I am just wondering how everybody here deals with the fear of losing access to hormones.
With the stories coming out in the past year or two of this drug and that drug seeing like 2000% price increases, and the shortage of higher dose estradiol injections, how do you reconcile the anxiety of what may happen in the future? I know for me, as much as the bodily changes feel amazing, I am nervous about the long term accessibility of estradiol. What happens if I decide to get an orchiectomy, or even potentially GCS (though that feels less likely for me at this stage) because I don't want to stay on spironolactone long term, and something happens where you can't get access to hormones any longer? Maybe the economy crashes, maybe another large war breaks out, or I lose my job, become homeless, etc., maybe the price of estradiol sees a terrible spike. I feel like I'd be up ->-bleeped-<-'s creek, so to speak. I know I can't be alone in thinking about these things.
What are some things that you tell yourself, or perspectives that you have, to combat the fears/anxieties. I know I'm supposed to just focus on living in the moment and not borrow trouble before it comes, but it's easier said than done.
I've had the same concerns about starting down that road and then being unable to obtain or afford it.
Hi,
The recent issue with injectable E is the manufacturer is switching to a different supplier and it take time to the FDA to allow the suppliers ingredients to pass. I switched back to pills for the interim ( I am off HRT for FFS right now).
I am not the least bit worried about a supply of E in the future.
It the price ever goes up too much there would be a huge backlash from CIS woman who use it. We are not the primary user of E.
Don't vote for the haters number one. You need to exercise your right to vote in your best interest. We all do. This is not a political statement it is your duty as a citizen.
Living in fear is a terrible thing. Most of us have been doing it since an early age and were afraid to get caught. Society had taught us what we do is somehow perverted or mentally ill and so we put off, make excuses, become adept at lying, anything to keep people from making judgements. After a while that fear gets overwhelming and you got to fight back. Until 6 months ago, I lived in fear. I'll 65 in four weeks. I'll not live in fear again.
Spiro is a diuretic used in treatment of congestive heart failure. It also blocks testosterone. I've been on low dose for about 25 years, because I have CHF. They also, because they are diuretics, sometimes cause me to get dehydrated and dizzy. I can attest that I had pretty nice breasts before taking estrogen just on the Spiro alone. But they seem to be more pert and less droopy as my fat redistributes. Estrogen will not go away as a birth control. There are Presidents (obama) recommending they be given away.That pretty much ensures that E will be available for a long time to come. As to raising prices. In a transformation E is relatively cheap considering the surgerys we are willing to go through to pass. I want something more. Acceptance whether I pass or not. All humans deserve their dignity and the right to explain themselves. .
I really can't imagine any reason for that to happen
Once you had the orcie , in the worst case one can live without estradiol and not revert back too much, but I think some sort of estradiol will be around unless there really is a WWIII or some apocalypse, but I think then probably other things are becoming the primary concern.
So I can totally relate to this concern. I don't trust the government or big pharma not to screw with us and our hormones.
I'm FTM and have done heaps of research on other supplements / food sources etc for T boosting / E suppression which I may or may not be stockpiling lol.
I'm an Anarchist and self sufficient homesteader type. I'm someone who thinks a bit about collapse. I don't take ANYYYYTHING for granted. I'm also someone who lives below the poverty line and if one day testosterone goes sky high, I'd like to know that I can hang onto the changes I've achieved over the years on T.
I'm certainly not someone who lives in fear, but I do hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
There are ways to increase efficiency of some hormones. Like sublingual application or rectal/vaginal application, that way one can use only 1/5th of the regular dosage, but its not really always a safe application. Gel can also be used to basically build low cost hormone patches with just a few drops. But its all experimental - in case of some collapse however maybe its useful - but some stockpiling still would need to be done. There is no way it would last for many years though.
Thank you everybody for the replies! I appreciate all the perspectives :)
Oral Estradiol is cheap and should remain so because there is a single patent held be one company. Spiro as someone has mentioned is long used patent free medication that the WHO lists as one of its essential meds.
http://www.drugpatentwatch.com/p/generic-api/estradiol
http://www.drugpatentwatch.com/p/generic-api/spironolactone
I'm concerned protecting myself generally, and HRT is just one aspect of that. I've dealt with it by working out how to protect myself, which means having money and plenty of alternate sources.
