HRT to androngyny

[Mizukitty]

I'm really confused when it comes to expressing my gender, it especially doesn't help that I don't have to typical body structure for it.
I've been considering seeing a doctor concerning HRT, but I'm not sure what their conditions are for allowing it, or if it's for a full transition, if I can go halfway.

It's frustrating not having the right body...

Can anyone shed light on this? If more information is required I'll provide as much as I can.

I'm Canadian, and physiologically male.

[Taka]

i don't know too much about canada. but i do know that some have gotten hrt for their androgyny, and there are private practitioners who'd be willing to help even if the national institutions are against it.

right now i'm just hoping nobody will start making up laws to forbid hrt for androgyny in my own country.

[Mizukitty]

I've heard that HRT is very risky, even if it's not a full transition. I'm fairly unfamiliar with the process. Can anyone shed some light on it?

[Taka]

hrt needs monitoring. so long as your hormones are kept within normal levels for one of the sexes, there shouldn't be more risk than what's normal for the gender whose normals you're within.

hrt can be very risky if you try doing it yourself. there is also a problem with taking it in pill form (can damage the liver), or self injecting if you don't know how to do it right.

for female bodied persons who decide to keep their internal organs, there isn't sufficient evidence of whether or not stopping the cycle with opposite sex hormones will increase the risk of disease in the uterus. so it is recommended to get checked every once in a while.


there is a possibility that wrong hormone levels can increase anxiety and depression. if the body is unable to produce the right levels (by having gonads of the wrong sex), hrt can actually lessen the risk of some types of accidents. my own view is that anything that makes you feel good about yourself is likely to be good for you, especially if the body doesn't react negatively to it.

i have heard stories about hrt stopping migraines, anxiety, muscle pain, other problems, and making people happier than they could be without. a slightly increased risk of heart disease is easily fought by working out more and changing one's diet. ad it's not like opposite sex hormones is the worst thing a person can take, treating a condition with the wrong same sex hormones can be just as bad, if not worse. "the pill" is one example of a medicament that gives a very high risk of blood clots. a female bodies person could just as well take opposite sex hormones, that might even be safer for all we know.


ad just to add something at the end. vitamin d is also a hormone. we're usually told to take supplements if we have too low levels of this hormone, as it is just as risky to have too little of it. having too little sex hormones is also risky, very risky, so... whatever works to get a person's mental or physical health better will be the best choice. it hrt is what it takes to get someone out of their house and start socializing and working out, then that is much less risky than not getting it.

[Kaelin]

From the WPATH standards of care, using MtF HRT can pose these risks:

Likely increased risk
• Venous thromboembolic diseasea (a)
• Gallstones
• Elevated liver enzymes
• Weight gain
• Hypertriglyceridemia

Likely increased risk with presence of
additional risk factors
• Cardiovascular disease (b)

Possible increased risk
• Hypertension
• Hyperprolactinemia or prolactinoma

Possible increased risk with presence
of additional risk factors
• Type 2 diabetes (a) (b)

No increased risk or inconclusive
• Breast cancer

Bolded items are regarded as clinically significant
(a) Risk is higher with oral estrogen than transdermal estrogen
(b) Age is an additional risk factor

[Lo]

I've seen quite a number of nonbinary people who go on HRT and then stop when they've achieved the results they were looking for. Tha way of doing things seems like it would pose its own set of problems and complications though, namely, are you doing it for the physical or mental benefits? One you can stop at any point, the other you have to keep doing no matter the physical side-effects.

I don't know how it is anywhere else, but, here in the states a doctor can't force you to take any medication for any length of time.

[Mizukitty]

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far.

Understanding that HRT has different effects for each individual, would someone mind giving me a general overview of what a typical progression from a male to androgynous would be like, and ultimately what would be the full effects after reaching androgyny?

I know that that's probably a difficult question to ask, however I'm not quite at liberty to be consulting a doctor, and I want to get as much information as possible before I do.

[Kia]

Well there technically is no path to an "androgyne" transition. It's usually treated as a partial transition mtf/ftm depending on where you're starting. I recommend checking out the HRT subforum here; also you can find the WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) Standards of Care, which are the guidelines/suggestions for how a transition is supposed to go. WPATH recognizes non-binary identities as "Gender Non-Conforming Individuals" and will answer some of your more technical questions from the horses mouth as it were.

[Taka]

in between/neither is a very difficult state to achieve when it comes to physical features. the only way i can think of is to deprive yourself of all sex hormones, and that's definitely not a good idea. in addition to surgery to remove reproductive organs and strong secondary sex characteristics. or, one could be lucky to be born with the right genes to make one's body look very androgynous without any medical intervention.

for most people i think it would be easier to become both, and look more hermaphroditic than genderless. there would still be some difficulties with genitals that i think female bodied persons could overcome more easily than male bodied persons.

but, there is no typical mta or fta transition. some get hrt, some only want surgery, others don't really want to change their body too much, and do it all as a social rather than medical transition. some will do a full transition to the opposite sex, but do a social transition to androgyne. there are also those who do a full transition believing they're transsexual, but only after feeling wrong as the opposite sex as well, detransition to live as a non-binary type of person. and there are many other ways too, i'm sure.

go to the transsexual boards and look for stories about hrt and surgery, just to know what it is likely to do to your body. the options are rather limited, as there is no third sex hormone to choose. it's either androgen or estrogen. or neither, which is bad over time. some androgynes choose to take low dose hrt, but that will also eventually make characteristics of the opposite sex appear, though it's likely to happen slower.