Natural Estrogen

[Mx Pippa]

I've been living as a full time transgender since 5th July 2011. I've had several attemps to get my doctor to percsribe hormone theapy, he has now agreed to refer me to a gender clinic who I'm sure will percribe some form of hormome treatment.

Only problem is, there is around a three month waiting list to be seen. Thing is I'm not a bad looking gal for my age, but so far as my skin is concerned, I feel I'm in a very bad place. I have TS friends and I'm resident DJ at Candy Girls, in London, so I see other transsexuals/transgenders who are on hormomes, and have a beautiful feminine skin texture. I just feel I want to do something now.

My question is, has anyone had experience of these non percription Natural Estrogen pills on the market, like do they work? Could I use them as a stepping stone until I can get on the rael thing.? 

[Jessica Merriman]

My opinion is to save your money and time for the real deal. Trust me, I know how it stinks to have to wait, but don't risk your health on unproven and sometimes expensive supplements that are poorly regulated and controlled.

[Devlyn]

I'm getting great feminization on supplements, do your homework, and if you find yourself spending hundreds and taking handfuls of pills you're:

A: Using the wrong one,

and

B: Using it the wrong way.

Hugs, Devlyn

[Hideyoshi]

My opinion is to save your money and time for the real deal. Trust me, I know how it stinks to have to wait, but don't risk your health on unproven and sometimes expensive supplements that are poorly regulated and controlled.

I agree here.

I remember going through a 'natural' phase of my life. It's just wishful thinking based on junk science. I understand that you're wanting to take something that will hold you over the 3 months, but these supplements are called supplements because if they actually did anything measurable, the companies that made them would put them through clinical trials and they'd be called medicine.

Remember, natural simply means 'of nature.' Every pill you take, no matter if it's a big pharma giant or some holistic earthy supplement company, is made through chemistry. The difference is, one of those pills is FDA approved, went through clinical testing, and has proven efficacy as well as risks. The other is unproven to do anything, let alone what the label says, let alone whether or not it's harmful. Save your money.

[Devlyn]

Hideyoshi, with all due respect, and you haven't shown much to me with your comments, are you calling my breasts "wishful thinking"? I really think that discounting actual results is  the junk science here. Frankly, I find your post a bit insulting and demeaning. And you're spreading disinformation.

Hugs, Devlyn

[ImagineKate]

For 3 months wait I wouldn't even bother with herbals. You may get some benefit out of it but when you're on full HRT you'll get even more benefit out of that instead.

[Jessica Merriman]

Supplements will not give you the "T" in the 8 range and "E" in the 300 range I have now. Proof only real bioidenticals work. Besides that there is safety when being monitored by a physician for anything like HRT.

[V M]

I did herbals for quite awhile when I first started and I did get some results, but the results were rather meager at best compared to when I got on my prescription for E and Spiro

But that's just how things worked for me, YMMV

[Cindy]

 

Hideyoshi and Devlyn Marie.

I am getting very tired of argumentative, snide comments and willingness to disrespect people.

There are ways to bring across alternative opinion in an open and honest way without disrespecting others.

Unless you find ways of doing this, you may be having time off to contemplate how.

Cindy
Forum Admin.

[Julia-Madrid]

I tried herbals for a few months while I was getting my thoughts straight about being transgender, and I would strongly dissuade you from trying them.  While phytoestrogenic compounds do exist, the products containing them are untested and may contain ingredients that are frankly dangerous.  My liver function enzymes went to worrying levels, and the results from the products were meagre. 

A properly controlled hormone regime is not only safer and measurable, but also shows that you are taking responsible decisions. 

[Joanne Feliz]

Not sure about natural supplements but I have seen with my own eyes the powerful effects that chinese medicine can have.  The problem is the dosage depends a lot on the skill of the practitioner.  That's why the most popular Chinese medicine doctors are the ones that have been born into a family of chinese medical doctors etc..To try and self medicate sounds like a risky business.

The phytoestrogenic compound I have tried are things like tea tree oil, fennel seeds, dong quai, fennugreek seeds and lavender oil.  I would get my wife to massage the tea tree oil al over my body and also the lavender oil(not at the same time).  I drank for a while the fennel tea and lots of soya milk.  Anyway I quit with the tea tree oil as it can sometimes burn your skin it you don't use enough carrier oil and I was paranoid about that. 

To be honest I am not sure if it has had much effect, probably very small.  My gynecomastia(boobs) have grown slightly though but that could be a coincidence and I have high prolactin levels.

I did for a while consider ordering some bovine ovaries...but i didnt want to develop into a mad cow    also it turned out is it illegal to import them into UK and Australia etc...Anyway I am glad I didnt do that now and am just happy to wait to see my specialist that will hopefully get me started.