Its completely irrational, but yeah; and I fear loss of access to the anti-androgen more than E actually. Enough so that such a loss has made a feature appearance in an actual dream.
Which is really kind of silly, the same people that hate the entire idea of medical transition available, also think "Chemical Castration" is an awesome punishment. So, as long as I call that which I'm desperately afraid of losing a terrible sounding name, they'll fork it over. Heck, maybe if I explain to them how incredibly powerful Lupron is, they'll give me a 6 month shot of it as long as I wear a pink dress and threaten to use the girls bathroom.
lol
sorry, couldn't resist, the fear is irrational, all of these drugs are far too important in their primary use to ever make them unavailable.
Quote from: rwOnnaDesuKa on September 11, 2016, 08:36:11 PM
sorry, couldn't resist, the fear is irrational, all of these drugs are far too important in their primary use to ever make them unavailable.
That sounds like an opportunity for some company to corner the market and raise the price 100 times. Think of the profits!
I know the event you are referring to. The drug in question, is available in any tropical country for about $5; because its used in the millions. The problem is that it is a disease that doesn't occur in the US, so the total run for US consumption might be 1000 pills / year.
I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out how to pay for FDA approval of your manufacturing process and only sell 1000 pills a year.
Anyone that needs that particular drug could fly to Mexico City, by a course of treatment for less than the cost of lunch and fly back.
The whole episode is more an indictment of our benighted FDA than it is the guy who bought the US license for the drug.
There's plenty of examples, the latest one being the EpiPen and that's quite the classic.
Epipen has risen 4x over seven years. Not 100x overnight. I've actually been kinda interested in epipen as I've developed an allergy to wasps that's getting a little scary, but my GP talked me out of it and to just rely on my mad dash for the benedryl bottle till there's an indication of some airway constriction.
As a side note, use of an epipen REQUIRES a trip to the hospital after use, preferably by ambulance as they're setup to insure you don't die on the way.. So... current cost for the thing remains a minimal part of the overall price of the event.
Agreed its not 100x, but the interesting thing about Epipen is how they have captured the market. It shouldn't be possible. In Australia its about US$75, or half that with government subsidy.
Nature of patent law. Patent will expire soon enough and then any company that wants to go through the FDA process can make and sell them.
There are sooo many variations of estradiol medication. Pills, Geld, injections, patches - differnt companies make them, the are copied for cheap in asian countries for local markets, not caring about patent rights... I doubt that there will ever be an issue with them really going unavailable or prices going up.
More likely one of the following is threatining personal supply:
- doctors not giving prescription anymore for political or ideological reasons (meaning one has to actually smuggle the medication from other countries or use black markets which are more expensive and unreliable)
- personal or regional/national loss in financial abilities and thus affording the regular prices even. Imagine getting homeless or imagine the state you live in dropping to the poverty level of Ghana or Ethiopia. At that point regular world market prices of any drug, even Aspirin will be high in relation and counterfeit drugs that are cheaper cannot be trusted.
Quote from: rwOnnaDesuKa on September 11, 2016, 10:22:56 PM
Nature of patent law. Patent will expire soon enough and then any company that wants to go through the FDA process can make and sell them.
Patents only last 20 years, and epipens first became available to the public in 1980 (and they'd been used by the military for some time prior to that). Therefore, epipens can't still be under patent. My guess is that the company selling brand name epipens owns the copyright to the name "Epipen" (copyrights last more or less indefinitely for some reason), and the FDA are preventing any competing generic versions from being marketed by refusing to license them. The problem is your FDA, they're misusing their regulatory powers to artificially limit supply of certain medicines to a few favoured companies (who can then charge sky high prices, when generic versions of that same medicine are sold for pennies in other countries).
Yeah, I know its our FDA that's the problem, but I didn't realize the epipen patent had expired already. That's very interesting....
I don't think the same mechanism could ever apply to classes of drugs that are needed and used by millions of Americans; Insurance companies usually win that fight (eg loratidine) in favor of cheap generics and wide production. loratidine went from $3/pill script, to 0.15 a pill OTC at same dosage.
