T-Blockers Experience

[Lilian]

Hello everyone!

I will start a treatment with just T-blockers soon. So, I would like to know from you that have experienced the use of only T-blockers:

What kind of med combination? (Ex: finasteride + spiro)
What physical changes did you see? (including collateral effects)
How did it affected your dysphoria?

I didnt't found any specific topic about experiences with T-blockers, so please help me understand how does this works.

Thanks!!!

[RobynD]

I was on T-blockers (spiro) for about 4 months prior to starting estrogen (Estradiol). My T count did start to drop but not radically until i started estrogen.

I noticed some changes other than the common ones from taking a strong diuretic, that included softer hair. I started with gynecomastia from my younger years so i had breasts, and it seems like the Spiro only caused very minor changes there like additional fat. This was for only 4 months though and to be fair i took some phytoestrogens too, but in very low quantities.

Everything took off after starting estrogen

I believe one of the big risks and why you do not want to starve your body of all sex hormones is bone loss. You should be replacing the T with something.

[AnonyMs]

I didnt't found any specific topic about experiences with T-blockers, so please help me understand how does this works.

That's probably because its dangerous and nobody does it, at least not for more than a short while before starting estrogen. Search the forums for osteoporosis.

If this is a doctor prescribing for long term I think you might want to get a second opinion, and if you're doing it yourself getting a doctor would be a good idea about now.

[KayXo]

I started with estrogen and then added cyproterone acetate. I would never take a t-blocker alone because without any sex hormones (or very low levels), one usually feels lousy, tired, depressed, gets hot flashes, night sweats and over time, can experience problems with bone loss and memory, insulin sensitivity, fat gain, etc.

[Lilian]

That's probably because its dangerous and nobody does it, at least not for more than a short while before starting estrogen. Search the forums for osteoporosis.

If this is a doctor prescribing for long term I think you might want to get a second opinion, and if you're doing it yourself getting a doctor would be a good idea about now.

I didn't talked to a doctor yet. But I have read that some people go on T-blockers for 1-2 months just to see how they feels about their dysphoria.

[AnonyMs]

I didn't talked to a doctor yet. But I have read that some people go on T-blockers for 1-2 months just to see how they feels about their dysphoria.

I didn't do it that way, but I thought you take one first so that you can see if anything bad happens and so you know what's causing it. I'm pretty sure its not going to have the same mental effect as taking estrogen though.

[Maybebaby56]

My endocrinologist put me on spironolactone and finasteride initially, at a very low dose. Six weeks later he upped the dosages of those and added a low dose of estradiol.  Six weeks after that he increased the dosages of spiro and estradiol. He said that hormone levels should be changed gradually.  Today he doubled my estradiol dosage, but left the spiro the same.  He said my creatinine levels were too high to increase the spiro.  This is why medical supervision is a must, and the drug regimen can be different for different people.

As far as the effect,  I didn't feel any different on spiro and finasteride, but again, it was a very low dose.  I did notice a difference starting low-dose estradiol.  My dysphoria started to disappear.  I felt happier with myself.  I no longer obsessed about transition (ironic, isn't it?).

Terri

[sparrow]

I had a similar experience to Terri.  I took only spiro for a month, and now I've been on estradiol & spiro for two months.  I didn't see any physical effect from the spiro other than a slight reduction in testicular volume.  Breast development after taking estradiol has been fairly rapid,  I'm almost at an A cup!  Like Terri, starting HRT was enough to kill the dysphoria dead and I enjoy thinking about millions of things other than transition again. 

[mfox]

I was on Spironolactone + Finasteride for the first 8 months.  The side effects, like salty cravings and nighttime bathroom breaks, were really annoying. 

Once I switched to Leuprorelin acetate (aka Prostap, a GnRH analog) that got a lot better.  And my T-levels dropped to zero (0.6 ng/DL to be exact).  It's great that I only need 1 shot every 3 months, instead of taking a pill twice a day. 

The downside is, I now have to add testosterone (with "testogel") to bring it back up to normal female levels.

But I don't think you can't safely use this kind of medication if you're only on a blocker.  Remember your body needs either testosterone or estrogen to function, or you might suffer irreversible bone loss for example.  My endo started HRT by using both a blocker and estrogen on day 1.