I have an unfortunate feeling this is going to be a topic in the news going forward, so I’d like to educate people if possible on what DIY in this use case means:
What is “DIY Hormones?”
Essentially while some options exist for completely home-made injections of Estrogen and Testosterone, for the most part DIY is about ordering the same medications that would be prescribed or generics of those medications but without a prescription from an endocrinologist (hormone specialist doctor) whether they be pills, patches or gels.
Why do trans people use DIY?
The general pathway to trans care is to be seen by a gender identity clinic known as a GIC, the wait times for these clinics can exceed in well over a decade (sometimes more than two decades) and are highly dependent on being even referred in the first place - there is often no recourse for a secretly malicious GP lying about making such a referral only for it to come out (possibly years) later that it was never made.
Even once you’re with a GIC, shortage of staff can often result in having to wait many months for an initial appointment, which is almost always followed by a second appointment months apart, which is then - if diagnosed (gatekeeping and malicious clinicians can further delays their process for reasons of varying validity) - can lead to an endocrinology referral and official hormones prescription, possibly over a year after initially being seen.
Or you could just order the meds yourself.
Why not go private?
Costs of private care are the main reason, often just the diagnosis can cost like £600 with endocrinologist appointments and private prescriptions (as guidelines now tell GPs not to do bridging - another roadblock for us) can easily balloon to well over a £1000. A month’s meds from Indian pharmacies where their prescription checking just isn’t so stringent will be way under £50 so go figure.
Is DIY dangerous?
The trans community have done an incredible job of researching, sourcing and pooling information on making it as safe as possible and share this knowledge with each other. As long as proper precautions are taken (blood tests), a dosage worked out etc. it can be very safe and often times more effective than dosages prescribed by the NHS (the only time my T was above 0.8nmol/L in the past 10 years was when i first switched to an official prescription - go figure)
Bottom line
Many trans people don’t actually want to DIY if they don’t have to - it is a huge hassle to be your own doctor - but for many of us, especially those who are affected by the puberty blockers ban (under 18s) and those who’s care is under threat from the likes of the Tories and so-called experts like Cass (under 25s) we will see an increased use of DIY because trans people simply have no other options to access hormones - which are lifesaving as they are the only thing that can very naturally change one’s appearance and halt further chsnges from their natal hormomes.
So in plain English a trans woman will look more like a woman thanks to E and less like a man thanks to absence of T and won’t become more masculine physically even after puberty, (as there’s a helluva difference between a 20 yo man and a 40 yo one and hormone effects are constant throughout one’s life), which is the only thing that really treats gender dysphoria and regardless of British reviews that discard evidence that disagrees as well as international evidence remains the approach to trans care worldwide.
Denying people what already is a a last resort option is effectively signaling that the government prefers trans people to not exist, and in my opinion constitutes an attempt at eradication through policy.
I’m curious about the blood tests, like how do you arrange them? I’m on some pills for something at the minute that require frequent blood tests to track and it’s onerous enough through the NHS, can only imagine the hassle of getting specific blood tests organised outside the system.
Something like Medichecks is the easiest way for sex hormone blood tests. They mail you a thing, you do the test yourself (finger prick kit) and mail it back - only problem is it costs a small fortune as of late and their kits are more oriented towards cis people. Can be a bit inaccurate but usually okay unless there’s user error (dirty hands or contamination).
Alternatively if the GP is trans-supportive they may arrange hormonal blood tests for you. There are also LGBT-oriented sexual health clinics (I think only 2 in the country atm) that will do hormonal blood tests for trans people, but they don’t interpret them.
The trans community have done an incredible job of researching, sourcing and pooling information on making it as safe as possible and share this knowledge with each other.
British reviews that discard evidence that disagrees
I think I’d trust British reviews more than research done by ideologically fueled 15 year olds on twitter
I have an unfortunate feeling this is going to be a topic in the news going forward, so I’d like to educate people if possible on what DIY in this use case means:
What is “DIY Hormones?”
