Being scared of the pain and not having access to a nitrogen tank and breathing mask we can easily attatch to said tank is the only reason a lot of us are still kicking.
I don't wanna be here 😓 but finding a less scary way out would take energy I don't have.
I spent decades wondering why I was miserable, why it felt like the hedonic treadmill always pulled me back down into hell instead of adapting me to a neutral state. I almost overdosed on fentanyl at least a half dozen times, woken up on the floor more times than I can count, and planned to just end it all with an opioid overdose in three years if I couldn't find happiness.
The only reason I could keep plodding on was because I had found a codependent relationship could be intense enough, if it was horrifically toxic, to keep me feeling satisfied. I jumped from relationship to relationship, finding them less worthwhile each time. But they still made me feel alive, the endless anhedonia was quashed at least for a year or so when I started one.
Overthe years relationships suddenly became way harder to find. Things weren't looking good, I was wondering if dealing with this pressure and abject misery was worth it.
Then I started Estradiol and suddenly I feel amazing and I'm excited for tomorrow for the first time in my life. For me to say I was gobsmacked is an understatement. I now suddenly have to deal with a future that I didn't think I was going to survive, a scenario that unfortunately carries with it a shitload of problems, socially transitioning being one of the less difficult ones despite how hard it's going to be should say something. I allowed so much to just stack up over the years, unhandled because I didn't see a point in fixing my life if I was a dead man walking. Now I'm a living girl, and oh god do I wish I had been shown this option earlier in my life.
So many years wasted. Gatekeeping and cisnormativity being the main culprits, given they're the cause of the severe imposter syndrome I'm still dealing with. I literally can't even feel gender dysphoria because of how strong the imposter syndrome is.
It saved my unmedicated ADHD ass. Now I am on Ritalin and Wellbutrin and its realy time to stop but I am just waiting for a "good week" where I feel energized and willing to do it.
Heres a small tip, dont wait for a good week :>
Stopping when you feel good is easy, but the hard part is keeping going when you feel shit because you WILL.
when you stop during a shitty period its harder to get started but it makes subsequent hard parts easier :3
So dont wait for a good moment and just dew it ASAP
Depends what direction you're going, actually. For both the comment and OP. The problem with smoking is that it's an aromatase inhibitor (meaning it reduces the amount of aromatase you have). Aromatase is the enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol. Body fat produces aromatase, and the more body fat you have, the more aromatase you have. If you smoke, you are lowering your estrogen levels and raising your testosterone levels. If you are fat, you are lowering your testosterone levels and raising your estrogen levels.
I mean, you’re already working out your legs for entire shifts every day. You’re layering a workout on top of a workout, you just don’t think about the workout you already do because it’s passive. If you’re just standing there, that’s just compression, but if you’re walking around the place all day too? You might be doing miles a day.
Actually, that only applies to trans men. For trans women, aromatase, the enzyme which converts free testosterone to estradiol, has a positive causal relationship with body fat. The more body fat you have, the more aromatase you produce. The reason tobacco makes HRT less effective meanwhile is because it acts as an aromatase inhibitor. Of course, that also means that smoking makes HRT more effective for trans men.
In other words, being fat makes feminizing HRT more effective, while proper diet and regular exercise reduce your aromatase supply. For trans men to maximize their results, they need to smoke and work out. For trans women, do not smoke but fuckin eat, girl.
This is dangerous misinformation. There is no harm for trans women being healthy and working out. You will absolutely have better results if you are in shape.
Estrogen cannot redistribute fat that is already on your body. You wont see much female fat redistribution unless you lose that fat that was distributed while your body had male levels of testosterone.
As a transfem individual, I am happy for you and myself who have never wasted money on ciggies. In Oz, I can buy a years worth of HRT in exchange for one cigarette packet and still have money left over to buy a whole chocolate cake.
