Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hi there,
My name is Jinte and i' am new to this form. I am a trans-woman and live in the Netherlands. I couple of months ago i started my hrt treatment with the help of my local doctor. I still waiting for the hormone treatment rights at the hospital.
The plan was to start the testosterone blockers first and later after 20days the estrogen.
But once i started the blockers i noticed a lot of sweating and cold chills. At first i ignored it. After a couple of weaks i also started feeling all kinds of muscle pains. And i stated measuring my body temp. My body temp was about 37,9 - 38,4. Went to my doctor. At that time we thought its probably a fever. But after a month it was still there and i was feeling worse and worse. My doctor informed at the endocrine specialist. He told my doctor is was almost impossible because its not a know side effect. But after feeling worse and worse my doctor and i decided to stop my andro for a month(after taking it 3months en feeling realty ill). After almost two weeks my body temp is normal again. Al my muscle pains are gone.
I have to wait for an other month for my appointment with the endocrine specialist.
Is anyone familiar with this androcur problem? Are there any good alternatives to androcur?

Thanks for the help en sorry for my english, Jinte

Quote from: Jinte on August 01, 2014, 11:52:43 AM
Hi there,
My name is Jinte and i' am new to this form. I am a trans-woman and live in the Netherlands. I couple of months ago i started my hrt treatment with the help of my local doctor. I still waiting for the hormone treatment rights at the hospital.
The plan was to start the testosterone blockers first and later after 20days the estrogen.
But once i started the blockers i noticed a lot of sweating and cold chills. At first i ignored it. After a couple of weaks i also started feeling all kinds of muscle pains. And i stated measuring my body temp. My body temp was about 37,9 - 38,4. Went to my doctor. At that time we thought its probably a fever. But after a month it was still there and i was feeling worse and worse. My doctor informed at the endocrine specialist. He told my doctor is was almost impossible because its not a know side effect. But after feeling worse and worse my doctor and i decided to stop my andro for a month(after taking it 3months en feeling realty ill). After almost two weeks my body temp is normal again. Al my muscle pains are gone.
I have to wait for an other month for my appointment with the endocrine specialist.
Is anyone familiar with this androcur problem? Are there any good alternatives to androcur?

Thanks for the help en sorry for my english, Jinte

Never post dosages and i edit for spelling.

Welcome Jinte to Susan's
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Again welcome
Izzy

  Hi Jinte , 

  Welcome to Susan's  .
  I am sorry to hear you had problems with the medication .
  Androcur is a very efficient drug , yet it has some side effects ( like most other drugs ).
  I am using it since I started HRT , and I didn't get the symptoms you describe , I only suspect it may affected a little the already settled in depression . But it is not bad , when other depression causes go away , I am joyful and alive .
  Another side effect that concerns me is potential liver toxicity , so I use some liver protection pills , and get blood tests .
  For me it was really useful and at the moment I would'n change it , It basically stopped the testis production , the testosterone levels don't go up even If I stop taking it for a while .

  There are many alternatives to Androcur , some like it , which block the testosterone production all together , others that help blocking testosterone effects and its conversion into DHT .
  I know it must be difficult to wait until the next Endo appointment . Isn't it possible to call and move the appointment a little closer  ?
  I am sorry that I can't help you with information , but I am sure that others will , and I wanted to know you are in the right place to look for information and support . I know sometimes may feel a little weird when you join a new group , place , site , forum ,...

  BTW , I live somehow close to Netherlands and I was there a few times , it feels good to meet a person from a place I feel connected with  :)

  Many hugs and best wishes ,
    Claudia   

The symptoms could be based on the fact that you have very low T. Without E and with very little T your body really isn't in the greatest of positions.

Quote from: jname on August 01, 2014, 03:35:08 PM
The symptoms could be based on the fact that you have very low T. Without E and with very little T your body really isn't in the greatest of positions.

Yep, Androcur was very hard on my system until I added estrogen in to the mix.. Sweats, chills, nausea, hot flushes, migaines, just for a start..

Welcome to Susan's!

I had excessive sweating when I was on Androcur but none of the other symptoms you describe. But I was also on estrogen as well. I'm on Spiro now and although I'll sweat a bit more than I'd like during physical exertion it's nothing like last time.

Androcur is a very kick ass AA, especially if compared to say spiro. You may be sensitive to it, or possibly slightly allergic. Some of the symptoms do sound like very low T.  Without any rash, itching, redness or swelling I tend to doubt it is an allergic reaction.  Spliting the dosage so you are taking the same total but spread out over say 4x a day is easier overal on your system. THe pills do split easily. Since it may be a mild reaction, taking a Benadryl or two is a good safe test.

When I started HRT the AA I used was Androcur. Within a week its effects became noticeable. At that point I tapered down to 1/2 the dosage. A month or so later I was down to 1/4 a pill once a day and my T level was in the sub-basement according to the blood workup.

Quote from: JoanneB on August 02, 2014, 07:57:40 AM
Androcur is a very kick ass AA, especially if compared to say spiro. You may be sensitive to it, or possibly slightly allergic. Some of the symptoms do sound like very low T.  Without any rash, itching, redness or swelling I tend to doubt it is an allergic reaction.  Spliting the dosage so you are taking the same total but spread out over say 4x a day is easier overal on your system. THe pills do split easily. Since it may be a mild reaction, taking a Benadryl or two is a good safe test.

When I started HRT the AA I used was Androcur. Within a week its effects became noticeable. At that point I tapered down to 1/2 the dosage. A month or so later I was down to 1/4 a pill once a day and my T level was in the sub-basement according to the blood workup.

Seconded.

Although I started at 1/2 and haven't needed to adjust at all. My T is at 0.9 nmol/L (which is actually up by 0.1, but I ascribe that to the Prometrium). The onlt side effect I've noticed is having to pee a lot, like if I even think about water! Okay, I exaggerate a bit, but I'll be glad once I no longer have a need for it!