Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I started taking Spiro about a month and a half ago, but I started it in the middle of being sick with a bad cold. After the cold went away I was left with a lingering cough that just won't go away and it's been giving me problems with my voice. I can speak a bit higher pitched than normal and also a bit lower than normal but there is a part of the normal range that is just not there. My voice cracks whenever I pass that point. It's been over a month since all other symptoms of my cold have disappeared but I still have this problem with phlegm in my throat and with my speech. My question is whether this is more likely a side effect of the spiro than just a lingering side effect of my cold. I read that spiro can cause your voice to lower but it really hasn't done that, it just breaks within a certain range. It really concerns me because I've been becoming increasingly self conscious about my voice. My voice has always been the one thing I was very confident with and now I'm worried that I might lose it.

My money is on lingering after-effects of the cold.

I've had respiratory infections leave me with little presents like that enough that it's not shocking if it happens.

Spiro should not be messing with your throat. It should keep you in the bathroom. :D

Never heard of spiro doing that, I would think it is a left over from your illness.

It's been almost another month and my voice is still cracking:( I read that hoarseness is a serious side effect of Spiro so I've stopped taking it for the last 4 days. I'm sort of freaking out because I don't want my transition to start moving backwards. Does anyone know of other effective t-blockers that are relatively safe and inexpensive?

Quote from: Ayaname on August 27, 2010, 03:35:02 PMDoes anyone know of other effective t-blockers that are relatively safe and inexpensive?

I am not a doctor, but when I asked my MD recently about spiro alternatives simply because I have to pee so much on it, he sent back a lengthy reply (love my doc). In it he referred at one point to Drugs that inhibit testosterone synthesis or action, such as ketoconazole, metronidazole, alkylating agents, cisplatin, spironolactone, cimetidine, flutamide, finasteride, and etomidate.

I have no knowledge of their safety or cost, but google is your friend.

Quote from: SydneyTinker on August 27, 2010, 03:40:43 PM
I am not a doctor, but when I asked my MD recently about spiro alternatives simply because I have to pee so much on it, he sent back a lengthy reply (love my doc). In it he referred at one point to Drugs that inhibit testosterone synthesis or action, such as ketoconazole, metronidazole, alkylating agents, cisplatin, spironolactone, cimetidine, flutamide, finasteride, and etomidate.

I have no knowledge of their safety or cost, but google is your friend.

Thank you, I'll look into those.

Hi Ayaname,

I haven't experienced any hoarseness or cracking in my voice on Spiro.. if anything the overall effect of HRT seemed to soften it.

Another anti androgen you might want to consider is Androcur, it's effect has been very felt for me even on low doses and it doesn't have some of spiro's inconveniences.

Since you're in the US and the FDA hasn't approved it yet, you would have to order it from overseas.

Quote from: Karla on August 27, 2010, 09:26:05 PM
Hi Ayaname,

I haven't experienced any hoarseness or cracking in my voice on Spiro.. if anything the overall effect of HRT seemed to soften it.

Another anti androgen you might want to consider is Androcur, it's effect has been very felt for me even on low doses and it doesn't have some of spiro's inconveniences.

Since you're in the US and the FDA hasn't approved it yet, you would have to order it from overseas.

I've heard that the side effects are more harsh with Androcur. I'm thinking of just switching from Spirotone to Aldactone since Aldactone doesn't list hoarseness as a side effect like most other brands of Spiro.

Aldactone = Spironolactone = Spiro.

Quote from: Myself on August 28, 2010, 12:10:03 AM
Aldactone = Spironolactone = Spiro.

"Spirotone", not "Spironolactone". I know that Aldactone is Spiro as well but the list of side effects is different for the different brands. I trust that there is a reason for that. Aldactone is one of the only brands of spiro that does not list the specific side effect that I am experiencing.

Quote from: WikipediaSpironolactone (marketed under the trade names Aldactone, Novo-Spiroton, Aldactazide, Spiractin, Spirotone, Verospiron or Berlactone) is a diuretic and is used as an antiandrogen.

The information sheets are written by each manufacturer.
They get to choose which side effects to emphasize and which to stuff under "other".

why dont you contact your doctor  you could also have some kind of infection or something at least rule that out
good luck

Quote from: Renate on August 28, 2010, 05:22:18 AM
The information sheets are written by each manufacturer.
They get to choose which side effects to emphasize and which to stuff under "other".

The only way a company can sell a product as their own under a different name than another company is by changing a tiny part of the ingredients and patenting the "new" product as their own(unless the original patent is shared as with companies that are under the same parent company). Even though the tiny changes are not meant to change the original function of the product, sometimes those small changes can make a pretty big difference in how some people react to it. I have a lot of food sensitivities and allergies and I am very familiar with how little it can take to set off a reaction. It's not uncommon for me to try 2 different brands of some specific kind of food that both use essentially the same ingredients yet I react badly to one and not the other. I figure I should at least try a different type of spiro before just moving on to something that's more expensive and more dangerous.

Quote from: bethanypahl on August 28, 2010, 07:24:25 AM
why dont you contact your doctor  you could also have some kind of infection or something at least rule that out
good luck

I don't have an endo that I see at the moment, but I plan on seeing about getting a referral to one when I see a GI doctor in a couple of weeks.