can drugs make you think your transgender?

[Guest Skuld]

So i came out to my parents a couple of days ago (thought it would be more fair to tell them now then after i started the process, plus ive heard you get more emotional after starting hrt, so it might be easier now), now they said they would support me no matter what, but they also said they did not think i was transgender and that all the weed i have been smoking was the reason i wanted to do this (i smoke maybe 5-10 joints a day) and demanded that i would go the rehab and be sober for 6 months before seeing a therapist (not going to happen btw, im finishing the weed i have now and then quitting both it and cigarettes and will make an appointment with a therapist in a couple of days when i know if i can afford to or not).

anyway i wanted to know if were possible that smoking weed was causing all of this (i highly doubt it myself) and if so would not the therapist realize that?

[Guest ~Brenda~]

I am glad to hear that you are planning to see a gender therapist. I have never heard about any link to smoking anything to being transgendered. I think that being transgendered is far more deeper than that.

Discuss this with your therapist. Perhaps the substance abuse has a deeper reason than you realize.

Love.

Brenda

[VickySGV]

Before you are given HRT, your therapist is going to want to know you as a sober person. The weed could have made you a little less worried about GD and able to come out to the folks without the real fear some people have but it did not CAUSE the GD to happen. Your parent's demand and/or suggestion for you to have sobriety for 180 days is by no means a bad one your therapist will second the motion most likely, and it will enable you to seriously wrap your head into the hormone life. Don't be afraid to contact a Narcotics Anonymous group if you are needing help on the canabinoid use. Join us here on Sunday's in the Chat Rooms at 9pm Eastern time in the Substance Abuse AA/NA chat room where there are several of us recovery types with full blown GD who can attest to the fact that GD was not caused by addiction, but addiction was a piece of the GD denial life.

[JenniferB]

I wouldn't think marijuana has anything to do with feeling transgender. It's something you know from deep inside.

Before I started HRT my hormone levels were in the normal male range, but that didn't stop me from feeling I was a woman. And I really don't feel any more of a woman after I started HRT. I just am a woman.

{{{Hugs}}}

Jenny

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

I smoked a lot of weed when I was young. These days my doctors and councilors for transplant all agree I was self medicating for serious depression. I think it was the depression brought on by my gender issues. You may simply be self medicating for depression, if you do quit you may want to see if your doc or therapist can get you on an anti depressant. Untreated depression can be a real problem and there is no shame in admiting you need some meds to help get you through the day. Just watch out for side effects, if one type doesn't work have the doc switch to another. Citilopram works for me but makes my wife sick.

And don't worry that weed would make you anyting you aren't. Between me and the crowd I ran with we smoked enough weed to make Cheech and Chong jellous. Most of us had no problem with who were were and what we were attracted to. I was the odd man out in that. So I'd say weed played no part. The way you were raised more likley played a part, but that's not something to rub their noses in at this point. Wait until you are in your 30's and have a few shots of tequila in you at the family reunion to blame them out loud. It will be more fun then!

[Charlize]

No, smoking does not make you trans or anything more than high(or low). You are smoking quite a bit and may have a problem. Vicky and others have several good points. I used dry goods and alcohol to handle my issues to an extent that use was the biggest issue. It grew on me and then controlled me. My GT, Primary MD, Cardiologist, and endocrinologist would not be working with me if i wasn't straight now. Getting straight changed my life for the best.

Would be happy to see you on Sunday.

Hugs,

Charlie

[Guest JoannaSydney]

I smoked pot forever.I agree drugs didnt make me this way.I actually felt the same way back when i first started to look for info on transgender

[Guest Jo-88]

I used to smoke ALOT of weed... if anything I think it helped me care less what others thought, which made coming out easier. But if you can get clean I suggest it... getting clean was one of the best things I've done for myself. Its hard to get your life together when you just don't care, and herb is pretty good at making you not care. As far as it causing you to "think" your transgender, thats crazy and I think your parents are being a bit naive by saying that.... naive on trans issues and naive on drugs.

[Guest Skuld]

Thanks for the advice, doubt i will have much of a problem quitting since i have quit alcohol and speed before (although i kind of just switched the alcohol for weed), though the cigarettes may be a problem.

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

Cigs are a lifestyle as well as a drug. You will need to avoid the places you smoked and the things you did when you smoked or else you are doomed to fail. I know whenever I am in a bar I want a smoke. Whenever I am around smokers I want a smoke. I've been smoke free for 14 years now. But you never lose the desire.

[Charlize]

Hi dear,

Many of us tried changing drugs but it was like changing brands of booze. It didn't work at all. Cigs are bad but i couldn't even start to leave them until my drinking and drugging stopped. I was lucky and found the rooms of AA and my life started again. I'm clean for today.

