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Legitimately curious: when someone decides to transition, do they have to stay on hormones for the rest of their life?
Yes
Dang.... that sounds tricky.
I'm on medication right now, and I may be on it for the rest of my life. However, there have been shortages, supply line disruptions, insurance issues, discriminating pharmacies, and doctors who are hesitant to prescribe it. Due to all these, there has been times that I have been forced to go without (longest was around 5 months or so, which nearly ruined my life/health).
Can trans folks go without the meds/hormones? For how long? Will there be issues if you suddenly stop taking it? Can you be denied your meds? Is there a risk of non-cooperative doctors / insurance companies / pharmacies denying you meds?
If anyone knows, I'm curious. Thanks!
Can we go without? Yes. We'll have mood swings like most people when they have hormone fluctuations and depending on the person depression, anxiety, generally feeling yucky. Ect.
For how long? I mean technically forever? Our bodies still produce hormones naturally (with some surgical exceptions) we won't die but might be miserable enough to want to.
Can you be denied? State/insurance dependant tbh. Where I live hell no, in a red state yeah definitely.
And same with non-cooperative docs, some just won't help. (for anyone looking for help look into planned parenthood. They're great and do hormones for trans people.)
Anyway I've never had a shortage bc hormones are pretty common for cis people too, they just don't know or don't understand when they're taking hormones.
Is there a risk of non-cooperative doctors / insurance companies / pharmacies denying you meds?
Unfortunately, yes, this is a huge problem for the trans community the world over.
(IANAD) A trans woman with neither estrogen nor testosterone in her system wouldn't begin to masculinize, but she would experience menopause-like symptoms such as hot flashes or risk of osteoporosis. This is why generally even after orchiectomy or SRS, trans women will still take estrogen for their entire lives, even though they no longer need to take an antiandrogen to prevent masculinization.
If a trans woman does have testes, and stops taking both estrogen and the antiandrogen, then she will gradually begin to masculinize. My understanding is that trans women will sometimes stop taking hormone therapy for up to several months for things like banking sperm, so it's not like forgetting to take your hormones for a few days is a major crisis. But going without hormones for extended periods of time is also not particularly fun.
That said, there are trans people who never take hormones, or who stop taking hormones, or who temporarily or permanently lose access to hormones, for any number of reasons, and their transitions aren't any less transitions for it. For trans men with CAIS, for instance, taking testosterone would have no effect on their bodies, but this doesn't make them any less men.