Just what my survivalist friend and I were talking about. I don't have fear or anxiety, but have been stockpiling estrogen for about a while now.... just in case... you know a nuclear war, mass anti-trans hysteria, Zombie Apocalypse or something. You just never know. It just makes sense to have an 'in case of emergency' supply.
Quote from: AnonyMs on September 11, 2016, 10:12:50 PM
Agreed its not 100x, but the interesting thing about Epipen is how they have captured the market. It shouldn't be possible. In Australia its about US$75, or half that with government subsidy.
With the epipen it is about the method more than the medicine. Epinephrine is available everywhere and is administered by a regular syringe. The epi is all about the delivery method.
Quote from: herekitten on September 12, 2016, 11:52:03 AM
Just what my survivalist friend and I were talking about. I don't have fear or anxiety, but have been stockpiling estrogen for about a while now.... just in case... you know a nuclear war, mass anti-trans hysteria, Zombie Apocalypse or something. You just never know. It just makes sense to have an 'in case of emergency' supply.
How exactly do you go about doing this? I need to get authorization for my refills and I worry that asking for too many in too short a time span would be a red flag.
Quote from: AoifeJ on September 12, 2016, 12:03:32 PM
How exactly do you go about doing this? I need to get authorization for my refills and I worry that asking for too many in too short a time span would be a red flag.
That only applies if you are getting insurance to pay for it. If you pay retail, they mostly don't care as long as the script is valid, and its not a class-whatever(narcotic) thing. otoh, I produce enough E as is to be ok; but uncontrolled T runs over it (and my poor little brain) like a truck, thus its the AA that's the focus of my worries.
Insured however, is a pain, they clock it down to the minute as far as I can tell. lol. (Sorry, we won't pay for this unless you wait two more hours...)
I do not use my insurance for it. I can buy the entire year in one fell swoop so I'm not bothered forgetting about it. As for the stockpiling, I would tell you but........ :laugh:
Quote from: herekitten on September 12, 2016, 12:48:21 PM
I do not use my insurance for it. I can buy the entire year in one fell swoop so I'm not bothered forgetting about it. As for the stockpiling, I would tell you but........ :laugh:
That sounds really convenient.. and I think I catch your drift :P
For myself, money is the limiting factor at this point in time...
Quote from: rwOnnaDesuKa on September 12, 2016, 12:23:30 PM
That only applies if you are getting insurance to pay for it. If you pay retail, they mostly don't care as long as the script is valid, and its not a class-whatever(narcotic) thing. otoh, I produce enough E as is to be ok; but uncontrolled T runs over it (and my poor little brain) like a truck, thus its the AA that's the focus of my worries.
Insured however, is a pain, they clock it down to the minute as far as I can tell. lol. (Sorry, we won't pay for this unless you wait two more hours...)
Yep, insurance is a giant pain. Even if refills are authorized, they cannot be filled before a certain date or time, and usually each time the script is authorized it will be for one time, plus one refill (two fills total) and then I need to submit a new authorization request through my web portal. I'm lucky to have a pretty convenient system where there are no delays or scrutinizing, usually if you request a refill it is approved no questions asked (through the Dr's portal, not insurance) but I haven't tried testing that except legitimately when I'm running out and its really time to refill.
I'm worried about getting stuck if I try to switch from my parent's insurance to my own at the end of this year, and getting caught in a period without insurance...
Try pricing the E at Walmart. For years, my local Ingles Supermarket had a generic special of any generic at $3 for 30. My year was costing $72 at twice a day. It was the same brand I now get at CVS. Unfortunately, they ended that special last month. I believe Walmart is rather inexpensive as well. Just a thought if you wanted to buy in advance without the pain of the insurance. The namebrand E is still very pricey but everything points to it being the same efficacy as generic.
I just checked and Walmart has $4 for 30-day and $10 for 90-day. At twice a day that would be $8 or $20. Not bad at all!
Herekitten,
are you saying you can buy E without a prescription at Walmart?? or is it prescription E that is just cheaper? Not sure I understand..
Estrogen is all prescription because it is a steroid. I think she was referring to brands and cost.
Something I picked up elsewhere on the site is Good RX (http://www.goodrx.com). Select your prescription and it will tell you what it will cost at a number of stores. No need to create an account or provide contact information other than a zip code.