Hope to see you tonight at 9:00 in the chatrooms.

Hugs,

Charlie

[Cyndee]

Being transgendered is a birth condition we accept, however smoking marijuana has been shown to suppress testosterone levels in males. Please see your therapist, smoking weed has many risks.

http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/6316036

C -

[Guest Jo-88]

Yes weed can suppress testosterone but not in a significant way, from the research I have read it lowers it but only very little and the average drop is significantly lower than a single standard deviation from the mean testosterone level for a man at a given age. To give an example, you have two men both age 25 same weight, same level of health etc (heck maybe they are even fraternal twins, doesnt matter) man number one may have a serum testosterone level of say 600 ng/dL and the other man has a serum T level of 950 ng/dL.... then man number two smokes a joint and his level drops to 920 ng/dL... man #2 still has a way higher testosterone level. Also it even fluctuates within the individual; man number one might have a serum T level of 600 ng/dL on monday and 550 ng/dL on wednesday... its all variable.

In other words even though weed can lower your testosterone level, it cant lower it enough to be significant... especially not enough to make you think your a woman. If you were born a man and you believe your actually a woman inside... smoking weed had nothing to do with, its because you were born that way, plain and simple.

P.S. a womans serum testosterone level is between 10-100 ng/dL (a mans is between 300-1100 ng/dL) so its literally impossible for smoking weed to bring down testosterone enough to have that kind of effect... if it was I wouldn't bother getting my anti-androgen prescription filled and instead would just go back to smoking a bunch of weed everyday (Im kidding).

[Guest bottomup99]

I've fought addiction for 32 years now, I'm 47. Smoking weed is the least destructive drug habit you can have, you have to have something for a head change and you can manage a pot habit, alcohol (for us extremists) will kill you.

Wait, the topic was; can drugs make you think your transgender? I know that meth can and does! When I'm clean, I still think about it a lot ( being transgendered ) but, when I'm using, I spend all my free time dressing and pleasuring myself. Even in my younger years, when I still thought I was strait, when I would get home I'd love myself for hours and spend so much time on building props, dressing, photos, etc. Where as when I'm clean, I don't have the drive for that, I go work on my car and think about how fun it would be to be a girl and actually miss that I don't have the time and energy to live two lives.... Yeah, I'm crazy, but I'm good with it!

Edited December 21, 2012 by JodyAnn
Graphic sexual description changed.

[Guest]

Yo Bottomup! Hey welcome to the Forum, you are among friends. I kind of hate to have to edit your very first post, I hope no hard feelings. Please read the Terms and Conditions to get all the rules that are in place. They are very easy to follow, you will catch on in no time. Also, when you get a minute, please post about you, in the Introductions Forum column. That way we can all say hello. Have fun here, you will be a welcomed addition. Hug. JodyAnn

[Guest Lauren31]

Hi all, oddly I have had this thought as well when i first started exploring trans (ie thinking drugs caused me to be exploring trans). Mine wasn't weed though. I have no testosterone and soon after I started taking supplements I started thinking that I wanted to be female. My therapist told me that it was not the drugs that decide things, but it may be what made me more accepting of who I am. Same with weed, it may have calmed u enough to start thinking what u want in life? Just my 2 cents. Hugs-lauren

[Guest Melissa~]

I think weed may go with seeking alleviation of symptoms of dysphoria. Clearly it's not the cause of gender dysphoria. As a treatment of dysphoria it seems a bit lame, f

[Guest Melissa~]

I think weed may go with seeking alleviation of symptoms of dysphoria. Clearly it's not the cause of gender dysphoria. As a treatment of dysphoria it seems a bit lame, f

Post was incomplete, a smartphone fumble. Continuing:

As a treatment of dysphoria it seems a bit lame, for one I'm not sure anything cures dysphoria other than actually addressing it. Weed is largely unavailable legally too. Usage of it even where legal has continued federal implications. The FBI tracks every weed user record that ever comes in for various purposes. Just be aware of the whole picture before trying to deal with dysphoria in non-conventional methods.

[Charlize]

When i first came out in the world it was to go to a gay bar on "ladies" night. I'll never forget my heel and bare leg leaving the car for a run to liberation from fear by alcohol. In that way maybe it allowed me to be me. I had a tremendous desire to be part of the world and relate to others while en-femme. It happened because of booze but ender with my loss of desire to ever leave the comfort of my bottle at home. Locked away again and alone again i almost killed myself with drink. Not worth the coming with out. Oddly enough it was i got sober and confronted the reality of who i was that i really came out. The fear melted all by itself, with the help of a higher power i had reconnected with. The drugs did not cause my dysphoria but they played a role throughout my addiction and to the present. i'm in a 12 step program that has made my life rich in helping others. My issues have faded as i feel for theirs. it's not always smooth but much better

hugs,

Charlie

[Guest Edu]

Some years ago, I was smoking 15+ joints a day. I think I can draw some details from my experiences during that time that might help you.

