So, for awhile I’ve been curious about my gender and presentation, and while I get no dysphoria in my current state (to my knowledge, being male has been default for me for quite a bit so idk, I just know I don’t feel one way or another strongly, except…) I do feel what I imagine to be gender euphoria when I had used a Snapchat filter for lipstick and makeup, that and when I put my hair up to cut it. Due to my complexion I’m kinda medium ugly, like my bone structure in my face is nice just not the acne scaring, and because of that and my giant ass Adams apple idk if I’d be ‘passable’ (whatever that means). But idk I think for me personally I’d like to be in between and confuse people about what gender I actually am (that and I’d like some bewbs without just getting really chonky).
So that brings me to the crux of what I’d like to accomplish and how. I want to do HRT but through diet to see results and stop where necessary after I feel like I’m good where I’m at. I figured this could also help other confused or interested comrades as well if we could compile info we’ve all found.
I know that grapefruit juice is synergistic with estradiol (be careful), flaxseeds help interfere with androgens I believe (it’s been awhile since I’ve gone and looked it up), soy has phytoestrogens, yams help increase estrogen production in some way. So things like that. Feel free to add or correct me. If comrades would like to post links for SAFE over the counter hrt for those not wanting to deal with the whole process to get gender affirming care that would also be more than welcome.
Edit:
29
Live in US
Always waffling between whether or not I’m some flavor of trans
Android user
When I said otc, kinda meant something like diyhrt cafe. I ain’t got the money for a therapist rn and I’m not sure I’d be able to because idk if I am actually trans or it’s a fetish or whatev. Like I’m sure I’d feel sexier and cute but idk how I’d feel since ‘male’ has been my default. Idk I’d like to just try it out slowly and see if I like the results and continue if I do. Also not worried about infertility.
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plant hormones arent really reliable, youd have to have them in crazy high concentrated doses to do anything, and it confers a higher risk of cancer than meds when concentrated. back in ancient days this was a common method of hrt, they would brew it concentrated into teas and beers for menopausal women and ‘eunuchs’. modern pharmaceuticals are very good though, go with those if you can
edit: also, if you need help with payment for a doc visit, lmk, i know some people that can help
Yeah, for every herbal DIY HRT success story that gets posted by the goobers over at BreastNexum, there are at least two more stories of people winding up in the hospital with liver failure. I tried it briefly, and while it sort of worked, I had nasty migraines within about 6 weeks and decided to stop before things got worse. Switched to grey-market pharmaceuticals a year later, and life is groovy. RX Aisle is trustworthy, even if customs processing fucking sucks, and Otokonoko is amazing if you can wrangle the crypto dance. Found both via
hrt dot coffee.
There really is no safe OTC way to do DIY HRT, unless you stick with stuff that will do fucking nothing. In fact, doing actual DIY HRT is significantly safer than fucking around with a weak monoamine oxydase inhibitor like grapefruit juice, especially if you do not want to go full hog to begin with (by full hog, i mean the really effective treatment regimens like either taking high dose estradiole or combining estradiole with an anti-androgen). Estradiol gels in particular are a really low risk way to do HRT.
in the global south, where there arent many endos or docs to help trans people, people usually take menstrual medication (re: hormonal birth control) for HRT. this is obviously not ideal and you should try other methods, the types of estrogen and progesterone here are different than what is normally prescribed and to know if your levels are correct you really need blood testing. i do believe there are some guides online for this, if the OP is serious and desperate enough about it i can look it up for them.
the plus side to this is that its literally everywhere OTC, only a couple of countries have a formal ban on hormonal birth control. some countries even sell estrogen OTC.
That’s OTC, but it’s notably less safe than transdermal estradiol. Taking estrogens in pill form always comes with some risk of blood clots, and this is usually increased a lot with synthetic estrogens like premarin or many of the drugs used for hormonal contraception. It’s good when people who do not have access to the safest ways of HRT have options regardless, everybody should be able to transition and i would absolutely take a lot of risks if i was in a less privileged position and would have to improvise. But OP has said that gender affirming care is available where they live, and there’s the option to buy estradiol preparations online.
