Is there a lot of research being done on SRS/HRT/feminization?

[tgirlinva]

While I concur that research should focus on more urging matters such as curing AIDS or cancer, I am wondering what the current status on HRT/SRS/feminization research is. I mean, can I hope that maybe one day, I can get on hormones without the permanent side-effects (i.e. infertility)? Does anyone know?

[CaptLex]

While I concur that research should focus on more urging matters such as curing AIDS or cancer, I am wondering what the current status on HRT/SRS/feminization research is. I mean, can I hope that maybe one day, I can get on hormones without the permanent side-effects (i.e. infertility)? Does anyone know?

I have no idea, but I get the feeling (from speaking to my doctors) that research in the area of SRS and HRT is sadly lacking - any info they can give me is someone's best guess based on past observances. That's not good enough, so it's very much needed - as much as AIDS or cancer research, IMO.

[Valeria]

While I concur that research should focus on more urging matters such as curing AIDS or cancer, I am wondering what the current status on HRT/SRS/feminization research is.
There is depressingly little research into HRT. Even for post-menopausal natal females, I'm unhappy with the state and focus of research. But as to the long term implications for someone like me, and the optimal therapeutic regimen? Virtually nothing.

For SRS, the top surgeons are pretty much constantly refining/improving their techniques. Vaginoplasty has improved dramatically in the past few decades. The bottom surgery for men is a tougher problem, but they have made some improvements. Still, we could use more research into better alternatives (instead of just better techniques), and that is lacking.


I mean, can I hope that maybe one day, I can get on hormones without the permanent side-effects (i.e. infertility)? Does anyone know?
The issue is that estrogen stimulates the same receptors as testosterone in the hypothalamus - the ones that effectively regulate hormone production. This indirectly results in reduced production of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and testosterone, and ultimately less production and less maturation of sperm. Testosterone (along with those other hormones) is required for sperm productions and maturation. I know of no research into enabling sperm production in the presence of high estrogen levels, and I wouldn't count on it anytime soon.

I'm not sure that I even consider this a "side effect" of HRT, though. The estrogen is doing precisely what estrogen is supposed to do in this case - acting as a primary sex hormone. It just isn't the one that would enable you to be fertile.

[tgirlinva]

I'm not sure that I even consider this a "side effect" of HRT, though. The estrogen is doing precisely what estrogen is supposed to do in this case - acting as a primary sex hormone. It just isn't the one that would enable you to be fertile.

I meant more on a permanent side effect. I don't care about being infertile for the time I am on HRT, but i'd like for it to be reverted when i stop.

[GypsyKaren]

I meant more on a permanent side effect. I don't care about being infertile for the time I am on HRT, but i'd like for it to be reverted when i stop.

I really don't see any reason why anyone would want to devote a lot of time and money for this, they won't do it for those who want to go all the way, so why should they do it for those who don't?

Karen Starlene :star:

[Maggie Kay]

HRT is generally considered a one way street by most professionals. Normally, it takes several months of therapy before a letter of recommendation is given to sort out the applicability of the HRT therapy. There are those who take it and immediately are very uncomfortable and cannot handle it. Those people are usually considered not TS at all. Some therapists use this as a diagnostic tool. If you can handle MTF HRT then your brain is female and the diagnosis of TS is valid. If not, then something else is at work, psychologically speaking.

From all I have read, HRT causes infertility but only after quite a few months. Stopping HRT is said to sometimes allow fertility to return but no one can tell who or what the state of the fertility will be after HRT.

I had a child born with a birth defect so I know what goes through one's mind when it happens. My child's birth defect was not because of any experimentation since she was born before I started HRT. I cannot imagine how bad I would feel if my child was born with a birth defect and I had experimented with HRT. If it caused the defect or not, no one could ever really know.

[AmberTG]

"From all I have read, HRT causes infertility but only after quite a few months. "

An additional note about this is that, usually, it will cause infertility before it causes any significant changes in body shape. Breast growth and fat redeposition take a lot longer then most people think when they are thinking about starting on HRT. In the meanwhile, you can be rendered permanently sterile in 6 to 9 months, sometimes even less time than that. This information is gathered mostly from ancidotal evidence, but the experiences of the trans community is all the information there is out there. Most of the information available about any trans health questions comes from carefully kept gender clinic records of actual patients. There's no government money to be had for studies of trans health issues, so they're just not done.

