can't afford is, no one's interested in. Besides it's not like it's impossible to stay on HRT even when you're unemployed.


Sorry if I come across to strong however I seem to get people answering that don't really rad my message. If they did they would understand and instead of badgering me with statments they would possible give their ideas or thoughts on what I can expect.

KristyK

Oh well, in the beginning post you did not with one word mention that you are planning coming off from the HRT. That came up way later in the topic. So it is not wonder that so many people answered towards the beginning question instead of what you were talking about later on.

[Aubrey Green]

Kristy dear, check with your state Dept of Social Services. Being unemployed, they can provide medical insurance. My son is having the same problem here in California. He has a 7 month old son and the job market fell apart her about a year ago. Social Services provides him with insurance and monetary help. The catch is he has to attend classes 5 days a week for 3 hours a day in a job training center. They fill out applications, learn how to answer in interviews, loads of job searches. It is a win-win for him. He is actively seeking employment and getting health care for his family. It does not hurt to look into. Best of luck to you and yours. :daydreaming:

[kristyk]

Aubrey I missed that one thanks for the good advice

I will make that call on Monday

I have been so multi tasking here and stressing that I didn't think of social services and Insurance I do appreciate the information

I hope your son finds a job soon it is tough out there so many people applying for one job

This is the first time both me and my wife were laid off at the same time.

I have never been in such a gloomy situation that I was also so confused with multiple situations at the same time problems seem to of increased 10 fold. I am a positive person and I know we wuill get through this it is just a matter of when.

Thanks again Abrey

KristyK

[christinek]

KristyK

Let me be the first to say that I am sorry about your situation, it is tragic, however a sign of the times.

You are correct on your reply that people did not read your message and replied off the wall, but that is a common expectation. People like to see their name in lights and add to there post status.

If you eat soy and lots of it, it mimics estrogen in the body. This is the "Natural" option everyone buys and thinks they are getting something "special". They pay huge for lack of understanding.

Soy wont replace your hormones but may help you in the time of need and desperation.
If you eat several servings of soy based products a day IE: TOFU, Morning Star products, Soy Milk and the like. They contain Isoflavone's that are converted into estrogen in the human body. Dont trust me, look it up! This will help your maintenance not transformation.

Also for breast health and maintenance taking Cimetidine AKA TAGAMET or the Wal-Mart Equate brand Heartburn Relief induces gynomastia. If you read up the claims are like one in ten that it works but I know people who take it to promote breast growth including myself and it works, so we are 10 in a row that it worked on so 100 people are out there that are taking it that it did not work on. Again read up on this for yourself.

I am not a doctor! That said good luck and research is available. I eat lots of soy and my skin has smoothed from it and looks much better.

I am almost a vegetarian at this point.

Good Luck

Christine

[kristyk]

Christine thanks for the information

Yes times have over whemled us we have not lived over our means we have a modest house in a nice neighborhood. But losing two incomes you can only survive for so long.

I will look into the natural hormones I really appreicate the information

It worries me that I may have a bad health effect from stopping the meds all together, and then also when I restrt them up again.

On the message issues people responding just to get ahead on points is just why they should get rid of that pitfall. I have such a good repour with some of the girls and they really give heart felt information I enjoy reading others situations it makes me have my feet well planted.

Charlene thanks again and I hope I can help you some day

KristK

[Karen564]

KristK,
I'm very sorry to hear of the hard times you & your wife fell upon...and sadly, I've been there more than a few times in my life now, so just keep your chin up & you will survive too..

As far as comming off the mones, it would be best not to just run out & stop taking them all at once, and I would advise that you gradually ween down instead, to lessen the bad effects, like the severe headaches I had for a while when I couldn't afford the HRT for 3 months.. so after stopping HRT, you will likely see some body hair sprouting up again on the legs & chest..and you may have some bouts of depression too..but physically (body wise), you will be fine..

I wish you the best of luck in getting back on your feet and back on HRT in the very near future..:hugs:

[kristyk]

Thanks Karen I am glad to hear that physically I should be ok that has been stressing me out more than anything.

I wish I had enough meds to be able to go off slowly but I don't I have enough to last me till Wednesday then the fun begins.

Although Christine gave me some supplement ideas I think I will look into maybe those natural mones will ease the headaches and depression.

They say the economy is getting better so maybe things will turn around

Karen thanks for the help and I am sorry to hear you had to go through the same thing I am about to.

