#trans diy

[catboybiologist]

I'm adding to this post so I can have both of these ideas in a pinned post.

Why am I telling you to stockpile HRT and other medication right now, especially since I live in a Blue State?

Will HRT be made illegal? For adults, likely not. Not even in Red states. It will likely be more difficult, require more appointments or "proof", but still be legal.

(For minors, its extremely likely, however, I cannot and do not want to give advice for that situation, since I think its beyond my ability to comment at the moment.)

So. In addition to being on HRT, I also have ADHD and am medicated for it. For those of you who don't know, the DEA issued their own, internal policy change to restrict the production of stimulant medications, to fight what they believed to be a drug related problem with unprescribed stimulant use.

The FDA and even DEA (for some medications) have a lot of "bureacratic" power over medication access. Without passing laws, they make policy decisions that can affect it. Usually, this is just bureaucratic checkmarks- just logistics to ensure that an appropriate amount of medication gets to the appropriate spot. However, the stimulant medicine situation and the current political climate prove that this can be twisted into a political tool.

If this happens, you will be affected, even in blue states. Even with a valid, legal prescription for HRT, your usual pharmacy and others around you will run out of supply at some point.

I generally think that prescribed routes of getting HRT are probably going to be better for you than DiY. Not because I think DiY is safe or unethical or whatever (be gay do crime), but because its likely going to be cheaper and allow you to get levels checks easier if you're talking with a doctor. DiY plus doctors visits for those checks are an equivalent level of care, and DiY only is fantastic as well. But, it just might be logistically a bit more complicated for you. It depends on your exact situation.

With that in mind, you should have conversations with your provider, or follow the amazing advice people have provided in other posts. See if you can get prescriptions filled elsewhere. See if you can get something a little "over" prescribed, but keep to your regular refill schedule, and slowly build an emergency stash.

However, you should also be prepared to DiY. Even if you have a prescription, a couple DiY orders might help you if you ever have difficulty getting it filled, for whatever reason. And of course, getting a prescription in the first place is likely going to be more difficult.

The most likely targets are Plan B (which is no longer protected by Roe) and Testosterone (which is a controlled substance). However, it could happen to anything, and I encourage people to be prepared.

"Death before Detransition" does not mean that I will kill myself if I can't access hormones or be referred to by my preferred language.

It means that there will always be another way. There will always be a stockpile, or distributors, or ways to synthesize the medicine we need. And even if that fails, there will always be community. There will always be identity. There will always be expression, and identity, or some piece of the trans experience, whether it be societal, physiological, or even completely internal, in perpetuity, that lives through every transgender person.

"Death before Detransition" means that the only way to erase my reality as a transgender woman is to put me in the ground.

We'll talk damage control and ways to help in the coming days and weeks. I welcome input on the topic as well- if there's a cause you want recognition for that will suffer under the new administration, let me know.

But for now, rest. Sleep. Take care of yourself.

I love you.

[eastmagda]

DIY Packing boxers

If you’re like me, there’s no way you’re buying a fancy packer strap. So here’s a super simple tutorial on how I sewed some of my boxers to fit my packer!

Pls excuse my shitty illustrations I drew them with a sharpie and I’m sleepy rn.

Step 1. Get a pair of boxers with an open fly. The open fly is important because it gives you two layers of fabric to sew a pocket.

Step 2. Sew a little pocket for your packer to sit in. Make sure you position/plan it correctly before sewing so your packer sits in a natural place in your pants.

Step 3. (Inside view yolo) Cut a little hole on the top through the first layer of cloth on the inside only. This is so you can slip your packer inside the little pocket you have just sewn.

That’s it! Im no professional seamstress but I’m a punk, and DIY till I die. Packing is for everyone!!

[trekmascing]

I guess I’m posting twice this morning

[montyshistoryblog]

Are you an NHS GP?

Did a young person tell you they're doing DIY HRT?

No the fuck they didn't.

If you want them to live, keep it to your fucking self.

[cas-50-28-2]

For the past few months I've been experimenting with using black cohosh to enable healthily having 0 estrogen and 0 testosterone (i.e. eunuch or castrate levels) and I wanna share the results! It was pretty promising so I think this could be cool as a new biological sex that people could transition to

[cadence-the-hypnotic-floret]

So I've been on DIY hormones (pure E for right now, hoping to get on Bica soon), and am experiencing negative side effects with regards to my sexuality. Most notably: m'dick don't work right. Obviously, this is part of the package, but... like... I'd really prefer if it wasn't? There are cute boys I need to creampie!

Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this situation? I'm gonna ask my doctor about boner pills, but like... I wanna be horny and slutty and my gock being a flopsy noodle is making that difficult.

[thegoodestpuppyboy]

the nice part of my bf's tgel bottle lasting more than a month each time is that the extra gets to go on my thighs <3

[your-god-empress-lavender]

Permanent removal of hair (experiment)

Alrighty. So, you want to permanently remove hair on your face (or elsewhere I guess) but can't afford/otherwise can't do electrolysis? Well, here's my experiment with this. If anyone wants to attempt it with me, I'd be very happy, but note that there are risks and it also may not work quite as well as you want.

First: If you have a needle, a battery (or better yet, a variable power supply), you can literally just do electrolysis on yourself just like they do commercially. You take the power source (ideally 4.5 volts, but absolutely no higher than 5 and 3 works okay) put the negative side or a wire attached to that side (the anode) somewhere around 3 inches away from where you're planning on doing the electrolysis. You then take the positive side, attach it to a (obviously it needs to be metal) needle. The thinner the better so that it can fit in the follicles better with less stabbing through skin. You carefully put the needle into the follicle and avoid stabbing yourself. If working with 3 volts, leave the needle in for 5-10 seconds or until the pain gets bad. If working with 5 volts, no more than 5 seconds. You just do this to all the hair follicles and then pluck them out. I'd say it barely hurts but I have a relatively high pain tolerance. Having done this to myself, I can guarantee that this works for permanent hair removal but you'll need to do it multiple times for complete success.

Second: (the possibly new method) You'll need baking soda (I used the cheap cleaning grade), boric acid, a power supply (either variable power supply or two 9 volt batteries), a small piece of cloth, two wires, a jar, and tweezers. I'm not positive that the boric acid or baking soda are necessary, you may be able to just use salt or baking soda on their own (but I can't vouch for them as I have not tried). Basically, you dissolve the boric acid and baking soda in water such that the baking soda is saturated (there is still some at the bottom which can't dissolve), then you soak the small cloth in it, wipe the area with the problem hairs with the cloth, re-soak the cloth, lightly squeeze the cloth so that it isn't dripping, wrap the cloth around a section of one of the wires, attach the cloth wire to the positive and the normal wire to the negative, hold the negative in 1 hand and with the other you carefully move the electrified cloth over the hairs. This should preferentially kill the hair follicles as the sodium hydroxide formed at the cathode will attack both the skin and the hair, but if the solution is placed on the face before the electrolysis, the solution will fill up the follicles, allowing for electricity to pass through them. And since the follicles allow for easier transport of electrons than through the skin, most of the electrolysis should be occurring in the follicles. Now, naturally electrolyzing a sodium salt on your face (especially at the 18-21 volts that seems to work best with this) has risks, like chemical burns and dehydrating the skin. In my case at least, I did not notice any negative effects other than dry skin. As of a week after attempting this, there's no regrowth, but that's also kinda expected since plucked hairs don't usually regrow that fast. One very good sign, however, is that the hairs that got electrolyzed were extremely easy to pluck out relative to the ones that weren't. So, even if this process is not a permanent removal technique, it makes plucking hair way easier and less painful. In 8-10 weeks I'll be able to say definitively how well this works. In case it's not obvious, don't do this if you have a pacemaker just in case. Also, a warning: I attempted this while having a septum piercing. Accidentally touching that metal ring with 20 volts was kinda crazy. My vision flashed white and I was left with a headache for the next 8 hours. I'm honestly still mildly concerned about it, but we're probably okay now.

[biggestdev]

Cheap (kinda) DIY hormone testing

Hormone level testing is something that came became an issue during my transition; I am going through my doctor for HRT, and my health insurance bit me in the ass. Since my doc is a small practice, they ship my samples out to get tested, and insurance only covers hormone tests if they take place AT my GP's practice. Like, in the physical building the sample was collected int. A weird cutout, but I assume it's something meant to fuck me over intentionally, and I can't make them budge on it.

