Hormones and treating gender dysphoria

[Brooke Smith]

Hi
I'm thinking this is the best place to ask this question,and not the transexual forum. On the transexual side most of the people consider themselves woman and are already transitioned or transitioning,living full time with the help of HRT and GRS in many cases.

Here on the cross dressing forum not so much,if any,commitment to gender change. However I assume many of you consider yourselves transgendered and as such,to a larger or smaller degree suffer from some form of gender dysphoria. I'm in that group and aware of the many treatment options available to us and I realize it should start with counseling.

One of those options available to us is hormonal treatment by itself,without transitioning or surgeries to cure the GID. I don't know how common that treatment is or how successful it can be.

I'm old enough to know better than to never say never,and like many of you I have no plans to transition,but I have to do something about the background noise that won't leave me alone.

Good or bad,I'd like to hear your about your experience. Thank you.

[Lorileah]

Looks like a job for Gender Therapist!

It may help, it may not. But there are things you need to do along with hormones. Counseling is one of them. Hormones aren't magic. I think sorting out your feelings if you haven't already needs to go hand in hand. You don't have to have surgery, you can transition with just hormones. There are side effects, some permanent, so don't take hormones lightly

[Stephanie47]

I suspect until science can really figure out what is the cause of gender identity issues we are just going to have to roll along. I've heard so many slants on the answer that it makes my head swim. A counselor I talk to on issues other than sexual identity issues believes all men and all women have some degree of influence through genetics on expression of his or her sexual identity. In some ways that makes some sense. If there is some merit of a scale of 1 to 100 perhaps someone who has absolutely no issues with being a man is 100% male and is in alignment with his birth sex. Then if there is some degree of the other sex within his or her DNA, perhaps that minority DNA manifests itself in cross dressing to satisfy that pull. I am totally content to have been born and lived as a male, but, there has always been some pull toward the 'feminine" side. In some respects it is funny that many men exhibit traits that seem to be aligned to women, but, society at a whole fully accepts them but others think the man is, well, less than a manly man. I'm thinking of nurturing a child as an example. But put the clothing of a woman on, well, that's too much for most to comprehend and accept.

[Rachael Leigh]

Brooke I'm currently in counseling and it's not gender counseling per se but it's the main topic
I've never considered that I may have a form of gender dysphoria until recently. I do not believe I will ever consider HRT
or any other kind of chemical fix. What I'm hoping for is a way to manage my gender through my dressing and being out
in the community expressing this part of me. It's not easy but for now it's worked guess I will see how that goes.

[Brooke Smith]

Thank you for the responses,I'm hoping to hear from someone who has gone this route. This is not something I have taken lightly. I have cross dressed for nearly 50 years and realized there was a transgender component to it for over the last 20 years. The material available on the internet has made this perfectly clear to me. Nearly 30 years ago I met and married my sole mate who was told,up front,about my cross dressing and has learned about my gender issues along the way as I have. Long story short;she can't live in a lesbian relationship and we won't desert one another.

That pretty much leaves me where I am now,in the closet with no translation in sight. If things were different,I would come out tomorrow and fully transition. My research tells me hormonal treatment can ease or eliminate my dysphoria and as I'm due for my annual doctors checkup, I'm considering bringing it up to him. I know about the health risks,and that scares me too,but I need to address this issue.

As I'm certain you probably know this doesn't go away by itself. I've spent way too much time on line,and some time ago managed to get myself kicked out of safe haven by declaring that I was not a woman. Honestly it just made me depressed to be with all the lovely women in there,successfully transitioning and getting on with their lives while I was just stuck in my gender rut.

I'm ready to try "better living through chemistry".

[ClosetED]

Hormones are medically appropriate for a person who feels they are transexual - they are a woman. For a crossdresser, the DSM no longer considers that a diagnosis, but an "ascertainment" and would not be treated with hormones. So you need someone who can help you sort out your feelings, and your internist is not likely to know what to do. As Lorileah says, you may need a gender therapist to help you come to understand your strongest feelings - to be the woman you feel you are, or to be the man who loves to look feminine. There are procedures that can be done to help you look more feminine without hormones.
My personal view of it ...
Hugs, Ellen

[Pat]

I suspect until science can really figure out what is the cause of gender identity issues we are just going to have to roll along.

Good news! Science has figured that part out -- it happens when you're transgender. Seriously. That is what it's all about. You have gender identity issues because you are not cisgender and you're trying to act like you are. Totally makes you crazy until you stop, just like left-handers who tried to pretend they were right-handed in the 1950's had severe problems.