First of all, cannabis do alter the user's perception and thoughts. To put an example, In a few occasions I chased a goblin for a couple hours through the campus I was studying in.

So, in theory, they can actually trigger thoughts and ideas that could be mistaken for gender dysphoria. I have no idea on how often that may happen. But my educated guess is that it'd be extremely unlikely for cannabis alone to consistently trigger such thoughts.

And, even if that was the case, seeing a therapist would still be a good idea. Waiting 6 months for that would just be a waste of time.

If you want to be on the safe side, I'd suggest to wait until you have been clean for at least 2-3 months before taking any irreversible step. Not just for the issue of weed altering how you perceive your gender identity, but also because it may alter your expectations and perception of the process.

As some people have mentioned already, substance abuse is often a symptom of something else going wrong. When it seems that reality couldn't get worse, and some substance tempts us with the ability of "altering" our reality or, at least, our perception of it, it's hard to resist. Of course, it doesn't solve the problem. But it may make us forget about it, so we eventually get to think it actually solves it.

Gender dysphoria is a strong candidate to make someone want to turn away from reality and look somewhere else. There may be many other causes, and most often it is a combination of many factors what lead to addiction. Hence, it'd be strongly advisable to talk about your addictions (current and past) with a therapist, so you can start working on identifying the underlying issues and addressing them.

Regards & hugs,

Ethain

[Guest ~Emmie~]

I think most people, under the effects of depressents (alcohol, pot, pills) feel the way they do, not because the drug "makes" them feel that way, somehow- but because it lets their internal walls come down and realize just how badly they want whatever internalized conflicts they're undergoing to be solved. Especially feelings of being transgendered, at least in my experience.

It lets the social and mental constraints that keep people from realizing themselves to fall off for a while. But, it never solves anything. think A.E Houseman had the right idea writing, "Terrance- this is stupid stuff". It IS stupid. But, as of late, I take whatever makes me feel like a girl, frankly. I think transitioning would cure most of my desire to drink or smoke. Hugely.

That's why I drank, and was miserable a decent chunk of college. I drank to kill the emptiness I felt, for seemingly no reason- and to experience the loosening of my expected self-image, and toward what I really thought (and think) of myself.

[Guest Naatie]

Depends; Stimulants can bring out the more honest sides about of people (eg. methylated amphetamines) thus it could be a repressed thought that comes above after ingesting stimulants; that you are in fact transgender.

However I think in most cases it is the side-effect of hypersexuality. One can get rather compulsive under the influence of amphetamines.

[Charlize]

My experience with stimulants (methylated amphetamines) was certainly big in bringing out the compulsive in me. Fortunately i left that behind in the late 60's. Other powdered drugs and pills took their place only to be followed by a nearly fatal addiction to alcohol. I doubt any of these helped my finding myself despite dressing and hanging out at gay bars. A miracle occurred when i reached out for help and found a way to leave all the drugs behind. For several years in sobriety i tried to put my gender issues behind me and concentrated on being sober. Then i started to get honest with myself and others. That came through sobriety and not from drugs. Somewhere in the process i learned to accept myself and freed myself to be me. Then as a further miracle i was accepted by others rather than mocked as i always felt i would be.

Emmie wrote above that " I think transitioning would cure most of my desire to drink or smoke. Hugely." I think that is a more likely outcome of sobriety than of use of any drug. It is "stupid stuff" that makes us love it or think we do.

Hugs,

Charlie

[JenniferB]

I know the stimulants I took for ADD definitely made me feel more feminine. Maybe it amplified, or brought out, what I already knew.

Even though they were helpful, I stopped taking them because I had to see my psychiatrist every month to refill my script. It became too expensive.

Jenny

[Guest Guitargodess214]

As far as marijuana causing GD or GID that's unlikely though anxiety and depression may cause the substance abuse. self-medicating through illegal drugs is not uncommon and is generally a sign of emotional and mental troubles in general. "Drugs Are Bad M'kay". On a side note I once had a prescription for ADHD that gave me A Cup Breasts this was in sixth or seventh grade. It was kind of nice... till all the boys in the locker room wanted to take liberties with my dignity... I hated school....Especially Gym.