So, I switched to an at-home, mail-in hormone test. I'm putting my two cents out there, just in case it helps anyone, I assume the DIY-ers out there are already aware of stuff like this. The test I ordered is from ZRT Lab:

Specifically, I ordered the "Hormone Trio" blood spot sample. There is a saliva sample method available (spit in a cup vs wipe blood on a sample paper), but their own research papers indicate the saliva sample isn't as accurate for testosterone, so I went with the blood spot method. It's not CHEAP by any means, at $130, but it's certainly cheaper than the $500 I WAS CHARGED by the local university hospital to do the SAME TESTS!

There is a caveat in the fine print that you should be aware of: California residents still need a doctor's note for ZRT Lab to process their samples. I don't know why, it's stupid, but it's a clear line that they draw.

This is the cheapest test I was able to find for these hormones, everything else either left out progesterone, or cost close to (or over) $200. I don't know if transmasc people need any other hormones tested, but for me, a transfemme, the three in the Hormone Trio test (Estradiol, Progesterone, and Testosterone) were the exact 3 my doctor was looking for.

As far as how easy it is to use, I found it very straightforward: it includes a lancet to poke a hole in one of your fingertips (the instructions said to go into the side of the finger at a weird angle, but I couldn't get enough blood to take samples, so I gave up and went right in the middle of my fingerprint, that worked much better), then drip blood onto the indicated spots on the sample card. Let the samples dry overnight, then pack it up and ship as directed (it comes with a prepaid shipping label).

On top of that, I was surprised at how little information they require to process a sample. there is a form sent with the kit, and I only included my name (chosen, not legal), age, gender, email, and a list of current medications. I also had to fill out at least one "symptom" (since they didn't have "is trans" in there, I just chose "mild anxiety", literally just pick anything), I know this because I DIDN'T choose a symptom at first, and they actually called me after they received it, telling me they need at least one symptom in order to process the sample. The nice lady on the phone actually started reading out all 50+ possible symptoms, I took pity on her and stopped her pretty quick ("oh you said anxiety? yeah, sure, that one".)

All in all, it took about 10 days from when I shipped the sample, to the results being posted in their online portal.

All in all, I'm happy with how easy and cheap (compared to the alternative) this test was, and I'll probably be using them for the foreseeable future, unless of course my insurance gets it's head screwed on straight and actually starts helping me instead of just charging me to do nothing, but we all know they'd light themselves on fire before actually helping anyone 😊

Oh, yeah, and this isn't an ad or anything, I did my own research and paid for the test in full, it's just a regular old review.

[skyemagica]

People messaging me about DIY rocks. It makes me feel slightly less useless with everything going on. As much as I'd like to be handing out bricks and homemade gel right now it does make me feel a little bit better that I can help anyone at all.

[punksdocrimes]

Adding onto this:

If you want to start HRT but are struggling to legally obtain HRT for any reason (financial, family, bad doctors, just hard to get, etc.) I would STRONGLY encourage you look into DIY.

It's not dangerous, it's not expensive, it's not folk medicine or alternatives or anything like that. You're just buying a vial of estradiol online made in the exact same way as the stuff you would get from a pharmacy. The only negative is that you'll probably have to do injections - which are basically more effective anyways imo and generally less annoying to deal with than pills.

I spent $100 last year buying a vial of Estradiol Enanthate (EEn), a box of syringes, dispensing and injection needles, and alcohol prep pads. I'm currently 9 months on HRT (August will be 10), and I STILL have 2-3 months left in my vial of EEn (and I've been taking a high dose) - and more than enough syringes, needles, and pads to last for AT LEAST 6 months. $75 for a vial of EEn and $30 for supplies.

Here are resources to help get you started looking into DIY:

https://diyhrt.wiki/

https://www.reddit.com/r/TransDIY/s/kQoiJQneXB

If you do your due diligence and research, you'll have 0 problems. If nothing else, you'll be so much more knowledgeable about HRT, dosages, etc. and will be able to know if some endo tries to low-dose you or put you on a regimen you don't want.

When buying DIY - you'll usually have to transfer your money into crypto. There's a lot of trans women out there who DIY who are willing to help you if you're unsure how that works or have concerns. If you're buying T, you usually don't need to use crypto afaik.

