# What happens if a male takes HRT intended for transmen?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 27, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997 "2021-05-27T01:29:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/1 "2021-05-27T01:29:02Z")
Or a female takes HRT intended for transwomen? Or the take 2, 3, 4 times the usual dose for long periods of time?
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/2 "2021-05-27T01:52:10Z")
I don’t think the term hormone _replacement_ therapy is appropriate for transitioning - just hormone therapy, or if you want to be more specific masculinizing/feminizing hormone therapy.
But what is the relevance in your question of referencing transitioning at all? Masculinizing hormone therapy is just testosterone, so what are you asking that is different from just asking what happens if a cis man takes testosterone supplements? Feminizing hormone therapy for a trans woman consists of estrogen plus a testosterone blocker, but the latter would not be relevant for a cis woman, so again I don’t see what you’re asking that’s any different from asking what happens when a cis woman takes estrogen supplements.
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/3 "2021-05-27T01:53:22Z")
Ok, that’s what I’m asking then.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/4 "2021-05-27T02:00:58Z")
testosterone therapy:
[Testosterone therapy: Potential benefits and risks as you age - Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/sexual-health/in-depth/testosterone-therapy/art-20045728)
estrogen therapy:
[Hormone therapy: Is it right for you? - Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/menopause/in-depth/hormone-therapy/art-20046372)
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### Author:  [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/5 "2021-05-27T05:06:35Z")
IANAdoctor, but as I understand, women have some small level of testosterone (and men have a small level or estrogen), so testosterone blockers for women would have some effect?
The Olympics doping test looks for men who have taken supplemental testosterone to boost muscle mass. (and for women, too, I think)
Women who have had full hysterectomies take estrogen to replace the hormones lost from removed ovaries.
As usual with anything that messes with body chemistry, taking an unbalanced amount of one thing risks interesting side effects, and everyone is different and the degree of resulting effects can be variable.
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### Author:  [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/6 "2021-05-27T06:23:20Z")
AFAIK most trans women take oestrogen but not progesterone, which would be unsafe for a woman who hasn’t had a hysterectomy, since it prevents the uterine lining from being shed and can lead to cancer. If it was a regime involving both hormones, then it would probably just be like taking one of the older high dose contraceptive pills, which tended to have a lot of unpleasant side effects.
Testosterone suppressants like spironolactone are sometimes prescribed for women with PCOS, so would presumably be generally safe, but they are apparently dangerous in pregnancy.
For men, the potential side effects of testosterone supplements include:
- Hair loss
- Male breast enlargement
- Acne
- Testicular atrophy
- Prostate enlargement
- Loss of libido
- Increased aggression
- Infertility
From [here](https://www.piedmont.org/living-better/supplemental-testosterone-healthy-or-not).
Hair loss, acne, increased aggression and infertility are all possible side effects for trans men, too.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/7 "2021-05-27T09:58:15Z")
> [@md-2000](#):
>
> As usual with anything that messes with body chemistry, taking an unbalanced amount of one thing risks interesting side effects, and everyone is different and the degree of resulting effects can be variable.
This is the main answer to the OP: altering your body chemistry is not something to be done lightly and can affect pretty much every system in your body in a lot of different (and often unpleasant) ways, including literally the way you think and act. _Really_ not recommended unless there is a clear need for it and appropriate professional medical oversight involved.
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/8 "2021-05-27T18:09:46Z")
I wasn’t thinking about doing it myself but I was watching a transsexual talk about hormone therapy and wondered if anyone had ever tried to turn themselves into a Space Marine or ultrawoman.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/9 "2021-05-27T18:22:03Z")
Tons of athletes have taken testosterone, and similar drugs, to improve their performance.
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### Author:  [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2021, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/10 "2021-05-28T12:17:12Z")
Also, there’s a limit to what the human body structure can do. Taking 10 times normal testosterone does not make you 10 times stronger, the law of diminishing returns kicks in very soon. Just like putting 10 times the fertilizer on your lawn will not give you 10 times thicker grass.
