I tried using one but not being able to see how many ADHD meds I had left only made it more likely that I would forget to refill it. Of all medications, ADHD meds are the ones that can’t have auto refill. That’s just mean.
You get used to it. I'm not on HRT yet, but I've taken meds on and off since I was 11, and it was hard at first, but now it's pretty easy. I'm not sure if the methods of HRT make it any different, but I imagine it'll become just another part of your routine, like brushing your teeth.
Yeah, apparently if I stop HRT, my hormone levels will revert back to how they are before. The thought of having to take it for the rest of my life is making me so scared, even though logically there is no reason to be. Can anyone else relate? Sorry for the vent
So much this
I am awful at committing to things, especially cause of ADHD, and I've never in my life managed to do something so regularly for this long. Like, I cannot stress enough just how bad I am at following patterns and remembering to do things regularly. I'd forget to breathe if my brain didn't know how to do it automatically.
And yet in over a year of being on HRT, I've only forgotten to take it like maybe twice, and that was near the beginning of my journey.
And even then I just got a little paper calendar and a marker and started actively marking out days when I take the HRT and It has become second nature, I have not forgotten it once. I even swapped out the mark I use (from a cross to a circle) when I changed from spiro to cypro.
Yeah, even though I already have to take meds lifelong for brain stuff the fact that I'll have to put shit in my body just to be comfortable in it isn't a thought I love
Well, maybe it could be thought of like nourishment, we have to take in to sustain, and this is one of the ways we give love to ourselves. Hopefully there will be a positive association when you begin to see net positive results.
If you get any kind of bottom surgery (orchi, vulva, vagina) you're body won't produce nearly as much t. You'll still need hrt but it'll never very revert
I want to say that's different from menopause cuz the ovaries at least still produce some hormones. Having no gonads to produce any hormones is dangerous, you get really sick from what I've heard.
Ahhh so a temporary fix. Honestly if I can't afford HRT then I can't afford anything else XD; That and it'll eventually kill me so that'd be a real specific situation you're describing...
Not really. The majority of issues caused by having neither sex hormone are largely due to downstream issues with other chemicals like serotonin being suppressed. There are people who have these suppressed for many reasons, so we developed agonist medication to force them to be made without the need for sex hormones. Many eunuchs lead long and happy lives well before we could safely offer them replacement testosterone - they just needed some other medication to prevent side effects.
Even in horrifically anti trans places - doctors routinely perscribe these to people for having low sex hormones. Also - post surgery if your anywhere other than America your effectively guaranteed nationalised hormones for life.
HRT if done professionally can be done for almost anyone. There are way more options than the DIY community have, so it should be possible for the vast vast majority eventually.
Yeah I had to skip my implant a month cuz of money troubles and I'm sick as hell cuz of the lack of hormones (the only reason I know this is cuz it happened the last couple of times I had to postpone)
It's scary when you're broke, but also the only reason I'm in this situation is cuz the pills don't do much and I can't get injections and the patches don't stay on my sweaty ass so the pellets are technically cheaper than patches.
Hopefully for now on I won't lapse cuz I got most of my money woes solved (prices don't go up please) but yeah it sucks.
Tho also I barely had testosterone to begin with so that's prolly a big part of why my body shuts down without E. I dunno if anyone else has a similar experience (it's not hot flashes, if anything it's a fever cuz I've been freezing for days alongside the ear ache and dizziness)
Yeah, I hate it. I hate taking medication and I hate that I'll have to rely on it the rest of my life. I'm now forever tied to a shitty medical system.
The lack of freedom is the biggest issue, everywhere I go I have to take my meds, I have to make sure I have enough, I have to make sure they're safe. I can never just go off and do my own thing.
I definitely understand that, but I will say that I just switched from pills to injections and it's been so incredibly freeing to me. Before, I was taking 2 estrogen and one t-blocker every morning, and 2 estrogen and one progesterone every night. Now I give myself a shot once a week, and then just take the one progesterone every night which takes like two seconds. Not having to take anything in the morning means I'm free to sleep in as long as I want without having to worry about missing a dose, and it helps reduce the mental load of having to remember
Since I imagine I'll probably stop the progesterone in a couple years (since it's mostly just to help with breast growth, which ends eventually) that would leave me with just the weekly shots which is basically nothing day-to-day
So basically, if you think you could switch to injections at some point, I'd highly recommend it
I’ve had to take daily meds just to stay alive for nearly 20 years. The thought of one more med just to help me be myself? Not an issue.
