Antiandrogens without Estrogen.

[Guest Astrosmurf]

Hi I'm a 37 year old transgendered 'androgyne', who hasn't transitioned beyond crossdressing and being a little bit out and no longer so bothered about gender 'norms' of behaviour for myself so much. I'm interested in knowing more about this topic as I'm considering it as a first step towards transition. I wnat to get all the info I can before aproaching my psychitrist/doctor. I feel I alredy have all the mentioned side effects anyway - I rarely ever wake with an erection, can't grow a full beard, and have a pretty low sex drive compared to other men. My body hair is weird - chest hair only grows between my (so far 'man') boobs.

Has anyone taken antiandrogens without estrogen?

Is it possible to just stay on that, if you feel happy that way and decide you don't want to go further?

How radical are the results? Are to changes minor, imperceptable, major, or do they vary, or what?

If anyone knows I'd love to hear.

[Guest Nala]

Hey Astrosmurf,

I'm 17 and only on anti androgens (androcur) for a year. I started with a low dose, and since short I take a higher dose. What I notice most of it, is that your sexual desire will get lower. That's actually the most remarkable thing for me. The unexpected erections also stop. You're still able to have sex though, but you'll have to do more effort to stimulate if you get what I mean. The longer you take it, the more difficult it will get to have erections. At least I experienced it like that.

They say it also reduce hair growing, well I shave my legs, and it takes more time for the hair growing back.

Also, I talk less about girls and see them more pretty than sexy, but that may be just me.

Anyway, I hope I explained it well.

~ Sanne

[JenniferB]

Hi Astrosmurf,

You shouldn't take only anti-androgens for the long term. Your body needs either Testosterone or Estrogen to function properly. You can get osteoporosis if you don't take one or the other.

Jenny

[Guest Tara Ann]

Taking anti-androgens alone long term will also cause depression. Testosterone and estrogen are both anti-depressants.

[Guest Sally G.]

Hi Astrosmurf,

In NZ you are likely to be prescribed AA before getting E. I have been on AA for five months now - I was supposed to get E three weeks ago but have to have further tests to make sure it is safe (frustrating!).

The side-effects are overstated. I have been much happier on AA than prior (the benefit of making progress and stopping the male drive). I have also lost weight (10kg) a when a side effect is supposed to be weight gain. The impact of side-effects will depend on how you react. Be aware and you should be fine.

Changes are relatively minor - the bigger changes for me are to do with actively losing weight and laser and electrolysis for hair removal. Hair growth has slowed markedly and spontaneous erections no longer occur but erections are still possible - there is no loss of sensation. My libido has gone from the obsessive-compulsive intensity of the male libido to a much more relaxed 'if I am in the mood'. A nice change.

PM me if you would like more info.

Aroha

Sally G.

[Guest Astrosmurf]

Hey, thanks guys. Yes that's all very helpful. Great to find another kiwi on here too, so thanks for that Sally G., and yes, I'll PM you as soon as I can (just joined the site recently and will have to figure it out).

So, I see now that the bone-problem (and by that i mean skeletal) is real - but it does seem like there's a pretty big delay before going onto estrogen anyway (at least quite a few months).

I suppose antiandrogens alone appealed to me in particular because I know this is the way I want to go but I'm still a bit concerned about the obvious effects of estrogen. I know this is what i want and have deep down always wanted, but at the same time concerns about tasking a step there might be no coming back from. Like, am i going to be psycholigically strong enough to withstand the worst that might come from fully transitioning? I suppose TG person experiences that sort of anxiety.

Otherwise, I don't really care about erections or lowered sex-drive.

[Guest chinee]

What I know is at the beginning of HRT thats the only time you have to take anti androgen and then when you you reach the T level of the natal woman, thats the time your doctor would ask you to stop taking them and only continue with the dosage of E you are taking. Even if you would stop taking anti androgen later on, E will handle the task to stay T on that level. Its optional after stopping taking anti androgen to take dutasteride, they say this would help prevent T to convert in DHT.

[Guest Astrosmurf]

thanks Chinee. This is all helpful to know

[Guest Donna Jean]

What I know is at the beginning of HRT thats the only time you have to take anti androgen and then when you you reach the T level of the natal woman, thats the time your doctor would ask you to stop taking them and only continue with the dosage of E you are taking.

That's not what I understand......I've been on HRT 3 years and my T level is very low....But, my doctor said that it would go back up if I were to stop the Spiro.....

Are you seeing a doctor?

Dee Jay

[Paula ult]

What I know is at the beginning of HRT thats the only time you have to take anti androgen and then when you you reach the T level of the natal woman, thats the time your doctor would ask you to stop taking them and only continue with the dosage of E you are taking. Even if you would stop taking anti androgen later on, E will handle the task to stay T on that level. Its optional after stopping taking anti androgen to take dutasteride, they say this would help prevent T to convert in DHT.

Chinee, i do not know where you received that information from as it is somewhat old school, years ago anti-androgen's were not given, instead high levels of estrogen suppressed the T level and kept it low, however high levels of estrogen intake can give you a higher chance of complications like dvt's, anti-androgens are used today in conjunction with estrogen so a lower dose of estrogen can be used with a lower risk to the patient, i followed my Endo's advice and stayed on Spiro and Estradiol until i had my surgery, at that time Spiro was stopped, is it possible that your doctor is not up to date with current treatments.

Paula

[Guest chinee]

I have an endo and thats what she said... I am not saying that after stop taking anti androgen you should double the dose of your E intake... What i said is to continue with YOUR DOSAGE of E.

IF I STOP TAKING SPIRO, my T WOULD GO UP AGAIN? -- this is the first question i ask to my endo

Her reply is after reaching the T level of natal woman, its now safe to stop taking spiro as it would make ill side effects in long run... She said i can take dutasteride instead after stopping spiro to prevent T converting to DHT only

She said, if i am paranoid if my T would go up again after stopping spiro, it would show up on your blood tests so no need to worry.