Switched from Cyproterone Acetate to Spironolactone: Feedback

[April_TO]

Good Morning Ladies,

I have recently switched from CPA to Spiro (it's been almost a week) due to severe mood changes and some nasty depressive symptoms which I don't really miss. However, the drawback based on the results I am seeing so far is that I have lost the glow in my skin. I hope T is not wreaking havoc within me. However, I still have no libido and the tenderness in my breast area is still there which is a a good thing. I am just afraid that some of the positive impact I got from CPA will just revert back to the way it was ugh!

Looks to me, I am responding better to CPA but the side effects are making me crazy ugh. Did anyone of you experience this? Or is this all in my head?

I couldn't mention my specific dose but I'm on full dose Spiro.

Love,

April

[Sunderland]

I would think that as long as your T levels are similar on Spiro to what they were on CPA, it shouldn't make a difference. Have you had them checked since you made the switch?

[April_TO]

I will not see my doctor until March 26 for my next check up. By then he might request some blood work to get it checked.
Oh well I am feeling better tho and much happier.

Glow w/ Depression vs Happiness ?? Life is so complicated sometimes

I would think that as long as your T levels are similar on Spiro to what they were on CPA, it shouldn't make a difference. Have you had them checked since you made the switch?

[Sunderland]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Happiness is always the best sort of glow. I'm sure your lovely smile lights up everything around you.

[April_TO]

Awww thanks beauty and I couldn't agree with you more.

Big Hugs,

April

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Happiness is always the best sort of glow. I'm sure your lovely smile lights up everything around you.

[Leila]

When I was on a standard dose of Spiro it caused me multiple trips to the toilet and although drinking copious amounts of water (hence toilet) - leg cramping. I also experienced slow development despite being on the standard dose for a number of months.

On the other hand I am on CPA now and even on a reduced dose it has affected my mood to the point that some days I feel really really low and crazy ideas pop into my head. CPA has meant the leg cramps are no more and feminisation of my body seems to be better improved; really clear and smooth facial skin (although that might be the retinoic acid helping tbh), breast and hip (fat) growth and a rapid reduction of body hair.

I don't like CPA for its negative effects, but I can't go back to Spiro either. But for only its positive effects I'll continue with CPA.

If Spiro works out for you, then continue with it. We are all different and our bodies respond differently to various types of treatment. CPA isn't 100% right for me, but at least I am seeing results from it.

[April_TO]

Thanks Leila, I may have to speak to my doctor about this as I feel something is missing or something isn't right.
Yes my mood has improved but I know I am missing something.

When I was on a standard dose of Spiro it caused me multiple trips to the toilet and although drinking copious amounts of water (hence toilet) - leg cramping. I also experienced slow development despite being on the standard dose for a number of months.

On the other hand I am on CPA now and even on a reduced dose it has affected my mood to the point that some days I feel really really low and crazy ideas pop into my head. CPA has meant the leg cramps are no more and feminisation of my body seems to be better improved; really clear and smooth facial skin (although that might be the retinoic acid helping tbh), breast and hip (fat) growth and a rapid reduction of body hair.

I don't like CPA for its negative effects, but I can't go back to Spiro either. But for only its positive effects I'll continue with CPA.

If Spiro works out for you, then continue with it. We are all different and our bodies respond differently to various types of treatment. CPA isn't 100% right for me, but at least I am seeing results from it.

[ImagineKate]

Hi April,

Spiro will dehydrate you so that could explain some of the lost glow.

I guess you moisturize but do you also keep yourself adequately hydrated? Right now I'm battling dry skin because of the height of winter. My cis wife and daughters have it worse though. My wife's hands are torn up badly. My daughters have the rosy cheeks, while cute, hurt a lot. We battle it with moisturizer but it seems like a losing battle. I do drink a lot of water anyway though. Also I've been craving pickles, salt is bad but the salt helps with the leg cramps which I havent been having. So I eat pickles and some salty foods in moderation. Blood pressure seems to be fine though. I watch it like a hawk. My friends who I told this too said I must be pregnant lol. If only.

[ImagineKate]

Also the spiro dose may be increased. They started me out on a smaller dose. Still transition dose but like half of what I see a lot of trans women taking. But my T levels were low-ish anyway. Two weeks in my T was around 180.

[Sammy]

I was on Spiro for 19 months and then switched to CPA. I really dont miss those trips to toilets as well as Spiro playing tricks with my vestibular system (almost blacking out when suddently switching from sitting to standing body position). I was initially afraid of CPA's side effects, depression included (I did read that taking folic acid helps to reduce them), but I dont really think that I am experiencing them. I do have some low moods (but they did happen on Spiro as well), and perhaps I am more irritable on CPA than I was with Spiro around 20-ties each month, lol.

