I’ve been taking oral prog (200mg) for about 2 years now, and e for about 3.

I’ve been wondering if I still need prog, and if the positive effects outweigh the bad. I’ve heard conflicting information about breast growth, libido, weight gain, and its effect on the liver, so I’m not really sure if prog is something I want to take long term or not.

I’m content with the breast growth that I’ve had, and they seem to have stopped growing (or at least I haven’t noticed any changes). And I don’t really care about my libido tbh. Since I started taking prog I have been having weight gain issues but idk if that’s the prog or just me, but I do try to be healthy.

Also I am aware that oral prog doesn’t do much because it has low bioavailability and I don’t really feel like doing rectal prog.

  • Sophienomenal@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    13·
    21 hours ago

    I’m going to list some long term effects of progesterone for trans women I found from a combination of academic sources and trans-focused articles.

    May cause:

    • Moderate anti-androgen action, while suppressing the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (the thing that causes pattern baldness among other things)
    • Positive effects on breast maturation
    • Prevent bone loss by increasing bone density (especially in spine)
    • Protect cardiovascular health (this is likely elaborated on later in the scholarly article, but the abstract didn’t specify how)
    • Increased libido (keep in mind this is also strongly correlated with ease of achieving orgasm, not just being horny more often)
    • Improvements to quality of sleep
    • Easing estrogen withdrawal (if you were to taper off estrogen later in life to initiate menopause)
    • Reduction in oiliness of skin
    • More feminized body odor and perspiration patterns
    • Suggested link to decreased anxiety
    • Changes to mood
    • Weight stabilization (I go more into depth here)

    Now, you may experience some, all, or none of these. That’s just how hormones work. I will start out by saying that recent long term studies have found breast growth and maturation to extend well beyond the 3 year mark on GAHT. Progress is slower, but still being made. It could then be argued that progesterone may continue to have a positive impact on breast maturation if you continue taking it. Now, about the weight stabilization. Estrogen alone (without progesterone) causes weight gain/increased appetite. Progesterone—at the right dose—is said to decrease this effect, thus leading to stabilization. An important caveot is that there is a paradoxical effect when you take too much progesterone (which you can’t realistically do if you don’t produce it yourself and only take it orally at 200mg). Too much progesterone can cause weight gain in cisgender women. In your case, I would expect that is not the source of your recent weight gain.

    PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT I AM NOT A DOCTOR, AND THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE

    I’d say the choice is obviously up to you. If you don’t feel it is helping, then stopping it isn’t going to be a catastrophe, but I’d pay close attention to any changes you may experience in the following months afterwards. Me, personally, I plan on staying on estrogen for the rest of my life, and when I get progesterone, I’ll keep track of how it affects me and determine myself how long I will take it (or with the advice of my prescriber).