I hope this is the correct category, not sure. Okay, I’ve been with my boyfriend for 5 months, when I met him he showed me he wears a dress and bra under his regular clothes. Most people don’t know this because of public ridicule. I am taking HRT, estrogen. He wanted to know if he took some of mine (which I won’t do, never give your medicine to anyone it isn’t prescribed to) what would happen if he took estrogen?
he says he wants larger boobs.
If he takes enough, id guess probably same effect it has on someone undergoing sex reassignment therapy?
Self experimenting with your endocrine system is a very bad idea. For one, your body works to maintain your hormones at certain levels and if you raise that level artificially, your body will adjust to try and get it back to normal (whatever that is for you). This can have very unfortunate cascade effects.
Before you start messing with hormones, first learn how the Hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis controls estrogen and testosterone levels and then think about messing with that. Learn about aromatase and all the other enzymes that control hormone levels. It’s not a simple deal at all.
In my experience (fairly extensive) even most General Practitioners only have a cursory understanding of endocrinology and it’s definitely not something for the uneducated. If your boyfriend wants to change his body, talk to a real endocrinologist, they are the only ones qualified to talk about hormone therapies. Playing at this on your own is asking for disaster.
I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice.
And while he might be ridiculed by some segments of society for his decisions, he won’t be by a doctor. It’s safe to tell them that he wants to feminize his body.
I am a Family Medicine physician and I treat trans females. Your average endocrinologist does not. It’s a niche specialty at this point, and I learned it out of necessity due to having trans female patients who needed care. That’s why a lot of physicians learned how to do it.
The pharmacologic cornerstones of therapy for trans females are estradiol (an estrogen) and spironolactone (an anti-androgen). The usual aim of transgender hormone therapy is to induce physical changes to match gender identity. The treatment goal is to maintain hormone levels in the normal physiological range for the target gender. Use of such medications will cause loss of facial hair, breast development, testicular shrinkage, and a more female fat/muscle distribution…
Many such individuals self-medicate, and some can get well outside the target range for estrogen levels, to their detriment. Regular monitoring of hormone levels (along with electrolytes if one is on spironolactone) is necessary.
You’re right, don’t share your meds. It’s both unsafe and illegal.
If your boyfriend wants meds to feminize his appearance, he should be working not only with a physician who can prescribe such meds, but also a counselor with experience in that area of gender dissonance.
QtM, working with differently gendered people since 1978.
Medical advice is best suited to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
www.glma.org and www.mytranshealth.com have listings for trans-friendly health providers.
Another vote for running it past a medical professional. My understanding is that in the “trans sense” you really need to get a good tune/match to your body. Taking something random prescribed to someone else could have no effect or it could have bad results and its hard to call which will happen in advance.
If he just wants bigger boobs, perhaps implants are an option. If he wants other feminization, then, as others have said, he should talk to a doctor and get his own prescription.
Welcome to the SDMB.
Regards,
Shodan