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Making a sudden stop of HRT?

Started by Apples Mk.II, October 31, 2013, 10:29:50 AM

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Apples Mk.II

Not a happy topic, but preparing for the worst.

I've been in AA for 11 months, and 6 months on E. There is the strong possibility of being asked to stop for 3 months.


How do you see it? I don't think it is going to go well with my organism at this height, but I was nearly suicidal before HRT, and is the only thing that has kept me going on, made me less suicidal and made my dysphoria less of a problem. If I start reverting and looking male again, I don't think I could take it....
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Amelia Pond

I don't understand why you would be asked to stop E in the first place. Though I wouldn't recommend stopping it unless you want to or you're instructed by your doctor to do so. I don't think anyone else has the right to ask you to stop.

Amy
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Apples Mk.II

I soon may be switching to the social security endo, which means that they may request a clean system, or at least that's what they have done with some girls. You don't want to enter into more details.

I talked a bit with the shrink at the association, and "You are going to be in real trouble. Tell the endo first before he tests your blod, I know him and he is more understanding that that shrink.. If you show that you haven't been reckless, kept analysis and everything, it should not be that bad. I think going a stop right now could be dangerous for your health". Oddly, she is the same one that told me "They are major assh*les and make you suffer for years. I can understand you, and you know how to do these things safely".
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Skittles

I agree with Amy, no one in the program would tell you that, if they actually read their Big Book, Twelve and Twelve, or As Bill W Sees It. It is clearly stated that if there is a medical need, no member has the duty or right to contradict the medical profession. If that is from your sponsor, give them the old Donald Trump, YOU"RE FIRED!!! I ran out of money and E once, I crashed to very near suicide. Another time, I also ran out of Spiro for a month and a half. All I was afflicted with was boy stink.

Follow your heart, your Higher Power and your Doctor. Hug. Joann

"How do you hide something from an alcoholic? Just put it in their Big Book!" Giggle.
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JLT1

Wow,
I was just going to do a post related to this topic.  I've been off E for two weeks due to ankle surgery.  Today, I just got back from Mayo clinic Endocrinology, who asked me to stay off for an additional six weeks.  Not happy.  I just keep in mind that the end is worth the trouble.  This isn't mentally nice but the only physical effects are slight trembling in the hands and I can't sleep.  Supposedly, I'm though the worse of the physical effects. 

My hormones naturally cycle – high E, low T for two weeks and then high T, low E for two weeks then start again.  They need to figure out why before I can transition further.  E calmed it down and took the mental edge off the transitions but also obscured the cause.   Now, they just want it to run full out with lots of blood tests for lots of things.

Sprout, Hugs, Hugs, Hugs.  Keep in mind why you are doing it and try to focus on that.  If you have additional problems, send me a message.     
To move forward is to leave behind that which has become dear. It is a call into the wild, into becoming someone currently unknown to us. For most, it is a call too frightening and too challenging to heed. For some, it is a call to be more than we were capable of being, both now and in the future.
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DietFresca

Wait, so AA wants you to stop HRT?!  What does one thing have to do with the other?  If it's because it's a religious based organization and they don't approve of TG, you tell them to go hang!

I would recommend counseling over AA, if you ever want to lose faith in the program, look into their success rates, recidivism rates.  You'll find that literally doing nothing in particular to try and quit has a better success rate than 12 step programs.  The better approach, IMHO is to work on the psychology of addiction, meaning you work on the tendency to avoid problems by losing yourself in X.  You develop coping mechanisms to deal with issues head on.   Hint:  Successful coping mechanisms have nothing to do with surrendering to an imaginary sky daddy.

Best of luck!
Ramona Flowers :icon_flower:
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Apples Mk.II

Quote from: DietFresca on October 31, 2013, 12:22:06 PM
Wait, so AA wants you to stop HRT?!  What does one thing have to do with the other?  If it's because it's a religious based organization and they don't approve of TG, you tell them to go hang!

I would recommend counseling over AA, if you ever want to lose faith in the program, look into their success rates, recidivism rates.  You'll find that literally doing nothing in particular to try and quit has a better success rate than 12 step programs.  The better approach, IMHO is to work on the psychology of addiction, meaning you work on the tendency to avoid problems by losing yourself in X.  You develop coping mechanisms to deal with issues head on.   Hint:  Successful coping mechanisms have nothing to do with surrendering to an imaginary sky daddy.

Best of luck!

AA = Anti Androgens.... I have never been a regular drinker.
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DietFresca

Quote from: Apple Sprout on October 31, 2013, 12:28:28 PM
AA = Anti Androgens.... I have never been a regular drinker.

AH!!  Sorry, although I would love to go on HRT myself someday to give my chest the opportunity to be all it can be, I am still not familiar with the process enough to speak intelligently on it.

Ramona Flowers :icon_flower:
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suzifrommd

Consider asking "Is there a medical reason why I need to stop my medication? Am I in any kind of danger?" If the answer is just that it makes for clean tests, that's not a medical reason.  They should have the results of your previous tests, shouldn't they, so that is a lame reason.

