Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I'd love some feedback. It really seems like I've been losing more hair recently (It's been several weeks now). It's not showing, and it may not be a big deal. I'm currently on estradiol and spiro, and at last test my T was below normal female range and my E was at 170 something. These seemed fairly normal. At 13 months, my breast development seems to be in a holding pattern as well. I've lost a little weight recently which is really not helping. So, I'm seeing my Dr. next week, and I don't what she will suggest. I was wondering if I should suggest a low level of bioidentical progesterone as a way to fortify myself against additional hair loss and as a way perhaps to kick my weight and curves up a tad? Or do you suggest other things.

I'd love to hear from you.

Jane

If your T is lower than typical female ranges, your hair loss from androgen overload should have stopped completely by now at 13 months. Adding medroxyprogesterone won't have any effect on that at all, unless I'm mistaken as it's a steroid and not an androgen.  You've already got some in your system naturally so adding it to the current regimen will only have marginal effects, or at least that's what I understand. Fair warning: P makes you way more moody, just sayin.

Adding P to the mix may help additional breast development but, then again, maybe not. Adding it did give me another couple of cm but that may have just been the rest of the development happening anyway. It won't help curves, those just happen as a result of reduced T and the addition of E. If you want more results, targeted muscle exercise is probably the only way to eek something out aside from surgery.

Thanks. I realize that other physical conditions might cause hair loss: low thyroid, iron deficiency, liver taxing, etc. I'm certain that she'll rule out some of these first. And it really could be stress. I am living on my own now and taking care of my two children.

Take it a day at a time, chick. You've got a lot going on so, find some way to take care of you and don't worry so much about the transition stuff. It does its thing whether you're obsessing about it or not.

*hugs*

Ah, You're so sweet! Thanks for the support. I have been a little overwhelmed, and it's nice to be kindly nudged back into perspective. 

-Jane

Quote from: Jane's Sweet Refrain on September 26, 2013, 10:58:52 AM
Thanks. I realize that other physical conditions might cause hair loss: low thyroid, iron deficiency, liver taxing, etc. I'm certain that she'll rule out some of these first. And it really could be stress. I am living on my own now and taking care of my two children.

It probably is stress related. Just a head's up here though, medroxyprogesterone and bio-identical progest are two different animals, I would suggest the latter as a safe bet over the first. I drop my estrogen completely for five days a month and use a topical progesterone during those five days and though I've been on HRT for 19 years I have recently seen a bump in breast growth as a result although I haven't gained any weight. (sending PM)

Just my 2¢:

"Bioidentical" remedies still haven't been proven to

a. Do squat
b. Be safe

The FDA is still way out in left field on this topic and, as such, my *personal* advice is to stay away from them and just take the normal progesterone treatment. Hormones are hormones and binding points are binding points. Medroxyprogesterone has been in the field and studied to death.

Most researchers (not docs, they don't have time to study this stuff) currently think that 'bioequlivalents' are kinda snake oil at best and dangerous at worst.

This isn't a belief for me, it's just science and right now, the science of the alternative HRT world doesn't pass muster.

Quote from: Victoria Mitchell on September 26, 2013, 01:56:52 PM
Just my 2¢:

"Bioidentical" remedies still haven't been proven to

a. Do squat
b. Be safe

The FDA is still way out in left field on this topic and, as such, my *personal* advice is to stay away from them and just take the normal progesterone treatment. Hormones are hormones and binding points are binding points. Medroxyprogesterone has been in the field and studied to death.

Most researchers (not docs, they don't have time to study this stuff) currently think that 'bioequlivalents' are kinda snake oil at best and dangerous at worst.

This isn't a belief for me, it's just science and right now, the science of the alternative HRT world doesn't pass muster.

Been both routes and prefer not having to run any more chemical compounds through my liver than necessary, I find that the topical progesterone does it for me in spite of what all the pharmaceutical product propagandizers have to say in defense of their industry and products. Medical professionals only know what the pharmaceutical industry tells them concerning the applications of various medicines so I tend to discount their professional opinions in many cases and defer to the knowledge of a pharmacist who has received his/her knowledge from a jaded self perpetuating industry. One only watch commercials touting a certain medication for use as relief from the symptoms of one thing when six months earlier it was packaged for something entirely different and unrelated, that in itself would make any thinking person a bit suspect as to motives being controlled purely by profit.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bioidentical-hormones/AN01133

"Some women may benefit from nonstandard doses and forms of hormones in bioidentical hormone preparations, but there is almost no scientific support for an advantage of these compounds over common commercially produced preparations."

Please note: the Mayo Clinic is completely non-profit. They don't have a financial stake in this.

Also, I think that I pay $7 for a 30 day supply of medroxy in generic form with no insurance coverage. That's just the cost.

I don't have a hate-on for bioidenticals but, as the molecule is pretty much the exact same thing as the standard pharmaceutical grade equivalent and the dosage is more controlled and regulated, I still and yet have not found any evidence to support the claims that they work more effectively or safely. I'm pretty unemotional when it comes to this stuff and try not to follow the latest craze until I have hard proof that it will be safer than the already extreme tinkering I'm already doing with my genetics and health that we go through with HRT in the first place. I'm not necessarily saying you do and your concerns are valid concerns but, again, I have yet to find evidence in any scientifically backed literature that validates any claims to address them.

Thank you both so much for your comments and suggestions. I didn't realize the controversy, and I admittedly have not done thorough research. I'll keep reading and thinking. In the meantime, I'm happy to be enjoying my life as a woman. There's so much to love in this world.

--Jane