How Will I Know That My Hormone Therapy Is Working
Doctors cannot predict how long hormone therapy will be effective in suppressing the growth of any individual mans prostate cancer. Therefore, men who take hormone therapy for more than a few months are regularly tested to determine the level of PSA in their blood. An increase in PSA level may indicate that a mans cancer has started growing again. A PSA level that continues to increase while hormone therapy is successfully keeping androgen levels extremely low is an indicator that a mans prostate cancer has become resistant to the hormone therapy that is currently being used.
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Who Is Feminizing Hormone Therapy For
Feminizing hormone therapy is an option for transwomen people who were assigned male at birth but identify as women. This therapy is a common treatment for gender dysphoria .
Nonbinary or intersex people may also choose to undergo feminizing hormone therapy. Nonbinary people have gender identities that dont fit inside traditional male or female categories. Intersex people are born with reproductive or sexual characteristics that dont fit traditional perceptions of male and female bodies. They may have conditions affecting their gonads, external genitals or chromosome patterns.
Stated simply, feminizing hormone therapy is for anyone who feels that theres a mismatch between their external appearance and their authentic sense of gender and self.
Preparation Before Taking Hormones
Before starting estrogen hormone therapy, it is important to gain as much information as possible. So always discuss the risks and side effects that hormone therapy may cause with a healthcare professional.
It is also essential that a person manages their expectations of when they will begin to see changes. Some people can take hormones for over a year before seeing any noticeable changes.
A persons healthcare provider may ask people to
The cost of estrogen hormone therapy can vary according to a range of factors. These include the type of hormones a person takes and how they use them.
A person wanting to transition must check that their health insurance covers the costs.
People must also check that the healthcare professional or medical center that their doctor has referred them to are in their insurance network.
There are several other gender-affirming procedures that people can opt for.
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Physical Effects Of Hormone Replacement Therapy During Mtf Transitioning
As previously said, the effects from the feminizing HRT depend upon many factors, among which:
- The age of the patient when they begin HRT. If the development of the secondary sexual characteristics is still ongoing, not yet started or has ended already.
- The aesthetic goal of the patient, which can vary from a mild demasculinization to achieve an androgynous result, to a marked feminization with total demasculinization.
- The subjective response of the patient to the medications, depending upon their own physiology.
In general, the expected physical changes in the MtF transgender patients are the following :
How Have Feminizing & Masculinizing Hrts Changed Over The Years
Hormone therapy has its origins in 1918 with Magnus Hirschfeld, a German physician who wanted to help his patients live according to their true gender identity. In the U.S., gender-affirming hormone therapy began to be pioneered in the 1940s, but even in the 1950s many Americans went to Denmark for treatment.
In 1979, the first Standards of Care for transgender health was published, and it is now in its 7th version. This document offers the medical community guidance related to feminizing and masculinizing HRTs.
Since the first Standards of Care was published, the medical community has learned more about the effects of feminizing and masculinizing HRTs.
This newfound information means that, should you decide to opt for HRT, you will benefit from a greater understanding of dosages, effects, and processes, as well as safer approaches with better results.
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Understanding The Dynamics Of Hormone Therapy
Hormone therapy for transgender is equivalent to taking medicine to alter sex hormones in the body. When the levels of sex hormones are changed, it will affect our attitudes like hair growth, voice pitch, muscle mass, distribution of fat. Other features connected with sex and gender also vary.
The therapy begins to produce any changes within weeks to months. For example, you may feel the following:
Feminising therapy for transgender breast growth on hormone has possessed several other physical benefits in addition to emotional respite. When your mind and body are closer to understanding each others language, it certainly eases gender dysphoria and helps you feel better about your body.
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Male To Female Hormone Replacement Therapy
Male to female hormones help men develop female characteristics like breasts and a more feminine body. The following article will discuss on this hormone therapy and its effects.
Male to female hormones help men develop female characteristics like breasts and a more feminine body. The following article will discuss on this hormone therapy and its effects.
There are many men around the world who feel trapped in their bodies. They think like a woman, feel like a woman, and want to develop physical characteristics like a woman. Cross dressers, transgenders and transvestites are looking for ways that will make them more feminine than masculine. There are many things that will help a man develop a female body, like sex change operations. Before one tries out something so drastic, male-to female-hormone therapies are used as the first step towards womanhood.