[wishonastar]

I'm sure research has been done, but unless it sells a high dollar drug, who's going to advertise it?

would make sense if you become a woman physically that your male side would die off.

Will it get in the news. There are side effects to HRT if not done by professionals or even someone that is not experienced. The OD's rarely get in the news unless self inflicted. I remember when I read the newspaper that TS in San Francisco go to the emergency for ODing on birth control pills. It seemed to happen a lot. That was 15 years ago. I suspect HRT was harder to get then.

Everyone is different and reacts differently so you have to be monitored. Some TG people cannot take hormones because of the reactions, (they are not human hormones. So an allergic reaction is possible.) That might have changed but the female hormones are from a horse urine.

(I am allergic to lots of stuff like Aloe Vera . Try to find skin cream and sun screen without Aloe Vera . It is not easy.)

What does this have to do with HRT it is because the sources and or base of drugs is usually a trade secret. It can be based on just about anything including wood pulp and good old petroleum oil. Bacteria tricked into making hormones and drugs, food additives etc is very common. But there is a base chemical that one can be allergic to. Some vaccines are made in eggs, allergic to eggs watch out!.


Research will be there if there is big money in it for the pharmaceutical and medical companies.


Sad is it not?

[kay_jessica]

I personally can not see any need for such research, either medically or ethically. The safe guards for "controlled" transitioning, ie the gender consultations and referrals to specialist before one starts on any feminization treatment should determine if a person is ready to transition. If that person is ready then she will not want to have any male fertility getting in the way. Yes, perhaps sometime the professionals might get it wrong, and the transitioning person wants to stop and revert back to being male. There is that risk. I suppose if by fertility, you mean being able to sire children after prolonged exposure to hormones then one option is to store your stuff in a sperm bank. However, if by fertility you really mean "being able to perform" then I guess you'll be ok to a fashion so long as you still got testes and use a little viagra.

I can not see any research moneys being direct into that area any time soon. However, there is plenty of research going on on male infertility per-se and I guess an interrupted transition would set you into the "Hormone Disorder" categories of male infertility issues. Bear in mind though, a hormone disorder is an unusual cause of male infertility. This is sometimes treatable if the signal from the brain is the problem (gonadotrophin deficiency), but if the testes have stopped working altogether, as happens in around 13% of male infertility, success is unlikely. Also, several drugs have been tried to improve the sperm count, including androgens (mesterolone), FSH injections, kallikrein, testolactone, clomiphene, steroids, and antioxidants (vitamins E and C). None of these have been found to be beneficial, though variable successes have been described with steroids for antisperm antibodies and antioxidants, and further studies are awaited. As for the other aspect I eluded to, then there is plenty of research going on there to. One area that may lead to some treatments are the research going on in Male Contraceptive studies. Here they are messing with gonadotrophin ihibition using feminizing hormones counter balanced with added testosterone. Any such research has to consider the infertility consequences of female hormones. This stuff dates back to around 1998 and was done in the Anzac Research Institute at the University of Sydney. I do not know if that research is still going on.

Hugs


Kay

[marie354]

If one wants to transition and you decide to partake in HRT, then why would you want to go back?

HRT is for the serious minded only.

I would guess that the only research in this area is with those of us that are transitioning, so this has a limited subject base.

The average male wouldn't want to grow his own breasts, so would not want to participate in any experimental programs for study.
So any studies would be by animal testing, and us of course.

Unfortunately, there are some serious side effects like blood-clotting that are very serious.

As I said at the beginning... Only the truly serious need apply.

[deja true]

While your posted question is so short we can't guess at your motivation for it, if your agenda is just to have a more feminine body and retain your 'maleness', then a better alternative for you might be plastic surgery; breast implants, body sculpting and/or moderate FFS. All are reversible to a certain degree (not so much the FFS.).

But if your goal is the retention of 'virillity' while transitioning, you've hit a fork in the road, where one path will tend to completely negate the possibility of the other. There are no linking paths to the two that you can switch back and forth from one to the other at will.

Like many indicated above, it's all about the money for any pharm company or research org that could possibly do this research. The market for such research is infinitesimal, except in sci-fi books.

More important for you, I think, is to look into your own motivations for such desire.