I can't believe I'm finally on hormones!
Photo by Roberto Sorin
The headline is shamelessly stolen from Mia. But yes, I started HRT exactly one month ago. To be specific, I use:
- Leuprorelin acetate in a monthly depot injection for three months
- Cyproterone acetate once a day
- Estrogen gel every day
Recently I was asked: how long do you have to take these? Answer is: for the rest of my life. At least the estrogen. The cyproterone acetate could be dropped when the testosterone producing organs are … gone. If you understand 😏
So what has changed? Not too much, to be honest. But one month is a very short time. These processes take a lot longer. Although I already have sometimes sweaty phases. And there is some change in bust size 🥳
Since estrogen often is associated with a more … erm flexible … emotional state I have to warn you: if you have ADHD and one of your symptoms is rejection sensitivity then be warned: the ups and downs from this will get steeper 😅 But if you know how you react in certain situations it’s (at least for me) pretty easy to catch this and moderate myself to a more rational point of view.
For the more scientific inclined readers, a short introduction to the various substances:
Leuprorelin acetate
This is a so called GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone) analogue. It’s one of the pretty famous puberty blockers but can be used anywhere where testosterone blood concentration should be reduced.
Cyproterone acetate
This is a classical testosterone blocker. It has a pretty bad reputation regarding side effects since historically it has been used for “chemical castration” on sex crime offenders. For this the daily dose was very high. The modern medication pattern is pretty safe for most side effects.
Estrogen
Yeah … what can I say? It’s one of the female sex hormones. This does not mean that it does not exist in the male (amab = assigned male at birth) body but in lower concentration. The other way around testosterone can also be found in female (afab = assigned female at birth, you get it …) bodies. But this time also in low concentrations.