Long Term Effects Of Hormone Therapy

[Guest Orva26]

Hello,

So a lot of things have happened to me recently and more and more do I desire transition through HRT and think it to be right but that is a completely different topic.

I'd like to know what are the long lasting effects of mtf HRT. As in 10, 20, and even 30 years after start what will the medical and health concerns be? I'm guessing since HRT will cause an endocrine shift I will truly age as female during that time but is there any known specific health impact to the treatment? Will being born in a male body and the shift HRT will cause give me any new/special health concerns? Is there any literature on the matter? I'm guessing if there is, it will probably be rare.

If anyone on here has been fully transitioned or on HRT for a long amount of time and feels comfortable sharing there experience whether mtf or ftm that would be cool too.

-Orva

[Guest Deena]

I've been on hormones for over forty years and I'm actually aging in reverse!

Sorry, just kidding!

[Guest Emily Ray]

Orva

We get the best from both Estrogen and Testosterone. Your heart and lungs, bones and muscles all grew bigger and stronger as a result of T. After middle age T becomes a detriment increased cornary disease and such. E now comes to the rescue it lowers bad cholesterol and protects the heart and bone density. It also increase skin elasticity and the sub-cutaneous fat gets thicke removing fine lines and such. Our skin also gets softer. Our breasts or at least mine will forever be forty years younger than any woman my age. I am less likely to get prostate cancer because it shrinks rather than grows as in men. I will also be much less likely to get breast cancer. Its because they're so young compare to the rest of me. E also plays a role in maintaining bone density in old age. Yes, there are no recognized long term negative health effects of transition. It is quite the oposite in fact. We really don't know how long our average life expectancy is because they haven't had a sample size big enough to be conclusive. Those who transitioned in the 70's as young women went stealth or deep stealth and dropped of the radar. But at any age. You get the benefits by transitioning. Even in the brain ther are changes as the brain lays down new pathways to more fully be that of a female studies show that having an active mind can reduce the chances of Alzimers disease. That is help ful. It wil probably reduce dimensia as well.

Yes, with proper medical care you can live to be a hundred and have the breasts of a thirty year old, well if you transitioned at seventy.

I hope this helps you out

Huggs

Emily

[Guest Deena]

Emily -

you certainly make this "transitioning thingee" sound attractive! Man, if more people read this site, everyone will want to do it and then we will be the nor

instead of the abnorm!

I'm sorry about my posts tonight - inguess I'm in a good mood again. Sure that will change soon!

[Guest Orva26]

Wait, wait, wait! Not only could I get the curves, breast, and mentality but...

Yes, there are no recognized long term negative health effects of transition. It is quite the oposite in fact.

This is very nice to hear! Thanks, your post has put me in a good mood. I will most definitly ask a Dr. still but that is because I'm compulsive about things like that. I'm a becoming increasingly certain that HRT would be good for me but I absolutely had to make this topic because I realized I did not know anything about lasting effects. It seems overall that if you start as a healthy individual and transition then you'll end up as an equally or even more healthy individual. That is nice!

Since moving out on my own I have shifted my diet, initially out of need because some things are just expensive but I think I will make it permanent. I have stopped buying red meat (well as a grocery, if I'm out to eat and see an awesome beef dish I won't deny myself) so my chief sources of protien have been chicken and scrimp. I'm usually trying to keep my diet a balance of the different food groups, fruit, vegtables, grains, meats, etc. When I can, which depends honestly the most on mood, I exercise. I want to try and preserve these things since I think being an overall healthy person will help my body accept HRT.

Now I am really happy since it seems there is no trade off to fear!

-Orva

[Drea]

Yes, there are no recognized long term negative health effects of transition. It is quite the oposite in fact. It is quite the oposite in fact.

I think there is a big assumption here with transgender hormone therapy that there are no long term effects. Just because one hasn't been found doesn't mean much as there been no long term studies of transgender hormone administration to see what the long term mortality is.

While there have always been theories about the intereactions of hormones with regards to aging and heart disease. Much of this is unproven.

It was thought that the lower rate of heart disease in women was caused by estrogen. This bolstered by the fact that after menopause the cornary risk in females started to increase dramatically. Therefore it was expected that hormone replacement should lower the risk. There was a major study that was looking into that 10 years ago or therabouts. The results of that study showed such a clear increase in mortality by those women on hormone replacement that the study was terminated early due to the risk of the participants. Since then the routine use of hormone replacement therapy in women has been cut back dramatically. It became more directed at women with symptoms severe enough to warrant replacement. In many cases the use is only temporary.

