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Curious, but worried too...

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by Newdays, Jan 16, 2019.

  1. Newdays

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    Hi.
    I'm a birth born male but for years have had "on-and-off" feelings about my gender. I have recently done ALOT of personal reflection and thinking. I feel I might want to "transition," at some point, but my biggest worry is the possible health dangers of HRT.
    I've done ALOT of researching on HRT too, and seems like dangers may be small, BUT, are still there...
    Does anyone know if there may be more safer ways of going about HRT in near future? (i.e...more "natural" forms of HRT).
    Thank you!
     
  2. Brandy Bee

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    Anything I've read about "natural" supplements for feminising yourself are generally not recommended, if only because you may not see the result you want, if any result at all.
    Perhaps the best place to start is at your doctor or a therapist. I'm starting therapy shortly and we'll see where that brings us.
    In the meantime, can you dress more to your make you look the way you want?
     
  3. Newdays

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    Hi Brandy Bee.
    Thanks for the reply. Yes, I can, but need to in BIG TIME privacy...I help my mom at home (she's 84 and needs the physical sometimes and financial help from me). So I can't freely go about at home to try and explore more about myself by dressing more the way I feel.
    When I do go on my own it will be the opposite for sure! I will dress how I feel inside myself more...that will definitely help in my deciding :slight_smile:.
    I heard of some plant-based estrogen called "Ogen" Estrogen? It's in health food stores I believe, if I read it correctly. But, it's a weaker form of Estrogen...but, none the less, still Estrogen..So I thought about trying that.
    How are you doing?

    Thanks again so much! ")
     
  4. Brandy Bee

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    My understanding of hormone therapy is that the highest chance of safe and satisfactory results, comes from a medically supervised balance of androgen blockers and estrogen supplementation.
    I have no experience nor am I qualified by any authority to make any recommendation, apart from the common sense recommendation that you be careful with what goes into your body's unique chemistry.
     
  5. denouement

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    As far as how "natural" it is... it's just hormones. Essentially a bigger dose of something your body already produces. I believe most are made synthetically (like, in a lab) but I've never seen anything myself to indicate that makes them more or less effective or have more/less side effects than if they were made of something more "natural" sounding. Since it's a small market of people who need hormones, and the majority probably don't care whether it's synthetic or not, my guess is we won't see any alternatives or improvements any time soon.

    Before you start HRT, your doctor should talk to you about the risks (even if you already researched it yourself) and your/family's health history.... from that discussion they should be able to tell you whether taking HRT will put you at significant risk for certain things, or if it's not necessary to worry about. As you take them you will likely be seeing your doctor to check in anyway, and they will keep an eye out for anything that does pop up.

    FWIW I think a lot of the risks depend on your family health history and your personal health as well. If you are particularly unhealthy or your family has a history of something, obviously going on HRT will affect your risk for that thing, and your doctor will probably discuss that with you before you start.

    My guess is the plant-based estrogen you mentioned is meant as a supplement, maybe a menopause supplement? Similar to testosterone boosting supplements for men. I heard a lot about "natural transition" a few years ago, aka eating certain foods and taking supplements to mimic the effect of testosterone (well, that's what I was interested in, I'm sure there was something similar but estrogen based). You can look it up yourself, but iirc the consensus was that plain ol' HRT is the most effective way to transition, no contest. Supplements and such probably won't do much if anything, and may even harm your body if you take them outside of recommended doses. If you're interested in that definitely do your research and talk to your doctor before trying it, and keep in mind you will likely see no result or very small result.