Birth Control Pills--Helpful For Adolescent FTM Kid?

[Father_of_Atticus]

Hi, I am the father of a almost 14 year old transgender kid.  He will be going on T at some point in the future, but not for at least several months, maybe a year even.  My question is this.  Might going on birth control be helpful during this time before he is taking T?  It stops periods, right?  Any advice on this, one way or the other?

[Dena]

Welcome to Susan's Place. This is something that needs to be discussed with an Endo. There are blockers for FTMs however some of them are rather expensive. A blocker had the advantage of stopping feminine development and allowing your child to develop additional height.

Birth control pills take more than one form. Some contain estrogen which may cause additional dysphoria. Progesterone based pills would stop the periods and are used when T isn't sufficient to stop the periods.

It's common practice to put children on a blockers early because it reduces the difficulty of transitioning when they are older. It the case of your child, height, small breast and more masculine hip would be the advantages gained with blocker.

Only your doctor with current medical information on your child can tell you what would be best.

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[Father_of_Atticus]

OK, I'll add a bit more explanation. 

The reason why my son is not yet getting T is simply because his doctor requires a blood test prior to going on T, and they have not been able to get the blood sample out of him.  Crazy as that sounds.  They have failed the last two times we went in to get blood drawn.  He gets stuck, but they can't hit the vein or whatever.  It's unbelievably frustrating.  When he was in the hospital a couple years ago, the nurses tried four different times to get blood, and failed all four times.  So we are currently falling between the cracks.

So I was thinking about the possibility of birth control pills since it is something that does not require a blood test. 

[Dena]

Normally they might like to monitor levels before giving a hormone based medication but there might be an exception for birth control pills.

As for blood draws, I have had plenty of them and I insist when possible on having the doctor do the draw. My veins show well but the nurses tend to have a problem hitting them. Not good for somebody with a fear of needles. If he is overweigh, that could make it more difficult to find a vein however there are other locations they could draw blood and the veins may be more visible. You might ask your son to examine his body to see if there are visible views that could be used for a draw.

[FTMDiaries]

Hi, and welcome! I'm glad your son has a supportive parent; many of us didn't and it made our lives hell, so you're making a massive difference and are helping your son enormously.

No, I wouldn't recommend birth control pills. Your son needs blockers and testosterone, not more female hormones. Birth control pills do not stop periods: they just make them a bit lighter and a bit less painful. But he'd still have to go through them every month, and it would mean adding the wrong kind of hormones to his system. Many birth control bills are based on progestogen, which acts like progesterone and is one of the worst hormones for us in terms of emotional stability. It's the hormone that causes 'women's week', otherwise known as PMS or PMT! 

One of the big problems we have as trans people is that the wrong hormones can cause us enormous distress and anxiety. I cannot emphasise strongly enough how utterly awful we feel (and for no apparent reason) when we're on the wrong stuff. Female hormones can make us anxious, depressed, uncommunicative, even suicidal. I daresay he's experiencing some of that already due to being trans and a teenager; you don't want to give him something that could make it worse. So I recommend you research the sorts of blockers he might need and ask your doctor to prescribe these. You could also ask multiple doctors: an endocrinologist may be very helpful here.

As for the blood tests, all it takes is a skilled member of staff who knows how to draw blood from people with difficult veins. Not all doctors and nurses are trained in the techniques required, but a skilled phlebotomist will have been trained in them. Perhaps you could book an appointment with a phlebotomist to get this done?

[Kylo]

If he takes them continuously - which is necessary to completely stop periods - then he will experience a "mock menopause", which sucks big time. The body gets addicted to estrogen based pills, coming off them is awful (painful) if they've been taken continuously. Citing my own experience here. Actually it was impossible to come off them cold turkey, I had to take 8 months to wean off them by dividing them up and taking less each day.

After the 8 months, my body - which had been used to a continuous supply of estrogen - had stopped making its own, so it experienced another 8-9 months or so of sex hormone deficit. This is also painful - the body doesn't have enough to repair damaged tissues quickly, becomes easily fatigued, bones and joints ache, and the psychological effects are nasty. Serious anxiety problems. On top of that it somehow affected my thyroid function which caused classic symptoms of hypothyroidism for about 5-6 months, weight gain, etc. I'm still living with some of the metabolic issues caused by that.

I definitely do not recommend using birth control pills to stop periods. If I'd known all the physical and mental consequences of taking them at all in the first place, I'd never have touched them. Doctors don't tell you these things when they prescribe them, that's for sure.