04-06-2012, 19:51
Welcome Kell,
I don't know anyone who completed a transition on herbs, so I hope other forum members contribute here. I'm afraid you need professional help too. So far, nearly everyone who took enough PM, up to 3,000 mg, was eventually at easy with "down there". Only two went on to HRT, and only one still posts here from time to time. At the end of the day, you will need a surgeon, and you keep more options open if you play it by the book from the start. A gender clinic can simply refuse to take a DIY as a patient.
Your questions about DHT are simple enough to answer, though. Like dutasteride, it just inhibits 5α-reductase, the enzyme that makes dihydrotestosterone (DHT) from testosterone. All effects of DHT will stop: oily skin, acne, libido. Brow bone growth will stop, but not reverse of course. Male pattern baldness, facial and body hair will stop becoming any worse, but will be reversed partially at best.
DHT maintains men's ability to cope with stress, as does progesterone in women. In the long run, SP and other 5α-reductase inhibitors will leave you defenseless, and even suicidal. PM users on the forum report better mood, like you do, but we don't know if that will be enough to offset the loss of DHT in the end. On this forum, PM users only take SP if they have acne, and only for the first six months on PM. There is β-sitosterol in PM. That's an anti-androgen too. It can handle the acne by itself after six months.
PM affects fertility more than SP. It was only really studied in rats, and I think the damage was reversible.
Skeletal muscle growth reacts to testosterone directly, so it will continue even without DHT. SP will not decrease testosterone. So limit your workouts to butt exercises only. There are two butt herbs: maca and aguaje. There is little experience with the latter on the forum. Other than that, you will have to rely on PM to round your figure. Maca will increase libido and erections, SP won't.
Please understand that a transition regime is different. The herbs will not chemically castrate you. You will have to rely on the β-sitosterol in PM, or on other anti-androgens, until after orchiectomy.
I don't know anyone who completed a transition on herbs, so I hope other forum members contribute here. I'm afraid you need professional help too. So far, nearly everyone who took enough PM, up to 3,000 mg, was eventually at easy with "down there". Only two went on to HRT, and only one still posts here from time to time. At the end of the day, you will need a surgeon, and you keep more options open if you play it by the book from the start. A gender clinic can simply refuse to take a DIY as a patient.
Your questions about DHT are simple enough to answer, though. Like dutasteride, it just inhibits 5α-reductase, the enzyme that makes dihydrotestosterone (DHT) from testosterone. All effects of DHT will stop: oily skin, acne, libido. Brow bone growth will stop, but not reverse of course. Male pattern baldness, facial and body hair will stop becoming any worse, but will be reversed partially at best.
DHT maintains men's ability to cope with stress, as does progesterone in women. In the long run, SP and other 5α-reductase inhibitors will leave you defenseless, and even suicidal. PM users on the forum report better mood, like you do, but we don't know if that will be enough to offset the loss of DHT in the end. On this forum, PM users only take SP if they have acne, and only for the first six months on PM. There is β-sitosterol in PM. That's an anti-androgen too. It can handle the acne by itself after six months.
PM affects fertility more than SP. It was only really studied in rats, and I think the damage was reversible.
Skeletal muscle growth reacts to testosterone directly, so it will continue even without DHT. SP will not decrease testosterone. So limit your workouts to butt exercises only. There are two butt herbs: maca and aguaje. There is little experience with the latter on the forum. Other than that, you will have to rely on PM to round your figure. Maca will increase libido and erections, SP won't.
Please understand that a transition regime is different. The herbs will not chemically castrate you. You will have to rely on the β-sitosterol in PM, or on other anti-androgens, until after orchiectomy.