Gender Affirming Menstrual Suppression: The First Hit is Always Free

The hormones were free. The complications were not.

I really wanted to be a desister. I didn't want to be seen as damaged. Various people were telling me that's what I am. They said gender affirming medicine didn't harm me. It was just birth control. Right? Wrong. I was harmed.

Since going off the hormones, I have been in increasing joint pain. I don't know why. It feels like my hip has no cartilage. And my bones just hurt to the point I can easily picture the shape of structures. They finally ran a 5 minute diagnostic test earlier this year, called a DEXA scan. It cost about $500 out of pocket and $800 total.

It was not covered fully because it was considered diagnostic and not preventive, even though I'm trying to prevent fractures. I have to repeat it every 3 years, and treatment is recommended if my fracture risk exceeds 3% (it is currently 1.8%). The hormones were free; the complications were not. The first hit is always free.

They had tried to tell me I'm too young to have this problem. They told me women don't need to menstruate. Yet the test came back showing that suppressing my menstrual cycle by suppressing the function of certain areas of my brain left me with significantly reduced bone mineral density. Normal is -1 to + 1. Osteopoenia is -2.5 to -1. Osteoporosis is <-2.5. I'm at -2.0.

Treatment is optional for me at this time and will be recommended when my fracture risk hits 3%. I'll find out in 2.5 years if it's getting worse or better. I expect it to get better now that I'm off the hormones. I thought the hormones were helping me well into my social media content creation, because sometimes my biggest blindspot is myself. They were hurting me, because I was afraid to be young again mentally.

I'm 37 years old and I have early-onset osteopoenia because of the gender affirming hormones I took for over a decade. These hormones are still regularly offered to young girls and women, either alone or in combination with testosterone, for a variety of reasons. Contraception is one reason, but so is gender affirming menstrual suppression, treatment of endometriosis, puberty suppression, and sex offender castration.

Those who try to impose the detrans gender binary of desister/detransitioner on cult survivors who may not fully understand the harms they were subjected to is misguided and inappropriate. It is also shortsighted. The reality is that banning puberty blockers for girls means nothing if they can still access depo provera as birth control. This medication disrupts development and maturation processes and increases the risk of brain tumors. I would not have had this outcome if I had not been so young when I took this drug. Women hit peak bone density around 30. 12 year olds can get this drug without parental consent. Depo provera is actively marketed as an inexpensive alternative to Lupron and other GNRH agonists.

(Source: https://transminorsrights.org/about-blockers/)