Non ops and hormone therapy?

[Lacey Lynne]

=_=; *Facepalm* Read what I just saiiiiid.

I mean yeah I can ask my endo a bit and my gender therapist a bit, but I don't really have any other choices here. They're the egomaniacal kind that think I'm butting in on their territory just for asking questions... Which I think is perfectly reasonable because I'm the one ON the hormones, not the person who's prescribing them and has never even been through menopause. I just think more data should be available as well as documentation of affects and outcomes. That'd be more helpful and would ease my thoughts a bit.

Hi, Kara:

Actually, many of us here DO understand what you are saying.  We're just concerned for you, that's all.  We only recommend seeing the doctors because some people have administered their own hormone replacement therapy treatment over the years and ended up in serious trouble healthwise, because they didn't know any better.  However, I can see that you are way too intelligent to ever do anything like that.  Good!

Frankly, I've worked in the medical field (support personnel) for a long time, and I think the whole medical field, like the legal field, the accounting field, etc., rips people off.  They keep this knowledge from us so they can charge us a fortune for access to it ... which is only through them.  This is by design.  I totally agree with you that this knowledge should be freely available for any intelligent person to see, learn and understand. 

There is some good news here.  If you do not have enough skin tissue to work with at the time of your GRS/SRS, any good, competent, experienced plastic surgeon can do skin grafting and successfully complete your GRS/SRS. 

I really feel for you.  I'd have the same concerns if I were you.  Hope this all works out to your satisfaction.  Good luck!

[Abby]

If you want hormone therapy because you need it, you should be less worried about the sexual pertinence and more about the outcome of the specified treatment.  Right?  And you own your own freedom.  I think generally that estrogen and testosterone together interfere sexually with each other.  Guys have tight asses, girls don't -- the testosterone wins.  The lack of testosterone eventually reduces physiological pressure on genital size.  Not having bullets is another issue.  GD.  But if you know what you are doing, it is not difficult at all.

[deviousxen]

If you want hormone therapy because you need it, you should be less worried about the sexual pertinence and more about the outcome of the specified treatment.  Right?  And you own your own freedom.  I think generally that estrogen and testosterone together interfere sexually with each other.  Guys have tight asses, girls don't -- the testosterone wins.  The lack of testosterone eventually reduces physiological pressure on genital size.  Not having bullets is another issue.  GD.  But if you know what you are doing, it is not difficult at all.

If you know what you're doing sexually? Or SRS?

And the outcome of specific treatment depends on nutrition I get. I've been very physically sick and probably have malabsorption.. So MANY of the outcomes have been stunted so far by sickness. The autoimmune thing lowers my appetite a ton too. And for the record. I did self medicate... And I wasn't stupid about it. I just needed it. In fact, the homeostasis that really helped me was kind of shattered by my endo when she cut my dosage in half. My body then OVERCOMPENSATED and made a TON of T. This caused some last minute damage... Like some vengeful testosterone coming back from the grave. I only started via getting my own hormones because I knew they were legitimate and trustworthy (which the pharmaceutical/doctor relationship cannot claim, because it still gives us stuff thats 10 times as dangerous as a run of the mill dose of estradiol and spiro). I did it because I had no other choice. I knew that I needed it and would have gone insane if I had waited through gatekeeper nonsense when I knew I had had dysphoria for that long. It just hurt too much. I did NOT want to go through the BS of waiting six months, cause I knew. Was it risky? Yes... But so is taking Tylenol. If you're not a moron about it, you're not going to instantly drop dead. The chances of that are miniscule if you monitor your potassium levels and know of the side effects. Its not like your endo is a superhero and can save you during Deep Venous Thrombosis or something. Either A. You're on the same generic dose of estradiol and yes... The blood tests are a way to keep it more safely monitored but thats never exact... You get tested every like... Six months until you've been on it long enough, and then they decrease that amount of tests every year... Even though hormones can vastly fluctuate during puberty in their cycles and balance. So unless you monitored it every few weeks... Its not an instant save anyway. Endos not gonna bust in wearing a cape and de-clot your bloodstream... You're gonna either die, or the ambulance will save you. And yes... The chances of that stuff goes way up with higher doses... Which I wasn't really on. Or B. You do pretty much the same thing, bypassing the arbitrary, stupid nonsense and block testosterone before it damages you any further, taking a low enough dose to prevent osteoporosis. Does it maybe make it slightly riskier? Of course... But this mattered enough to me to risk it. I would not have been able to endure the fear of testosterone messing up my mind and body any further... And if anyone thinks I'm an idiot for saying this, I don't really care... Its more risky to dress and act as myself in this town, and getting a rock thrown at me by young rich kids hopped up on puberty and steroids (yes... I'm not making this up).

