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Original poster

Some Science

36 replies

Roseformeplease · 31/07/2018 19:08

www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/indulging-transgender-ideology-has-deadly-consequences

From America and I am no scientist but it seems to suggest men taking oestrogen is harmful.

OP posts:
Original poster
Roseformeplease · 31/07/2018 19:33

So do transmen on testosterone require a hysterectomy rather than choosing one because of the risks of not? @Bowlofbabelfish

Are those trans of both genders closely monitored throughout their lives once on hormones?

My HRT is just a quick chat once a year - no bloods or anything. Assume they get much, much closer monitoring given the clear risks.

OP posts:
nanweat · 31/07/2018 19:33

bowlofbabelfish ....
"Of course taking exogenous hormones is harmful. Hormones are powerful things and drive all sorts of cellular processes - including cancers. Oestrogen in particular can be harmful in excess - even the normal physiological levels women have if they’re overweight for example are enough to drive various processes involved in cancers. "

47 years worth of studies....
Cancer Prevalence Is Not Increased in Transgender Adults Using Hormone Therapy
The overall cancer incidence in transgender men and women did not differ significantly from that in control groups in studies to date. The incidence of breast cancer in transgender individuals taking estrogen is not different from secular trends in males and is lower than secular trends in women. A rare but possible increase prostate cancer (0.04%) has been reported in transgender women, however, the findings are limited by decreased screening and the relative young age (average, 29.3 years) in subjects at the start of therapy.4

Hyperplasia in the female reproductive tract has been reported in studies that are low powered. However, newer data suggest that testosterone therapy in transgender men may be associated with tissue atrophy of the epithelium of the cervix and endometrium, not with malignancy as might have been presumed from the hyperplasia data.

It is also important to follow cancer screening guidelines for transgender individuals’ natal gender.

Bowlofbabelfish · 31/07/2018 19:30

nanweat

How do you reconcile that with the considerable body of literature on the cancer driving effects of oestrogen and the cardiovascular effects of oestrogen?

Breast cancers for example and obesity/alcohol intake - the link is increased oestrogen levels.

The pill and cardiovascular risks - decades of work on this.

Of course more research is needed - the current generation of people being treated are guinea pigs and there’s some very dodgy Wild West medical practice going on.

Original poster
Roseformeplease · 31/07/2018 19:29

5000 people seems a pretty substantial study to me, given numbers overall are small.

OP posts:
Bowlofbabelfish · 31/07/2018 19:27

I’m not even going to click on the link before I answer this (lest I’m accused of bias.) in fact I won’t click on it at all.

Of course taking exogenous hormones is harmful. Hormones are powerful things and drive all sorts of cellular processes - including cancers. Oestrogen in particular can be harmful in excess - even the normal physiological levels women have if they’re overweight for example are enough to drive various processes involved in cancers. There are also BIG cardiovascular risks involved.

Women taking testosterone are harmed by it in a number of ways. Kidney damage seems to be a big one for example. Hysterectomy is recommended after just a few years on testosterone.

The contraceptive pill, and all hormonal contraception in all its forms is associated with changes in cancer risk - some forms are slightly lower and some higher. There are also significant cardiovascular effects.

It’s incorrect to say that oestrogen does no damage. It can do damage to either sex at the levels found physiologically, never mind being exogenously administered.

nanweat · 31/07/2018 19:27

*One of the most often cited reasons by medical providers for hesitation in providing hormone therapy to transgender individuals is the fear of harm. The review demonstrates that hormone therapy is relatively safe, at least as far as the modest literature out there can determine. Providers should be reassured that the harms that do exist are relatively rare and can often be avoided with conventional monitoring.

The take-home points from the review are:

  1. The current literature suggests that transgender hormone therapy is safe for most situations and reasonable to monitor.
  1. The current literature is quite thin, with a need for large, more carefully done studies to address concerns regarding more subtle harms.

The findings align with the hormone approach found in both the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care and The Endocrine Society Guidelines. The primary difference between this review and the two guidelines is the failure to detect increased cancer risk despite the concerns raised in the guidelines.*

www.endocrineweb.com/professional/gender-identity/transgender-hormone-therapy-safe-when-monitored-certain-risks

Original poster
Roseformeplease · 31/07/2018 19:24

I not a scientist but am on HRT and the risks are very clearly explained.

I am taking oestrogen which my body is lacking, but used to have. It seems to make sense to me that it could be harmful to those whose body has never had its own female level supply.

Sources do matter, and I had not heard of this organisation so, apologies if I was wrong to post it given their other views.

However, are these risks real or entirely imagined because of a religious right agenda?

OP posts:
Yambabe · 31/07/2018 19:20

Not often I agree with SarahAr but yeah, there's an agenda going on there for sure and it's not one I would want to be associated with.

Apart from anything else it doesn't actually give any details of the study despite the claims it makes about it.....

Original poster
Roseformeplease · 31/07/2018 19:20

Although it made me giggle with "towing the line" which should be toeing the line.

OP posts:
Original poster
Roseformeplease · 31/07/2018 19:18

I can disagree with a lot of things, said by a lot of people and still be interested in a discussion of them, surely.

Is it of concern that oestrogen is so harmful?

In a study of 5,000 people who identify as transgender, men trying to become women were 80 to 90 percent more likely to have a stroke or heart attack. They also had a higher risk of blood clots from the estrogen. That's an astounding level of risk for anyone, let alone these patients, who are choosing to create an imbalance in their system. "This is the largest study of the health of transgender individuals on hormone therapy ever done," one of the authors, Dr. Darios Getahun, told NBC News. "Doctors and patients need to be aware of the possibility for increased health risks for transgender women."

OP posts:
SarahAr · 31/07/2018 19:15

You have shared an article written by the Family Research Council hosted on LifeSite on a feminist forum.

See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_Life_Coalition
and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Research_Council

These people campaign against women's reproductive rights and right to divorce.

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