[Raquel June]

HRT can stress your body, and stressing your body can make you more susceptible to cancer, but if you are going about it the right way the stress should be quite minimal.

There are things which are significant and things which are not. It can be hard to tell the difference. For example, saccharine and tobacco both have warnings that they can cause cancer. Saccharine has never caused cancer (it had the warning because the equivalent of millions of diet sodas gave a lab rat a bladder tumor). On the other hand, tobacco has caused millions of deaths.

Having breasts increases your risk of breast cancer, but this is not a major risk. Progesterone has been linked to cervical cancer, but that is also quite insignificant. As a matter of fact, recent studies show the opposite is true:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12686037

But that's irrelevant since you can't get cervical cancer if you don't have a cervix.

But the huge cancer risk is prostate cancer. One in 11 men will get prostate cancer (it is second only to lung cancer). And there are often no symptoms. There are zero reported cases of a M2F on HRT developing prostate cancer. So HRT actually drastically lowers your chances of getting cancer.




This is a very vexing issue-and surely one that I don't have any special knowledge. I do belive that upsetting my endocrine system with anti androgens caused my cancer-causing a weakened immune system and vulnerability to the neuroendocrine cancer that I had radiation for in January. ...

Why didn't you ever respond to me the last time you were talking all crazy about HRT causing cancer?

http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103332


You continue to say that anti-androgens pissed off your testicles and caused them to give you cancer in your eyelid. Take a step back and ask yourself if that really makes any sense.

You have a lot of ideas about cancer and HRT which are totally contrary to science. It's utterly asinine that you're blaming HRT. You actually think you should've been impervious to cancer because your wife juices a lot of vegetables for you? Give me a break.

[kristyk]

Rachel thanks that is very good news I thank all that wrote such ggod information. My last day for hormones was today so I guess the hard times maybe just infront of me wish me luck.

I called my local county looking for aid they are going to get back with me once I fill out their papaerwork. I hope they help or we find a job my wife is really depressed over so many rejections.

KristyK

[Beth-Lock]

That female hormones can increase one's risk of breast cancer, applies to just one kind of breast cancer susceptible to it, and it depends on the total length of time taking the hormones. That is the story according to a recent feature in the reputable magazine, The New Scientist.

[kristyk]

That is good infromation Beth

Was it this months addition of The New Scientist I would like to read more about this research.

I have currently stopped my meds becasue of financial reasons but I was on hormones for about 7 years

[MJ]

i have been hrt for 5 years now i get regulur blood work and check up's and so far nothing bad at all.

[Valeria]

no doubt there are changes to your risks...bone density, osteoporosis, breast cancer, cholesterol are all negatives...but there are positives as well..slower aging when you start, less risk of prostrate cancer etc....
Cholesterol isn't a negative of taking estrogen. Estrogen lowers LDL and raises HDL, which is what you want to do.


I do belive that upsetting my endocrine system with anti androgens caused my cancer-causing a weakened immune system and vulnerability to the neuroendocrine cancer that I had radiation for in January.
This seems pretty unlikely.


Having breasts increases your risk of breast cancer, but this is not a major risk.
That really depends on how young you were when you started HRT, doesn't it? Someone who starts HRT when they are in their late teens (quite common today) is going to have comparable risk to any other woman. Even someone starting at an age like 40 is going to potentially have a significant risk by the time they are in their 60s or 70s (depending on their hormone doses).


But the huge cancer risk is prostate cancer. One in 11 men will get prostate cancer (it is second only to lung cancer). And there are often no symptoms. There are zero reported cases of a M2F on HRT developing prostate cancer. So HRT actually drastically lowers your chances of getting cancer.
HRT does lower your chances of getting cancer, but I've seen a case study on someone who had been on HRT for 10 years when she was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is so slow that many people have it decades before it is diagnosed. HRT will tend to slow it further, but it doesn't grant immunity.


That female hormones can increase one's risk of breast cancer, applies to just one kind of breast cancer susceptible to it, and it depends on the total length of time taking the hormones.
It is true that not all breast cancer is estrogen sensitive, but most of the time estrogen stimulates breast cancer growth.

[kristyk]

Valarie you sound to me like someone who knows what they are talking about I really appreaciate the information.

Valarie for financial reasons I had to stop my meds I ran out of all three of them on about the same day a couple of weeks ago.

Any thought on the health effects To your system when it all at once stops recieving the estrogen, progestrone, and spiro.

KristyK