IF YOU ARE A TRANS FEMME GET YOUR THYROID CHECKED, ESPECIALLY IF YOUVE NOTICED A DROP IN LIBIDO OR AN INABILITY TO MAINTAIN A STABLE WEIGHT
It isn’t a big deal if you have hypothyroidism, you just need to take an artificial thyroid hormone called Levothyroxine…but don’t let it go untreated!!! It’s super fucked up doctors don’t regularly check our thyroid when we start HRT
Specifically get your thyroid-binding globulin levels, since according to these articles your thyroid hormone levels might appear normal despite this occurring
AH!
Found the link for the first image:
Said "recent study": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8090061/
I really wish I saw this a few days ago, I was just at the endocrinologist. I'll bring it up with the PCP and see if he's willing to run that specific test or if I need to trudge back over for it.
Re-reblogging to add: Out of the 48 trans patients with thyroid diagnoses, 26 were taking estrogen and 21 were taking testosterone. One is unspecified in the article.
43 of this thyroid dx/hrt group had hypothyroidism! That's 8.7% of the population taking hrt (total sample of 554), while 3-5% is the rate in the non-hrt population.
In other words: this applies to ALL folks taking hrt. This study found that hypothyroidism is somewhat more common with estrogen hrt, but the rate is still elevated with testosterone hrt vs people not taking any at all.
If you're on hrt and show signs of thyroid issues, talk to your care provider! It's common in general, and more common in us.
Because a lot of endocrinologists are weird fatphobic transphobic assholes here is what to do to get your levels checked: ask them to run full thyroid work up including TBG and F14, F13 levels. If they refuse, claiming that your TSH levels are normal, remind them that TSH is a pituitary hormone and can take many years before matching actual thyroid hormone levels. Tell them that the prevalence of hypothyroidism in trans people is approximately 8.7%, much higher than the estimates of 3-5% in the general population, and that estrogen can overstress a trans person’s thyroid causing hypothyroidism. If they still refuse, report them to whatever body governs their behaviour and find a new doctor.