Brooke -- there are such people of which you speak. There are people who are transgender who are taking hormones to treat their dysphoria (or maybe it's dysmorphia at that point, dunno.) At any rate, go visit the non-binary gender forum and you'll see questions very similar to your own.

[Brooke Smith]

Thanks Jennie, Laurababe suggested that forum to me and it looks like that may be where my compadres hang out. Non-binary probably describes me as well as anything.

[xNicolex]

Hi Brooke, I consider myself transgender and I totally see where your coming from. To answer some questions you may have about it let me start by saying therapy, yes! deffo see a therapist before making any decisions. I have been in contact with a therapist as I have started to feel kindda the same way but I wouldn't want to get GRS HRT was something i looked into and there are alot of draw backs to taking it. For instance if you don't mind your manhood shrinking and not working the way it usually would then go ahead. I'm not trying to scare you but that is one of the things that can happen Also other health related risks such as heart decease, breast cancer etc. The benefits yeah there are benefits softer skin, breast development, fat displacement. I started taking fennel seeds in salads and in hot water as a herbal tea.......why you ask? Well fennel is high in estrogen and is proven to increase breast development also fenugreek is high in estrogen and second only to fennel as a natural treatment. OK so you wont see overnight effects like with synthetic hormones but you will see results To soften my skin I use 100% coconut oil after a shower and every night before bed Hope this helped you a little. Good luck on whatever it is you decide to do

[sometimes_miss]

I suspect until science can really figure out what is the cause of gender identity issues we are just going to have to roll along.

I suspect that 'science' already has figured it out. It's just that the world wants so much to believe in a black and white situation, with no gray in between. Just as there are gay and straight folks, with every possible type of bisexual in between, gender works along the same lines. It's just that even here, most cannot accept the fact that they might not be perfectly straight. You see it constantly with all the mention of 'the female side of me' in order to distance themselves from femininity, when they cannot deal with the fact that it's not a side, it's part of who they are. They even talk of themselves in third person with a female name as if it's someone else. While it's them all along.
To paraphrase Pogo:
"We have met the enemy, and she is us".

[Happygirl!]

I suspect that 'science' already has figured it out. It's just that the world wants so much to believe in a black and white situation, with no gray in between. Just as there are gay and straight folks, with every possible type of bisexual in between, gender works along the same lines. It's just that even here, most cannot accept the fact that they might not be perfectly straight. You see it constantly with all the mention of 'the female side of me' in order to distance themselves from femininity, when they cannot deal with the fact that it's not a side, it's part of who they are. They even talk of themselves in third person with a female name as if it's someone else. While it's them all along.
To paraphrase Pogo:
"We have met the enemy, and she is us".

I believe you have nailed it. We try to fit things into very fixed categories, and we find that nature really doesn't "care" about our human created categories. Just look at evolution, and we see this. But what's interesting is that many people simply must create a world model with a simple black and white/ binary understanding of all things, and they are very disturbed when this view is challenged. You can see the smoke coming out their ears :-). Some of us are not wired to see things this way. I love the fifty shades of gray :-)

[Krisi]

I think this is something you should discuss with your doctor. He or she will know what to do or refer you to someone who can help you.

[Stephanie47]

Jennie and Sometime_miss I think you really did not understand my comment or if you did, you do not accept my premise. Obviously, there is a spectrum that runs from 100% conforming male to 100% conforming female within whatever society someone resides in. Maybe the world wants everything black and white, but, I agree, it's not that way. I have yet to see any scientific certainty why a man is a homosexual or a woman a lesbian or why a person's mind is not aligned with his or her birth sex. There was an interesting scientific program on television last night, not about human sexuality, but, did state the human genome consists of over 20,000 genes. So is my desire to emulate a woman on occasion influenced by genes? Or is it nurturing after birth? Or something my mother ate during pregnancy? Sexual trauma or abuse? It comes downto cause and effect.

All you're saying is someone falls with the spectrum running from 0% to 100%. I am asking what has caused such a gradation. Please enlighten me. It seems from reading there are more and more variations in human behavior and health attributable to genetics.

[Teresa]

Brooke,
I would stick with gender counselling , it helps simply because you find out exactly what you are and can then come to terms with it. Hormones are usually the next step after counselling depending if you accept with the counsellors help if you're TG or TS. Hormones affect people in different ways so you can't look at them as any cure for GD, besides if you get them wrong they can have side effects you didn't expect. I've had conversations with TSs and hormones are a balancing act, it can take many months to get them right, by then some changes may not be reversible.

