transsexuals have a shortened lifespan?

[Andrew]

The average reduction in lifespan is due to suicide, society, risky behavior, lack of medical care, lack of money,  not the hormones and surgery.

I agree. I don't have any trouble believing the shortened lifespan. Does a population that's at a higher risk for suicide have a shortened lifespan? Yes! What about a population that's at a risk for unemployment? Prostitution? Discrimination? Hate crimes? Yes! Lack of medical care? Yes! If the average person could be denied medical care at any time, bludgeoned with a tire iron for what he was, fired from his job, denied housing, turned away from his family, and (as many young MTFs must) had to resort to prostitution, I'd bet the human race would have a shorter lifespan.

But this is not our fault!

It's like the achievement gap between minorities and whites. It's not their fault that they live in communities with substandard schools and housing, just as it isn't our fault that society is the way it is. The gap's closing. We're pulling ahead.

[Elaine]

Chinese websites aside, I'd be very very interested to know if or how much a transsexual's lifespan is affected after HRT (I would think the HRT would be more of an issue for a persons longevity than surgery).

Personally, while I considered transition a necessity, I would still like to live a long and healthy life.

I feel there is way to much complacency going on here in regards to our lot in life! "Happy with what I have left, whatever that may be", is not something I would say, and I'm surprised others would.

Additionally, concluding that we will live long lives with out data to support the claim is not helping. The lack of data/statistics is not proof of what we would like to be true.

On the issue of there not being any studies on the subject: It's CRITICALLY important to note that, as in any area of study, a lack of statistics/studies is in no way whatsoever synonymous with verification that a problem doesn't exist.

WHAT THE HECK AM I TALKING ABOUT? Read on...

Medical statistics:

Is there proof or evidence that we will live shorter lives, no, BUT...

"No statistics" simply means that no university has completed a study on the topic. There are data out there that can tell us whether or not we will all live full lives, they just haven't been collected.

So, "no statistics exist" is not the same as "we're all safe because a google search doesn't find any statistics saying will all die young".

Similarly, simply stating "Well, I'm x years old and I'm still alive, so this must be safe for our bodies' longevity" doesn't tell us anything either. I'm not trying to be morbid and I certainly don't want to offend anyone, but a 51 year old could make such a statement and die the next day... what does that prove?

I'm personally willing to accept that by putting my body through HRT I may have shortened my lifespan, but I can't say "there's no data that proves I will live a shorter life, so therefore I will live a long, full live". I'm sorry, but I'm perusing a career in science and I just can't stand unjustified conclusions.

I'd be very interested in a study on our lifespans, because I would like to know, and I DO want to live a long healthy life. Of course, I would never stop HRT, but If there's something else that can be done about it (like a new medicine or more healthy estrogen), I'd like the scientific community to be aware of the possibility to research it.

The way I see it, I (we) got a raw deal to begin with! Living the rest of life in the correct gender isn't a blessing that we should be lucky to have; it's our reward for putting up with so much garbage -- our consolation prize for not being born with the right parts. We deserve the rest of our life, and I want to make mine last as long as I can.

[regina]

Chinese websites aside, I'd be very very interested to know if or how much a transsexual's lifespan is affected after HRT (I would think the HRT would be more of an issue for a persons longevity than surgery).

And hun, nobody is saying that what we're doing doesn't have an affect on our lifespans. Some of us are just saying that there is no evidence that, assuming we aren't sexworkers, murdered by some psycho or commit suicide, that we have shorter lifespans. I don't think that's in any way denial or saying we have to be thankful for the few years we have, I think it's just putting a dubious website's statements in perspective.

ciao,
Gina M.

[Veronica Secret]

that means i am living on borrowed time

[Keira]

Depression has a very bad effect on lifespan (it has longterm effects even when you get better later), so I would not be surprised if pre transition stresses and self-destructive lifestyle choices have a long term effect on health and shorten our lifespan...

But, if we didn't transition, its probable our lifespan would be even shorter, just lost in the population and not distinguished as such as a TS based problem.

[regina]

Depression has a very bad effect on lifespan (it has longterm effects even when you get better later), so I would not be surprised if pre transition stresses and self-destructive lifestyle choices have a long term effect on health and shorten our lifespan...