Personally I recommend TeaHRT as a seller - I've heard NOTHING but great things about them, and they also sell prog, anti-andros, etc.

to all trans women, transfems, non binary people, intersex people, genderqueer people and so on who are seeking estrogen HRT, please check out Transfeminine Science

this is an absolutely amazing resource for anyone seeking estrogen HRT for any reason. this website is absolutely chock full of empirical scientific data to help you learn more about how the hormones will affect your body, what dosages and formulations of estrogens can produce what results, anti-androgen medications, demasculinziation processes, and so much more. it comes straight from the source, so there is no awkward speculation: this is for the transfeminine community, by the transfeminine community:

this is so much more accurate than any guide i could ever hope to create for folks, so please feel free to read the numerous articles the site has to offer, this is a very informative collection of articles and resources that you do not have to go combing through google for.

[trekmascing]

Doctor Phlox says DIY!!

[thoughtportal]

Meet yourself where you're at

{source}

[cas-50-28-2]

Given the Cass report, it looks like DIY is the only real option left for trans people in the UK. There's been a lot of good posts going around about DIYing via online pharmacies (i.e. https://diyhrt.wiki/) but I wanna share some resources for doing transfem DIY from pharmaceutical raws, which is orders of magnitude cheaper than the alternatives over the long term (a lifetime supply of estradiol set me back USD $150).

Here's my guide, focused on sublingual: https://pi.alla.loan/estrojunkie/

Here's a longer and more thorough google doc, with somewhat more details on the process of ordering raws: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rK91wadC4c3Zh2CNfKAVuIsTYZsQagA0F_iMDVM7Wr4/edit?usp=drivesdk

Here's a subreddit focused on using raw estradiol to make DIY estrogel (good for monotherapy, all the info you need is in their FAQ and wiki): https://old.reddit.com/r/estrogel/

Here's a guide on making buccal "stickies" for those who dislike gel and sublingual: https://stickies.neocities.org/stickies

and I always gotta rec https://transfemscience.org/articles/transfem-intro/ and every other article on that site for if you want to really understand HRT on a deeper level (not necessary for DIY though)

[eddieheart]

I’ve never done this specific project before but I do have some sewing experience.

This stuff is unimportant but might help when doing this yourself. :) (also I’m not an expert and if you don’t do want to/actually do any of this that’s fine too)

(Hand drew this out first then realized my camera was shit)

Pretty much just pinning it as show in OP’s instruction then re-pinning it from the other side.

Personally I would pre-see the rolled edge before sewing it on as it can be more difficult when pinned to the garment, especially when you’re sewing multiple un-basted things.

(Basting is when you make large, loose stitches to hold fabric in place before sewing it properly. Once fully sewn the basting stitches are removed)

You can also seal the edges of the fabric by whipping it down (a whip stitch shown below), doing a zig-zag stitch over the edge with a machine, using a surger (if you somehow happen to have one) or with fabric/super glue.

It’s important to note that fabric can and will fray once it’s cut. How fast and to what degree it frays comes down to fabric type and what it’s being used for.

Also because it’s a place of such high tension and a lot of movement be sure to make sure everything is stitched down firmly. I would either backstitch (going back over the original stitches) or use a zig-zag stitch over the machine seen straight stitch.

But this could make the area too tight or make the stitching too tight/uncomfortable/stiff. This doesn’t work for every fabric type so take this with a grain of salt.

Also

This seems (no pun intended) like an informative source for basic and general sewing sewing knowledge. Don’t forget that google is your friend and you can find all sorts of things, including hand sewing guides/practices. :)

i think i cracked the code on converting regular underwear into packing underwear:

easily

using only a pair of sacrificial underwear

looks good (inside and out!), AND

keeps ur packer firmly and comfortably in place

if there is interest I can be persuaded to share my secrets

[benji-screem]

"you should just DIY your HRT" hey what if I told you that trans men/mascs can and have been arrested (and subsequently killed or put in serious danger) because of that. what if I told you that I spent weeks in jail being denied medical care for because of my (PRESCRIBED!!) possession of testosterone. what if I told you most of the methods of getting testosterone are extremely similar (and can be from the exact same sources) that people get other substances and can be massively triggering to addicts. HEY WHAT IF I TOLD YOU TRANS MEN ARE SYSTEMICALLY OPPRESSED