I know I have GD but it's totally manageable if you can fully accept your CDing and be totally comfortable with it. To have to worry what people think and what they might say doesn't help if you have GD.

[AprilMayy<3]

Background noise, good way to put it.
About 2 years ago, I felt strongly about wanting to transition. After speaking with my mother about it, she somehow convinced me I didn't. That stuck with me for the past 2 years until a few months ago, when a WAVE of transition thoughts came back, it was intense. I did vast amounts of research again, and confirmed to myself that I wanted to transition. I still believe I do(I even announced it here, I think).
Anyways, seeing a Gender Therapist is always the right choice in these situations. For the record, I still haven't seen one yet, and I still think everyday if I want to transition. Background noise is the perfect way to describe it. Something that is always there, something I can tune out, but always comes back for a brief moment.

[HelenR2]

After more than three years of self medicating at recommended dosages I finally went the legit route through my doctor. The first blood test showed that the reason my development was so disappointing was because I had been on the wrong dosages all along and needed much higher levels of anti androgens. If you are considering self meds I strongly suggest you also get regular blood tests so that you can know what to take and how much otherwise you may be wasting your time and money like I did.

[immindy]

Hi Brooke,
First off let me say also , as others are saying , counseling is always good and if you do hormones you should have a doctor involved to test blood and such.
I Do not live full time as a woman yet I am on hormones , for several years now . I am also married, happily ( after some work with all this and the related issues ). I and my wife accept who I am and we are both in a very good place now about who I am and what we mean to each other. The details of all this are personal so would rather not share openly but if you would like to talk in private I would be happy to talk with you.

[MzAlexis]

Hi Brooke,
I am? Hmmm .. Me. I crossdress (not passable), and live my regular life as my physical gender. But to me (and as some others have said) gender is not Binary but more like a line with infinite points in between and I am in the middle towards the female side but not enough to want to transition. I don't wish to be a Man or a Woman full time, but if I had to choose and there were no ramifications like career etc. I would choose to live as a woman, but wouldn't fit there either.

All of that being said I have taken hormones in the past and after a hiatus have and am taking them again now on my own. It is not recommended without the medical establishment being involved but I know the risks and as an adult accept the consequences of what I am doing and doing it in a sane way (lots to discuss there but not in this post). What I can say is that they can make a huge difference in how you feel and your whole outlook on the world an life. In my case after a period of time the sexual aggravation diminishes and much of the static goes away. I'm more calm more aware and feel much more at home in my body and with myself, and to be honest it just feels right, though I do not intend to transition. I hope this helps and please feel free to contact me if you like.

[gailwisher]

Hi Brooke,
I agree with your thoughts so much. I want to soften my self and wear pretty things but no drastic surgery. I am not really a man and enjoy being more feminine and soft and I wonder , what to do . As i much happier wearing female under neath my clothes every day.
gail

[Brooke Smith]

Thank you everyone. My fear was my post would get lost between the "what is your favorite color of panties" posts and more serious questions about who we are and how we cope. I appreciate your candid answers.

Although I'm not at all hopeful counseling will help resolve my issues,I guess it can't really hurt either. Except of course for spending good money to confirm something I already know. But then again,I'm not stupid or reckless and counseling is the smartest path to the treatment I want and need. I've never discussed this with my Gp before but he's a smart guy who's seen my tan lines and panties so I don't think this will come as a major shock. In that regard I'm somewhat surprised he's never brought it up. It would certainly have helped move me along much sooner had he done so. I guess I'm just a big chicken who has realized she's running out of time.

[ReineD]

Most of the people in this forum who are on HRT participate in the TS section. If you are interested in knowing the effects of HRT on the body (estrogen and anti-androgens, taken alone or together), you should ask them. You’re looking for specifics rather than a general "it works well for me and my wife", since statements like this do not specify whether they are on estrogen alone or with anti-androgens, the effects on sexual functioning, or the type of relationship someone might have with their wife.

If you don’t want judgment about whether you SHOULD take them or not based on your gender identity compared to the TSs, just say so in your OP in the TS section and ask specifically about only the effects of HRT (estrogen and/or androgen-blockers) on their bodies over time.

