Hello and good afternoon ladies! I really want to see a gender therapist and start HRT but I just have a few questions prior. Let's say I'm on HRT and I've been taking (no orchi or SRS) for 5+ years, is it normal for the body to lose the ability to produce and regulate its own hormones over a period of time (I realize if not that it would be producing testosterone again and I'd probably lose a lot of whatever I got on HRT) if I wanted for some reason to stop taking hormones? Or would I be permanently dependent on taking estrogen or testosterone for the sake of good health?

I've also heard some of you mention the risks of stopping HRT and getting osteoporosis as well as post menopausal effects. Does this only apply to the ladies who get orchi or SRS? For now I have plans of staying non-op (although that may change in the future )

I did - by the time I had GRS, three years on HRT, the pathology report said my testicles were totally nonfunctional. (Of course, the adrenal glands produce small amounts of both types of hormones, but it's usually not enough to rely on to prevent ill effects.) However, the general wisdom is that you can't *assume* HRT will eventually shut down native hormone production permanently; the only thing guaranteed to do that is, of course, removing the hormone-producing organs.

So if you wanted to go off of estrogen, you'd probably need to have your T levels checked after a while without HRT (months?) to see if your native production had bounced back or not.

The damage done by estrogen is similar to but more extensive than the damage done by some men taking excessive T.  Sometimes, they come back.  There are some ways to increase the odds of them coming back but it's is a very reeal risk.

That dress is awesome!

1 post that's off topic and a link?  I would be very wary of clicking said link

Please don't reply to spam report it to Mods. No matter how awesome the dress!!!

To the op. Yes osteoporosis is an issue and a reason why self medication is bad for you. You really need a medic to check how you are going.

Quote from: Cindy on October 24, 2013, 02:46:58 AM
Please don't reply to spam report it to Mods. No matter how awesome the dress!!!

Sorry!

thank you very much everyone! Just one last question, does the same apply if I were to take estrogen without a t-blocker or Anti-Androgen? or does it make no difference ? Cause I'm trying to see if these concerns can just be avoided just by not taking a testosterone blocker. If not I'll just bite the bullet 

Thanks again ladies!

My understanding is that estrogen alone over time can be sufficient to cause a long term or possibly irreversible shutting down of the testes testosterone production, however there might be enough testosterone still produced (or converted) to cause continued male pattern hair loss and emotional effects from higher than desired T. Its really a question for your endocrinologist.

Quote from: tgdemi on October 28, 2013, 11:46:36 PM
thank you very much everyone! Just one last question, does the same apply if I were to take estrogen without a t-blocker or Anti-Androgen? or does it make no difference ? Cause I'm trying to see if these concerns can just be avoided just by not taking a testosterone blocker. If not I'll just bite the bullet 

Thanks again ladies!

I'm pretty sure I read on here that having high levels of both at the same time is bad for you.

Bodies are different; obligatory disclaimer there. But I never took an anti-androgen (and don't need one now post-op) and still had the permanent destruction of all testicular function. I was even on a very, very low E dose to boot.

(My T levels were solidly low-normal for a cis female, too. I'm guessing now, based on knowing that by GRS time they'd ceased functioning and on the test results for the three years before... that they gave up the ghost pretty early.)