Definitely need a prescription for E in the USA. I was only referring to brand and price. Sorry for the confusion. I'll have to try Walmart next time. Just remember prescriptions can be transferred from drug store to drug store.
I have a very serious mortal fear of this as it would literally be a death sentence to me.
Before HRT my brain had been getting increasingly messed up from about 10ish onwards.
Over the past 8 months I actually got everything back that I had lost then actually started growing up.
Didn't even know how much I'd lost until I got it all back but god I'm totally amazed he could function in any capacity at all when I look at his memories.
I'm gonna go with the whole Resident Evil gig. My body is infested with the T virus. My meds hold it in check but if I lose my meds it's zombie o'clock probably forever this time as I would expect the T to completely trash my brain and nervous system again and probably do it much faster than I healed. Seriously doubt I'd be able to heal again the neural stuff is just far too delicate to ever risk one way or another I'd be dead/broken/deleted/whatever.
Only way to not go totally mental is to set your buffer and make sure you reorder early.
For a bit I did have a major scare as Mastercard have blocked international pharmacy payments so I was looking at a death date of 14th November 2016 as I was counting on my credit card to keep me a minimum of 3 months ahead. All of a sudden I'm facing less than 7 weeks of life left and not enough money to put in my order. Wouldn't even have got to have my first Christmas and plan B well lets just say plan B carried almost as much risk as not having my meds but any chance of life is better than none.
Anyhoo long story short I found another way to pay and now have enough to last until April 2017 so the pressure is off for a bit as I'm seeing the GIC in January 2017 (I know it's hysterical but true and that's just to say "Hi"). After my first visit I'll need to decide whether to trust them or work up to a 1-2 year buffer. Don't get me wrong money is always tight but versus that kind of death it's totally worth every penny.
In the states though don't you have "informed consent" to get meds instead of hoops to jump through?
Always thought it was easier in the US. Although I am seriously grateful I found out about UK law for meds.
One thing I do envy about "normal" people is that unless there is an accident or something they can be pretty sure they'll get to live for like 70+ years.
For me I just need to look in the cupboard and see how many months of life I have left and remember to buy more before it runs out. I track my meds in my money spreadsheet and use a cool wee android app pillbox to remind me and count for me which makes me feel better.
Moral of the story buy as much as you can afford or at least enough to feel safe but keep an eye on your expiry dates and check your stash once in a while as they say "Time flies when your having fun" and for me I'm having so much fun time is really flying in big time.
I think yall have a really pretty decent setup in the UK as long as you start reasonably early, the hoop jumping and scheduling might feel annoying, but I get the feeling that once you're in the system, you're golden.
Defo. I do love the NHS stuff.
Only thing I've had to do solo is sort my hormones, laser & electrolysis. I know the NHS can do all that but I couldn't afford to lose a year doing nothing once I got back.
My Doc is also an absolute superstar taking care of all my blood tests, sorted my speech therapy which is in progress, trach getting done within the next 6 weeks, Klinefelter results pending (been over a month) and currently investigating an orchi for me all before the GIC gets involved. I'm so lucky to have him. Just a shame the GIC takes so long to join the party as almost nothing left for them to do by January tbh.
That said the only way to get on HRT "officially" and get SRS on the NHS is through them so guess they are made necessary ;)
I've been assured they'll catch up fast to where I am but they've missed out on a lot of fun.
As you say though once my HRT is in their hands I shouldn't have to worry about meds ever again.
This is something that keeps me up at night. One of the main reasons I would like to find my way into a citizenship in another country with socialized medicine.
Yup defo been there.
It's scary when your life depends on meds and you face not having them.
Lost some serious sleep waiting for delivery. Usually when I have more left it's actually kinda fun like waiting for Christmas but when all you can think about is "What if they don't come!!!!!" the wait becomes horrible.
post menopausal women as well as men with low testosterone and erection problems are not going to disappear. These people alone will assure access to the medications we need. Given Insurrection or revolution of course, ...all bets will be off. But if that happens, we'll have more problems to deal with than not being able to get the hormones we want. These are commonly used and needed substances. So it's overly cautious to concern yourself with a shortage or a run up on pricing.