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What Hormones Are Used To Treat The Symptoms Of Menopause
The hormones most commonly used to treat symptoms of menopause are estrogen and progesterone. . Often, these 2 hormones are used together, but some women are given estrogen alone. Its important to know which hormones you are talking about when looking at the risks.
Common estrogen preparations used to treat menopausal symptoms include conjugated equine estrogens and estradiol, but several forms or types of estrogen are available.
There are also many progestins available, but medroxyprogesterone acetate , is often used with an estrogen to treat menopausal symptoms. Some preparations contain both an estrogen and a progestin.
Androgens are also sometimes used to treat menopausal symptoms. This is not common, though, and because only a few studies have looked at this practice, it isnt clear how safe it is in the long run.
Tibolone is a synthetic hormone drug that can act like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in different tissues of the body. Because this drug isnt available in the US, its not discussed here.
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Feminizing Hormone Therapy And Fertility
Gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy may affect your fertility, as it impacts sperm production. While some transgender women can produce sperm again after stopping hormone treatment, research indicates that this may not be the case universally, and there is a risk of permanent infertility with long-term use of hormones. If you would like to have biological children, ask your doctor about your options with freezing your sperm before starting hormones.
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Hair Loss Or Androgenic Alopecia: How Does It Happen
Androgenetic alopecia is the term used to call the hair loss phenomenon that occurs in both men and women. Individuals may also experience temporary hair loss or shedding due to telogen effluvium, a disorder that is caused by different triggers like stress or shock. To better understand how female pattern and male pattern hair loss happens, lets look at the three important phases of hair growth:
- Anagen During this first phase, the follicles will push and grow hair from the roots until it reaches its maximum length. This phase may last between 2 to 7 years.
- Catagen This is usually a transition period where the hair follicles begin to shrink and the growth of new hair slows down. This typically marks the end of the anagen phase.
- Telogen The hair cycle begins its resting period and sometimes hair shedding is common in this phase as the hair falls from its roots. It is also during this stage that new hairs grow inside the follicle to prepare for the new cycle of hair growth.
The entire hair growth cycle and the composition of the hair follicle are influenced by hormones. There are two main types of hormones: androgen and estrogen hormones. In male pattern baldness, androgens like testosterone and dihydrotestosterone can affect the size of the hair follicle. Low testosterone and the presence of DHT may cause hair loss in men.
Hormone Replacement Therapy For Men
Testosterone is a hormone produced by the testicles that are responsible for mens health. When a person gets older, they experience hormone deficiency that affects many body functions. Men suffer from erectile dysfunction, loss of muscular strength and bone density, depression, and many other symptoms. We aim at helping every person live a full life with testosterone replacement therapy.
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Myths About Being On Testosterone
Unfortunately, there are a ton of harmful misconceptions about testosterone treatment. Here, we dispel four of the most commonly held myths about masculinizing hormones:
Testosterone Changes Your Personality
Many people believe that testosterone can make you more aggressive and violent. But in most cases, people who believe in these kinds of effects are confusing T for steroids, which do induce a kind of roid rage in those who abuse it.
If you stick to a plan with a health care practitioner that specializes in transgender hormone therapy, you wont ever go beyond reasonable and healthy testosterone levels. Yes, taking T can induce irritability and mood swings, but this can also be because your body is adjusting to the change in hormone levels. In fact, a study found that cisgender men with low testosterone reported better mental health after starting hormone therapy.
Testosterone Stops You From Getting Pregnant
Being on masculinizing hormone treatment does not prevent pregnancy. While long-term use can stop you from ovulating, and thus stop your period from coming every month, it doesnt make you completely sterile. If you still have your ovaries, your body will still produce estrogen, the hormone that aids in fertility. As long as you still have eggs in your ovaries and a healthy level of estrogen, youre still at risk of getting pregnant.
Kids Can Start Using Hormones If They Want To
If You Identify As Trans, You Need To Be On Testosterone
Physiological Effects Of Sex Hormones On Athletic Performance
Testosterone therapy does not create a competitive advantage in sports for trans men compared to cis men.
However, there is controversy around whether trans women or women with high testosterone concentrations have a competitive advantage in elite athletic events.