[KayXo]

I have recently switched from CPA to Spiro (it's been almost a week) due to severe mood changes and some nasty depressive symptoms which I don't really miss. However, the drawback based on the results I am seeing so far is that I have lost the glow in my skin.

My suspicion is that this is due to a decrease in progestogenic effect as cyproterone acetate is a stronger progestogen than Spiro. I had that same glow with CPA and regained that glow on bio-identical progesterone.

[Ruth Ruthless]

I've been taking CPA for 13 months now, and it generally brings my testosterone and libido down to zero even at pretty low doses. I was very depressed when I started HRT, but I was also very depressed before I started HRT. I think changes I made to exercise, i.e. from couch potato I started running several times a week, plus changes to my nutrition to whole plant foods helped my mood. Whenever I eat fatty junk food the depression hits me again, but that might be psychological, not a chemical effect.

So maybe CPA has depression effect on me, I don't know for sure.

I think I'm going to try switching to Spiro myself, though I've been very reluctant to do so because it makes people pee a lot, and I already pee a lot. I get up 3-4 times each night because of a full bladder. Part of it is perhaps due to the high water content of my food, plus I still feel thirsty for lots of water in addition to that. I also have a theory that all the fiber and nutrients in my food might give my body the conditions to remove excess materials from it, and it might also deem the hormones I am taking to be an excess that needs to be removed.

I'm probably going to switch to Spiro anyway and hopefully I won't get too "pissed off" by the result... shall I update?

[Ruth Ruthless]

I was on Spiro for 19 months and then switched to CPA. I really dont miss those trips to toilets as well as Spiro playing tricks with my vestibular system (almost blacking out when suddently switching from sitting to standing body position). I was initially afraid of CPA's side effects, depression included (I did read that taking folic acid helps to reduce them), but I dont really think that I am experiencing them. I do have some low moods (but they did happen on Spiro as well), and perhaps I am more irritable on CPA than I was with Spiro around 20-ties each month, lol.

I actually have that problem of sitting and standing up suddenly with CPA, though I haven't tried Spiro yet. It's not near blackout, but it is a bit of a dizzy spell. I think it might be due to not having enough calories, so I make sure to get some more when that happens and also drink water. Only now that you mention do I remember it never happened to me before HRT. It also doesn't happen all the time. It's pretty rare, but it does happen to me and it used to never happen to me.

What you're saying about peeing a lot scares me about Spiro... I'm peeing a lot as it is.

About the folic acid, it's interesting what you say, because when I switched to whole plant foods everything I eat has folate in it and I get plenty of folate... but back when I ate mostly junk food I was short on folic acid. Now I get depressed pretty much only when I eat the same junk food that made me not have enough folate, and I feel great when eating whole foods with plenty of folate.

[ImagineKate]

I'm on spiro and I don't pee a lot. It seems to be about normal for me. How often is too often? I go like 3x/day. I also take HCTZ which has nothing to do with HRT but is another diuretic (prescribed for blood pressure). I drink 8 glasses of water per day.

[Ruth Ruthless]

I generally pee every 1-3 hours during the day, but that doesn't bother me half as much as waking up 3-4 times at night with a full bladder.

[Ruth Ruthless]

And that's on CPA, not on Spiro.

[sammielicious]

My doctor switched me to spiro and it's literally ruined every bit of progress I made in the 18 months prior to seeing him. 
What went wrong?
1.My voice deepened CONSIDERABLY. I had a voice so good people PAID me to do voice work. Now I sound "trans."
2.Hair loss... Considerably more hair loss since switching
3. No energy now at all. None. I went from hiking 10 to 20 miles a week, sometimes more, to a person that can't stand going up and down stairs at work.
4.Peeing...Good lord. I have to carry extra clothes to work.
5.I went back to being the same aggressive angry person I was before Cyprotereone. This is honestly the most disturbing.
6.Now i do get what I call "morning issues." And I get stimulated easier so I have completely quit being sexual with my boyfriend.
7. I feel like there's more I am missing.

But i have been so depressed since my hair started falling out again that I pretty much am giving up on transition.  Honestly the switch hurt every facet of my transition as far as I can see.

He talked about switching me back. He even admitted spiro is nowhere in the league of Cyproterone. That's why he also suggested Flutamide. Not to many trans folks get that and with good reason. It does not lower T on it's own.

[ImagineKate]

I generally pee every 1-3 hours during the day, but that doesn't bother me half as much as waking up 3-4 times at night with a full bladder.

That honestly has never happened to me and I'm on spiro, HCTZ and I'm diabetic. That is really bizarre.

[Ruth Ruthless]

I'd say it's because of my whole plant foods diet that means I eat foods rich in water content, but I think it happened to me when I started hormones though happened even more on whole plant foods. I shudder to think how much more I'd pee on spiro and sammielicious' experience scares me.

[ImagineKate]

Probably. It could also help explain some of your other issues too but I'm guessing.