A Health Concern Of Mine

[Guest mandy05]

Hi everyone,

I have been seeing my therapist for a year now, and she just recently sent my letter to an endrocologist for me to begin HRT.

I have not set up an appointment yet, due to having to take care of some other things first, however I have a health issue that kind of concerns me.

I have had a history of elevated liver enzymes. My regular medical doctor did some blood work on me here recently and he tells me that they have gone back up since they were last checked back in 2006.

They did an ultrasound on my liver a couple of years ago, and they found that I have what is called a "Fatty Liver" which can cause elevated liver enzymes. I am concerned about why they are going up, however they tell me that having elevated liver enzymes is very common for that type of condition.

However I am also concerned that my elevated liver enzymes could stop me from being able to go on hormones. I fear that the endrocologist may decide due to my elevated liver enzymes that he does not want to risk putting me on hormones. If that were to happen, I would not be able to accept that, due to the fact that I have already put a lot of my heart and soul into my transition and have already lost many friends and have already made many sacrifices in order to transition.

I cannot stand the thought of some elevated liver enzymes getting in my way of getting hormones. I have already come too far to turn back now. My therapist seems to think that elevated liver enzymes will not cause the endrocologist to deny me hormones.

Have any of you who are already on HRT dealt with this type of condition before? What are your alls thoughts on this? It does have concerned.

Thanks

[Guest Leah1026]

To minimize risks you should go on a form of estrogen that only goes through the liver once. Those would be:

Injectables:cheap (from a compounding pharmacy), effective and very safe.

Patches: expensive and you can have problems keeping them on. They sometimes have a tendency to peel off. But very safe.

Gels: I don't know how much they cost. They can be messy and time consuming as you wait for it to dry. Very safe though.

[Guest mandy05]

To minimize risks you should go on a form of estrogen that only goes through the liver once. Those would be:

Injectables:cheap (from a compounding pharmacy), effective and very safe.

Patches: expensive and you can have problems keeping them on. They sometimes have a tendency to peel off. But very safe.

Gels: I don't know how much they cost. They can be messy and time consuming as you wait for it to dry. Very safe though.

How effective are they compared to the one's that you take by mouth?

I'm also wondering how effective the topical one's are at thinning out body hair.

[Guest Agony]

You can bypass the liver by dissolving pills, etc. under your tongue, in your cheek (not your butt, lol). Not being knowledgeable at all about this sort of stuff, other than what I have seen when googling, it would seem to me that anything that passes your liver is going to be more potent. Please google for "bypass the liver" and "under the tongue" and look over the gozillions of results.

[Guest Leah1026]

You can bypass the liver by dissolving pills, etc. under your tongue, in your cheek (not your butt, lol).

Hate to break it to you, but that just isn't true. Everything that goes into the body goes through the liver at least once. Pills swallowed go twice, pills disolved under the tongue go once.

Mandy: In general anything is better than pills swallowed. Why? Because 1. An unknown amount gets destroyed in the GI tract and 2. Because of that you need to take much higher doses.... leading to more stress on the liver. Also if you take Premarin you're taken horse estrogens! I'm not making this up, the name Premarin comes from Pre(gnant) Mar(es)(U)rin(e). Another problem is the way they collect the product (animal cruelty). Most other estrogen products are bioidentical (17 beta estradiol), that what you want. As far as which is most effective that's strictly a YMMV (your mileage may vary) thing as everyone is different.

disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or nurse, but I am a medical professional.

[Guest Karmen]

Ask your physician if the herbal supplement Milk Thistle (Silymarin) may be of benefit to you..

k..

[Guest mandy05]

Thanks to everyone for the information.

I was told the same things by a couple of other girls who are in my support group, including my therapist.

I feel a lot better knowing all of this. It gives me a lot more assurance.

Thanks again.

Mandy *Hugs*