hey! I'm Keaton and I'm a bi trans guy who's almost 20. It's been 4 years since I came out to my family as trans and this past winter my parents finally began supporting me. Problem today is that I have chronically painful mensturation to the point of throwing up and the works, and it's doubled by the dysphoria it causes me. T will stop those, but I probably won't get on T for another year or so, just because I haven't even started the process yet. The other night my mom suggested going on birth control. She figured it would not only stop the whole thing and remove that pain and dysphoric obstacle for me, but also just make me feel more at peace knowing that even though I'll never have any type of sex that could get me pregnant, I'll just be a guy who can't anyway.
She suggested progesterone birth control because it's supposedly more effective than estrogen birth control. I tried doing some research, but obviously most resources are speaking to cis women and aren't mentioning my major concerns, like will it raise my estrogen levels, pike my dysphoria or make features anymore feminine, cause swelling/baby face me, etc. I like the idea of being on a control until and even still once I start T but i'm nervous about the effects it might have on me emotionally or physically that could in reality not help my dysphoria a ton either
Is anybody on progesterone birth control? Or estrogen based ones? What's the difference? Do they have effects a trans kid should know about, that they wouldn't mention necessarily because it wouldn't matter to a cis woman? Thanks a lot :)
Welcome to Susan's Place. You should discuss the side effects of birth control pills with your doctor however a progesterone based pill would be the better option in your case. Progesterone is not going to increase your dysphoria and isn't going to result in additional feminization of your body. The guys on the site often use progesterone for this purpose when they are unable to start T in a reasonable period of time.
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I got on the progesterone only pill before I started T because shark week was extremely irregular, heavy and painful. It completely stopped it for me and I experienced maybe one block of spotting in a year of being on the pill. Would recommend it to anyone. Shark week was a massive dysphoria trigger for me so it just allowed me to get on with my life and not have to worry. You have to take it every day at the same time for it to be effective though. Have a chat with your doctor about getting on it but I'd recommend progesterone over oestrogen, especially because the regular pills only regulate your cycle and you have to come off the pill for a week a month. Progesterone you just keep on taking daily so it stops it completely.
Yeah, I used it before T. Did the job fine.
I had no emotional or physical side effects, I know other people might have. One is it's 'androgenic'-like, it can make your skin greasy and cause acne. But if you're going on T you're gonna have to get used to that anyway.
It's better than estrogen because estrogen has addictive and withdrawal symptoms, including migraines. It is estrogen that causes water retention, progesterone doesn't (it controls it).
If you are over 18. Have parental support (all though not necessary since you are of age) You might try looking into informed convent clinics. You can get a T prescription without years of therapy and a letter and so on. That stated I totally think gender and regular therapy are fantastic things.
I am speaking from experience in the USA, if you are not here ymmv.