I wasn't as much concerned about sexual function, as I was about how far its going to go. I'm curious and wish there were more DATA I could see/read/hear of... And it sounds like the least studied thing in the world... Or that the studies are never published on the internet... Which would be really useful cause the news on TV does NOT care about transgendered people, and I hope that at least ONE study like this is published and added to the datastream. No matter how trivial or obscure... Even if I could be considered obscure, my existence and other trans peoples existences should still be just as meaningful and count. You can probably find more scientific articles in this country on the affects of damned Viagra, than us. And I guess Thats just the reality and I should accept it.


As for sexuality... Like completely... Now that we're on this subject. I want to remember to make this clear... I am too dysphoric to function forever with certain things on this mortal vehicle, that I was born with for a stupid reason. I am not OK with my parts. I figured I'd post here because I'm technically non-op in a lot of ways, cause even though I'm REALLY a pre-op.. It sounds kinda stupid to me to call myself a pre-op when I'm not going to afford this procedure for YEARS. In fact I have no idea how I can survive like this for that long. I'm extremely sensitive with my perception of self. Very very vivid. I don't feel comfortable using what I have at ALL. But at the time I felt it appropriate to post here cause for the time being, I'm almost a non-op cause I'm not going to afford this forever, cause I'm too sick to work right now.

For the record I have no problems with non-ops by choice. Its whatever you're comfortable with... And thats my point about all of this. I'm not a closeminded prude for not accepting what I have or anything... And I can't think of it as something else. I'm just uncomfortable and SHARPLY dysphoric about that. I cannot will it away. I don't have the power to and frankly if I could It would not be fulfilling or worth it. But thats just me...

[GinaDouglas]

I have several questions:

1) What is the best hormone therapy for non ups who want to feminize themselves without loosing the ability for erections and orgasm?

The hormone therapy is irrelevent.  The amount of testosterone necessary to achieve an erection is so miniscule that no prescribable amount of anti-androgens will take a non-op transwoman to the point where she is hormonally unable to achieve erection.  The most important sex organ is the brain.  The brain decides when to make an erection.  So the relevent therapy is mental therapy.  The easiest way to change something is to change the way you think about it.

2) Is orchiectomy really nessecary?  and why?

Testicles don't like estrogen.  It increases the risk of testicular cancer to keep them.  Plenty of people take andro for it's real purpose, lowering blood pressure; and take it for the rest of their lives.  But it can cause liver problems.  So an orchi is trading one set of risks for another set of risks.  In my opinion, it is not necessary; nor well-advised.

What do the docters even know about hormones. For instance to have estrogens without progesterone is not a normal female hormonal balance. Do the doctors really know what they are doing and is good for us? Since they dont even seem to know how to help woman in meno pauze? What do they really know for sure about our health anyway.

Science has always been, and will always be using flashlights in the dark.  You see what is illuminated by the beam, and can think that is all there is, if you choose.

In my opinion, doctors don't know more about the human body than they do know.  What they know, they know really, really well.  But what they don't know can kill you.

In my opinion, doctors can never know more about YOUR condition than you can.  They have too many other patients and too many other conditions to keep track of.  You can specialize in YOUR case and YOUR condition, take charge of YOUR treatment, and consult with doctors.

In my opinion, that is the way every person with any serious medical condition should proceed.  And it's been my experience that doctors respect a patient who takes this approach.

[kimberrrly]

Gina I think you are so right about all these things!
Thank you for your honest reply!

(I have found the answer for myself for now... I have undetectable T, but enough estrogen to remain sexual, which is what I desired)

love
Birgit