What is cross-sex hormone therapy and how does it work?
You are here: Home / Sexual Health Q&A / What is cross-sex hormone therapy? What is cross-sex hormone therapy? Cross-sex hormone therapy is a treatment used to help people with gender dysphoria transition from their biological gender to their desired gender.
What is hormone therapy used for?
Hormone therapy is used to treat cancers that use hormones to grow, such as some prostate and breast cancers. Hormone therapy is a cancer treatment that slows or stops the growth of cancer that uses hormones to grow.
What is cross-sex hormone therapy for gender dysphoria?
Cross-sex hormone therapy is a treatment used to help people with gender dysphoria transition from their biological gender to their desired gender. Hormones play an important role in a person’s secondary sex characteristics – the physical aspects that make one male or female. For example, androgens,...
What is hormone therapy for transgender women?
Hormone therapy for transgender women is intended to feminize patients by changing fat distribution, inducing breast formation, and reducing male pattern hair growth (11). Estrogens are the mainstay therapy for trans female patients.
What happens to your body when you take hormone therapy?
Hormone therapy side effects can include vaginal dryness, discharge, itching, or irritation. It can also cause changes to the menstrual cycle and cause vaginal bleeding that is not related to a period. Hot flashes and night sweats. Hot flashes are very common for people receiving hormone therapy.
What does hormone therapy do to a woman?
Hormone replacement therapy is medication that contains female hormones. You take the medication to replace the estrogen that your body stops making during menopause. Hormone therapy is most often used to treat common menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes and vaginal discomfort.
Is Cross hormone therapy reversible?
Certain effects of transgender hormone therapy are long-term changes and, generally, are not reversible.
Is hormone therapy the same as chemo?
Hormone therapy is used to block hormones or their actions. Hormone replacement therapy, which is not a cancer treatment, is when hormones are given to replace the ones the body no longer makes to treat menopause-related symptoms.
What age can you start hormone therapy?
If used in an adolescent, hormone therapy typically begins at age 16. Ideally, treatment starts before the development of secondary sex characteristics so that teens can go through puberty as their identified gender. Many trans girls are treated with a medication to delay the start of puberty.
Who is a good candidate for hormone replacement therapy?
Good candidates for hormone replacement therapy Women who have gone through menopause at a younger age, perhaps before or in their mid-40s, can really benefit from HRT. The treatment protects their bones and cardiovascular system for what may very well be half of their life.
Does HRT make you look younger?
One of the benefits of hormone replacement therapy is that it can make you look younger. Hormone replacement therapy, or more specifically estrogen, can help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles on the skin. It can also promote hair growth, which can contribute to a more youthful appearance.
How long does it take to transition from male to female?
Some of the physical changes begin in as little as a month, though it may take as long as 5 years to see the maximum effect. For example, men transitioning to women can expect A-cup and occasionally larger breasts to fully grow within 2 to 3 years.
What happens when a woman takes testosterone?
Side effects of testosterone therapy for women can include acne, extra hair growth, weight gain, and fluid retention. Some women have mood swings and become angry or hostile. In rarer circumstances, women develop deeper voices and baldness. Clitoral enlargement is another rare side effect.
Which is worse chemo or hormone therapy?
Contrary to the commonly held view, 2 years after diagnosis, hormone therapy, a highly effective breast cancer treatment worsens quality of life to a greater extent and for a longer time, especially in menopausal patients. The deleterious effects of chemotherapy are more transient.
What cancers are treated with hormone therapy?
Hormone therapy is used to treat prostate and breast cancers that use hormones to grow. Hormone therapy is most often used along with other cancer treatments.
How long does hormone therapy take?
You may be offered hormone therapy for up to six months before radiotherapy. And you may continue to have hormone therapy during and after your radiotherapy, for up to three years. Some men might have hormone therapy on its own if radiotherapy or surgery aren't suitable for them.
What is the treatment for transgender women on HRT?
Trans women on HRT usually follow a regimen of taking both anti-androgens, to suppress the production of testosterone in the body, and estrogen, to induce typically female characteristics. Anti-androgens are generally administered orally (pills).
What is the HRT for trans people?
This section of the guide provides information on access to cross-gender Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for trans people. Though not all trans people seek out HRT, for many it is an important aspect of their transition. Making HRT more accessible is integral to advocating for trans clients. This chapter will provide information to guide frontline workers and community organizations in the process of referring trans people to appropriate services and supporting them through the process of accessing hormones. It will also give an overview of different protocols and processes for prescribing hormones and outline some of the barriers that trans people face in Québec when trying to access HRT.
What is the harm reduction framework for trans people?
Initiating hormone therapies for trans people within a harm-reduction framework is one way of advocating for trans people, who experience multiple barriers to access to adequate and respectful health care.
Why can't trans people access hormones?
People decide not to access hormones through legal channels for a variety of reasons: many trans people access hormones through the underground market because they have had bad experiences accessing health care in the past, or because they do not have status in Canada, and therefore cannot access health care services.
What is an endocrinologist?
An endocrinologist is a medical specialist dealing with internal medicine. They have a special understanding of the role of hormones and other biochemical mediators in regulating bodily functions. They are also trained to treat hormone imbalances.
Is RLE a requirement for HRT?
A lot of debate surrounds whether or not the RLE is a necessary and/or ethical requirement for the initiation of HRT for trans people. The RLE is advocated for and practiced by many who follow older versions of the WPATH Standards of Care.