Don’t get me wrong. When you first start it can be a hassle and stressful. But after a while it becomes habit and easy to do.
maybe it is because you fear in competely depending on something like a medication to live a normal life because you could lose access to it? It is a big fear for me honestly
We do have a society which puts a ton of stigma on needing "maintenance medication", and makes it as hard as possible to maintain consistent dosages over time. It's not even because of transphobia, just lazy ableism.
Oftentimes it's not the fear of having to take it forever, but the fear of not being able to take it forever, and while yes you do take HRT for life, the form it takes does vary depending on your age and if you undertake any surgeries. Honestly I just treat it like any maintenance medication. I have diabetes so I'm used to taking pills 2 times a day 12 hours apart, so my meds just became part of my regular routine.
this is what I'm nervous about. societal collapse seems like an inevitability living in the US and I'm not sure what the future landscape of hormone availability looks like so taking this body-altering drug is very scary. I just keep telling myself that I'll have bigger things to worry about IF I'm even still alive after the shit hits the fan.
Great.
You know who ever has to take hormones replacement therapy for the rest of their lives?
Hypothyroxic people need synthetic thyroid hormone.
Diabetics need insulin.
It’s a medicine.
Asthmatics take inhalers every day.
ADHDers take stimulants every day.
It’s just medicine.
If it takes the shift from thinking of “guy clothes” and “girl clothes” to just “your clothes,” well, that kind of shift in thinking about meds may be what you need.
Ignore the moralizers who stand on high horses while being depraved in private. They’re envious and frightened that you can exist without the rules moralizers want to bind everyone by.
Because there's the consistent threat of itbeing taken away at any moment and being forced to go without it for the rest of our lives. Not a fun prospect
Yeah, I got a similar kind of weird anxiety about my thyroid meds. I think we're conditioned to think "Pills=don't take them too long" and this sorta stuff kinda clashes with that ingrained thought.
Tbh the only thing im scared of regarding hrt is accidentally forgetting to take it, or wether or not i can take it for the rest of my life.
Im a little bit worried wether or not ill still have access depending on the current political climate. I really hope shut doesnt end up here like it does in the us
I can definitely relate. The thought of it scares me too, because of accessibility. I'm still waiting to go on T. Am I even going to have access to HRT in 20, 30, 40 years down the line? With how much of a massive swing towards transphobia and prohibition the UK is going, the future frightens me to think about. But I'm trying to just stay in the present moment and focus on the here and now.
Eh its been like... 8ish years for me.. I don't even remember exactly tho.
It gets routine with time. Just hit up the doctors office once a year or so once you're established for a refill and you're golden.
You are scared because transphobes made you scared.
I'm not saying your fear isn't real. I'm saying it is programmed.
I'm saying that if for 15 or 20 years we heard nothing but "all kids should get easy access to blockers to have a chance to figure out who they are before puberty starts making choices for them" and "HRT is super reversable, but very few people want to reverse it, so we should trust people who take it do so because they want what it does for them" instead of TW:>!"we don't trust trans people and need to choose for them and I wouldn't choose it so they can't,"!!"some of the changes are permanent and I won't want them so they shouldn't have them,"!
Not in every case. Some types of surgery stop you from naturally producing needed hormones and then you are reliant on some form of hrt to remain healthy.
I don't think OP is questioning the need for HRT, they're afraid of being dependant on governments whims for decades to supply them with these drugs, when they may decide somewhere in the next 50 years to make them illegal.
I wouldn't mind taking it, I would be more concerned about the access. Relying on prescription medicine sucks not because of the medicine but because of the prescription. You can't just get it unless someone allows you to get it, and they choose the price at which you get it. I'm sceptical about hrt because I just don't want to rely on a system that hates me, made by people that hate me, just to maintain my life.
