Question about starting T

[Erfinderischer]

I am currently pre-T, pre-everything and I take birth control pills to make the duration of my periods shorter, because I tend to get very sick during that particular time of the month... so my question is... how soon before starting T do I have to stop taking the birth control pills?

[Catherine Sarah]

Hi Erfinderischer,

A big Aussie welcome to Susan's family. It's good of you to drop in and say "Hi". Hope you like it here, and you stay for a while.

There is a mountain of information, resources and friendship waiting for you here, you just need to jump in start talking and ask any question you like. You're quite safe here and we are very accepting.

Best person qualified to answer that question is your medical professional who authorises and monitors the administration of the 'T' No one else is qualified to do so, as they don't have access to your medical records. HRT is a highly risky thing to get involved in, hence the need for professional medical personnel to monitor and advise you.

Enjoy the journey and keep in touch and let us know how you are coping.
 
Looking forward to hearing more of your story in time to come, but in the meantime, be safe, well and happy.

Lotsa huggs
Catherine

[CursedFireDean]

I'm in the same boat and have been wondering the same thing bro. 

[mm]

That is good question for the dr that you are getting T script from.  I am not on any type of female hormone, don't want any of them in my body.

[conformer]

The cliché answer that everyone hates: it varies from person to person. Generally it seems like 2-3 months, but I know people 6 months on T and a year on T that still get their cycles.

Hopefully it takes less time for you 

[Robert Scott]

It really depends .... I have been on depo provera (birth control) for over a year and  a half - started it to stop my periods before starting T.  I have been on T for over a year now and still on depo.  I have had my period every three months still.  Last month my doctor increased my T & frequency of depo.  She is dumbfounded that I still am getting them ...infact she increased my dose of t over the "normal" dose levels. 

[Simon]

That is one for the docs to answer. I have no idea.

I am really interested in what reasons a doctor would have to keep a transman on female hormones for an extended time while also taking Testosterone. It just seems counter intuitive after awhile. I wonder if transmen who are taking progesterone have less physical effects of T or if the effects are delayed?

[ford]

Curious about people's experience with this too. I have bad endometriosis so I take estradiol-based BC to function on a daily basis (otherwise severe pain). The progesterone based kind didn't work for me. I'm not sure how this would be managed as one couldn't expect T to magically clear up endometriosis right away (if at all?).

Course if I ever manage a T prescription I'll obviously ask the doc...

[Ayden]

I stopped taking hormonal birth control around six months prior to getting on testosterone. The reasoning, according to my doctors, was that depending on how long you have been on b/c (I was right at ten years) it can damage the way your body metabolizes hormones. Ten years is close to the cut off for certain types of hormonal birth control, according to the nurses in my family and my doc. A general rule of thumb is that depending on the type of birth control (I was on some pretty strong pills) it is about a month for every year before the last remnants are out of your system. At six months I was right on schedule and the doc saw no reason to keep me off testosterone. Her only concern was that the two would interact and given the type I was on, she was worried about interactions. (Apparently if I had been on a progesterone based pill it wouldn't have been as big of a worry).

To sum up, you'll have to discuss it with your doctors. Some folks can go right from one to the other, some need to be off any hormones for a time. Some can "double up" so to speak. It is pretty different for everyone. I have been fortunate to not have any cycles since I started, even though I had to go off for a month due to health concerns. I keep my fingers crossed that it will stay gone.

As a sidenote: Robert Scott - man, that sounds rough. I hope you find something that works for ya soon. I can't imagine the frustration. It seems weird that you would still be having cycles with the increased dose.

[Robert Scott]

Well, my the protocol for transmen is depo provera to stop the cycle prior to T.... b/c according to my doctor it is not a hormone and doesn't increase your estrogen - it is suppose to kick you into menopause.

Ya, my doctor said that what is happening to me has never happened to any of her trans patients before.  She is the "trans" doctor in the community - she gives talks at conferences all over the country about trans patients so she has treated lots of them.  It typically takes months to get into to see her -- you have to set your appointments at least a month in advance. 

[Erfinderischer]

Thanks for all the helpful responses! Well I asked the same question to my therapist already, who said that she's not a medical doctor and I should ask other transmen... which is how I ended up here... I haven't started seeing the medical doctor who prescribes the testosterone yet, I only recently started seeing the therapist, so I can't really ask the doctor yet.