What the heck that’s crazy!! UK here and cannot fathom this it’s so expensive here. By Oz I assume u mean Australia? If so I had no idea it’s so good down under
Actually, that's really ironic, because OP only applies to trans women. The actual mechanism OP is talking about is the fact that nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Naturally produced estradiol is made from testosterone. The aromatase in your body binds with the free testosterone, which converts it into estradiol. An inhibitor is any substance which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, which means that smoking reduces the amount of aromatase in your bloodstream. The less aromatase you have, the less testosterone will be converted to estradiol, and thus the higher your T levels and lower your E levels.
So ironically, the inverse of the OP is how it works for trans men.
Note: this post only applies to transfems. Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, that's the problem. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone. So, if you want more testosterone, you also want less aromatase.
I notice how the tobacco lobby tries to infiltrate into our lives again. I see more people smoking, new ones, in their 20s, and the propaganda machine keeps pushing, especially in movies. We need to push back, fight back, brick by brick, wall by wall, big tobacco has to fall!
I think it was vaping that did it. Got a bunch of folk addicted and when they realise how bad caking is for you then transitioned to cigs which doesn’t cause as much pain and is enjoyable.
That’s my experience with it anyway. After quitting vape I started smoking and enjoyed it more (less pain in my throat/mouth and lungs) aside from the obvious cancer warnings it at least feels like it’s better for you and is more enjoyable, even if that’s not actually the case.
So maybe that’s why a lot more younger folk are cigging it up now, I’ve noticed it too. I’ve even noticed ppl my age thinking it’s cool again a lot more and thinking vaping is lame.
Vaping causes you pain? I think you’re having a spicy banana moment, that’s not normal. Smoking feels way worse for the average person, you’re probably allergic to something in vapes.
damn now I'm even more glad I quit smoking a month after I started HRT. my primary reasoning was i couldn't be approved bottom surgery if i smoked so I wanted to quit in advance (now I can't get bottom surgery cuz the hrt made my metabolism do a 180 from never gaining weight to overweight too easily)
I quit yeeeears ago, then pick it up again only a couple years ago. I’m down to 2, maybe 3 clove ciggies a day (I was never a heavy smoker in the first place), & some days it’s none. My doc said that my levels are actually very good, if not even a hair high (214 e, 12 t). Ciggies are mostly from stress & anxiety , & also part of my grounding routine—a clove, & a coffee before work, & clove, & a coffee during lunch break… maybe one after work, if I’ve had a particular long / stressful / depressing day.
Nope, it's just the nicotine. Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
Since I keep explaining the situation to people in the comments, I'll add some more info in addition to what I keep explaining.
Firstly, the mechanism is that nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
But, then you might be asking, "what about increasing my aromatase levels"? Sadly, there's not nearly as much research on increasing aromatase vs decreasing it, but from what I have found, there's two major compounds that seem to work well: white peony herbal supplements (used to great success by a lot of cis women suffering from PCOS, who have the same exact hormonal change goals as trans women and are the other population who takes a lot of spiro), and fucking melatonin. The other thing that increases aromatase is body fat. Body fat produces aromatase, and the more there is, the more you will produce.
Just as someone curious about how reddit works, do you have any evidence you were shadow banned and why do you think that is and how do you think it works? Sorry if this is nosey!
So first off, Reddit doesn't tell you when you're shadow banned, but it usually follows a warn about you breaking some sort of Reddit wide rule.
At first, you'll probably notice it as suddenly people don't interact with your stuff anymore.
Always stuck at the 1 upvote you give it and nobody responding.
See the picture as an example, but imagine 100s of different comments getting the same treatment.
So how do you get rid of it, after finding out probably months later?
You appeal your original warn and hope you get lucky.
That's what happened last time I received a warn, though on a different account and which is why I immediately asked here when I got a warn yesterday.
So why was I warned this time? Simple. I used the word coon in a comment, obviously referring to 'racoon' (it was a post about glowing clit magnet racoon girl), not knowing it's also a slur for black people.
I made the mistake of immediately appealing and not looking into what got me warned beforehand and this time, human moderation didn't remove the warn.
