Feminizing Hormones
Feminizing Hormones include:
Estradiol:
Pills: taken once or twice daily
Injectable: Subcutaneous and Intramuscular administrations every 7-14 days
Patches: changed once or twice weekly
Pellets: Must be inserted in clinic every 3 months (not billable to insurance, cash pay only!)
Progesterone:
Pill taken daily
Spironolactone:
Pill taken once or twice daily
Bicalutamide:
Pill taken daily
Finasteride:
Pill taken daily
What are the emotional and intellectual effects of estrogen?
People are very different so their emotional and intellectual changes vary
widely. People taking estrogen have reported:
● feeling more emotional and more in touch with their feelings
● crying more easily; mood swings
● thinking differently, having different ways of looking at things
● feeling “more like myself” when taking a hormone that aligns with
gender identity; feeling more comfortable in one’s body
What estrogen does not do:
● change a person’s bone structure
● change a person’s height
● stop the growth of facial hair or eliminate a beard
● cause male pattern balding on the scalp to grow back
● raise the pitch of the voice to a higher level
● provide reliable birth control
What are the risks and side effects of taking estrogen?
● blood clots ― can result in stroke or even death
● weight gain
● breast lumps or cancer
● migraines
● increase in prolactin (hormone to produce breastmilk)
What are the risks and side effects of taking spironolactone?
● high potassium level in blood—can cause irregular heartbeat
● dehydration, fatigue
● low blood pressure