If anyone is considering seriously to transition it is more effective and responsible to get this stuff managed by a doctor that knows what they doing.  I am hoping I can get onto HRT by July(fingers and toes crossed).

[Jenna Marie]

Since supplements are not monitored by the FDA, there's an issue that overrides the question of whether they work - nobody is checking to make sure what they say is in there actually IS. Even if, hypothetically, a given herbal supplement was genuinely effective... a bottle claiming to contain that product might well have nothing but placebo ingredients. (It's cheaper, after all, to get people to pay full price for stuff that isn't the real deal.)  So the best-case scenario is a Russian roulette where each new bottle may or may not be genuine, and as a result you might be switching back and forth between any dose from zero to who knows how much more than what you should get.  That's dangerous.

"Big Retailers Ordered to Stop Selling 'Adulterated' and 'Mislabeled' Herbal Supplements"

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/02/major-retailers-ordered-to-stop-selling-adulterated-and-mislabeled-supplements/#.VNekXi7m4_g

News Desk, Food Safety News, February 3, 2015

"The New York Attorney General's office has ordered four major retailers — Walmart, Target, Walgreens and GNC — to stop selling "adulterated" and "mislabeled" herbal supplements that independent lab tests show do not contain ingredients as stated on the labels.

NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent cease-and-desist letters Monday to the heads of all four companies demanding that they stop selling their store-brand herbal supplements because DNA barcoding showed that 79 percent of them either didn't contain the stated ingredient(s), or were contaminated by other filler materials such as rice and wheat to which some people might be allergic."

Those are big retailers and popular supplements; imagine how large the chance of fakery is for lesser-known products being sold to a desperate population like us.

[Mx Pippa]

Thanks all for your wonderful advise on this one, and especially to Devlyn Marie, as I really did want to go with the naturals and give them a second chance. However, some of your words in the other posts did set the alarms off.

Years ago prior to having my breast augmentation, I did try natural breast development pills, but for me they were a waist on money, I don't doubt that they can work for some of us out there, as we are all very much individuals. You did say Devlyn, to do my homework, good advise considering the negatives against.

Thing is, I had just as well be patience, and wait for the real thing, especially since I am a lazy cow, so trying to sort the wheat from the chaff could take a lot more than three months or so. I can see Jenna Marie's point, there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there.

I have also been so, so tempted to self prescribe HRT only to be put off by my good side on the very grounds of health risk. so I suppose that in the presumption that because pills are described as being natural, is quite a fallacy if on the other hand I am to presume they are safe to use, well that's to say if they are as powerful as one wants to believe. I also understand after watching Hannah Warg's "Ask A Transsexual" on YouTube, that via injection and jels prescribe local hormones are even safer as they don't pass through the liver. 

[Chelsey]

I've used natural occuring anti androgens and phytoestrogens at 15 and they definately worked unfortunately for me i wasnt ready to be myself then so i kinda freaked and gave up on them... but if something displays anti andro and pro estro ability i'd say they do have some effect although not as much as needed at my age of 33 i think i'm just too testy lol...

[ashley_thomas]

There is one supp out there that works (YMMV), and I have an inch lost on my natural waist and 3 inches on my bust line and breast tissue to prove it.  I'm now on pharma grade E/spiro under a doctors care and he has advised me to stay on the supp given the fullness of my breast growth.  E and spiro work great on the mind and body but what I tried first was a godsend for getting a huge jumpstart on my curves.


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[Vanny]

The only thing I have ever taken away from any and all forums on cd transgender etc. don't wing hormones.  Do it right or not at all.  Anyway take your time. 

Do supplements provide hormones?

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[Devlyn]

Herbal supplements contain phytoestrogen.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoestrogens
https://www.susans.org/wiki/Phytoestrogens

[Jennygirl]

Really it is just supplements, and no I don't recommend them at all.

From my endo's website:

...some plants produce weak phytoestrogens, but they have no role to play in the feminization of transsexuals. However, a few – such the wild yam, for instance – do produce hormones capable of being converted synthetically into estrogens and progestins.

[Devlyn]

It seems pretty clear that a GD diagnosis is still required for HRT. Crossdressers don't get that diagnosis to my knowledge. I want feminization, I want breasts, curves, and better skin. Supplements are how I have to go about it. I'm not going to lie to a medical professional so that they give me drugs no matter how much I think I need them.  No one should.

All I ask for on the site is not to be treated like a second class citizen for doing what I have to do. Legally.

Hugs, Devlyn

[Jenna Marie]

Actually, Devlyn, the WPATH SOC version 7 states specifically both that these are "guidelines" and not requirements and that "decisions are first and foremost a client's decisions."

http://www.wpath.org/uploaded_files/140/files/IJT%20SOC,%20V7.pdf

My impression is that the diagnosis of dysphoria is strongly recommended but not mandated.