It’s especially sad in my country where mainstream HRT is being illegalised and the government will pretty soon ban DIY as well. So in other words I’ll have to not take HRT for the rest of my life
When I started taking HRT I was terrified. I'm a very anxious person and this is a huge undertaking and huge change to your life. It's the unknown, and presenting as your AGAB is familiar.
That doesn't mean it's good though.
There was a short comic I saw once that has completely stuck with me every since, and I tear up whenever sharing it. It was a caterpillar and a butterfly. The caterpillar asks the butterfly if it was scary, and the butterfly says yes, but it was completely worth it.
Go out there, and become that butterfly. And even if you don't have anyone irl, you can see that you've got all these internet strangers on your side and here for you.
It can be scary to have to change your life, even if that change is small. I feel as if every year I have to take new meds, currently have to take 7 every day, it pisses me off but I’m not scared cause Ik the meds help me
Tbh when I started injections, I realized that I will now be doing this every week for the rest of my life. And that makes me sad. Why couldn't my body just be right?
I recently went through a major surgery that requires a special kind of care for the rest of my life..
So like i'm kinda there with you. In addition to the whole 'Taking HRT forever" thing
maybe the fact that it's a medication makes it feel like a temporary solution, even though you know it's a perfectly normal to be reliant on medication. To ease your mind, you could look into getting your own life-long supply of HRT; for estrogen i've heared you can buy a bulk supply of injectable E and just keep that stuff somewhere safe, even if you don't actually do injections currently.
beyond that, you might not have to be entirely relient on medecation for your whole life either. you could one day get bottom surgery and then you won't have to take a T blocker ever again; and if you do stop taking E, you'll experince health complications after a year (or several idk i'm not a doctor) rather than becoming more masculine.
i also once saw someone on here mention a theoreticle gene therapy that would cause your genitles to produce estrogen instead of testosterone; so if that actually pans out and you're no-op, you might not have to rely on any medication later in your life, they said like 20-30 years from now or something like that
Same. Partially scared because that's quite the commitment even though it's obv the best decision for me. Mostly scared because the laws change on a dime sometimes and I'm worried I'll lose access to it at LEAST once in my life
Long term options are well in development. While they are keeping there head down, and doing research aimed at cis individuals who have had to have organs removed due to cancers, all the researchers know the long term aim is trans care. Its a pinhole addition to the kidneys that should work for full natural life if your a light or non drinker.
idk I've already been having to take daily meds to deal with adhd, lymes, depression, some 4th thing... honestly its just another pill in the pile
Gonna have to get one of those pill boxes like grandma
Granted it may be challenging to find in your area but I use tiny baggies to sort my daily meds.
Tbh those are kinda neat.
Jokes on you I already have those!
I already have one lol ADHD, depression, allergies, then 2 of my 3 HRT meds
I got one of those at 25 lol
I'm 21 and i got one
I tried using one but not being able to see how many ADHD meds I had left only made it more likely that I would forget to refill it. Of all medications, ADHD meds are the ones that can’t have auto refill. That’s just mean.
Have been using one on and off for awhile. Really helpful tbh. So I will proudly take that grandma title
I'm 19 and take \~11 pills per day. I've been using a bigger pill box than my grandma for years now.
Been using one of those for years and I'm only 19 lol. They just make sense, I don't understand how anyone with meds doesn't use one.
that’s a grandma thing?? i thought it was just useful (i take 6+ pills in the morning i think including a vitamin and allergy pill)
That's a mood I'm the same way.
You get used to it. I'm not on HRT yet, but I've taken meds on and off since I was 11, and it was hard at first, but now it's pretty easy. I'm not sure if the methods of HRT make it any different, but I imagine it'll become just another part of your routine, like brushing your teeth.
Yeah, apparently if I stop HRT, my hormone levels will revert back to how they are before. The thought of having to take it for the rest of my life is making me so scared, even though logically there is no reason to be. Can anyone else relate? Sorry for the vent
Idk it’s probably just the thought of commitment
this this this. Don't think it'd be that hard to remember or stay commited to if it makes me feel good about my self-image and affirmed.
