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submitted 2 days ago by dandelion to c/trans

this is along with name, race and other demographic information

They don't have a gender field, and it really feels like they are just reducing sex and gender down to "you are what you were assigned at birth", and then hiding behind amorphous medical "reasons" as justification ....

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[-] dandelion 2 points 1 day ago

that's true, but less ideal in some ways ... especially I haven't figured out DIY progesterone - I like having access to safe, regulated HRT but I see DIY as a viable alternative in a worst case scenario. I'm not sure I would DIY just because I'm uncomfortable being out to my doctor 🤔

[-] elredwine@mastodon.social 1 points 1 day ago

@dandelion @WoodScientist DIY can hurt you. I tried DIY estrogen and…

a) It didn’t work well.
b) I found out I had hemochromatosis because it was high in iron, which built up in my body, because I can’t get rid of it.
c) I ended up with kidney and liver damage from the iron build-up.

Normal iron is 18-320 for cis males. Females are lower. Mine was 1,147 and it was killing me.

DIY hormones are a bad idea. Doctors can monitor and better balance the prescriptions.

[-] dandelion 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

what was the relationship between the DIY and the iron build up?

were you getting annual blood work done with a PCP, how did you learn you had this problem?

I absolutely believe DIY could hurt someone, but I would guess the biggest way would be through contaminants in the vials and especially insufficient sterilization increasing risk of infections.

AFAIK you can also buy the same estrogen you would get prescribed (that is, vials manufactured by the same labs, with regulatory oversight during manufacturing), but the risks I had in mind were about vials that are homebrewed.

Homebrewed estrogel has less risk since it's transdermal, so it's fairly contextual what the risks are.

[-] elredwine@mastodon.social 1 points 1 day ago

@dandelion

They did a DNA test which confirmed it was hemochromatosis.

Fortunately, getting rid of excess iron was not that difficult. I gave blood every 11-14 days for a while. I was allowed to donate blood every 6 days, but 11 was where I was comfortable. The normal amount of time between blood donations is 56 days, but I had enough iron to replace the missing red blood cells in less than a week.

It was like being a superhero, though I don’t recommend it.

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this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2025
119 points (100.0% liked)

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