Can a doctor prescribe hormones to trans people?
In fact, any doctor certified to practice medicine in Québec is able to prescribe hormones.
Why do transgender men need hormones?
Exogenous testosterone is used in transgender men to induce virilization and suppress feminizing characteristics . In transgender women, exogenous estrogen is used to help feminize patients, and anti-androgens are used as adjuncts to help suppress masculinizing ...
What is the treatment for transgender men?
Many transgender men seek therapy for virilization and the mainstay treatment is exogenous testosterone. Transgender women desire suppression of androgenic effects and often use anti-androgen therapy with feminizing exogenous estrogens.
What is testosterone therapy?
Testosterone. Testosterone therapy is used to suppress female secondary sex characteristics and masculinize transgender men. The therapy used resembles hormone replacement regimens used to treat natal men with hypogonadism and most of the preparations are testosterone esters.
How long do you have to live before starting hormone therapy?
This test required patients to live full-time as their self-affirmed gender for a predetermined period of time (usually 12 months) before starting cross-sex hormones.
Do trans men need hormone therapy?
Many trans men seek maximum virilization, while others desire suppression of their natal secondary sex characteristics only. As a result, hormone therapy can be tailored to a patient’s transition goals, but must also take into account their medical comorbidities and the risks associated with hormone use.
Does exogenous therapy reduce androgen production?
Through a negative feedback loop, exogenous therapy suppresses gonadotropin secretion from the pituitary gland, leading to a reduction in androgen production (12). Estrogen alone is often not enough to achieve desirable androgen suppression, and adjunctive anti-androgenic therapy is also usually necessary.
Is hormone therapy for transgender men based on clinical experience?
These guidelines are mostly based on clinical experience from experts in the field. Guidelines for hormone therapy in transgender men are mostly extrapolations from recommendations that currently exist for the treatment of hypogona dal natal men and estrogen therapy for transgender women is loosely based on treatments used for postmenopausal women .
What is hormone therapy?
Credit: iStock. Hormone therapy is a cancer treatment that slows or stops the growth of cancer that uses hormones to grow. Hormone therapy is also called hormonal therapy, hormone treatment, or endocrine therapy.
How does hormone therapy work?
Hormone therapy is used to: Treat cancer. Hormone therapy can lessen the chance that cancer will return or stop or slow its growth. Ease cancer symptoms. Hormone therapy may be used to reduce or prevent symptoms in men with prostate cancer who are not able to have surgery or radiation therapy.
What are the side effects of hormone therapy for prostate cancer?
Some common side effects for men who receive hormone therapy for prostate cancer include: hot flashes. loss of interest in or ability to have sex. weakened bones. diarrhea. Nausea. enlarged and tender breasts. fatigue.
Why does hormone therapy cause side effects?
Because hormone therapy blocks your body’s ability to produce hormones or interferes with how hormones behave, it can cause unwanted side effects. The side effects you have will depend on the type of hormone therapy you receive and how your body responds to it. People respond differently to the same treatment, so not everyone gets the same side effects. Some side effects also differ if you are a man or a woman.
What is the best treatment for cancer?
Hormone therapy is most often used along with other cancer treatments. The types of treatment that you need depend on the type of cancer, if it has spread and how far, if it uses hormones to grow, and if you have other health problems.
What is the treatment for cancer that has returned?
This is called neoadjuvant therapy. Lower the risk that cancer will come back after the main treatment. This is called adjuvant therapy. Destroy cancer cells that have returned or spread to other parts of your body.
Can genetic testing help with prostate cancer?
Genetic Test May Help Predict Whether Prostat e Cancer Will Spread. The test may help determine whether to treat with hormone therapy. When used with other treatments, hormone therapy can: Make a tumor smaller before surgery or radiation therapy. This is called neoadjuvant therapy. Lower the risk that cancer will come back after the main treatment. ...
When does hormone therapy start?
If used in an adolescent, hormone therapy typically begins at age 16. Ideally, treatment starts before the development of secondary sex characteristics so that teens can go through puberty as their identified gender. Many trans girls are treated with a medication to delay the start of puberty. Gender affirming hormone therapy is not typically used ...
Why do people need feminizing hormone therapy?
Typically, people who seek feminizing hormone therapy experience discomfort or distress because their gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth or sex-related physical characteristics (gender dysphoria).
How can feminizing hormone therapy help with gender dysphoria?
Feminizing hormone therapy can: Make gender dysphoria less severe. Reduce psychological and emotional distress. Improve psychological and social functioning. Improve sexual satisfaction. Improve quality of life.
What are the risks of feminizing hormones?
Complications of feminizing hormone therapy might include: A blood clot in a deep vein (deep vein thrombosis) or in a lung (pulmonary embolism) High triglycerides, a type of fat (lipid) in your blood. Weight gain.
Does estrogen affect transgender women?
Other side effects of estrogen use in trans women include reduced libido, erectile function and ejaculation. Erectile function might improve with the use of oral medications such as sildenafil (Viagra) or tadalafil (Adcirca, Cialis).
Can you use gender affirming hormone therapy for children?
Gender affirming hormone therapy is not typically used in children. Feminizing hormone therapy isn't for all trans women. Your doctor might discourage feminizing hormone therapy if you: Had or have a hormone-sensitive cancer, such as prostate cancer.