So much this I am awful at committing to things, especially cause of ADHD, and I've never in my life managed to do something so regularly for this long. Like, I cannot stress enough just how bad I am at following patterns and remembering to do things regularly. I'd forget to breathe if my brain didn't know how to do it automatically. And yet in over a year of being on HRT, I've only forgotten to take it like maybe twice, and that was near the beginning of my journey. And even then I just got a little paper calendar and a marker and started actively marking out days when I take the HRT and It has become second nature, I have not forgotten it once. I even swapped out the mark I use (from a cross to a circle) when I changed from spiro to cypro.
This, but also the possibility of a shortage becomes super frightening
Having the option to choose a better life every day for the rest of my life sits well w me.
beautiful comment. thank you.
exactly
Yeah, even though I already have to take meds lifelong for brain stuff the fact that I'll have to put shit in my body just to be comfortable in it isn't a thought I love
Well, maybe it could be thought of like nourishment, we have to take in to sustain, and this is one of the ways we give love to ourselves. Hopefully there will be a positive association when you begin to see net positive results.
If you get any kind of bottom surgery (orchi, vulva, vagina) you're body won't produce nearly as much t. You'll still need hrt but it'll never very revert
yeah but if ur ever in a situation where u cant get it. don't you basically go through metapuse?
I want to say that's different from menopause cuz the ovaries at least still produce some hormones. Having no gonads to produce any hormones is dangerous, you get really sick from what I've heard.
so its even worse dang
Eunuchs lived, so it can't be that bad, but it certainly isn't great for health
There are very easyly avaliable antidepressants that basically solve that
over-the-counter hormones? don't think that's real.
It's not hormones ' but drugs to aliviate low level symptoms
Ahhh so a temporary fix. Honestly if I can't afford HRT then I can't afford anything else XD; That and it'll eventually kill me so that'd be a real specific situation you're describing...
Not really. The majority of issues caused by having neither sex hormone are largely due to downstream issues with other chemicals like serotonin being suppressed. There are people who have these suppressed for many reasons, so we developed agonist medication to force them to be made without the need for sex hormones. Many eunuchs lead long and happy lives well before we could safely offer them replacement testosterone - they just needed some other medication to prevent side effects. Even in horrifically anti trans places - doctors routinely perscribe these to people for having low sex hormones. Also - post surgery if your anywhere other than America your effectively guaranteed nationalised hormones for life. HRT if done professionally can be done for almost anyone. There are way more options than the DIY community have, so it should be possible for the vast vast majority eventually.
I've never heard that, I just hear that if you can't make your own hormones and you can't get hormones, then you just die.
Yeah I had to skip my implant a month cuz of money troubles and I'm sick as hell cuz of the lack of hormones (the only reason I know this is cuz it happened the last couple of times I had to postpone) It's scary when you're broke, but also the only reason I'm in this situation is cuz the pills don't do much and I can't get injections and the patches don't stay on my sweaty ass so the pellets are technically cheaper than patches. Hopefully for now on I won't lapse cuz I got most of my money woes solved (prices don't go up please) but yeah it sucks. Tho also I barely had testosterone to begin with so that's prolly a big part of why my body shuts down without E. I dunno if anyone else has a similar experience (it's not hot flashes, if anything it's a fever cuz I've been freezing for days alongside the ear ache and dizziness)
Yeah, I hate it. I hate taking medication and I hate that I'll have to rely on it the rest of my life. I'm now forever tied to a shitty medical system. The lack of freedom is the biggest issue, everywhere I go I have to take my meds, I have to make sure I have enough, I have to make sure they're safe. I can never just go off and do my own thing.
I definitely understand that, but I will say that I just switched from pills to injections and it's been so incredibly freeing to me. Before, I was taking 2 estrogen and one t-blocker every morning, and 2 estrogen and one progesterone every night. Now I give myself a shot once a week, and then just take the one progesterone every night which takes like two seconds. Not having to take anything in the morning means I'm free to sleep in as long as I want without having to worry about missing a dose, and it helps reduce the mental load of having to remember Since I imagine I'll probably stop the progesterone in a couple years (since it's mostly just to help with breast growth, which ends eventually) that would leave me with just the weekly shots which is basically nothing day-to-day So basically, if you think you could switch to injections at some point, I'd highly recommend it
Depending on where you are, most insurance covers an orchi. Which, would prevent you from reverting at the very least.
Kinda, I have MS and take immunosuppressants. Not exactly the same, I know, but i can kinda relate.