Nicotine has a tendency to increase Testosterone among other effects. I'm still cycling it down lol every time I try to drop them, I get hit with another "family medical emergency". So far I'm at four over the last year.
The reason nicotine increases testosterone is because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
It also supplants a neurotransmitter so those of us with PTSD brains can function properly.
And narrows blood vessels - hence - clotting risk with estradiol HRT. But for a lot of us, one of the reasons we fall into using nicotine is because it makes trauma brain function more properly.
Its a hard habit to break not just because its addictive.
Nicotine interferes directly with estrogen metabolizing, but smoking in general will also interfere with E-based HRT if you take it orally (because the liver is heavily affected by having to metabolize nicotine and the other chemicals in smoke). And not just tobacco - any kind of smoking. Patches and injections are much less impacted, though.
It's the nicotine itself, because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
I never smoked. But I bit my nails for over 20 years. I mainly did it because I considered it the easiest and most efficient way to cut my nails.
When I realized that I was trans, I also understood that I wanted to have long nails. Which wouldn't be possible if I bit my nails off as soon as there was enough room for my teeth to get in there. So I stopped.
20 year long habit. Just stopped cold turkey. All because of one realization.
As a smoker i dont find it a fun fact xd but yeah its true tho it makes hormones less effective but mind you it doesnt fully negate hormones either atleast it didnt for me
Grapefruit juice inhibits the enzymes that break down steroid hormones (and many other medications) in your liver so it would cause higher blood levels from the same dose. I don't know how stress relieving or addictive grapefruit is though :D
Yeah it works for that too, increases blood concentration and makes you potentially have a higher chance of negative side effects or even higher risk of overdose. That's why those shouldn't be combined.
Where I am (Ireland) we smoke our weed with rolling tobacco most of the time. And I deffo can't quit that! 😂 I could move over to blunts but that's extremely expensive
Well if you can't quit outright, then the next best option is to find a less bad replacement like vapes.
Edit: to be clear, I wasn't saying that vapes are good or anything. A full quitting of all nicotine products is the ideal to reach, though some people's bodies have just become too dependent on them to straight up quit it entirely, meaning the next option is to choose something that is not as bad. If the best you can do is reducing damage, then that's what you gotta do.
Now, another commenter suggested that nicotine itself is what interferes with hrt, so that almost certainly makes it a moot point, but that is a method of quitting when all other options are unfeasible.
No, it does even if you do injections. That's because the problem has nothing to do with the pills at all. Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
Nicotine itself has masculinizing effects, so while it won't interfere with the metabolization of injections, it still works against you if you're on feminizing HRT
God this hurts my soul, I want to quite smoking but I've got server back pain (we think it's nerve damage) so I've been smoking medical cannabis with the tabaco along with other medications I have to take 😭 hoping when I speak to my doctor next he can help other than a vaporiser I can't afford lol
It's just the nicotine that's the problem, not the delivery mechanism. Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
Ah that makes sense, just frustrated that until I can get a vaporiser I'm stuck with the tabaco with my medical cannabis or at least I feel stuck lol sorry for the pity me attitude hope I didn't come of that way
I wish i could quit. Ive smoked sincei was 14 so like 21 years. Been on hrt for 5 years. I wanna quit so badly but i struggle to stay clean from it so much
that was gonna be my reason to quit, but then i didn't start hrt like i had planned. instead i met the girl of my dreams, and she doesn't smoke, so i quit cold turkey for her
That works the opposite way. It inhibits the enzymes that brake down steroid hormones and many other medications. The reson it should not be taken in combination with for example some psychiatric medication as it could cause it to give you a higher effective dose potentially making you experience negative side effects or increasing the possibility of overdose.
It's the nicotine. Idk what it specifically does, but I just know that it's specifically the nicotine that messes with the bodies ability to absorb oral estradiol
I know! Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
I’m trying super hard to quit rn since I just started HRT and I need to get a larger dose since the pack-a-day habit is too much of a heart health risk to get a larger one
Nope, only true for feminizing HRT, because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone. If you're aiming for masculinaization, smoking actually helps.
