Hormones after Surgery

[Sandy74]

I am not sure if this has been covered before and I am sorry I was too lazy to go searching but I was just curiou sif you have to keep taking hormones after you get surgery?

I am nowhere even close to that point but I was just curious is all. I would love to get to that point but I am just so curious about so many different things and that just popped into my head so I thought that I would ask

Thanks

[AnonyMs]

I share your curiosity, so I asked my endo about this a while ago. He's very experienced in trans medicine.

He said that he keeps estrogen levels the same before and after surgery. Spiro is dropped of course, unless you're one of the few that have problems with T post-op; he then prescribes a greatly reduced the dose for up to a year.

I also asked about levels as you get older, past 50, and he also keeps that same. I was most happy to hear that one!

[chuufk]

Yes. After surgery you have no way of producing sufficient quantities of sex hormones and so they need to be supplied from external sources. Without them, your health would suffer. They are very necessary.

[iKate]

Yes, you take hormones after surgery because you need to preserve your bone density and other things.

However you may not need an antiandrogen such as spironolactone because you are not producing significant quantities of T anymore.

[Sandy74]

It seems so complex, lol

So pretty much you need to take hormones for the rest of your life if you want to be happy and comfortable? I mean if you stop taking hormones would you lose breast growth or would your body go back to being male?

If so that would not be pretty

[chuufk]

So pretty much you need to take hormones for the rest of your life if you want to be happy and comfortable? I mean if you stop taking hormones would you lose breast growth or would your body go back to being male?

Pre-surgery, your body may revert if testosterone production restarts.

Post GRS you have no testicles and so cannot produce very much testosterone so you would not re-masculinse, but health issues like osteoporosis are more likely as are unpleasant things like hot flushes, night sweats and so on.

Bascially, your body needs either testosterone or oestrogen in quantity. One or the other. If you cannot make either you have to get it some other way.

[iKate]

Yeah so basically without any gonads you won't have any sex hormones being produced by your body, except by your adrenal glands. However it produces testosterone and the amount it produces is pretty small.

You won't die outright but life might become miserable. You'll suffer a lot of what post menopausal women suffer such as osteoperosis, as mentioned.

Taking 1-2 pills a day is really no big deal. I have to take other meds like diabetes and blood pressure meds for life anyway. It's no big deal. Just have it with breakfast or before you go to bed. The hormones can just go with your daily routine.

Or you can ask a dr to do an implant for you which you change out every few months.

[Jenna Marie]

Yes. Without HRT, a trans woman after castration will basically go into menopause. I did that for 2 weeks post-op and that was enough.