But, if we didn't transition, its probable our lifespan would be even shorter, just lost in the population and not distinguished as such as a TS based problem.

Which is one of the great tragedies about gender dysphoria and its difficult place in society. It's painful to imagine how many suicides have happened because of someone's desperation about their gender dysphoria and nobody else was privy to that information. Had I killed myself (something I felt like doing any number of times during my pre-transition life) no one would have been the wiser about why I needed to do it. How many people have jumped off a building, cut themselves or driven their car into a tree because they couldn't bring themselves to deal with such a difficult issue. How many teenagers and children have died because they couldn't deal with their intense feelings of isolation about who they really were? (I first tried to kill myself when I was 10) How often have you heard something like this after a high school student kills themselves, "we have no idea why he killed himself, he was a good student and good at sports. He was such a handsome young man. We don't know why he seemed so sad. He had everything to live for. We can't imagine WHY he did it!" Yeah, I know EXACTLY why some of those young people took their lives, I felt like doing it myself.

I'm a LOT more concerned about the lifespan of those people rather than those who've transitioned, made lives for themselves and have gotten comfort and personal integration from transition.

ciao,
Gina M.

[Butterfly]

I don't care.  I'm finally living and that's what counts.

[Ms Bev]

Don't know about statistics, studies, etc, but:

1.)  I'm happy most of the time.

2.)  I'm still with my life partner of 36 yrs........and both of us are happier than we were.  It works for us.

3.)  I'm in good health.  Good diet, and exercise.  Lots of veggies and fruit, some lean meat, other
      low-fat foods.

4.)  My high dose of spiro lowers my blood pressure, and keeps the pitting edema in my lower legs
      away.

5.)  My estradiol keeps my prostate the size of a teenager's, or smaller.

6.)  I don't have testosterone challenging my mind to do stupid sh*t with my body.


So, in all likelihood, I'll live longer than I would have because of hrt.  Now all I have to do is make sure to look both ways when crossing the street, and stay out of dangerous situations.




Bev
Living blithely to the end, wherever that is

[Teri Anne]

When I transitioned ten years ago, the medical world thought estrogen made women live longer.  I thought, "Hey, maybe I can live to be 91 like my mother did" (my dad died when he was 70).  Then, that long-thought theory that estrogen makes women live longer was debunked. 

Some wonder if testosterone kills.  Who knows?

When I transitioned, I realized that transitioning ITSELF created huge stress and, as any medical person will tell you, stress kills.  In life, there are no guarantees.  No matter what science tells you today is FACT, science can change that reality tomorrow. 

A smoker can die at 95.  A non-smoker can die in his eighties.  Genetics and will to live may be the ultimate determining factors for lifespan.  As Mark Twain said, "there are three kinds of lies:  statistics, statistics and statistics."

Teri Anne

[Andrew]

A note on statistics: "average lifespan" is a bit misleading. If five people had an average lifespan of 80.2, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're all living to be about 80 years old. It could mean that four of them lived to be 100 and one died when he was one year old. Therefore, the "average" lifespan in the US of 77.8 years from birth is meaningless for people who are over a certain age.

To summarize, you have a better chance of living longer if you live past a certain age. If you don't die in childhood, you put yourself in the subcategory of "people who made it past age 12," which has a longer average lifespan than "people in general." If you get past young adulthood and the risky behaviors associated with being 20 or so, you have even better odds. Same goes for other life stages and everything in between. So when you calculate your average expectancy, it's a bit ridiculous if you don't factor in the age that you currently are, which is a bit hard to do.

Just thought I'd put in a math-y note!

EDIT: If you want to look it up, this sort of thing is called an "age-specific death rate," by which you can build a "life table" which shows the odds someone has of dying before their next birthday. Fun!

[shanetastic]

When I transitioned ten years ago, the medical world thought estrogen made women live longer.  I thought, "Hey, maybe I can live to be 91 like my mother did" (my dad died when he was 70).  Then, that long-thought theory that estrogen makes women live longer was debunked. 

Some wonder if testosterone kills.  Who knows?

When I transitioned, I realized that transitioning ITSELF created huge stress and, as any medical person will tell you, stress kills.  In life, there are no guarantees.  No matter what science tells you today is FACT, science can change that reality tomorrow. 

