How do you live your life knowing you have to rely on HRT for the rest of your life?
It's like any other medication for a chronic condition. I'll likely be on blood pressure medication for a lifetime. I'll need glasses of some sort for a lifetime. This is no different. My first one was glasses, I got them when I was 18. I remember I felt like my body was betraying me. The truth is, it's progress. Our ancestors didn't have this kind of help and lived shorter, less fulfilling lives. I'll take the trade-off of a couple of pills every day.
I have to live the rest of my life with daily:
Allergy pillls
Antacids
High blood pressure pills
Chronic back pains
Asthma pumps
Bad eyesight
Hrt seems dwarfed in comparison isn't it ;)
Quote from: Dandy Dunker on November 18, 2014, 05:26:24 AM
How do you live your life knowing you have to rely on HRT for the rest of your life?
I take blood pressure meds, Lipitor and allopurinol and I have to take them every day for the rest of my life. One more pill won't make a big difference. Every day after my morning shower I take my medicine and don't have to deal with it for the rest of the day. No big deal.
However if I didn't take them I would likely be dead in a few years. So there is incentive.
I take medication for diabetes, hyperthyroidism, I have chronic back pain and I have lost use of my left foot, so adding HRT to live a happier life is a very small trade-off for me.
I will likely be on anti-depressants for the rest of my life. Since the alternative is death, it's a good trade.
Same with HRT...for me, testosterone is poisonous...I had to get rid of as much as I could, via Spiro (which will stop once I get either an orchi or SRS), but one does need some form of hormone, and for me it's Estrogen...but since I don't have OEM ovaries, I have to do the pill thing.
Which is completely fine by me.
I just don't think about it and use it as if it was nothing. I have other things to worry about.
What I do worry about is dilation post SRS but I am not even on the road to that bridge yet. So I will cross when I am there.
Once a day for 15 minutes is not bad though.
Well as easy as HRT generally is (a pill once a day or an injection every two weeks), it's becoming even easier. Some of those women here are using the pellets embedded under the skin that work for several months at a time. Go in, get your pellet inserted, walk away until the next appointment.
It's the same as glasses or antacids, which I will likely be on one day if my stomach doesn't stop leading an internal revolution. There are plenty of bio men on testosterone therapy and plenty of bio women on estrogen therapy. I know someone my age who has a hormone issue and she takes pills every day. It's no different to me.
I take blood pressure medication and it is very likely I will have to be on them (and Vitamin D) for the rest of my life.... At least when I get on hormones, that is one medication I'm actually looking forward to. However, it sucks that since I either want to use the gel or patch, that it is going to be more expensive for me.
Another lifetime member of the "chronic condition" club checking in :laugh:
I take handfuls of pills every day for other conditions so a few more pills for HRT doesn't really matter that much. All of those pills keep me alive in one way or another, and staying alive is a very good motivator to keep taking pills.
It's no trouble when you look at it through that lens.
When people ask me about my diabetes and how horrible it must be to have to inject insulin 5 times a day for the rest of my life I ask them how horrible it must be to have to go to the bathroom several times every day and shower, it's really no bother at all once it becomes a routine.
I do my HRT cream(s) once a day. I shower once a day, eat 3 times a day, blah, blah, it's really no big deal.
Given that I've been close to suicide, in large part due to gender dysphoria, giving myself a shot once a week for the rest of my life is a small price to pay for being alive and happy. I also take other meds that I'm unlikely ever to stop; in the overall scheme of things, this stuff is trivial.
Quote from: Dandy Dunker on November 18, 2014, 05:26:24 AM
How do you live your life knowing you have to rely on HRT for the rest of your life?
Real easy, I stockpile as much as possible and I have general faith in society. I am after all a government type.
As for actually taking the medicine? It's another chronic condition like any other, perhaps there will be surgery to transplant ovaries at some point for my own estrogen production, probably not. I'm just glad there are treatments available that work well.
I'm a total medication-phobe (not sure that is a word :D). But if it's doing those shots or leaving this planet, I'm in for the shots. Once I get there anyway.
I agree with the rest, it is just one more thing. Pills every morning and a shot every 2 weeks. No big deal.
As others have said, it's not the only "chronic condition" I have. Maybe it helps that a close female friend had a hysterectomy right around the time I started HRT, so we're kind of menopause medication buddies. :)
(And I change my patch twice a week and dilate once weekly, so at this point neither is much of a burden.)
most people have some form of medication that they take every day. i will be glad when i can start taking mine. take a dosage for the rest of my life for the priveledge of being able to be happy with myself, and to be able to be myself around others? a tradeoff i would gladly make.
