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[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Thank you, me too!

I had hyperprolactinemia early on in treatment, but that's the only health problem I know for sure that was caused by the estradiol. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism early in treatment, too, but my doctor neither would confirm nor deny whether the estrogen caused or impacted that somehow, but I've always suspected it did.

For me, at first they checked hormone levels and other things every month or maybe every three months, but then they got more 'hands off' once the levels stabilized. They were checking once per year, sometimes less often. They really only were checking if it had been a long time, or if something necessitated it, like gauging levels after surgery. My doctor retired just before the pandemic, so I was just getting prescription refills for that year without doing any sort of bloodwork or follow ups. I don't know if it's typical to just let a patient float around like that. But it seems like if you're younger, fit, healthy and don't smoke that at least doctors like my own don't seem to worry much or monitor for complications too closely.

[–]worried19[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Thanks for all the information. From what I've gathered, it's much more dangerous for natal females to be on testosterone vs. natal males to be on estrogen, so perhaps that's why they don't monitor you quite as closely. I hope everything stays stable for you as far as that's concerned.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Do you think testosterone is generally harder on the body than estrogen for both males and females? I kind of wonder that, though it seems that males generally have bodies made to run on lots of testosterone so it wouldn't be as risky for them to live on it.

Well that's a really good question you asked, I think it should be asked more, honestly. And thank you for saying that, generally speaking I'm a really lucky person, so my health should (🤞) stay gold!

[–]worried19[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Do you think testosterone is generally harder on the body than estrogen for both males and females?

I know for sure it's worse for females, and evidence bears that out.

The litany of health problems suffered by those who represented the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in Cold War-era competitions was laid bare during the Berlin doping trials between 1998 and 2000 in reunified Germany. Hepatitis, heart disease, liver tumors, and liver cancer were among the consequences. Women who received injections or ingested synthetic testosterone also had physical side effects such as acne, deepened voices, excess growth of leg hair and pubic hair, and enlarged clitorises. Some female athletes gave birth to children with club feet or other defects.

https://globalsportmatters.com/health/2019/11/07/ex-east-german-athletes-struggle-with-health-problems-due-to-the-consequences-of-ped-taking

And then to see doctors casually putting 12 year olds on testosterone for life! It's insane. The negative health effects don't disappear just because the female person in question does not want to be female.

https://www.transadvocate.com/ask-matt-do-trans-men-die-young_n_8713.htm

The author of the above article was dead from heart failure a year after writing it. And Kailey was only on testosterone in adulthood, not since middle school or high school. Now that research is actively being suppressed, I fear we won't know the true outcome of transition for natal females for many more decades.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Holy buckets that is sad all around. It's lovely and admirable to think that the way a person feels about themselves internally could supersede or even just dictate the way their body functions, but I don't know how there can be evidence like what happened to those athletes that professionals would ignore. Like in that article they say the trainers and doctors already knew the risks and harm, so they already knew way back then? How does that get forgotten or ignored?

I hadn't heard of Matt Kailey before, but reading his article and then what happened to him... that's dark and really compounds the worry. Hopefully it isn't the case, but I could see just some condition being made up called something like Sudden Trans Health Failure to describe an apparent rise in health problems in trans people and just have that be its own thing so as not to blame exogenous cross-sex hormones or surgical procedures. The lengths so many professionals (and much of the public) are going to to avoid scrutinizing transition-related medicine and healthcare is astonishing.

[–]Juniperius 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Like in that article they say the trainers and doctors already knew the risks and harm, so they already knew way back then? How does that get forgotten or ignored?

I expect it's because those athletes didn't have a magic identity, which obviously makes it totally different from giving the "correct" steroid hormones to trans people. If your soul wants testosterone, it will just instruct your body to accept it, and no health problems, see?

Seriously, we had a regular on the old sub who claimed that their body was "meant" to run on estrogen, that they had figured this out and began dosing themselves, and thereby cured all sorts of mysterious chronic health conditions that had baffled all the doctors.