To help define their inclusion criteria, the U.S. National College Association of Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Committee and NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports recently asked a small group of researchers including Drs. Bradley Anawalt and Alvin Matsumoto to prepare a report summarizing what is known about the physiological effects of sex hormones on athletic performance.
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How To Get Access To Estrogen Hormone Therapy
If a person decides to transition, it is essential to receive estrogen hormone therapy from healthcare professionals.
Buying and taking hormones from other sources carries many risks, such as poor quality of drugs, improper doses, and possible harm.
In order to start the process, a person must discuss their options with a healthcare professional.
Transcaresite has a directory of trans-friendly medical professionals. If an individuals healthcare insurance covers the cost of transitioning, it is important to check that the healthcare professional a person chooses is in their insurance network.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health recommends healthcare professionals and individuals undergo several steps before starting estrogen hormone therapy.
These include:
The GLMA is the national LGBTQI+ medical association that also has provider listings for trans-affirming care.
- psychiatric, including any mental health conditions
- social, such as social support and legal history
- family, such as a history of psychiatric illnesses, suicides, and substance use
- developmental, such as education level and any history of trauma
- any instances of substance use
Health Risks Of Serms
Common side effects of SERMs include hair loss, nausea, mood disturbance, and hot flashes . In addition, long-term use of SERMs have been associated with several other risks, all of which are important to consider when balancing their potential use as a gender affirming treatment.
First, as previously observed with estrogen replacement therapy for postmenopausal cisgender women , an increased risk of thromboembolic events has been associated with SERM use. RLX has been shown to increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis by up to 54% and the risk of pulmonary embolism by 91% . Similar data is available for tamoxifen . Whether the rates of stroke and myocardial infarctions are also increased remains unclear, with previous studies showing inconsistent results .
Secondly, long-term SERM use has been associated with hypertriglyceridemia and hepatic steatosis , as well as altered glucose metabolism and increased risk of diabetes . In a 12-year longitudinal study involving over 22,000 cisgender women with breast cancer, a 31% increased diabetes risk was observed in tamoxifen users versus non-users . Notably, the majority of SERM-based metabolic studies have been conducted on cisgender women with and without breast cancer . Whether similar metabolic effects would occur in those AMAB is unclear.
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Cost Of Hormone Replacement Therapy For Transgender Women
The cost of this type of treatment mainly depends on the country that you live in. However, if youre lucky enough to be living in Canada, medication and gender reassignment surgery can be offered to you for free granted that you have passed the qualifications and psychological evaluations.
If youre in the US, you could also seek help from UCSF Transgender Care.
For the rest of the world, it can be quite pricey, and in some cases, downright unreachable.
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How To Start Hormone Replacement Therapy
This article was co-authored by Inge Hansen, PsyD. Dr. Inge Hansen, PsyD, is the Director of Well-Being at Stanford University and the Weiland Health Initiative. Dr. Hansen has professional interests in social justice and gender and sexual diversity. She earned her PsyD from the California School of Professional Psychology with specialized training in the area of gender and sexual identity. She is the co-author of The Ethical Sellout: Maintaining Your Integrity in the Age of Compromise.There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 95% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 103,310 times.
The decision to start male-to-female hormone replacement therapy can be an exciting choice. For many people, hormone treatment is the first step to transitioning physically into a female body. First, you will need to find a doctor who can prescribe you female hormones. You will take these hormones by patch, pill, or injection. As your body begins to change, you may need to manage side effects or reduce unwanted features. After a few years on hormones, you can begin to consider surgery.
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Serms May Promote Feminine Body Shape And Changes In Skin
Similar to estradiol hormone treatment, SERMs have been found to promote changes in body composition and skin that may be desired by non-binary people AMAB. In post-menopausal cisgender women, studies have found RLX to be an estrogen receptor agonist in adipose tissue, promoting shifts from android to gynoid fat patterns and increasing fat-free mass and total body water . In this way, RLX may contribute to a more feminine body shape. In other studies of post-menopausal cisgender women, RLX has been shown to increase skin elasticity and stimulate collagen biosynthesis . Thus, RLX is likely to promote softer, more stereotypically feminine skin. Though these changes may assist in the partial feminization of a non-binary individual AMAB, the effects of SERMs on skin and body composition are not widely studied outside of the population of post-menopausal cisgender women and further research is needed.