HRT and alcohol

[Jared]

My endo didn't tell me that I shouldn't drink anything alcoholic but my girlfriend who worked as a nurse and has experience with trans people and HRT told me all the time not to drink. Anyway I'm not an alcoholic  There are just events when I don't refuse a beer or whatever. I know testosterone could cause liver problems so does drinking too much alcohol so it makes sense. I'm just wondering had anyone heard of this?

[Sarah Louise]

Everything in moderation.  One beer or drink once in a while shouldn't hurt anything.  After all, men have testosterone in them all the time and they drink.  I'm not a doctor, and I recognize we are adding hormones to our system, but I'll stand by my first comment, everything in moderation.

By the way, I quit drinking when I was thirty, haven't touched a drop since.  I'm 68 now.

[aleon515]

Maybe he isn't confident re: moderation. Obviously you'd want moderation. Many of the people I know on T do drink, though not heavily.

--Jay

[unknown]

I don't know how T compares to E in terms of liver problems but... my endo didn't think it was a problem I have some wine every few days even with my HRT.  But my liver panel was good.  Definitely moderation is the key...

E have nothing to do with the liver, that is why you can take it as pills, but if you took T in pills your liver would pretty much die.

[Natkat]

Alcohol is not healthy in general Homones or not,
but as it said if your not overdoing you shouldnt worry to much about it.

most of my trans friends drink (well, its in our culture afterall), however I stopped drinking up to while I where to have my surgery as my doctor demanded that I where not on homones, not on medicin, and such things (and I just put alcohol in the box to be 100%) also I have heard from a trans fellow that you shouldnt drink alcohol if you had top surgery cause it would make your scars look worse, so if you want a good healing its best not to drink for a time, as well as not going out in the sun. I dont really have much scars as I got key hole so I cant tell whatever his right or wrong.

beside that the typical dont drink dont smoke, seams as a typical health advice for everyone not just trans..

[Cindy]

Moderate alcohol should not be a problem. Moderate as in one alcoholic drink  a day with rest days.

Both testosterone and estrogen can have adverse effects on liver function. Injectable T is less toxic than tablets and E implants are less toxic than tablets. But the basic message is the liver is not an organ to abuse, it has incredible recovery powers but once it is badly damaged the end is in sight.

So the odd glass of beer or wine etc etc is fine. The regular keg or flagon isn't. Nothing wrong with a glass of whiskey in the evening either.
One of the big problem with alcohol isn't its direct addictive quality, it is its social and relaxation addictive quality. Nothing wrong with a cold beer when you come home from work, but stop at one and if you find that hard stop at none.

[Ayden]

I drink and smoke, both of which my doctors said was fine. Not the healthiest but it doesn't mean I'm gonna keel over. I do both in moderation. I'm actually healthier now despite the fact that I drink more, since its a social obligation in my current life.

Moderation is the key to everything.

[Jared]

By the way, I quit drinking when I was thirty, haven't touched a drop since.  I'm 68 now.

Congrats for this 

E have nothing to do with the liver, that is why you can take it as pills, but if you took T in pills your liver would pretty much die.

Yeah that's why I'm curious. I know it's less dangerous with the injections but there's the possibility.

beside that the typical dont drink dont smoke, seams as a typical health advice for everyone not just trans..

You've got a point here. I quit smoking but I just can't refuse to drink with my friends at the few opportunity when we go to party :'D

One of the big problem with alcohol isn't its direct addictive quality, it is its social and relaxation addictive quality. Nothing wrong with a cold beer when you come home from work, but stop at one and if you find that hard stop at none.

Completely aggree.


Thanks for the replies guys and girls 

[Natkat]

You've got a point here. I quit smoking but I just can't refuse to drink with my friends at the few opportunity when we go to party :'D

I'm pretty much the same, I dont smoke (exept for water pipe) and in general i'm only a social drinker and I dont think its bad. I dont worry much about alcohol, I started to taste it when I where around 8, went out for real drinking around 16.. (I was abit late) beside my lungs who is injured (probably because of tight binding in my past) I been told by my doctors that my health is fine.

[anibioman]

a friend told me he gets drunk faster now that he is on T. i didn't drink before T to much so i didn't notice. i drink and im totally fine.

[Nygeel]

Drinking on T is okay so long as your liver is healthy. Taking testosterone puts some stress on the liver as does drinking, smoking, and a number of other things people do to their body.

Let's say you take T, got mono (which screws with the liver), smoke and drink...that would be really really bad.

[Jared]

a friend told me he gets drunk faster now that he is on T. i didn't drink before T to much so i didn't notice. i drink and im totally fine.

I'm like this too but I think it's beacuse I drink less since I'm on T and the last half year I worked, now I got back to college so  I noticed that hangovers aren't that bad for me since T  (if I get that far)

Let's say you take T, got mono (which screws with the liver), smoke and drink...that would be really really bad.

That's what I'm worrying about. According to my blood work I shouldn't.

[PixieBoy]

My tip for avoiding drinking too much: make sure you really love that drink. Get some super-tasty, awesome beer that will make you want to drink it slowly to get as much out of it as possible instead of a lot of quite nasty beer.

I've heard that one should avoid drinking anything early in HRT, as it might mess up the system much like how drinking a lot when you're just entering any puberty would. This is, of course, spoken from someone from the "Vodka belt" where we all binge drink in the weekends; I assume having a glass of wine or beer every other day would be all right.