You have a right to advocate for yourself. You have a right to demand that your condition be treated to the maximum ability of the doctor and not to have treatment halted for a reason that is not medical.

Doctors do NOT have the right to withhold treatment from their patients (though many of them may get away with it). It is unethical and unprofessional. Their responsibility to prescribe or not to prescribe medication is solely to benefit the patient.
Have you read my short story The Eve of Triumph?
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Bardoux

were you self medicating to this point? And if that isn't the case, why can't your current doctor just pass on bloodwork etc over to the new endo?
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KabitTarah

Quote from: DietFresca on October 31, 2013, 12:33:13 PM
AH!!  Sorry, although I would love to go on HRT myself someday to give my chest the opportunity to be all it can be, I am still not familiar with the process enough to speak intelligently on it.

I make the Alcoholics Anonymous connection every time I say it... but "AA's" is SOOO much easier to write than "anti-androgens."

I wonder what people would think if I said I was going on "AA" on facebook when I finally get my script? ;) ;) ouch
~ Tarah ~

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tatiana

Quote from: Apple Sprout on October 31, 2013, 10:50:56 AM
I soon may be switching to the social security endo, which means that they may request a clean system, or at least that's what they have done with some girls. You don't want to enter into more details.

I talked a bit with the shrink at the association, and "You are going to be in real trouble. Tell the endo first before he tests your blod, I know him and he is more understanding that that shrink.. If you show that you haven't been reckless, kept analysis and everything, it should not be that bad. I think going a stop right now could be dangerous for your health". Oddly, she is the same one that told me "They are major assh*les and make you suffer for years. I can understand you, and you know how to do these things safely".

Even if you stop taking estrogen, you'll still have it in your bloodstream in high detectable levels for months. Your testosterone levels should be bounce back fairly quickly to normal levels though.
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androgynouspainter26

I know this is an old-ish topic, but my experiences have left me wary of any cutoff in dosage.  I'm not sure if this is normal, but whenever I missed a pill, or while I was still taking the patch, whenever the patch fell off prematurely, I found myself with nasty mood problems.  I'm normally almost always level headed, but whenever there is that sort of disruption it completely changes that.    I too was suicidal before hormones, and all of that came back quite quickly during the month that my supply was cut off.  I doubt this is typical, but it's still something to watch out for. 

Hope it all works out!
My gender problem isn't half as bad as society's.  Although mine is still pretty bad.
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Apples Mk.II

I've been given some info on the matter from another person in a similar question. If they try to force me to stop or deny further treatmente, first I will need to file a complaint against them. After that, talk with my GP since he can request an endo for me outside the GID therapy service, and he can prescribe me the meds. The issues is that as he tells me, the endos at the day center are the same ones that are in the hospital, so I have a big chance of running into the same one (They seem to be each day of the week into a different health centre). I still can't believe they will be only one, but it also depends on the size of the province (Who informed me was in the biggest one).

The downsides are that some endos can reject treatments based on trans issues or just not wanting to take risks, and that I will be outside the system for healthcare paid BA and GRS. Which given the huge waiting list and how they are restricting the candidates list to save costs, I'm better paying it for myself and avoiding butcher works (legends of a penile inversion so bad it gave only 6 cm depth). Also, they can reject my request for the GRS letter, but supposedly I can get it from any private psychiatrist, even if I have to travel a bit to meet him/her.


It's just a roulette play, but if you read my last thread in therapy, it's being real bad. Doing the UTIG approach can be so bad (as it is happening with me. I have been delayed, insulted, threatened, treated like a small retarded kid and lied about crucial points, plus being forced to take actions agains my will such as taking medication with bad sideeffects and ignoring my opinions and be td that I'm imagining the side effects. Heck, when I told them I was losing hair at a fast rate, they told me I could have a hair transplant later and to wear a wig), that in the end I will be taken the DIY route: Find an endo inside health care who won't force you to go through the UTIG circus, get the prescriptions from him or the GP, look for another therapist to get the letters.
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JLT1

Sprout,

I really hate to agree with you because it's going to be very hard.  But you seem to have come to the right decision.  I wish this would be easier for you.

Hugs,

Jen
To move forward is to leave behind that which has become dear. It is a call into the wild, into becoming someone currently unknown to us. For most, it is a call too frightening and too challenging to heed. For some, it is a call to be more than we were capable of being, both now and in the future.
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Apples Mk.II

BTW, they are not funding GRS anymore, at least in Madrid. And that's terrible.



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Apples Mk.II

Endo visit today, at last. In the end, it went better than expected. We agreed to stop HRT for two weeks, but after I'm back from the interview. He believes that two weeks should be safe and the androgenic effect should not begin again. After, I just need to make a blood test for a baseline and start with the Androcur he prescribed me.

A bit weird for an endp that he also took testicle measuring (they have gotten softer, he says) along with breast exam, not mention checking all the rest of the body... This morning I can count weight and height measurements, blood pressure, back checks...

I still have at least three more treats scheduled, including some genetic whatever...
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