Editor's note: This article is not medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional regarding questions about diagnoses and treatment.

I started hormone replacement therapy in April, the same day Arkansas passed the first trans medical ban in the United States, barring trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care.

With the heaviness of the wave of anti-trans legislation on my mind, I felt fortunate to have access to an endocrinologist after nearly a year of back-and-forth with insurance and several attempts with less trans-competent doctors.

I wanted to start testosterone-based HRT to treat my lifelong gender dysphoria, or extreme distress related to my body and gender, that has affected me as a transmasculine nonbinary person. I started testosterone therapy to deepen my voice, make myself a little more muscular, and overall become more comfortable in my body.

As someone who has insurance that covers gender-affirming care and lives in a major city, I am incredibly privileged.

I microdose HRT, meaning I take a smaller amount of testosterone for more gradual changes over a longer period of time. When I told my endocrinologist in New York City that I wanted to stay on a microdose long-term, he said he could write me the prescription but had to be transparent about the lack of research available on it. When I asked him what changes I could expect for my body, he told me he didn't know, even after I pressed for more information.

The only place I've been able to turn to for concrete answers on how to achieve the results I wanted like a deeper voice and larger muscles was online platforms like Reddit.

Hormone replacement therapy as a form of treatment for the gender dysphoria that trans people experience has been around since the 1920s. But treatment protocols have been slow to shift.

Because of a lack of research on the effects of different HRT options, even trans-competent medical providers are left with few concrete studies to cite when patients ask questions, and physicians receive few hours of LGBTQ+-specific training.

One of the first questions I asked my doctor was which kind of injection I should opt for to get the most dramatic effects, which for me included a deeper voice, more muscle definition, and fat redistribution.

While small studies have suggested that subcutaneous injections (injection into the fat) could help retain testosterone in the body for longer between shots, my doctor told me there wasn't enough conclusive data to confirm this. I ended up opting for intramuscular injections and was dissatisfied with how long it took to see physical changes.

In the first month of taking HRT, the skin around my jaw thickened. When I went back to the doctor and asked how long it would take for my jawline to reemerge, he told me there wasn't enough research out there for him to give me a timeline.

Puffy-faced and feeling lost, I turned to the internet for understanding.

My friends who had started HRT before me recommended going on Reddit to find specific answers about where I should inject my T for the most effective results.

There I found several subreddits, like r/FTM and r/genderqueer, where people shared similar concerns and got their questions answered by a community of trans people who had taken testosterone. That's how I found out about the small study suggesting subcutaneous injections could keep testosterone in your system longer than intramuscular injections. So I switched, and I am much happier with the results.

My only sense of understanding about my body during this process came from other trans people willing to share their experiences with HRT.

Even close friends who have been on testosterone have been more helpful in some ways to my transition than my doctor.

One of my friends has a more radical endocrinologist willing to talk about experimental treatments that have anecdotally worked on patients, so I often chat with them about what they've learned so I can take questions back to my own doctor. My other friend lives on the internet and can name trans subreddits at the drop of a hat, so they offer their knowledge.

My friends and I doctor one another in many ways, trading information like playing cards.

Trans Reddit forums became a haven of support for me when so many of my medical concerns went unanswered through official channels. While I can only take the experiences of others with a grain of salt, they have been a huge comfort during a nerve-wracking process.

View post:
I'm trans and take testosterone. Reddit helps more than my doctor. - Insider

Cne Lpez is a trans health reporter for Insider. Canela Lpez/Insider

I started hormone replacement therapy to treat my gender dysphoria in April.

I've found the online trans community more helpful at times than my actual endocrinologist.

Partly because of a lack of research on transition-related care, finding information can be hard.

Editor's note: This article is not medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional regarding questions about diagnoses and treatment.

I started hormone replacement therapy in April, the same day Arkansas passed the first trans medical ban in the United States, barring trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care.

With the heaviness of the wave of anti-trans legislation on my mind, I felt fortunate to have access to an endocrinologist after nearly a year of back-and-forth with insurance and several attempts with less trans-competent doctors.

I wanted to start testosterone-based HRT to treat my lifelong gender dysphoria, or extreme distress related to my body and gender, that has affected me as a transmasculine nonbinary person. I started testosterone therapy to deepen my voice, make myself a little more muscular, and overall become more comfortable in my body.

As someone who has insurance that covers gender-affirming care and lives in a major city, I am incredibly privileged.

I microdose HRT, meaning I take a smaller amount of testosterone for more gradual changes over a longer period of time. When I told my endocrinologist in New York City that I wanted to stay on a microdose long-term, he said he could write me the prescription but had to be transparent about the lack of research available on it. When I asked him what changes I could expect for my body, he told me he didn't know, even after I pressed for more information.

The only place I've been able to turn to for concrete answers on how to achieve the results I wanted - like a deeper voice and larger muscles - was online platforms like Reddit.

Story continues

Hormone replacement therapy as a form of treatment for the gender dysphoria that trans people experience has been around since the 1920s. But treatment protocols have been slow to shift.

