I was misdiagnosed as bipolar, when the actual problem is gender dysphoria. You may want to talk to your psychiatrist about getting off of your bipolar meds IF you think it's a misdiagnosis. To me, the entire time I was on bipolar meds, I could tell they weren't helping me at all and actually creating a much worse situation. Getting on HRT should be much more relieving (because of actual transition progress) if your actual issue is gender dysphoria.
HRT:
-Estradiol: estrogen. The side effects that I've noticed are: none. The intended effects would be a mile long list.
-Spironolactone: anti-androgen. The main side effect is dehydration. It can cause low blood pressure, and salt cravings (electrolytes to fight the dehydration).
-Finasteride: anti-DHT (another androgen). The main reason to take this is regrowing lost hair, as well as possibly helping reduce the growth of body and facial hair (so I've heard). The side effects can be things like increased feminization (desireable), and loss of erections (could be a desired effect.) Don't let the side effect rumors sway you from transitioning. There are cis-men who take Finasteride to regrow hair, and complain of depression, loss of erections, and feminization. The reason these individuals are becoming depressed is they have full attachment to being male and don't want to be female.
You should be able to limit how long you take the anti-androgens by getting an orchiectomy (testicle removal). In my opinion, we should be offered orchiectomy immediately instead of put on anti-androgen pills as the primary option. I wanted to get an orchiectomy before I even had access to HRT.
