Hormone Replacement Therapy

[Maria Isabella Saule]

Before I begin, I must first state that I am not saying whether or not anyone should undergo Hormone Replacement Therapy (or HRT), just discussing my perspective on it.
I am a transgender woman and from my perspective, HRT is necessary to me. It has helped me to feel right in my body, my facial features and body appearance is feminizing, I am losing body hair and developing female breasts, my emotions are calming and I feel better about myself, most importantly stress caused from being in a body that I don't feel is the right body. However, I feel like by taking this medicine, this one medicine that gives me the will to live, I am betraying God.

 

[Waterwerx]

From my perspective, the HRT to which you are prescribing is not necessary for you to live, although you may both tell yourself and believe otherwise. It's really no different than a body builder resorting to the use of anabolic steroids to artificially increase strength and muscle mass. You're basically trying to get your body to do something that it wasn't biologically designed for, and in the long term, will end up wrecking it.

 

[MariaIsabella]

From my perspective, the HRT to which you are prescribing is not necessary for you to live, although you may both tell yourself and believe otherwise. It's really no different than a body builder resorting to the use of anabolic steroids to artificially increase strength and muscle mass. You're basically trying to get your body to do something that it wasn't biologically designed for, and in the long term, will end up wrecking it.

It's determined to be medically necessary for me by over a dozen medical doctors. Lots of medicines are used to get the human body to do something it wasn't designed for, like those used to treat birth defects. This is no different from treating any other birth defect. Further, no medical doctor would prescribe a medicine that wasn't medically necessary. Also, it's nothing like using anabolic steroids since it's legally prescribed, anabolic steroids are illegal.

 

[Waterwerx]

It's determined to be medically necessary for me by over a dozen medical doctors. Lots of medicines are used to get the human body to do something it wasn't designed for, like those used to treat birth defects. This is no different from treating any other birth defect. Further, no medical doctor would prescribe a medicine that wasn't medically necessary. Also, it's nothing like using anabolic steroids since it's legally prescribed, anabolic steroids are illegal.

Just because the law says it's legal doesn't necessarily make it ethical or right. Also, the last time I checked, some anabolic steroids are still legally prescribed, such as Anadrol in the US, which is used in patients that are suffering from wasting diseases. They are prescribed under such conditions since the therapy tends to increase their life expectancy(benefits outweigh the risks) by bringing them back to or maintaining their system at a biologically functional equilibrium. This is a big difference compared to someone who is a male or female and chooses to physically(or rather try to) change their gender because they have an obsession. By this reasoning, we should give individuals a million dollars every so often for medical reasons because they are psychologically distressed by their financial situation.

When you think about it, hormonally changing your gender is no different than using anabolic steroids to change your appearance when there is nothing physically wrong with you. It is psychological, and simply allowing people to alter their body's biochemical makeup to their own taste is not addressing the problem, but is instead encouraging more and more to embrace their obsession. This is sorcery. The Koine Greek word used is where we get our English word "pharmacy". It refers to altering one's self(psychologically and or physically) through the use of drugs for kicks or highs. This is not saying someone who is sedated and having a root canal done is committing the sin of sorcery. I don't think anyone in their right mind would consider a root canal or other painful surgery a "kick". Neither do I think of having a face(or any other body part) damaged by trauma or birth defect(i.e. cleft pallet) repaired as falling into the category of sin by sorcery. It's when we starting using drugs and medical procedures superfluously to change ourselves that we start falling into this sin.

Doctors prescribe unnecessary medication/procedures quite frequently. It is one of the contributing factors to the increase in frequency of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Overprescribing of pain medication is another issue. A good portion of the cosmetic procedures done are unnecessary(breast enhancements, nose jobs, etc.).

 

[JacquelineDeane55]

This is a Christian forum and I am almost sure that it is a sin to be transgendered anyway. The Bible says that God made people be either male or female, end of story. He says nothing about changing your gender. I am not going to encourage you in your sin, I would advise you to nip it in the bud and ask God for forgivingness for your erroneous ways.

I am a Conservative in my views and I tell it like it is. Sin is sin, there is no way to sugarcoat it.