Effects of antidepressant pills while on HRT

[Anna_81]

Hello Everyone,

I've been transitioning for a little over a year, and until now everything seemed to be going well, I was happy, and knew that this was the correct path for me. I even had to sacrifice my marriage of 11 years to do so, which wasn't easy, as I also had two young children. My ex and I are still very good friends though, which I am thankful for due to there being children involved

I don't know why, but I've been feeling a bit more like a guy lately, especially when I wake up first thing in the morning.
I'm also pretty sure that my face has lost a bit of it's softness and appears a bit more heavier looking.

The only thing I can think of that may be causing this, is the fact that I had been put on antidepressant pills about a week ago. My theory is that somehow they are blocking out the effects of the estrogen pills, if that makes sense....

I was just wondering if any one else has experienced this before, as I am quite confussed.

To make matters worse, (and this was part of the reason for going on antidepressants) I also plucked up the courage to visit a hairdresser a few days ago.......and yip, you guessed it, bad mistake!! I won't go into to much detail, but after having it all the same length I now have a fringe, which I absoloutley hate!! I've been very upset about it, especially as I feel it makes me look more like a guy, and there isn't really much I can do about it, except wait for it to grow!! So yeah, lesson learnt!!

[Ltl89]

Hello Anna,

I can only discuss my own experience with these medications and can't discuss the potential real interactions they may have.  As always, the best person to see for these things would be your doctor. 

Okay, so I'm on Cymbalta which is an SNRI and have been on it the entire time that I've been on hrt.  I have had a receptive response to hormones and it doesn't seem that Cymbalta has interfered with it in anyway.  I've also taken xanax (a benzo) during the process at different points, and that didn't seem to interact either.  Also, while these medications have impacted me in some way, they've never really played a role in my gender identity nor did cause that to sway.

However, the above is only my experience.  I will say that SSRIs can have a big impact on those who take it, especially while you are getting used to taking the medication.  Most of them take about a month to really settle in and there can be some early short term side effects in the beginning stages.  Maybe some of these feelings you are experiencing are a result of the medication's side effects?  I think the best thing you can do is let your doctor know what's going on and how you feel.  Just be careful, some doctors tend to ignore patients concerns about these meds until they are on for at least a month.  I've seen enough of that to be disillusioned with the whole practice of prescribing SSRIs and SNRIs.
 

[teeg]

There's a popular mood-stabilizer patients are given, Lamotrigine/Lamictal, that very often interferes with estrogen in women, and thus potentially estrogen during our HRT, for example.

Here http://www.webmd.com/drugs/mono-7217-LAMOTRIGINE+-+ORAL.aspx?drugid=8486&drugname=Lamictal+Oral&source=0&dmid=1396&dmtitle=LAMOTRIGINE%2FESTROGENS%3B+ESTROGEN-CONTAINING+CONTRACEPTIVES&intrtype=DRUG&pagenumber=9 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamotrigine#Effects_in_women here you can see discussion with interactions between them.

So I'd say your theory is certainly possible. Things like us taking bio-identical estrogen might make it safe, but who knows. Best to ask your doctor.