Required in formation for my treatment(Horomones)

[Myojine]

The doctor here is going to send me "home" with scripts for female hormones. the basic generic ones, that can be had at walmart for like 4$

Now he wants me to do the research about it, and wants me to do a follow up with an endocrynologist.
But what I need to know are what are the 4 basic hormones I need perscriptions for.
I think its 4.

Im just going at this as told, so for the sake of sanity... help me out sisters ^.^

edit: I have no ****ing clue what im looking for..
a generic progestrogen, a generic estrogen, and a generic androgen.?
um
im so ****ing lost.

[Cynthia Anne]

Unless I'm missing something here, I would say get the prescriptions filled then you'll know what they are! Hugs!

[AllieSF]

Assuming that thew doctor gave you a valid prescription, as Cynthia said, just go to Walmart and get them, filled. Ask the pharmacist to explain what they can about taking the drugs and what are the potential side affect. They will give you one or more sheets of paper for each prescription drug which explain a lot of what they will tell you verbally. If after you get home and start taking them, if you have any other questions i would start with the pharmacist again. They will try to answer what they can and then refer you back to the doctor for more assistance. The main thing is that you do not leave the pharmacy until you clearly understand how and when to take the drugs.

Another thing that you can do, is to Google each drug and start educating yourself about them, the dosages you are taking and what others might be taking. I understand that it is very common to start slow to see how your body reacts to them and then make adjustments based on future blood tests and the actual results you start getting. Remember that you will probably not see immediate results. You should also do a search here about TS's taking hormones. There is a lot of good information too. Good luck and congratulations on finally getting your hormone prescriptions. Just be patient now and let them start doing all those good things for you. Also, your personal results may vary greatly when compared to others' results.

[sandra-leigh]

There are really only two basics: anti-androgen and estrogen.

The jury is still out about progestrogen: at least one (non-trivial) study found no significant difference between breast development when progestrogen was used or not, and as progestrogen has a bunch of side effects, they recommended against using it. It acts to counter estrogen to some degree, which is not something you want happening. Even when it is used (e.g., my doctor is considering it for me), it would not normally be something you would start with.

There are two different anti-androgens in common use, but they aren't usually used together. Sometimes they are though, especially if the person turns out to be relatively intolerant to the more common of them. The proper balance of these for any individual typically requires a bit of trial and error under doctor's supervision. It would be common to start out on one (more typically spironolactone than cyproterone acetate) and see how it goes.

There are three basic modes of estrogen administration: oral (pill), sub-cutaneous (injection), and patches. Oral requires that the estrogen pass through your kidneys, which can be hard on them. There is an age cutoff after which it is not recommended that oral administration be used because of this; it is the route for younger people. I never looked in to injection. For older people like me, patches are the recommended route. My recollection of your age is that you are young enough to plausibly use the pills, but that you are old enough that a doctor would want to check your kidney function before giving the good ahead for that form. If you happen to be taking other medications that are hard on the kidney or liver (which happens to be true for me) then it is unlikely that oral administration would be recommended.

Some people are prescribed "5-alpha-reductase inhibitors" such as Finasteride (Proscar) or dutasteride (Avodart); these are used to reduce prostate size. You will find some people here are taking one of those, but as best I can tell, they are not typically prescribed unless there is a medical co-factor to recommend them. Finasteride can reduce male pattern baldness.

There is an additional class of drugs that has been important for me during my HRT: an anti-cholesterol drug!! Excess estrogen gets converted in to cholesterol, so especially if you are prone to high cholesterol or high blood pressure, your blood pressure and cholesterol levels can rise dangerously if they are not attended to. Some people (like me) have high cholesterol even if they are on what would normally be considered a low-cholesterol diet; the addition of the estrogen converting in to cholesterol is considered a significant risk for me.

Discussing dosages in public is against forum rules; proper dosages vary too much. For example, typical dosages that other people use would make me pretty useless ("Why is the world spinning?")

[Sharon]

Just a reminder to all, but while discussion of medications (prescribed or not) is permitted in the public sections of the forum, discussion of dosages is not. This is because there is no one true or universal dosage for estrogens, testosterone, anti-androgen, and what have you for assorted reasons and that I prefer not to be complicit in someone possibly having ill effects due to improper usage.

[Bree-asaurus]

There are really only two basics: anti-androgen and estrogen.

The jury is still out about progestrogen: at least one (non-trivial) study found no significant difference between breast development when progestrogen was used or not, and as progestrogen has a bunch of side effects, they recommended against using it. It acts to counter estrogen to some degree, which is not something you want happening. Even when it is used (e.g., my doctor is considering it for me), it would not normally be something you would start with.

There are two different anti-androgens in common use, but they aren't usually used together. Sometimes they are though, especially if the person turns out to be relatively intolerant to the more common of them. The proper balance of these for any individual typically requires a bit of trial and error under doctor's supervision. It would be common to start out on one (more typically spironolactone than cyproterone acetate) and see how it goes.

There are three basic modes of estrogen administration: oral (pill), sub-cutaneous (injection), and patches. Oral requires that the estrogen pass through your kidneys, which can be hard on them. There is an age cutoff after which it is not recommended that oral administration be used because of this; it is the route for younger people. I never looked in to injection. For older people like me, patches are the recommended route. My recollection of your age is that you are young enough to plausibly use the pills, but that you are old enough that a doctor would want to check your kidney function before giving the good ahead for that form. If you happen to be taking other medications that are hard on the kidney or liver (which happens to be true for me) then it is unlikely that oral administration would be recommended.

