Ftm transition and past contraception use

[onlytwin]

Sorry if this doubles up any past threads, but I tried searching and couldn't find this specific topic:

I'm AFAB and have been on various oral contraceptives, on and off due to side-effects, since my mid-teens, albeit with some longish gaps (side-effects again).

This is mainly due to having period problems, which I only finally managed to get under workable control the last few years with an estradiol IUD (Mirena).

I am considering starting androgen treatment, but does anyone know if there are particular  issues I should be aware of in light of having basically been topping up "natural" female hormones with various artificial ones since mid-puberty?

Also, are there issues about more irreversible changes like hysterectomy or removal of ovaries that could be affected by having been on hormonal contraception?

I'm also asking as discontinuing hormonal contraception couldn't affect benefits from it I've been pretty reliant on for a while - the IUD gave me my first real break from spending half my time with mood swings and a quarter with debilitating cramps, and even with sex-based body dysphoria I do not look forward to managing without.

Any advice?

[Kylo]

It's possible if you go straight from having normal or high E levels from using BC pills that the T might be fighting the effects of the E for a short while.

But that's just a thought based on my own experience. I was (ab)using BC pills long term before T, but quit the estrogen based ones almost a year before getting T because the GP advised it. I know the blood work indicated my E levels dropped to almost nothing and I was quite ill for several months as a result, but when I took T I improved quickly and all the negative physical and mental withdrawal symptoms went away pretty much overnight with it. But the changes on T for me were fast, and I think it was probably because of that period of having nearly no E to possibly interfere with it.

What I do know is that T replaces most of the actions of E so if you go right into T and quit the contraceptive measures you shouldn't have a problem with things like migraines, poor skin, fatigue and paranoia and stuff like that which I had. If you try to quit any E cold turkey after you've been taking it continuously, withdrawal is definitely a thing. You can expect it to be unpleasant if you don't have T on hand to replace it, I guess.

Your body stops making its own E completely if you take E based BC long term, and it can take a long time for it to realize you're not feeding it external E before it finally gets back to making its own. Like anything from 3 months to a year or more.  I went 8 months after quitting E and my natural levels were still pathetic by the time I finally got T. So if I were you I'd just get the androgens and start using them the same day you quit using the female hormones. Don't take both at once. Get the other stuff removed before taking any male hormones like androgel or T Cip.   

I didn't get any advice from GPs or the specialist prescribing hormones at the GIC that my long term (ab)use of contraceptive pills was something to worry about with hysterectomy. They didn't say it was a risk or anything.