Because of a lack of research on the effects of different HRT options, even trans-competent medical providers are left with few concrete studies to cite when patients ask questions, and physicians receive few hours of LGBTQ+-specific training.

One of the first questions I asked my doctor was which kind of injection I should opt for to get the most dramatic effects, which for me included a deeper voice, more muscle definition, and fat redistribution.

While small studies have suggested that subcutaneous injections (injection into the fat) could help retain testosterone in the body for longer between shots, my doctor told me there wasn't enough conclusive data to confirm this. I ended up opting for intramuscular injections and was dissatisfied with how long it took to see physical changes.

In the first month of taking HRT, the skin around my jaw thickened. When I went back to the doctor and asked how long it would take for my jawline to reemerge, he told me there wasn't enough research out there for him to give me a timeline.

Puffy-faced and feeling lost, I turned to the internet for understanding.

My friends who had started HRT before me recommended going on Reddit to find specific answers about where I should inject my T for the most effective results.

There I found several subreddits, like r/FTM and r/genderqueer, where people shared similar concerns and got their questions answered by a community of trans people who had taken testosterone. That's how I found out about the small study suggesting subcutaneous injections could keep testosterone in your system longer than intramuscular injections. So I switched, and I am much happier with the results.

My only sense of understanding about my body during this process came from other trans people willing to share their experiences with HRT.

Even close friends who have been on testosterone have been more helpful in some ways to my transition than my doctor.

One of my friends has a more radical endocrinologist willing to talk about experimental treatments that have anecdotally worked on patients, so I often chat with them about what they've learned so I can take questions back to my own doctor. My other friend lives on the internet and can name trans subreddits at the drop of a hat, so they offer their knowledge.

My friends and I doctor one another in many ways, trading information like playing cards.

Trans Reddit forums became a haven of support for me when so many of my medical concerns went unanswered through official channels. While I can only take the experiences of others with a grain of salt, they have been a huge comfort during a nerve-wracking process.

Read the original article on Insider

Read more here:
I'm a trans person who recently started testosterone, and Reddit was more helpful than my doctor - Yahoo News

Source: |Updated: Nov 05, 2021, 08:40 PM IST

It is a misconception that menopause affects only women. Globally, men are also victims of this hormonal disorder. After a man reaches the age of 30 years, his testosterone levels gradually decrease, falling an average of one per cent each year. But in India, unlike women, men suffering from menopause take it as stigma and shame on their manhood and do not seek medical help to overcome it.

While in advancing age, women fear menopause and consider it as a normal hormonal change that takes away their womanhood. In western countries, some women opt for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). Hence, HRT is seen as one treatment option for men menopause too. However, experts recommend raising awareness on lifestyle modification to overcome men menopause and suggest avoiding rushing to HRT.

Dr Kishore Pandit, IVF & Fertility Specialist says, Like women, men also undergo menopause, called-Andropause. Medically, we describe it as ageing-related hormone changes in men. When a mans testosterone levels decline on average about 1% a year after age 40, it leads to menopause among men. It is considered a stigma and shameful so men avoid treatment. Hence, we have to increase awareness about the same.

Experts do consider HRT as an option for treatment for menopause both in women and men. The fertility of men is affected by menopause. However, the experts do not believe that the natural, age-related drop in testosterone levels is to blame for male menopause symptoms. There isn't enough data to classify male menopause as a diagnosable medical illness. Hot flushes, impatience, fat build-up around the abdomen and chest, loss of muscle mass, dry, thin skin, and excessive sweating are all possible symptoms. The most prevalent symptoms of male menopause, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), are decreased libido, a lower frequency of morning erections, and erectile dysfunction. As a result of the decrease in male hormone levels, depression and weariness may develop.

According to Dr Archana Dhawan Bajaj, Gynaecologist, Obstetrician and IVF Expert, menopause is a progressive event. It may be visible at the age of 50 and affects people individually depending upon their health conditions. Menopause in men does not manifest in the same way that it does in women. On the other hand, it can have an impact on fertility. Hormone replacement therapy can be explored as a treatment option if testosterone levels are dangerously low, adds Dr Bajaj.

Experts say that fertility in men is influenced by several other factors such as low self-esteem, lack of sexual drive, a sense of incompetence or being old. Hence, it is very important to make men aware of it.

Dr Kishore recommends taking good, regular, long walks, training gently but regularly with weights, eating a low-carb, high protein diet, getting a good eight hours of sleep every night, avoiding stress and overcoming addictions- like alcohol and smoking.

Overall, lifestyle modification and dietary changes can make this transition easygoing. The role of Hormone Replacement Therapy in this is still uncertain, he emphasizes.

The experts also emphasize that one should always consult a well experienced and qualified expert before opting for any treatment options including HRT. According to them, menopause poses a health threat to men and it should be taken seriously so that men get the support they need.

Originally posted here:
Male Menopause: Know what it is and how it affects male fertility - DNA India