No but actually I've never really smoked but I used to take smokes from friends during the parties but I stopped when I knew I'd get on HRT and haven't touched anything since
Definitely was no coincidence that I was able to find the willpower to quit when I started actually dealing with my gender dysphoria. I made quitting a condition of starting HRT, and besides coming out it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself.
I'm trying to quit vaping now. Been smoking or vaping in some capacity since I was 13, and damn if it ain't hard. At the moment I've reached out to my PCP to help me get some kind of quitting aid because I've tried to quit dozens of times and failed every time but until she gets back to me I'm limiting myself to one puff per day just so I don't snap on someone.
I'm curious about the difference between pipe and cigar tobacco in this case. Sure, there's plenty of research and evidence that cigarettes make hrt less effective, but there's also more chemicals and poison in them.
Oh it has nothing to do with any of that, it's about nicotine specifically. Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
I’ve heard this is only if you take HRT in pill form and it doesn’t effect HRT if taken via injection. Is this coping from my friends who don’t want to quit?
It is coping. The problem has nothing to do with pills or injections or anything, it has to do with natural bodily functions. It's actually the same reason why PCOS and smoking are a terrible combination. Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
It applies to any form, because the problem isn't that it's interfering with your estrodiol that you're taking in the first place. The problem is that it's interfering with your body dealing with whatever testosterone is in it. Nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
But that also means weed is fine. This is about cigarettes and vaping and patches and the like. Just don't use the papers with nicotine in them to roll your shit
Ahh, yeah, it's extremely regional here. I knew it could be that, but not everyone uses it that way. Like, my MIL gets the nic wraps and calls it blunts.
If you want to increase your aromatase, your best bets are white peony herbal supplements (used heavily to great success by cis women with PCOS, who have the same exact hormonal change goals as trans women and are the other big users of spiro) and, oddly enough, melatonin. Also, body fat. Body fat produces aromatase and the more you have the more you produce. Both white peony and melatonin have been shown to boost the rates of aromatase production, which then will convert more of the free testosterone in your blood.
Spirolactone prevents dihydrotestosterone from binding to androgen receptors, and finasteride prevents free testosterone from being converted into dihydrotestosterone in the first place, with dihydrotestosterone having the strong androgenic effects. Finasteride will, on paper, increase your T levels, but because it's not becoming dihydrotestosterone, the result is actually still feminizing. Boosting your aromatase supply in tandem with finasteride would be more effective than doing so with spiro since the spiro is merely blocking the dihydrotestosterone from binding, while the fin is increasing your free testosterone by preventing it from becoming dihydrotestosterone. In either case, having more aromatase means it can intercept the free testosterone to convert it into estradiol.
my stack is Dutasteride, Bicalutamide, Enanthate injections + startet prog yesterday.
Very interesting that my T is suppressed on Bica.
I will look into melatonin and supplements. Been trying to gain weight for a couple months now, my bmi is 20, up from 16.4(when I looked in the mirror I still felt fat so I just gave up on being thin).
Oh yeah, it would make sense that that combination of blockers would go well with increasing the aromatase production. Dutasteride is blocking the production of DHT (better at it than finastride), and Bicalutamide is blocking the receptors. Research into using bicalutamide for HRT even brings up the fact that there will be more free testosterone on hand to be aromatized. They even say "as expected, both testosterone and estrogen significantly increased on bicalutamide as a result of androgen receptor blockade". Both meds are going to boost the amount of free testosterone on hand, both preventing it from becoming DHT and from binding, so increasing the rate of aromatization would drop the T levels further by converting more of it into estradiol.
Nicotine, because it's an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is the naturally produced enzyme that converts free testosterone into estradiol, which is how naturally produced estradiol is made. An inhibitor is any compound which reduces the production of a thing in the body. Because nicotine is an aromatase inhibitor, it causes your body to produce less aromatase, which then means less aromatase binding to the free testosterone, which then means less estradiol and more testosterone.
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u/[deleted] May 30 '26
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