Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Been out of hormones a couple weeks, wont have a new doctor for a month, I got some fenugreek and some saw palmetto when i ran out of hormones, i dont know if i'm taking too much or not, and I can't discuss proper amounts here because of rules.... Anyone who has used this combination with success please pm me.

Just before I became a moderator I was working a thread where a CIS guy had taken Saw Palmetto for hair loss. He developed serious medical problems because of it and the problems didn't end when he discontinued it. In my research, I found that others had the same issue with the stuff though they were in the minority. As serious as the issues were, I would rather face testosterone than risk Saw Palmetto.

What type of serious medical issues? the most i have read about was people getting man boobs, low sperm count, loss of erections and so on. It's an antiandrogen isn't it?

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,195367.0.html

It doesn't mean these are herbs and 'natural' that bad things can't happen. I read of a few transwomen who developed thyroid complications while on black cohosh. I think many also use very high doses to achieve decent results thinking because it's a natural product, higher doses are fine. Be very wary. This product is also not standardized and regulated.

As is the case with everything, too much of something can be toxic.

I was taking saw palmetto for a couple of months before getting HRT. My T was pretty low to begin with so the saw palmetto did have visible effects. Saw palmetto is a mild alfa5 reductase inhibitor like the hair drug Propeicia. It blocks some of the conversion of T to DHT. This actually causes more free T to be available in the system but it's the DHT that keeps muscle size up and causes hair loss. So here's the thing. In mild amounts it's generally safe. It's the dried ground berries in capsule form. So for most people not consuming more than a couple of berries worth at a time is harmless. Some people may have reactions to other components of the berries so like any supplement don't over do it.

I also added whole ground flax seed to my cereal each morning. Flaxseed has compounds which reduce T production in the testes. Peppermint and spearmint tea also have an effect.

Generally just read the recommended consumption amounts on the packages. These levels are safe for almost everyone.

So just a warning, after a few weeks my T must have been very low. Mentally I was fatigued, stressed, and basically feeling like my world was collapsing. My wife suggested I take a menapause supplement each day. That did help quite a bit. She said that's what PMS feels like to her.

Dena, I read that older thread. I'm not certain if that person was suffering from the Finaseride syndrome or an auto immune issue. I have seen a couple of forum sites for men suffering from permanent issues from Finaseride even years after stopping taking it. Some of what I read there is similar to what that guys said his symptoms were but some of what he describes sounds like Sjogren's Syndrome which is an auto immune disease. My mom has had it for a few years now. She manages but not fun at all. It occurs way more often in women than in men.

Quote from: josie76 on February 16, 2017, 05:48:22 AM
Dena, I read that older thread. I'm not certain if that person was suffering from the Finaseride syndrome or an auto immune issue. I have seen a couple of forum sites for men suffering from permanent issues from Finaseride even years after stopping taking it. Some of what I read there is similar to what that guys said his symptoms were but some of what he describes sounds like Sjogren's Syndrome which is an auto immune disease. My mom has had it for a few years now. She manages but not fun at all. It occurs way more often in women than in men.

Not in the thread was a pile of links I turned up in my research. I didn't want to post them because the moderators would have been overloaded reviewing all of them so I passed them directly to the OP. Many  seem to be able to take SP safely but there is a minority who had identical problems with SP. Some quit early and were able to recover and others not. One has a youtube video where he discusses the fact that just one dose was sufficient to cause a reaction.

The OP visited several doctors attempting to figure out what was going on and the test results indicated a high adrenal hormone level which I suspect is the result of an adrenal insensitivity caused by SP. Other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary in the lab work. I don't really know the answer for sure because I am not a doctor but that was the best I was able to dig up.