A smoker can die at 95.  A non-smoker can die in his eighties.  Genetics and will to live may be the ultimate determining factors for lifespan.  As Mark Twain said, "there are three kinds of lies:  statistics, statistics and statistics."

Teri Anne

That's funny about the stats quote.  My statistics teacher told us in the start of our class, "Statistics don't lie, but liers use statistics."

[regina]

A smoker can die at 95.  A non-smoker can die in his eighties.  Genetics and will to live may be the ultimate determining factors for lifespan.  As Mark Twain said, "there are three kinds of lies:  statistics, statistics and statistics."

Well, Mark Twain was a smoker and died when he was only 75. (and he already wasn't looking that great when he was, like, 40). So THERE, Mark Twain.

ciao,
Gina M.

[Teri Anne]

Hi Gina,

Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens, considered suicide as a young man (waaaay before he became a famous writer).  I'm glad that he lived to say, as an older man, "rumors of my death have been extremely eggagerated." 

Rumors of OUR TS deaths are not an inevitability.

Teri Anne

[lisagurl]

Just thought I'd put in a math-y note!

Probability is what makes insurance companies profitable.

[regina]

Hi Gina,

Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens, considered suicide as a young man (waaaay before he became a famous writer).  I'm glad that he lived to say, as an older man, "rumors of my death have been extremely eggagerated." 

Rumors of OUR TS deaths are not an inevitability.

Teri Anne

Actually, I take it back, in his own curmudgeonly way he was very cute. We're still alive, aren't we? Sometimes I forget.

ciao,
Gina M.

[Andrew]

Probability is what makes insurance companies profitable.

Ahem. What I meant to say was that these statistics mean you could die any minute. Think of your family! Now, what if I told you that for $19.99 a month...

[lisagurl]

besides the fact that the statistics are pretty much fabricated and stuff

Me thinks you watch too much TV.  Anyone can create a graph or theory based on untrue facts and make a claim. The source of the information is a clue to its validity. The use of the information is also a clue to its validity. A casino has the odds in favor of the house and they put their money where their statistics are. It is true when focusing on any individual you will find a few winning against the odds. But statistics do not care about an individual, statistics only care about a majority of individuals.  You are right that the more factors used in a statistical analysis the more accurate it is. Assuming the data has been proving true.

[Karla B]

If you live a reasonable healthy life style with regular exercise,don't smoke or over do it with alcohol, there isn't any reason that one should think that,that info is true. Even if someone is not on HRT and they're living an unhealthy life style, They will have a shorter life span. If you're worried about the clotting issue, you can always take a daily low dose of asperine. Just ask your pharmacist about Bayers daily low dose.That's what my Doc. told me I should do. Many people even take them that aren't on HRT.

[taru]

It is probably true that transsexual have statistically shorter life-spans than cis-gendered people.

Here are a few reasons:
* higher suicide rate
* suffering from GID is not very healthy and can leave traces
* some people with GID are prone to substance abuse
* more probably victim of violence
* medical complications [probably a small factor]

Most of the reasons seem to be related to how society treats TS-inviduals, rather than anything directly connected to being trans.

[Elaine]

I feel like everyone is missing one big thing. The thing I think about when I consider our longevity is not suicide (not worried about that), not medical complications from GRS (rare), or hate crimes, or the stress of transition, or any of those things.

The big thing to me is the physiological stress that the hormones themselves may put on the human body -- a body that was not "designed" to be especially receptive to the hormones of the opposite gender. Of all the things that might affect our lifespan, this seems like the most probable one.

I'm not talking about mental stress or any of that. Many of you are commenting on how you are very happy and live very healthy lives, but there's no way any of us could guess as to the stress the hormones themselves are putting on our bodies. Sure we may not be at risk for suicide and we may exercise and eat right, but until an actual study is done, we don't know if our risk of cancer is actually 3 times higher than the average healthy person simply because we've subjected ourselves  to HRT. No matter how healthy we live, this is a very distinct possibility. (Cancer is an example by the way, it could be anything).

Is no one thinking of this?

Not that it would change anything for me, but I would like to know if there's another way I can help myself live longer. For all we know, an aspirin a day might make all the difference for our individual lifespans. How are scientists ever going to study this is we don't even think it's worth studying?