Just another part of my daily routine. It seems like a choice but in reality it is not. For me and probably others, it's a need that I gladly volunteered for, if that makes any sense.
Think of it as taking your vitamins.
I've been on HRT for several years, and the pills aren't a big deal, but I am starting to get tired of the injections, so I'm thinking about trying pellet therapy, as I've heard good things about it.
Just like others here to me it's no different than other medicine I take daily to keep me healthy. I have a chronic pain issue I take pain meds for I'll likely need for the rest of my life, I take medicine to combat PTSD I'll prolly need the rest of my life, and after my upcoming SRS I'll need a maintenance dose of E even tho I do have 1 ovary so a shot a week, or every two weeks is no big deal to me.
Best wishes everyone. :icon_chick:
Ally :icon_flower:
I drink everyday, just as well add a pill to it :P. Not even sure if you take HRT like that actually but eh.. just a way of saying I don't mind it at all. It will just be routine xD.
The only real issue for me is fear of being unable to access it at some point, due to funds or something else. A once a week shot is no biggie.
Paraphrasing something I read awhile back:
If a doctor told you that you had a bacterial infection that could never be cured, only controlled through treatment, and you had to administer treatment at least twice a day for two minutes - AND you would periodically require longer, professional treatments - or an important part of your digestive system would slowly be destroyed and possibly start a chain reaction of other health maladies, what would you think of that?
But chances are you probably brush your teeth and think nothing of it. It's just something you have to do to be healthy.
The comparison to having to rely on contacts/glasses made me feel a lot better. Now that I think about it, I'm used to putting contacts in every morning and being blind without them...so actually I would rather get HRT once in a while than have to deal with that if I had to choose between the two, haha!
Chronic condition check! ::)
Hearing Aids.
Anti-depressants.
Pain medication (2 types and highly regulated).
Muscle relaxants.
And I used to wear glasses but they were determined to be of little use to me so no longer.
I also wore a back brace as a kid to attempt to correct severely progressive scoliosis, so a binder doesn't really bother me and T would be no more than another medication.
What bothers me is what are we supposed to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse? It'll be bad enough foraging for water and tins of beans let alone keeping up with our HRT. :-\
Might be time to stock up on Zombie venom.
Quote from: Jessica-Louise on November 20, 2014, 10:42:14 PM
What bothers me is what are we supposed to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse? It'll be bad enough foraging for water and tins of beans let alone keeping up with our HRT. :-\
If this^^___^^ case could really happen, I'd just eat my gun and get it over with, lol! :D But then again, I don't believe in zombies or a zombie apocalypse. ;)
Ally :)
Quote from: Allyda on November 21, 2014, 01:03:27 AM
If this^^___^^ case could really happen, I'd just eat my gun and get it over with, lol! :D But then again, I don't believe in zombies or a zombie apocalypse. ;)
Ally :)
Zombie apocalypse" is code for any society destroying event and it happens to every culture eventually. Given that our cultures are heavily interdependent if not becoming world wide, it's more a question of "when" not "if". The only real salvation is to move into an environment where distance makes that kind of interdependence impossible. Wonder where that could be? ;D
In any case, in the event of complete collapse, I will struggle on to the end of my strength, with or without E. If I was inclined to the Final Solution, I would have done it by now. I'm probably the most optimistic pessimist you'll ever meet. Maybe the horse will learn to sing!
We seem to have drifted a bit. We now return you to your regularly hijacked thread.
I'd be one of the first to die, without synthesis of insulin using genetically modified bacteria I'm pretty much a goner after I deplete my 3-6 month supply I keep in my fridge.
In such an even we would be talking about 90%+ of the population perishing in any case. The cruel reality is that not only are very few of us capable enough at survival but our bodies have evolved over the last 10-20 thousand years for an agricultural society providing high energy density foods.
To put it simply we have domesticated ourselves and it will take at least 10-20 generations for the genes that have been de-activated to be re-activated for a larger stomach and natural selection of other traits that would assist for surviving in the wild.
Quite simply all of us living the western lifestyle would die.
Quote from: Dee Walker on November 21, 2014, 09:38:03 AM
Zombie apocalypse" is code for any society destroying event and it happens to every culture eventually. Given that our cultures are heavily interdependent if not becoming world wide, it's more a question of "when" not "if". The only real salvation is to move into an environment where distance makes that kind of interdependence impossible. Wonder where that could be? ;D
In any case, in the event of complete collapse, I will struggle on to the end of my strength, with or without E. If I was inclined to the Final Solution, I would have done it by now. I'm probably the most optimistic pessimist you'll ever meet. Maybe the horse will learn to sing!
We seem to have drifted a bit. We now return you to your regularly hijacked thread.
I think of worse things like, no HRT for a lifetime.
