#cis people post-puberty have tons of things they don't like about their puberty and it's similar for trans peoples' puberty 2.0

[uncanny-tranny]

Trans people who are medically transitioning: It is okay if you don't like all aspects of medical transition. You are allowed to complain about the aspects of transition you don't like, and it isn't a sign you shouldn't be transitioning. We all have aspects of transition we do and don't like, and it is neutral at worst to express that. While there are ways to circumvent certain aspects of transition, that doesn't mean you have to like it.

You are trans enough <3

[oceanmonsters]

I'm really really sorry to bother you with this but do you think you could explain why lagstm's posts were considered transphobic? (like maybe dumb it down for the cis people that font understand?) Other than the puberty blockers one and the liking potentially terfy posts, I don't really understand what she did wrong? Like how are you supposed to know if you've reblogged from terfs and stuff? And with the shinigami eye's thing what's wrong with checking a site is legit and not one of those things to try and harrass innocent people? I don't understand how it's her fault that terfs reblog from her? And I don't understand what she said wrong when she talked about trans people? I promise I'm not trying to be dumb or anything I just don't really understand and really want it explained so I don't end up hurting some poor trans person in the future! (to be extra clear I'm not defending her, I'm just genuinely confused and don't want to make her mistakes) <- I sent this to the OP but they just thought I was being insincere :// (I was hoping you might be willing to elaborate for me?)

I mean considering @pakisstani put these in her post

I can see why she didn’t want to answer this. however in case there is anyone genuinely confused/ignorant:

reblogging from TERFs is obviously a red flag bc it where are they rbing it from unless they’re following/looking at terf blogs?(especially if what they rbed is a reblog & not an original post)

as a cis person when asked “what’s your opinion on trans people” there’s not much else you should be saying other than that you support them... her whole essay on her “opinions” abt trans ppl is really inappropriate. this bit is especially sus considering it’s literally the same rhetoric the government is using to actively making it harder for young trans ppl to transition (the false idea that it’s too easy for young ppl to transition or that they’re being influenced into transitioning):

it’s not necessarily her fault if a TERF reblogs her posts, but it is her fault if she has a large following of TERFs reblogging her posts and she does nothing about it. If I see TERFs rbing my posts I block them. I also don’t tend to get TERFs following me (at least not open terfs) bc I feel like it’s pretty obvious if you look at my blog/about that I don’t support them. like I know that if you have a big blog you can’t keep on top of everything but having a ton of TERFs in your notes and doing nothing about it is highly suspicious.

like pakisstani literally said, it’s also not just any of those things in isolation, it’s all of them together (the questioning of shinigami eyes in itself does not necessarily make her a terf, but her insistence on keeping up a post made by a terf combined with all the other stuff makes it suspicious)

[tmitransitioning]

I'm on an SNRI that reacts badly, in my body at least, with just about everything (everything else acts like a sponge). Is there a chance of T doing this or are there any type or way of administering T that would be less likely to react badly/don't have weakens SNRIs as a possible side effect?

I don’t think that any commonly used form of testosterone-based HRT would affect SNRI absorption. I’m basing this statement on a couple things that I’m going to write out not because I want to convince you, but because you know your meds better than I do and you can find potential holes in my justifications. (I’m also undercaffeinated, please bear with me.)

First point: Usually, things that reduce the efficacy of an antidepressant do so because they either impact your ability to absorb the medication in the first place or because they stop you from effectively metabolizing it. The former pathway is why, for example, you’re sometimes told not to eat fatty foods at the same time as a medication—your stomach is essentially so busy absorbing that food that it slows down the medication’s entrance into your bloodstream, and you may not get as much of the medication. Conversely, sometimes you’re told to only take your meds with a meal, because slowing it down like that helps you avoid side effects like nausea. Zoloft, for example, is kind of infamous for needing to be taken with food, and you’re supposed to avoid fruit juices with ADHD medication because acidifying your stomach even just that little bit makes it harder to absorb stimulants.

The latter pathway, metabolizing problems, is… really complicated. After you absorb a medication from your stomach, various enzymes in different organs break it down into metabolites; the most common pathway is through your liver. Some psych medications can inhibit different enzymes, either competitively or non-competitively (here’s a good explanation of that). This can prevent you from effectively breaking down the medication, which increases your circulating levels—if it isn’t getting broken down, it just stays there, and can build up quicker. A really good example of this is Luvox, which inhibits a TON of enzymes (link goes to Wikipedia) and thus has a lot of really weird interactions with other medications. It makes coffee last forever.

In the SNRI area, Effexor is also a good example of this because it’s unusual—its metabolites also function as SNRIs, so it works roughly the same between patients who have certain enzyme mutations (CYP2D6, specifically) that make it hard for them to absorb a lot of psych medications. Different people produce different amounts of CYP2D6, but Effexor kind of skips over that variation. Think of it like a slime cube. CYP2D6 is your sword. If you cut the slime cube in half down the middle, it just makes two smaller slime cubes. Luvox, by contrast, is like a rock giant. It’s super hard for your sword to cut that in half, so when more rock giants show up, you can’t fend them off. Most medications are rock giants, or ogres, that are hard to cut in half.

So, second point: Testosterone that we take via HRT isn’t metabolized in the same ways that most psychiatric medication is. It uses different enzymes, and it’s metabolized into other androgens, like DHT, and into estradiol. A small amount of it does go through enzymes that psychiatric meds use, but we don’t actually have any evidence to suggest that the interaction is significant—that doesn’t mean one can’t exist, but just that it hasn’t historically been a significant enough interaction if it does to warrant in-depth study.

