Will Estrogen Without Anti Testosterone Make Me Sterile?

[Guest oogie292]

Or is it estreogen that makes men sterile.

[Guest janeybeans]

Or is it estreogen that makes men sterile.

I've been very interested in this but am having trouble finding an answer (hoping to speak to my doctor soon for a Q&A).

Due to my feelings and current position it's been suggested that I take a GnRH agonist on its own. It's not an anti-androgen like spironolactone or similar drugs, but basically fools the pituitary gland so the gonads stop producing sex hormones. This will almost certainly cause sterility through testicular atrophy, but I've been told this *should* be reversed if I choose to stop (there's some debate over long term effect).

I'm currently uncertain if adding estrogen would make it irreversible; I got the impression that my doctor is against giving it to me for the moment due to the irreversible physical changes (ie. breast growth) rather than sterility issues. However, it's also likely that the longer one has reduced testosterone levels the greater the chance of permanent sterility is. For those transitioning that would be for life, consequently it would be inadvisable to begin HRT if you wanted to conceive a child.

From what I've been able to tell it is primarily the anti-androgens that lead to testicular atrophy and consequent sterility.

I'm not sure what consequence estrogen alone would have on your fertility but I doubt it would be good. Estrogens are also usually combined with anti-androgens for good reason (I believe I've seen references to tubular breasts and similar).

To be honest this is a question you should probably ask your doctor. I'm currently waiting for some paperwork from mine and won't meet him for at least a fortnight.. but I will try and remember to respond with what he can tell me.

I'm afraid I wrote quite a bit without saying much.. hope something was helpful.

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

The anti-androgens job is to block the production and absorption of Testosterone...

Both that and Estrogen will lead to sterility....

Best to talk to your doc if you ever considered having children...

Don't play around and lose your choice!

Huggs

Donna Jean

[Guest KimberlyF]

My understanding of how this works more or less lol.

If you take estro without t-blockers you need to take enough to overpower the T in your system. If you overpower the T, then it has some of the same effects as taking a t-blocker long term.

I'm on a t-blocker first. The side effects(lol) like breast growth mentioned with the prescrip are caused by the smaller amounts of estro in the body now left to their own evil devices. It just takes a lot longer. I'm def getting fleshy and at times it'll feel like a pulsing pain for a few secs and there is itchiness in the area, but its not anywhere near the speed of someone on estro.

I'd guess-total guess as I've never read anything-the tubular breast thing might be a result of the speed that the body is working towards building new tissue?

[Guest Melissa 67]

My understanding of how this works more or less lol.

If you take estro without t-blockers you need to take enough to overpower the T in your system. If you overpower the T, then it has some of the same effects as taking a t-blocker long term.

I'm on a t-blocker first. The side effects(lol) like breast growth mentioned with the prescrip are caused by the smaller amounts of estro in the body now left to their own evil devices. It just takes a lot longer. I'm def getting fleshy and at times it'll feel like a pulsing pain for a few secs and there is itchiness in the area, but its not anywhere near the speed of someone on estro.

I'd guess-total guess as I've never read anything-the tubular breast thing might be a result of the speed that the body is working towards building new tissue?

My gender therapists had my endo put me on Spirolactone first, so I'm hoping that it kills the testosterone so that when I start the hormones they work much better, or at least thats what I think. Also I'm starting to get a little bit of breast development on the spirolactone so I'm hoping that means I'll develope real well once I start taking estrogene.

Melissa 67