Hormone levels are a big part of your physical and emotional levels.
Hot flashes and erectile dysfunction are both symptoms of imbalanced hormone levels, in women and men, respectively.
For trans people, correcting hormone levels is a way of transitioning into their correct gender.
In this article, we’ll look at hormone replacement therapy as a remedy.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is intended for people whose hormone levels are not ideal and need to be adjusted. For women, this could mean that they are producing or uptaking enough estrogen. For men, it could mean they are not producing or uptaking enough testosterone.
A lot of things can affect hormone production, including your diet, stress, and fitness level, but sometimes the imbalance is significant enough that it needs to be corrected medically rather than through lifestyle adjustments.
When women go through menopause, they often see a drop in their estrogen levels that can lead to unpleasant symptoms and increased health risks. This can be corrected with HRT.
Some men have lower testosterone levels, either due to genetic factors, stress, or injury, and would like to supplement it.
Hormone therapy is also used by transgender people, who want to transition into a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. Trans women naturally produce testosterone, but use HRT to adjust their estrogen levels to that of a cis woman. Trans men do the same thing with testosterone.
This causes the body to change, feminizing in the case of trans women, and masculinizing in the case of trans men.
Hormones govern a surprising number of functions, including our emotional regulation and sex drive. Incorrect hormone levels can lead to anxiety and depression that, in some cases, can become severe.
There is a medically established range of acceptable hormone levels for men and women. If you get a blood test and discover that your hormone levels fall outside this range, you can use HRT to restore your hormone levels to normal and experience relief from negative symptoms.
In women, HRT can offer significant relief from the symptoms of menopause.
In men, HRT can restore sex drive and function, as well as improve mental health and mood. Testosterone, as well as penile enhancement, can cure erectile dysfunction.
Trans women use HRT to increase their levels of estrogen. This causes breast growth, the thinning of body hair, the thinning of the epidermis, a redistribution of fat, and an overall feminization in appearance.
Estrogen does not, however, cause a person’s voice to become higher, or remove the need to shave facial hair.
Some side effects of feminizing HRT for trans women are a loss of libido and erectile function, as well as reduced ejaculation and infertility. Trans women taking HRT may struggle to maintain firm erections. Their sexual desire may be significantly reduced, especially in the first few months. Feminizing HRT causes permanent infertility.
Trans men use testosterone to masculinize their bodies.
Testosterone causes the growth of body hair, the deepening of the voice, and an overall masculinization of the body. It also stops trans men from having periods, although it does not act as a form of birth control. Testosterone causes swelling and elongation of the clitoris. It does not reduce the size of breasts.
Some side effects of testosterone include an increased appetite and libido.
The best way is to talk to your doctor or contact Family Medicine Austin.
if you are a cis person, all you need to do is bring up your symptoms and ask about the possibility of hormone replacement therapy. If your hormone levels are not within the acceptable range, you will be prescribed the hormones you need.
If you are a trans person, it might be a little bit more difficult, but not necessarily.
In the United States, there are many “informed consent” clinics that will prescribe hormones immediately, as long as the patient understands the medical risks and consequences and signs off on that.
If you can’t access an informed consent clinic, you might need to go through your doctor, who could send you to a psychologist to get an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria to “prove” that you are trans, before you receive a prescription.
As a last resort, because of medical gatekeeping in some countries, it is possible to order hormones through online pharmacies, although this is dubious and unsafe in the best of cases, and illegal in the worst.
Hormones are an important part of your mental and physical health, as well as your sense of your gender and who you are. If your hormone levels are incorrect, whether you are cis or trans, you can face health consequences like anxiety and depression. Hormone replacement therapy is one way of correcting these kinds of imbalances so that you can live a healthy and happy life.
