transmascissues:
i love you topical estrogen that treats atrophy and doesn’t interfere with testosterone at all. i love you modern medicine that makes safe and harmless transitions possible. i love you health professionals who explained the risks of taking testosterone to me calmly and told me exactly how we would respond to each one if they ever became an issue because they’re not scary or unmanageable if you have good, competent people on your side.
i hate you terf rhetoric that completely ignores the actual reality of testosterone hrt in favor of portraying it as poison. i hate you transphobes who try to make me scared of the medication that gave me my life back.
Luv how terfs frame transition as a lifelong medical burden when I literally spend all of 10 minutes every 2 weeks doing my testosterone shot, and sometimes at night when I am a bit itchy Down There, I take 2 minutes to apply A Cream.
If anything, the regular bloodwork and checkins with my healthcare provider have done wonders for my overall wellness and transition has indirectly helped me stay on top of (and even diagnose) congenital and hereditary issues I struggled with before finding a trans-friendly GP.
I am 46 and 13 years on T; my wellness risk factors due to my HRT are pulled from an overlap of the venn diagram of menopausal cis women + middle-aged cis men. It’s a little unusual, but not difficult to navigate.
Nothing in that wedge is really extraordinary; “eat well, sleep well, be mindful of stress, stay active, report anything strange asap” remains the overwhelming defacto medical advice for both cis medical cohorts, and as such, to me, and the tradeoffs I made when starting testosterone are pretty medically mundane.
Like. When I started T, my endo literally “warned” me that my heart health risks would be closer to that of a cis man and I responded, “ok, they manage, I am sure I can, too.”
Terfs want folks to think that being trans has Huge Consequences on every aspect of your health, but I have had so many experiences where it is non-issue. My dentist doesn’t care, nor does my optometrist. The ortho treating my sprained ankle and torn rotator cuff didn’t care, nor did my physical therapist. The x-ray tech gives me the 1-size-fits-all body shield. The tech giving me my covid booster asked if I was pregnant or breastfeeding, but those are questions she asks everyone these days. Hell, even my colonoscopy team didn’t care when I was like, “hey, fyi, don’t worry that you misplaced my dick or anything”, joking back, “oh, we’re not worried about That end.”
So far, my HRT has only been something potentially Concerning in 2 places:
1) I take finesteride to combat my receding hairline and have to make sure it doesn’t exacerbate my depression (a known side effect for cis folks, too). So far, it has not!
2) I have congenital heart issues, so I have started some maintenance meds for my heart rhythm a little on the early side, out of caution.
Can extraordinary problems arise from HRT? Sure, all meds have a risk, and a huge part of your treatment plan is mitigation and monitoring.
So really, what terfs are telling you is that men are icky and the ways in which they do so frequently throw women (especially those who are not thin, white, cis, young, and abled) under the bus as well. It’s just absolute collateral damage concern trolling.
Honestly, the biggest danger I’ve found from being on HRT is running into healthcare providers who instantly think testosterone is to blame for any and all of my ills. So, I just use the magic words, “please indicate on my chart that you are refusing to investigate [x] as I requested” and that tends to change their tune.
Anyway, the whole point of terf rhetoric is to sow doubt and fear and my advice for those considering HRT is to talk to as many trans people as possible who are willing to share the pros and cons of their time on HRT. Then, you can have more productive conversations with your healthcare providers and decide (and regularly revisit) what is best for you.