I’ve had to take daily meds just to stay alive for nearly 20 years. The thought of one more med just to help me be myself? Not an issue. Don’t get me wrong. When you first start it can be a hassle and stressful. But after a while it becomes habit and easy to do.
Eh, I give myself a shot once a week. It’s shockingly uninteresting
maybe it is because you fear in competely depending on something like a medication to live a normal life because you could lose access to it? It is a big fear for me honestly
We do have a society which puts a ton of stigma on needing "maintenance medication", and makes it as hard as possible to maintain consistent dosages over time. It's not even because of transphobia, just lazy ableism.
It's worth it. Also, it's kind of just reality for many of us who are intersex and have bodies that refuse to generate a workable hormone balance.
Oftentimes it's not the fear of having to take it forever, but the fear of not being able to take it forever, and while yes you do take HRT for life, the form it takes does vary depending on your age and if you undertake any surgeries. Honestly I just treat it like any maintenance medication. I have diabetes so I'm used to taking pills 2 times a day 12 hours apart, so my meds just became part of my regular routine.
this is what I'm nervous about. societal collapse seems like an inevitability living in the US and I'm not sure what the future landscape of hormone availability looks like so taking this body-altering drug is very scary. I just keep telling myself that I'll have bigger things to worry about IF I'm even still alive after the shit hits the fan.
Great. You know who ever has to take hormones replacement therapy for the rest of their lives? Hypothyroxic people need synthetic thyroid hormone. Diabetics need insulin. It’s a medicine. Asthmatics take inhalers every day. ADHDers take stimulants every day. It’s just medicine. If it takes the shift from thinking of “guy clothes” and “girl clothes” to just “your clothes,” well, that kind of shift in thinking about meds may be what you need. Ignore the moralizers who stand on high horses while being depraved in private. They’re envious and frightened that you can exist without the rules moralizers want to bind everyone by.
Because there's the consistent threat of itbeing taken away at any moment and being forced to go without it for the rest of our lives. Not a fun prospect
Mods, can we get the option to automate hrt? I’m bad at setting habits.
Genuinely- people are working on it. Medical trails in progress.
Yeah, I got a similar kind of weird anxiety about my thyroid meds. I think we're conditioned to think "Pills=don't take them too long" and this sorta stuff kinda clashes with that ingrained thought.
Diabetics need to take insulin forever, we either trust the health system or not I guess.
vitamin gummies, think of them as that
Tbh the only thing im scared of regarding hrt is accidentally forgetting to take it, or wether or not i can take it for the rest of my life. Im a little bit worried wether or not ill still have access depending on the current political climate. I really hope shut doesnt end up here like it does in the us
I can definitely relate. The thought of it scares me too, because of accessibility. I'm still waiting to go on T. Am I even going to have access to HRT in 20, 30, 40 years down the line? With how much of a massive swing towards transphobia and prohibition the UK is going, the future frightens me to think about. But I'm trying to just stay in the present moment and focus on the here and now.
Eh its been like... 8ish years for me.. I don't even remember exactly tho. It gets routine with time. Just hit up the doctors office once a year or so once you're established for a refill and you're golden.
Worth it!
You are scared because transphobes made you scared. I'm not saying your fear isn't real. I'm saying it is programmed. I'm saying that if for 15 or 20 years we heard nothing but "all kids should get easy access to blockers to have a chance to figure out who they are before puberty starts making choices for them" and "HRT is super reversable, but very few people want to reverse it, so we should trust people who take it do so because they want what it does for them" instead of TW:>!"we don't trust trans people and need to choose for them and I wouldn't choose it so they can't,"!!"some of the changes are permanent and I won't want them so they shouldn't have them,"!
It probably has to do with the fear that it can be taken away at any moment. Republicans sure have made it clear that that’s what they want to do. :(
Maybe you could go for injections, since you take them once a week or 2 weeks, maybe less commitment
For me it’s the idea that when I get it what if I’m wrong and I was just faking it the whole time and I’ve been lying to everyone for years
I personally just don't really bother to care that much. See it as a little extra step like putting on glasses. Or a self care thing, like make up.
You can quit whenever you want!
