I’ve been in therapy for a few months and I really want to start HRT soon but I don’t know if my therapist will write me the required letter. If she doesn’t by the end of this month I’m going to start doing DIY, is there anything I should know about the process before I get started, anything I should be aware of? Are there risks or side effects. Things that I should be aware of before going in
P.S. Don’t give me any of that crap about detransitioning, you don’t know me well enough to say I would, frankly I’ll never call myself a boy again, not of my own volition or to capitulate to others.
Edit: Thank you all so much for the information and resources, sorry if I wasn’t able to respond to people’s comments sooner, things have been hard and I’ve been busy lately.
https://hrtcafe.net/ has a list of trusted vendors (would take a look at the homebrew vendors section)
https://diyhrt.info/ has a bunch of other information
https://transfemscience.org/articles/transfem-intro/ is a good start for the scientific side of things
Re: People giving you crap about detransitioning, I’m presently detransitioning after 12 years and still feel that my transition was the right choice and don’t regret a single thing. Looks like you got some great advice for your HRT here, so I hope you grab the bull of happiness by the horns and live your best life. And if the thing that makes you happy changes a year or a decade from now, so what? You can then just pursue that route with the same fervor. We’ve got one chance at happiness and no one gets to tell you how to do that. ❤️ You got this!
There’s a long list of resources here and the blåhaj matrix has an active HRT room as well!
Best of luck <3
IM injection works the best for most folks but estrogel is the safest. Doing buccal with pills was just a waste of time for me. If I had it all to do over again I’d start with injections. It probably seems scary to you right now but injections are where you will most likely end up so just go ahead and start off right.
Have patience with yourself because sourcing crypto, injectables, and injection supplies isn’t a figure it all out in one night kind of a thing. The hardest part about DIY is learning how to use crypto, so step one is to install a software wallet like Electrum-LTC and figure out how to get funds into it in your country. If you’re extra paranoid for some reason learn how to transfer LTC into an XMR wallet.
There’s some simple math to figure out how much to inject based on the concentration of your vial. Swapable Luer lock needles with 18G to draw and 23G to inject make it easy for me and almost pain free. They usually have a bit of “dead space” inside the needles so I pull all the medication out of the 18G into the syringe, swap to the 23G, and fill it up till a drop forms at the tip of the needle.
Keeping a small makeup bag stocked with some hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, cotton balls, bandages, syringes, needles, and the vial makes for a nice all in one grab and go.
I’d definitely recommend reading through diyhrt.wiki’s page for transfems. I doubt you’ll find a better source of info online.
I hope things go smoothly with your therapist! Best of luck to you :)
What crap are people going to give you about detransitioning, I’m confused by that …
Are you in the U.S.? Wondering why your therapist is a gatekeeper …
I’ve seen people talk shit and try and argue that detransition rates are higher than they really are. They’ve used that to justify long wait times for HRT and transitioning. I just didn’t want people to give me the speech about how the wait is to make me sure so I don’t regret it and detransition. I know that won’t happen because I desperately want the changes, my flat chest gives me immense dysphoria.
I have no idea why or if my therapist is gatekeeping me, it could just be that she hasn’t written the letter yet, but I for one am not willing to wait more months for her to do so. The sooner I start the better.
I’m in the U.S. and I just called up my primary care physician and asked them to refer me to an endocrinologist for gender dysphoria. No therapist was required, a letter was only required for surgery. I just wonder if you might be in the UK or somewhere else, where the requirements are different.
Either way, I would talk to your therapist about the need to start HRT ASAP and get that ball rolling, no reason to wait.
And regarding detransition: where is the evidence that the rates are higher than they are? This is just asking us to ignore evidence in favor of speculation … And it’s hilarious that they then claim that the wait ensures reduced regret and detransition rates - which is it, is the wait effective at preventing detransition and the rates are low (as we know they are), or is it actually the case that loads of people are detransitioning that we have no evidence for like originally argued?
This makes no sense to me.
The way to walk through someone arguing for trans-specific gatekeeping is to walk through the same scenarios for cis people and ask why their regrets don’t matter and why only trans regret matters. Teenagers can get breast augmentations or reductions without forced wait times. Cis people can get on puberty blockers for precocious puberty, and it’s even becoming a pseudoscience fad for young men to take testosterone under misconceptions that testosterone is waning and they need exogenous sources to make them manly enough. Again, no gatekeeping, cis people have free access to gender affirming care.
Pretty soon it’s obvious the rules that are only for trans people are because they are trans, and not because there is a good, medical reason for it. This is also why informed consent is used now and why WPATH doesn’t require forced wait times for starting HRT, etc. and yet the detransition rate hasn’t suddenly exploded.
It just turns out, cis people don’t tend to want to take cross-sex hormones, and even if they do, they find out quickly it isn’t great for them.
The evidence we have is that of the few who detransition, they usually do so not because they’re cis but because they don’t have support from their family and society - transition is too difficult so they detransition because they don’t have enough support.
EDIT: some actual evidence:
- Regrets following gender transition are extremely rare and have become even rarer as both surgical techniques and social support have improved. Pooling data from numerous studies demonstrates a regret rate ranging from .3 percent to 3.8 percent. Regrets are most likely to result from a lack of social support after transition or poor surgical outcomes using older techniques.
Removed by mod
Fuck you, I’m not waiting longer than I need to. I’m doing DIY if my therapist doesn’t write me the letter, I’m not finding another one and wasting more months talking about worthless feelings just so they can maybe write me a letter when I could’ve started DIY and began the journey already.
Per the sidebar:
This community is supportive of DIY HRT. Unsolicited medical advice or caution being given to people on DIY will result in moderator action.
I know OP literally asked for advice on DIY HRT, but her post clearly states her intention to take it. She didn’t ask for counter arguments about why she shouldn’t take it.
You don’t have to be prescribed estrogen to have bloodwork done! I definitely think you should seek it out if you go the DIY route.
OP’s not asking for advice on what to do with her therapist, she’s asking for advice regarding DIY HRT. IMO it’s not really our place to question why she might make that choice for herself.
it’s not really our place to question why she might make that choice for herself.
so much this
If she doesn’t live in the US informed consent isn’t an option. If she does live in the US then take a look at the current political situation for the answer. You don’t need a doctor to get bloodwork.
Informed consent is available in some other countries as well, I know Australia has it and I’m pretty sure New Zealand too.