Keep in mind that we all have different body chemistry and number of hormone receptors, and so the effect on one person will not be the same as on another given any specific regimen. This is why asking individuals here will not be as helpful to you as seeking a doctor and beginning the process of HRT, adjusting as you go along, depending on the effects you desire. It is impossible to know the effects of HRT on any individual, before beginning the process and monitoring and adjusting for changes.

That said, Carlton.edu has an excellent PDF pamphlet that describes the general effects of HRT on MtFs:



There are also resources on trans-health.com. This particular page discusses HRT self-medication because of the reality that many people do choose to go this route, although they also are very clear that different regimens will have different effects on different people. One thing I do like about this page is they go into further detail about the health risks of HRT (with links to studies) than the Carleton pamphlet:

[Brooke Smith]

Thank you Reine,your opinion is of great value as I know your involvement is long lived and well meaning. The links you provided were an interesting read but it is just as well Shelly Preston deleted them due to the mention of dosages which were more than 20yrs. out of date. Apparently the most current information can be found on the Facebook forum "Trans HRT hormone forum".

The answers I seek are not related dosage anyway,I'll get that from my doctors when the time comes. I'm more interested in how non-transitioning transgendered folk came to the conclusion HRT was an appropriate treatment and how they interact with their own families to keep there lives in one piece. Even if I were the tranniest transexual in the world I'm not of the mindset to crash and burn and start my life over. That isn't really an option anyway,time is too short.

I understand non-transitioning people's reluctance to come forward with details of their journey but those are the specific people I'd like to hear from.

[Charla]

I struggled with GID for years. I am married with kids. About 3 years ago, I decided to pursue counseling in earnest and began looking for psychologists or psychiatrists who would help me. I was able to get a letter after a year of counseling and start a low level dose of AA and estrogen in March. It's been the best thing I've done in years. I don't plan on transitioning. I feel better and calmer and don't have that nagging uneasiness any more. The desire to crossdress has diminished. The breast growth has been a minor issue (it hurts to bump into things and I never noticed my nipples so much before) but keeping weight down seems to help. My endo asked if I wanted to increase dosages at my last appt and I declined. I am happy with the current dosage.

The key for me was finding a psychologist and psychiatrist that I could work with, and then finding an endocrinologist that was open to HRT. Frankly the psychologist worked a lot on how I felt about this, but the psychiatrist asked some very pointed questions that enabled me to make a decision. If you want to know more, send me a private message, and will get back to you. I am not always looking at this forum, so there may be a delay in my reply.

In answer to your original question, how do non-transitioning people keep their families intact? I am not out to my family. That is a separate issue that I am addressing through more counseling. It is a significant trust issue, I must say, but one that I will have to deal with at some point. For me personally, I have not had any overt emotional changes or physical changes (save for breast buds) that are signs of HRT.

[ReineD]

Thank you Reine,your opinion is of great value as I know your involvement is long lived and well meaning. The links you provided were an interesting read but it is just as well Shelly Preston deleted them due to the mention of dosages which were more than 20yrs.

I know. It's difficult to find informative content that doesn't have some mention of dosage. But the dosage was the least important part of all the information. They discussed all the pros and cons which in my view is most important. And if I recall, they did say the regimen would vary depending on the person, plus they specifically said that people should see doctors.

In any case, if anyone wants to know the effects of estrogen and anti-androgens alone or together, and why they recommend both (to decrease the need for high doses of estrogens which has health risks), and also what anti-androgens will do to your system, go to carleton.edu and type "MtF transition" in the search bar. And if you want to know what the health risks are with estrogen, which in my view is a huge encouragement to be monitored by doctors, go to trans-health.com and type "risks of HRT" in the search bar.

If anyone reading this is seriously considering HRT, print out this material and bring it to your doctor for discussion. If you go into the appointment prepared, you'll have a good basis for more specific questions, and the answers will be clearer to you. And if anyone else wants HRT without having to come out to family (especially if the family is a wife), be sure to ask about the long-term effects and how well they can be hidden.

[CherylFlint]

‘Suffer’?
I don’t think so. Dressing-up has been the most fun I ever had, and then getting the nerve to go out, and then ‘passing’ has been one heck of a trip yet I have NEVER considered going ‘over the point of no return’.
Make life easy on yourself: just accept that a few X’s and Y’s crossed-over and learn to live with it. It’ll make your life 10,000% more enjoyable if you do.
And as far as going to shrinks? Be a lot easier to just flush your money down a toilet, or buy a boat.