There may be areas it benefits, but there are corresponding risks in other areas. So I think the best anyone can say is that nobody really knows.

The best that can be said is that the risks are low enough that given the overall condition that it is considered appropriate provided proper medical following-up and monitoring is adhered to.

[Guest Orva26]

Drea,

Yeah I figured there would be some un-known risk. Mostly because the medical community would be concentrating on the more frequent use of HRT in natal woman. Like I said before a clinical trial of TS would also be super mean because a control group on placebos would be needed and I don't think anyone who wants HRT for that reason would wish to risk being placeboed. Once I'm out of my parents house I'll be able to spend time looking for whatever is out about this specifically.

Also the GT that I'm thinking about seeing has been at it for longer than I have been alive and has connections to various specialist and Dr.s. So she should be able to point me in the direction of someone that could give me a pretty confident answer. But it seems like any health risk would not be major. Like I can reasonable expect that going on HRT will not affect my life expectancy dramatically. And that is a good thing.

The other GT I might go with actually has a medical degree or at least medical knowledge from what I have heard so she might be able to give me an answer herself.

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

Trade off.....

Being male makes demise by certain things more possible...

Men have more heart attacks, stroke and certain cancers...

Women have their own set of possibilities...

When you have SRS you lose your chance for prostate cancer, but you increase your risk for breast cancer...

Nature has a way of balancing itself out.....

Donna Jean

[Guest Emily Ray]

Orva

The greatest risk has to do with blood clots. Estrogen taken orally or my shots seems to increas the risk of death by a blood clot in the lungs or a stroke. If a transdermal patch is used there is no increased risk. Smoking really impacts this risk factor so no one on HRT E should be smoking.

There also was one studie that linked an increased chance of developing diabetes in MTF's who are overweight.

It was only one study but there is some evidence and it shouldn't be discounted.

Huggs

Emily

[Guest Orva26]

So then it seems the only thing I really need to worry about is the blood clots and that in later life I can expect the same kinds of health concerns as woman for the most part.

Diabetes might play a role but for me that would be a result of the genetic variety and I don't see how HRT will impact that.

Just gonna have to wait and see about the risk factors at start.

I'm glad to hear that all of the long term risk are pretty reasonable.

[Guest MonikaC]

There are other possible side effects. I know someone who has been on hormones for about 30 years. His (he is a ftm) liver and kidneys are starting to have issues due to 30 plus years of having to deal with chemicals (hormones) in his body. To be fair though, when he started all those years ago the accepted dosage for testosterone is a lot higher than now and that is where most of the damage probably came from. Not to mention that testosterone is harder on the body than estrogen, but it is still something to keep in mind.

[Carolyn Marie]

I think the bottom line here is that there have been no long term studies (of which I'm aware)done on HRT for either FtM's or MtF's, and the best anyone can do is guess.

None of us here are doctors or medical researchers, so be guided by what your own doctor

has to say. The only anecdotal guidance I have to offer is that my doctor said my prostate gland activity had, after just 6 months, been reduced to near zero, and I would likely never need another prostate exam.

Given my strong belief that there are certain places on the human body where fingers don't belong, I was happy to hear that.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Orva26]

I think the liver thing is a real concern. Makes sense to me because I know that some of the estrogen forms get metabilized through the liver. Guess I'll just have to deal with that by taxing it less. Shouldn't be a big deal, just means less alcohols for me.

I'm a relatively healthy person so I should be fine.

Though that prostate thing is interesting. Staving off disease is nice but er... um... other things.

I'm going to have to talk to a therapist first, then both get and talk to a Dr. (silly move to another state!) and see from there.

It is kind of a bummer that there hasn't been long term studies on cross-hormone therapies (used in that sense to signify not only transsexual HRT but other medical conditions that require the use of 'opposite' sex hormones). Trans are still a block box for the medical community.

Seems like there isn't an obvious physical reason to not pursue this, which makes me glad.

Just have to make sure the Dr. actually keeps up to date on monitoring me and stuff.

Thanks for all the input!

[Guest Emily Ray]

Just a side note to a problem of any long term study looking backwards. As someone mentioned above the amount of hormones used today is a small fraction of what was used 30 years ago. And back then the Pill of choice was premarin. They don't even make the pill in that high a dosage anymore and it is no longer the drug of choice. The prefered method is transdermal which puts a far smaller strain on the liver than oral. There has been some progress made as far as HRT is concerned. Many of the studies are done in europe. This country the researchers are hung up on finding the cause and less worried about how best to treat us.

Huggs

Emily