Quote from: Jessica-Louise on November 20, 2014, 10:42:14 PM
What bothers me is what are we supposed to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse? It'll be bad enough foraging for water and tins of beans let alone keeping up with our HRT. :-\
I think you got other things to worry about then :P. And! If it ever gotten that bad you rarely ever see your reflection and well.. I dunno. When life isn't about feeling comfortable with me personally, getting a nice job and a partner to grow old with, but just about surviving. I might just prefer being tall, stronger and a bit more masculine o.o
But who knows, I might just be a weirdo.
Nah, I agree with you Kirey, I am pretty sure in such a situation there is bigger things going on!
Anyway we can raid the pharmacies. Who is gonna loot HRT meds lol :D
Well, in the inevitable event of a zombie apocalypse I personally plan on looking fabulous. 8)
Seriously though, barring a cataclysm of some kind I'm actually okay with being on HRT for my whole life. I just wish Canada offered injections because dissolving the pills in my mouth several times a day is a bit tedious. Oh, and I'm really looking forward to being able to take less spiro (or none?) after SRS. That stuff makes me pee like crazy. Actually, I guess it is a bit annoying but it's so much better than the alternative that I'm happy to be on it.
Quote from: Jessica-Louise on November 21, 2014, 08:34:11 PM
...Oh, and I'm really looking forward to being able to take less spiro (or none?) after SRS. That stuff makes me pee like crazy. Actually, I guess it is a bit annoying but it's so much better than the alternative that I'm happy to be on it.
It's a good night when I can sleep four straight hours before I have to get up to pee. Two and a half is more typical. It's a good thing I fall right back to sleep. And yes, I'm thankful for it.
Taking meds for HRT could be likened to numerous different things, including food, water, air, excercise and many, many more things (some of which aren't really NEEDED, but needed all the same, such as chocolate ;) ). My dad is on Insolin injections for his diabetes, so he'll be needing to jab himself everyday for the rest of his life. :( As many have said over the years, if it's a choice between life and death, then meds are really the best, and only, option.
Quote from: adrian on November 19, 2014, 12:35:21 AM
I'm a total medication-phobe (not sure that is a word :D). But if it's doing those shots or leaving this planet, I'm in for the shots. Once I get there anyway.
Looking on Wikipedia, Pharmacophobia looks to be the word for a fear of medicine. ;)
Quote from: Phoenix_2812 on November 22, 2014, 12:11:45 AM
Looking on Wikipedia, Pharmacophobia looks to be the word for a fear of medicine. ;)
Heh, thanks! [emoji16]
It's no biggy, I gotta inject every 12 weeks anyway. It's just one of those things I gotta live with.
I really don't mind, it helps me get up in the morning n get on with life,
But I do remember reading somewhere that it maybe beneficial to
have a short brake for health reasons every year or so, but that was
quite a while ago, I can't remember exactly so I wouldn't take my word
on that.
I have no problems with it.
Ironically, even if I choose to "stay" male, I would still need to take testosterone for a healthy body.
I don't resent it so much as I fear not having access to it in the future. Any number of bad things could happen to disrupt my supply. Natural disasters, dwindling resources, economic upheaval, you name it!
It's no big deal. HRT beats being dead. As others have had it's just like taking medications for any other chronic condition.
Mariah
I think it truly is a gift....to think we are able to take hormones to adjust our physical appearance....something that is still "new" and many other transgender individuals throughout history couldn't use. Such thing is becoming even more widely available. Our community is making great strides over these past years towards acceptance and medical treatment.
I will be happy stabbing my self with a needle for years to come ;)
It was easy for me when the alternative to transitioning was death so the choice was easy
I find out Monday when I can start. I see it a HUGE blessing.
I haven't started T yet but this is one of the reasons I haven't started. After dealing with a major disease for 3 years, putting myself into a lifetime situation of being dependent on doctors and meds scares the bleep out of me. It's annoying because I don't feel like I'll die without HRT or anything, it's just this slow subtle stress in the background that makes me think that I'm "handling it". Hence I'm still on the fence though I would love to transition (if I ignore the additional dependency).
Im currently on a low dose that seems to be working perfectly for me. Basically 1 shot every other week. I dont feel like its a hassel since i get a six month supply twice a year. My levels are checked every 3 months for the first year. It was either invest in life or give up. I chose life and I couldnt be happier.
I have a seizure disorder, will likely be on that all my life.
I've been on allergy meds a long time as well. Looks like a lifer on that as well.
Not much of a deal to me at all.
One more thing about the "I have to do something my whole life". Well that's what a lot of life is, doing things your entire life, paying bills, gettign up in the morning, you know.
--Jay