What we do know about this is that antidepressants aren’t considered to be significantly different in action between “women” and “men”, meaning cis perisex people with normative endogenous hormone profiles.* There’s also no particular advisory given to people starting T that says you should avoid or adjust dosages of antidepressants, apart from the standard “tell your doctors about all the meds you’re on” warning.

Third point: I also don’t think that absorption through your stomach would be significantly impacted by T for a couple reasons. First, most people on T aren’t on an oral form—pill testosterone has been largely phased out for a lot of complicated reasons, and it’s outright inaccessible in many countries. The dominant forms of administration (injection, patches, gel, pellets) all release T directly into your bloodstream. Injections create sterile pockets of oil in your muscles or subcutaneous fat, which gets sucked into your blood over time. Gel and patches are both transdermal, and absorb into your capillaries. The pellets release their payload into subcutaneous fat over long periods—it’s slower because it’s solid, IIRC. The end result of all of these is the same, which is why we say there’s no difference in how fast you go through ~T Puberty~ based on administration method; once it’s in your blood, it circulates to your liver and throughout your body tissues, where it’s metabolized.

I do also think that you should ask your prescribing psychiatrist about this, if you’re in a position where it’s safe to be out as trans to them. This may be outside of their wheelhouse but they can track and moderate your SNRI dose most appropriately when they know all the other meds you’re on. You could also ask a pharmacist when you pick up your meds; they will likely say to ask your psych, but pharmacists are great and often know medication interactions offhand that psych professionals don’t. I’m couching my wording a bit in this answer because I’m not a medical professional, just a psych student who’s been on a bunch of different meds, and I’m guessing a lot about what could be going on for you that may not be accurate at all. But hopefully some of it is helpful, regardless?

TL;DR: If the reason that your SNRI reacts badly with other meds is because of something funky in the enzyme area, testosterone should bypass most of the pathways actively occupied by your SNRI. If it’s because of a problem in your gut, every form of testosterone that is not the pill avoids this completely. Either way, I don’t anticipate that your SNRI will interact significantly with testosterone, regardless of administration method, and you should be all good.

- Mod Wolf

* There IS a legitimate point to be made about how psych meds tend to be tested on and “calibrated” for cis perisex men. That’s a little outside the scope of this post, though, and likely isn’t relevant anyways because we’re talking about adding testosterone to bring you to the hormonal profile of one of those test subjects.

[bigendering]

Trans-specific stores? So you don't think trans people are normal men and women? Pretty transphobic...

I’m 99.99% this is a troll which means I shouldn’t answer it, but I love talking about this post and now I have an excuse. Feel free to ignore my overly long ramble below.

So firstly I’m transgender. *pokes hole in metaphorical balloon representing your argument*. I made that post because it’s what I, a transgender person, wanted. And for me at least, no, I’m not a normal man or woman. I’m actually nonbinary so that wouldn’t be the case regardless but I’m transmasculine so I have a lot in common with trans men. Such as trying to find menswear. Which for me is impossible. I’m 5′3″, which is smaller than the average cis woman/trans man who didn’t take testosterone early enough in the US, but not by a ton. But it’s way smaller than the average cis man, which means that stores literally don’t carry clothing I’m looking for in my size. I have to shop in the boy’s section, which doesn’t always have the right clothes, particularly when it comes to formal wear. And since I’m not a whole lot smaller than the average trans man who didn’t take testosterone during puberty, which is most of them, a lot of trans men have the same struggle. So we would all benefit from a store like this, which sells clothing that makes you look like a guy that actually fit us. Lots of trans women have the same struggle, but with everything reversed. There are also things like chest binders, which aren’t found in normal stores, which would be nice to try on before buying. And you can’t exactly walk into a normal store and say “I need help with makeup so I look like I was on different hormones during puberty.” People don’t have that kind of expertise.

Secondly, notice that the post never says who can go into the store. Cis people are absolutely welcome too. *pokes another hole in metaphorical balloon*. There are small cis guys and tall cis women who have trouble finding clothes too, and would also benefit. There are cis gender nonconforming people who would like to wear clothes traditionally reserved for the other binary gender. There are cis people who aren’t gender nonconforming, at least openly, who would like to try clothes traditionally reserved for the other binary gender. And having a store that doesn’t judge you for doing that is amazing both for trans people and all the groups I just named. It’s also nice for gender nonconforming people and nonbinary people to be able to wear whatever clothes they want without signs (and people) screaming “this is for This gender, which means it’s Not For You”.

Thirdly, I want this store because these products are in demand in a relatively small section of the population, so a lot of stores don’t carry them. That’s why a lot of stores don’t carry them. That’s why specialty stores exist. Ones that specifically sell containers, or specifically sell tailored dresses, or specifically sell yarn. They sell a wider range of a specific product to a specific audience. That’s what this store does. It carries all the things, and has the accepting atmosphere, that other stores don’t. So it’s not so much about walling off trans people and making them shop in that store, but about providing them a place to shop where literally no alternatives existed in the first place. *squashes balloon flat*. Sure, every store having all this stuff (minus the library, that would be weird) would be so much better. It’s a halfway solution in a cissexist world, but it’s a nice halfway solution. It’s full of resources to help trans people find a community irl. It’s full of resources to help cis people learn to be better allies.

So yeah. How is that transphobic