Here's how it works:

GnRH (Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone) is a control hormone at the top of the hormonal cascade for sex hormones. It's a peptide hormone produced by the hypothalamus and released in pulses. In response to it the pituitary gland just below the brain releases the Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and the Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH), also known as gonadotropins. Those two act on the gonads, prompting the production of sex steroids. Testosterone if you have testes, estrogen and progesterone if you have ovaries. This whole system is a feedback loop, that relies on the periodic release of GnRH. If you overload it with substances similar enough to GnRH, so called GnRH agonists like the one above, to introduce a constant level of GnRH, the pituitary gland becomes desensitized to GnRH and stops producing LH and FSH. And in turn, the sex steroid production stops. The only thing left to do is to introduce the opposite sex hormone to your body then.
The whole thing is reversible, once you stop taking the drug, the hormonal axis restarts. The changes the opposite sex hormone does to your body are not. But who would want that?

GnRH agonists are the best way to achieve suppression of sex hormone production with no side effects, if you take the other sex hormone. The only problem is, this stuff costs about 150€/month. So naturally, health insurances are reluctant to cover it. In my country, they try to poison you with Cyproteronacetat instead because it's so damn cheap. CPA was developed as a cancer medication. It's a progestin and hence messes with your mental health, it fucks up your B12 intake, and it carries a proven risk of brain tumors that scales with life time dosage. So you want to take as little of it as you possibly can, for as short as possible. It's banned in the US, and not prescribed as trans* HRT in many other European countries anymore because of this. Mine is a little behind the times.

The other options are Spironolacton, which is a diuretic (it makes you piss a lot). The T-suppressing effects are weak at best. And Bicalutamid, which blocks the T-receptors instead. So it's hard to measure the effect and control the dosage. Scientific data on its effectiveness and risks are very limited. There have been cases of terminal liver damage.


It took me around half a year to get GnRHa covered. Absolutely worth it.

There is a fifth, secret option to block T-production. If you overload the feedback system with so much estrogen that the hypothalamus gets confused, it will reduce GnRH output. It can't quite distinguish between T and E and thinks there is already way too much T in your body.

I've been using gel. At first it seemed my levels are high enough to achieve this effect. After a while however they stabilized at a level that was not sufficient to achieve T suppression without a blocker. My fallback plan was to get on E injections to reach those levels. A lot of people do. I was hesitant about too high E levels though. But this is just my gut feeling, not based on anything.

The sixth option is to just have your gonads surgically removed. Have your balls cut off.

If you want to know more, I can strongly recommend
https://transfemscience.org

There is virtually no funding for trans* health research. The evidence base is severely lacking, the studies that do exists are often flawed. In a lot of countries the health care options are limited and purposefully locked behind needless gatekeeping. As a result, many trans* people rely not only on self-medication but also the shared experiences of others that were desperate enough to experiment with their own bodies. Sites like the above are an essential part of the shared knowledge base we rely on.

Back in Karlsruhe

Who else is attending this year's GPN? Hmu

3537

Time to go back home. Car is PACKED

Here is a video recording of this talk

https://cfp.gulas.ch/gpn23/talk/EUEERZ/

Oof. Caught a cough and a middle ear inflammation - on both sides. Been sick all week. Now on antibiotics.