What kind of anti androgen would work well with estradiol like what name? Could I find it in the diy café? (In case I do wanna go full hog). Also I feel like I should be taking advantage of my testosterone to build strength and some muscle in key areas since I’ve neglected hitting the gym, so I guess my concern is the hormonal changes and what it’ll entail performance wise. Like should I only do estrogen and do anti androgens later or does estrogen effect testosterone on it’s own meaning I should wait till I like my frame I want to develop (I wanna be a bit pudgy but strong and thick in the trunk, butt, hips, legs. Idk gender ambiguous thicc frame I guess). I’ve only done cursory research and spent plenty lurking here and there and hexbear so forgive me for writing a paragraph and not knowing these answers myself. I lazy. I’m like a cat, unless I’m at work tho.
spironolactone is the most common anti-androgen in america, generally taken between 25mg-200mg (100mg being most common for trans people). generally its suggested to do anti-androgens at the beginning of hrt, you can quit them for monotherapy (high doses of only estrogen and progesterone) later.
when it comes to muscle mass, estrogen does make it harder to get gains, but youre probably gonna lose gains eventually even if you got it right now unless you are genetically lucky or something. i know someone that is a weightlifting buff and is trans and she tried her hardest to keep her old muscle mass but couldnt keep up. plus side is the estrogen makes fat complement the muscles in a feminine way, so yeah you can definitely achieve pudgy and strong.
Hell yeah, and mainly want strength not muscle volume anyways, but I’m assuming it’ll reduce a bit of strength too
I would read through https://diyhrt.wiki/ a few times, and maybe do some other research on the effects of hrt.
I don’t want to discourage you, but diet and supplements are unlikely to cause real feminization. The closest you can get is losing weight (muscle) and maybe taking biotin for better skin. If you aren’t sure about commiting to full transfeminine HRT, there are some people who experiment with in-between hormone regimes. Usually this involves either starting and stopping hormones, or taking some other drug to minimize certain effects. For instance, people will take Raloxifene with estradiol to prevent breast growth for a sort of non-binary medical transition.
If you do decide that you want to fully commit to standard HRT, it’s still totally possible to try it and then stop. You won’t really get any permanent effects for the first couple of months, and even if you take it longer the lingering effects will mostly just be breast growth. Long term hormone therapy can make you infertile obviously.
If you’re comfortable sharing this, telling us what country you live could help us give better advice about how to actually get hormones. Sadly, in most of the world there’s no such thing as a pharmacy that sells genuinely effective hormone therapy medications over the counter. But, there are many safe grey market options. Also, it may actually be easier to get legit doctor-prescibed hormones than you think, especially if you live in a US blue state.
After giving it some more thought, here’s a few additional things to consider:
- when you’re past your mid 20s and things like potential hip growth aren’t a factor anymore, boobs are literally the only irreversible change that will come from feminizing HRT. Anything else, smoother skin, changes in facial features, body odor, blood flow, ligaments, mood, libido etc., would revert if you would get off HRT. If boobs are something you absolutely want, and it sounds like you do, you have nothing to lose from just trying out estradiol.
If you want to try out having boobs pre HRT, it can be surprisingly convincing to just get a padded bra and wear that under your shirt. I’ve had friends who’ve had really baffling pre HRT results with that, a wig, some makeup and maybe a choker to hide your adam’s apple.
If I did do any kind of elective surgery trans or not, it’d be for my Adams apple, have always hated how it looks, while others have been jealous to some degree lmao
I get that, i’m lucky in that mine isn’t really visible, but there’s some vocal exercises where i have to manually check where my voicebox is and feeling that protrusion is … not nice.
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http://4pt4axjgzmm4ibmxplfiuvopxzf775e5bqseyllafcecryfthdupjwyd.onion/
search for estradiol
Link doesn’t work for me, is there a typo or do I need tor* ( edited) to use it? Etc etc
it’s an onion link, you’ll need “the tor browser” to access it; this is what the kids call “the dark net”
Heard. Any way to access it on a phone, or any links a “normie” could use? Hesitant to be scrolling around on the dark net.
its fine if you are only using it for gray market drugs https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.torproject.torbrowser
Should I be using a VPN as well? Idk how exactly it works but I’m pretty sure they can glean info from me with just my presence when I browse the dark net or web right?
nah itll be fine, tor browser already changes your ip. don’t worry about cops getting you for estradiol, they go after dark web suppliers more often afaik.
generic estradiol is super cheap btw and in developing countries with less strict regulations you can get it from stores without prescriptions (they are supposed to ask for it but they don’t), its why many top sellers on the site are from Bangladesh and India. its not like amphetamine based stimulants.
that said others might know of clear web sources for estradiol
Not worried about feds more concerned about ne’er-do-wells, rapscallions, whatev
you would be relatively safer on the tor network, you shouldn’t worry about it. if you are on android you can install orbot and add your browser to its apps list. for iphone i dont exactly know but i could find this link.
Android, I’ll check it all out when I’ve got time.
When I said otc, kinda meant something like diyhrt cafe. I ain’t got the money for a therapist rn
Informed consent clinics don’t require a therapist, therapist is more for if you feel confused and need to work through stuff. There’s a big list of informed consent clinics in the USA made by Erin in the Morning
I wouldn’t say confused but definitely unsure and not read up entirely. Guess I’ll do some more perusing online, partly why I hoped I could make changes slowly through diet.