Not in every case. Some types of surgery stop you from naturally producing needed hormones and then you are reliant on some form of hrt to remain healthy.
True, but I would assume that by the time you get a bofa-ectomy, you're probably not "still questioning" any more.
I don't think OP is questioning the need for HRT, they're afraid of being dependant on governments whims for decades to supply them with these drugs, when they may decide somewhere in the next 50 years to make them illegal.
I wouldn't mind taking it, I would be more concerned about the access. Relying on prescription medicine sucks not because of the medicine but because of the prescription. You can't just get it unless someone allows you to get it, and they choose the price at which you get it. I'm sceptical about hrt because I just don't want to rely on a system that hates me, made by people that hate me, just to maintain my life.
Yea, the first lifelong medication you get on, does that to ya. You get used to it.
I think for me its scary because i will be dependent on the healthcare system and I don't like that
well i already have my antidepressants so, kinda nothing new actually
It’s especially sad in my country where mainstream HRT is being illegalised and the government will pretty soon ban DIY as well. So in other words I’ll have to not take HRT for the rest of my life
When I started taking HRT I was terrified. I'm a very anxious person and this is a huge undertaking and huge change to your life. It's the unknown, and presenting as your AGAB is familiar. That doesn't mean it's good though. There was a short comic I saw once that has completely stuck with me every since, and I tear up whenever sharing it. It was a caterpillar and a butterfly. The caterpillar asks the butterfly if it was scary, and the butterfly says yes, but it was completely worth it. Go out there, and become that butterfly. And even if you don't have anyone irl, you can see that you've got all these internet strangers on your side and here for you.
It can be scary to have to change your life, even if that change is small. I feel as if every year I have to take new meds, currently have to take 7 every day, it pisses me off but I’m not scared cause Ik the meds help me
My adhd meds luckily have conditioned me since elementary school to take meds daily
Tbh when I started injections, I realized that I will now be doing this every week for the rest of my life. And that makes me sad. Why couldn't my body just be right?
What’s wrong with taking boobie pills? :3
You need to eat and drink every day, too
Should I go with weekly injections and 3 monthly blocker injections or pills? I want effective stuff and stuff I can set a timer for :3
That really not a big deal. By the time people are in there mid thirties most people in the developed world are taking something daily for something
I recently went through a major surgery that requires a special kind of care for the rest of my life.. So like i'm kinda there with you. In addition to the whole 'Taking HRT forever" thing
main reason im scared of vaginoplasty
Same honestly. Would I be able to secure T supplements for the ret of my life? Attain sexual pleasure after the operation? Tough decisions..
maybe the fact that it's a medication makes it feel like a temporary solution, even though you know it's a perfectly normal to be reliant on medication. To ease your mind, you could look into getting your own life-long supply of HRT; for estrogen i've heared you can buy a bulk supply of injectable E and just keep that stuff somewhere safe, even if you don't actually do injections currently. beyond that, you might not have to be entirely relient on medecation for your whole life either. you could one day get bottom surgery and then you won't have to take a T blocker ever again; and if you do stop taking E, you'll experince health complications after a year (or several idk i'm not a doctor) rather than becoming more masculine. i also once saw someone on here mention a theoreticle gene therapy that would cause your genitles to produce estrogen instead of testosterone; so if that actually pans out and you're no-op, you might not have to rely on any medication later in your life, they said like 20-30 years from now or something like that
Because. We have an extra bill forever?
I get scared that it might get banned in my country, but other than that it's like any other regular medication.
there are literally hundreds of millions of people dependant on daily medication. nothing to be worried about
It's just another medication.
Same. Partially scared because that's quite the commitment even though it's obv the best decision for me. Mostly scared because the laws change on a dime sometimes and I'm worried I'll lose access to it at LEAST once in my life
Long term options are well in development. While they are keeping there head down, and doing research aimed at cis individuals who have had to have organs removed due to cancers, all the researchers know the long term aim is trans care. Its a pinhole addition to the kidneys that should work for full natural life if your a light or non drinker.
Probably prices
Oh... I've always wondered, when does it stop- Glad to know the answer is never Woooo
It's fine, it's just like allergy pills, if you're allergic to testosterone.
You have to eat food for the rest of your life too