Hi guys,
I have a question concerning testosterone during surgery.
The standard procedure here is that FTM guys quit T a while before surgery (like two weeks).
I´m worried about this because estrogen makes me feel like ->-bleeped-<-. I don´t mean a little bit down but full blown depression/moodswings/anxiety.
I don´t want to be going into surgery a nutcase. So I have two questions.
- Is this absolutely necessary. I assume cismen are not required to somehow lower their T levels before going into any kind of surgery. So why are we?
- Have you quit testosterone before and during surgery, and how would you describe you felt during that time? Compared to being on T.
Thank you ;D
This thread goes into it a bit: https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,227247.0.html
I was actually off T for surgery because of a complicated situation, my surgeon didn't require me to stop though and it seems 50/50 from what I've seen whether people have to or not.
As for being off of it-
I was off for roughly 3 weeks before and 2 weeks after surgery. Long story short, I was submitting for insurance coverage because they finally lifted the exclusion, my doctor took 4 weeks to send the damn paperwork, and I got denied anyways (fighting it though). I've missed two doses before just because of depression and I know for me personally, missing a dose or two isn't a problem. But I was slammed with a lot of stressful ->-bleeped-<- right after surgery, and being off of T was the cherry on top. Around 3 weeks off I was noticeably more emotional than normal and 4 weeks off I was definitely having more problems with my midnight intrusive thoughts and anxiety which all makes my depression worse. 5 weeks off I had a breakdown and it entirely stemmed from the stress related to being off of T. In my case it was just terrible timing that being off happened to coincide with surgery. My mental health around that time was in the pits and while being off of T was a big role in that, I also had other stressors in my life that also contributed (namely insurance battles).
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I don't know what it's like going off T but I know what it's like going off E for 8 months and I assume two weeks of no T is going to tank the body, but not as seriously as I experienced with zero external hormones for an extended period of time. Both T and E fulfill very similar functions in the body if you set aside the sex-specific things they do - they regulate mood and have all sorts of other effects on basic body functions like cell repair.
Without either anxiety basically goes through the roof, anxious thoughts become intrusive and constant, things like muscle repair are seriously slow, sleep sucks and fatigue is the order of the day. There's an increase in feeling lots of small and random pains in the body from time to time - I assume as a result of the slowed healing and repair from lack of hormones.
I would guess that 2 weeks off T is not nearly this bad, but that would will see some tanking of mood, increase in emotional or anxiety responses, and probably see your energy levels and sleep suffer noticeably.
I have yet to get the surgery so I don't know, but if I have to quit T for a short while, I'm going to have to brace myself for the psychological and physical impact I know will be coming for me. At least I know my enemy now, so to speak, when it comes to what hormones do and don't do, and what to expect. Hopefully it will be nowhere near as hellish as 8 months was.
(This is the reason I get annoyed at the local pharmacy when they mess with my prescriptions or take weeks to get it in stock... just remembering what it's like to not have proper hormones is enough to make me keep 6 months' supply "just in case".)