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/11 "2021-05-28T19:04:59Z")
But somebody must have tried, right? Are there cases one can ready about of someone going really heavy on hormones of their own sex? There must be uber gymrats somewhere who’ve made good study cases.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/12 "2021-05-29T00:56:36Z")
They are legion. Ever since the east Germans gave testosterone to their female athletes back in … Maybe the seventies?
Why do you think all the major sport events have drug testing? They are testing for androgens.
Back in the late eighties, a friend has a cousin who was a competitive shot putter. Every guy on the circuit took androgens except one. And they all knew it. Because they weren’t tested at minor events, and they were tested at major events. So they all had to go off the juice for a while prior to major events.
And the distances were lower at major events than at minor events for every guy except this one man, whom they all assumed was actually clean. He did slightly better at the major events because he was more excited. The others all lost a statistically significant amount due to not taking their drugs.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/13 "2021-05-29T03:36:23Z")
ALL.THE.TIME
You hear about athletes “testing positive for steroids” or some guy who wants to go on steroids to improve his physique? (And develop “roid rage” and all the fun things that go along with it?)
Some women do take estrogen but it’s not as common as it used to be, because it can also lead to mood swings and blood clots, among other things.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/14 "2021-05-29T03:40:06Z")
Not long after the Berlin Wall fell down, I read an article, the subject of which I’ve never seen since, nor have I seen any kind of online links, but I find it quite believable. In short, many people from other countries noticed that East German Olympic champions seemed to marry each other in numbers that wouldn’t exist in nature, and yes, it was revealed that those marriages were indeed arranged by the East German sports commission, whatever it’s called, with the hopes of producing future generations of super-athletes. A huge percentage of those marriages were childless, and many were even unconsummated (at least, not with each other) and were annulled, or at least ended in divorce, at this time.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/15 "2021-05-29T04:01:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> Some women do take estrogen but it’s not as common as it used to be, because it can also lead to mood swings and blood clots, among other things.
Er, a large fraction of women take hormonal birth control that’s often estrogen, and a lot more take replacement hormones after menopause, because it makes them feel better. I did a ton of research when I went on hormone replacement therapy because it got bad press after a couple of big studies that hoped to find it cured heart disease actually found it increased women’s risks.
But if you dig into that data… The question they were trying to answer was “if a 70 year old woman presents with heart disease, is it helpful for her to go on estrogen?” The answer to that question is a resounding NO. But the reason most women consider estrogen is because they have hot flashes or unpleasant mood swings or other issues around the time of menopause. And it turns out that women who take estrogen when they are going through menopause have a lower total mortality than those who don’t. That even seems to be true if they stay on estrogen for several years.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/16 "2021-05-29T04:15:04Z")
I was indeed referring to postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy.
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### Author:  [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/17 "2021-05-29T14:26:59Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#):
>
> But somebody must have tried, right? Are there cases one can ready about of someone going really heavy on hormones of their own sex? There must be uber gymrats somewhere who’ve made good study cases.
Check out the Mr Olympia contest for plenty of examples.
> **[Mr. Olympia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Olympia)**
>
> Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest in the open division at Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually and is sanctioned by the IFBB Professional League. Joe Weider created the contest to enable the amateur Mr. Universe winners to continue competing and to earn money. The first Mr. Olympia was held on September 18, 1965, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City, with Larr Th...
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### Author:  [@ALOHA\_HATER](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ALOHA_HATER)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/18 "2021-05-29T20:12:16Z")
Pretty sure steroids are different from hormones
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/19 "2021-05-29T20:53:40Z")
Testosterone is both a steroid and a hormone.
> **[Testosterone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone)**
>
> Pages for logged out editors learn more
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>
> .mw-parser-output .ib-chembox{border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .ib-chembox td,.mw-parser-output .ib-chembox th{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:40%}.mw-parser-output .ib-chembox td+td{width:60%}
> Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual cha...
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-male-takes-hrt-intended-for-transmen/942997/20 "2021-05-29T22:25:35Z")
Not all hormones are steroids, but most steroids are hormones, or have hormone-like actions.
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