Essentially while some options exist for completely home-made injections of Estrogen and Testosterone, for the most part DIY is about ordering the same medications that would be prescribed or generics of those medications but without a prescription from an endocrinologist (hormone specialist doctor) whether they be pills, patches or gels.
Why do trans people use DIY?
The general pathway to trans care is to be seen by a gender identity clinic known as a GIC, the wait times for these clinics can exceed in well over a decade (sometimes more than two decades) and are highly dependent on being even referred in the first place - there is often no recourse for a secretly malicious GP lying about making such a referral only for it to come out (possibly years) later that it was never made.
Even once you’re with a GIC, shortage of staff can often result in having to wait many months for an initial appointment, which is almost always followed by a second appointment months apart, which is then - if diagnosed (gatekeeping and malicious clinicians can further delays their process for reasons of varying validity) - can lead to an endocrinology referral and official hormones prescription, possibly over a year after initially being seen.
Or you could just order the meds yourself.
Why not go private?
Costs of private care are the main reason, often just the diagnosis can cost like £600 with endocrinologist appointments and private prescriptions (as guidelines now tell GPs not to do bridging - another roadblock for us) can easily balloon to well over a £1000. A month’s meds from Indian pharmacies where their prescription checking just isn’t so stringent will be way under £50 so go figure.
Is DIY dangerous?
The trans community have done an incredible job of researching, sourcing and pooling information on making it as safe as possible and share this knowledge with each other. As long as proper precautions are taken (blood tests), a dosage worked out etc. it can be very safe and often times more effective than dosages prescribed by the NHS (the only time my T was above 0.8nmol/L in the past 10 years was when i first switched to an official prescription - go figure)
Bottom line
Many trans people don’t actually want to DIY if they don’t have to - it is a huge hassle to be your own doctor - but for many of us, especially those who are affected by the puberty blockers ban (under 18s) and those who’s care is under threat from the likes of the Tories and so-called experts like Cass (under 25s) we will see an increased use of DIY because trans people simply have no other options to access hormones - which are lifesaving as they are the only thing that can very naturally change one’s appearance and halt further chsnges from their natal hormomes.
So in plain English a trans woman will look more like a woman thanks to E and less like a man thanks to absence of T and won’t become more masculine physically even after puberty, (as there’s a helluva difference between a 20 yo man and a 40 yo one and hormone effects are constant throughout one’s life), which is the only thing that really treats gender dysphoria and regardless of British reviews that discard evidence that disagrees as well as international evidence remains the approach to trans care worldwide.
Denying people what already is a a last resort option is effectively signaling that the government prefers trans people to not exist, and in my opinion constitutes an attempt at eradication through policy.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for such a detailed breakdown, I learned allot.
I’m curious about the blood tests, like how do you arrange them? I’m on some pills for something at the minute that require frequent blood tests to track and it’s onerous enough through the NHS, can only imagine the hassle of getting specific blood tests organised outside the system.
Something like Medichecks is the easiest way for sex hormone blood tests. They mail you a thing, you do the test yourself (finger prick kit) and mail it back - only problem is it costs a small fortune as of late and their kits are more oriented towards cis people. Can be a bit inaccurate but usually okay unless there’s user error (dirty hands or contamination).
Alternatively if the GP is trans-supportive they may arrange hormonal blood tests for you. There are also LGBT-oriented sexual health clinics (I think only 2 in the country atm) that will do hormonal blood tests for trans people, but they don’t interpret them.
I’ve got a friend in the UK that’s doing DIY. After a while, her doctors agreed to do regular blood tests, but won’t interpret them for her.
I’ve been helping her interpret her levels against published guidelines.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for reading!
I think I’d trust British reviews more than research done by ideologically fueled 15 year olds on twitter
when people on the internet say something: ideology
when the extremely conservative british government says something: not ideology