Some people are prescribed "5-alpha-reductase inhibitors" such as Finasteride (Proscar) or dutasteride (Avodart); these are used to reduce prostate size. You will find some people here are taking one of those, but as best I can tell, they are not typically prescribed unless there is a medical co-factor to recommend them. Finasteride can reduce male pattern baldness.

There is an additional class of drugs that has been important for me during my HRT: an anti-cholesterol drug!! Excess estrogen gets converted in to cholesterol, so especially if you are prone to high cholesterol or high blood pressure, your blood pressure and cholesterol levels can rise dangerously if they are not attended to. Some people (like me) have high cholesterol even if they are on what would normally be considered a low-cholesterol diet; the addition of the estrogen converting in to cholesterol is considered a significant risk for me.

Discussing dosages in public is against forum rules; proper dosages vary too much. For example, typical dosages that other people use would make me pretty useless ("Why is the world spinning?")

Sandra pretty much covers everything here. I won't talk dosages, but your doctor will likely start you out on lesser dosages of Spironolactone and Estradiol Valerate and monitor your blood work and increase the dosage as he/she deems necessary. Finasteride and Dutasteride are basically only prescribed when the patient can not take Spiro for whatever reason. If you have issues with Spiro, you may have to take two or three other drugs that together attempt to block as much testosterone as possible. But I don't know much about all that.

There is a pretty common dosing regimen followed by most of the MTFs I know in my city. But basically, you'll start with the testosterone blocker and some form of estrogen. My doctor never prescribed progesterone, and I took it upon myself to try it out. I've been on it for quite some time and am just now going to go off of it to see if I notice any changes. I also decided to take Cyproterone instead of Spiro on my own terms because Cypro is not FDA approved and you won't be able to get a doctor's prescription for that in the states.

If you can handle IM injections, that is the best way to introduce the estrogen into your system. It will save your organs from processing as much medication and will also be able to allow a fairly constant supply of estrogen.

But yes, lots of research. I doubt he will give you a choice of what to take. He just wants you to do your homework before he prescribes the batch he's comfortable with.

[Julia_in_Pa]

Myojine,

First off I'm so happy you spoke to the doctor about hormones. :O)

Start with what the doctor prescribed for you.

You are light years ahead from where you thought you were when you wrote that thread about being in the hospital.

Be proud of yourself Myojine!


Julia

[Myojine]

not discussiong dosages, whatever
irritate me more much please i love it when people piss me off.

the Dr. here asked me to do some research and i thought of you guys first, but whatever, melody already ticks me off im not sure why i came here.
all i was asking for was for information becuase the doctor here ACTUALLY cared enough to venture into something he wasnt 100% sure about to help me.
but whatever.
piss off

[Bree-asaurus]

not discussiong dosages, whatever
irritate me more much please i love it when people piss me off.

the Dr. here asked me to do some research and i thought of you guys first, but whatever, melody already ticks me off im not sure why i came here.
all i was asking for was for information becuase the doctor here ACTUALLY cared enough to venture into something he wasnt 100% sure about to help me.
but whatever.
piss off

It's the rules of the forum to not discuss dosages.

If you do a LITTLE research on Google, you can easily find dosage information.

We are trying to help you the best we can and you spit in our faces.

Thanks Myojine.

[Frances]

Here is a very helpful guide, and you need a serious attitude adjustment.

http://transhealth.vch.ca/resources/library/tcpdocs/consumer/hormones-MTF.pdf

[sandra-leigh]

http://wpath.org is a good site for looking at standard treatments, but it is a large site so it might take some time to find the relevant information there. WPATH also does not describe the less common treatments or why they would be used, some of which Bree and I outlined above. WPATH is a good site to recommend to health care professionals.

Dosages are tricky to discuss, because for pretty much every medication that was mentioned above, there is someone who cannot take it at all or can only take it in very low dosages. We can say what works for most younger people (spiro, and estrogen pills), but individual tolerances for those vary greatly.

I know that at least one person sent you information about common dosage ranges in PM -- though not, I am sure, without expressing cautions that there is a lot of trial-and-error involved.

[CharleneT]

The doc or the endo should decide what is best for you to take and how much. The four drugs you are asking about are: estrogens, progesterones, anti-androgens and DHT blockers. Commonly that would means scripts for: Estradiol or Premarin, Provera or Prometrium, Spironolactone or Andocur and Finesteride or Dustasteride. Often you do not need one from each group. Indeed, estrogen by itself will work fine -- just more slowly.

[Myojine]

Here is a very helpful guide, and you need a serious attitude adjustment.

http://transhealth.vch.ca/resources/library/tcpdocs/consumer/hormones-MTF.pdf

Im a brat, attitude adjustment?
pssssssssssssssssh


btw the doctor prescribed me the hormones.
im beaming.
first time ive smiled in years. also my mother wants me to come live with her.


i feel wanted and achived right now. im so happy...
i wish i could cry...

[CatAttack]

Im a brat, attitude adjustment?
pssssssssssssssssh


btw the doctor prescribed me the hormones.
im beaming.
first time ive smiled in years. also my mother wants me to come live with her.


i feel wanted and achived right now. im so happy...
i wish i could cry...

MYOJINE! I have seen you around these forums (and trueselves) before... and I am SO glad to hear that you are happy and smiling! Since your usual posts are all depressing :b

On a random note, I saw Elfen Lied recently. It was fking amazing. The end where she apologizes to Kota always makes me tear :0