Exploring The Hormonal Route. Hair=life.

[JaneyElizabeth]

Bicalutamide as an Androgen Blocker With Secondary Effect of Promoting Feminization in Male-to-Female Transgender Adolescents

The purpose of the study was to describe the novel use of bicalutamide in transgender youth.This is a retrospective review of patients with gender dysphoria followed in the pediatric endocrine clinic at Riley Hospital for Children.Of 104 patients with ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

We have found that bicalutamide appears to be effective in decreasing androgen exposure with the welcome side effect in these adolescents of promoting feminization. We suspect that the relatively rapid breast enlargement is because of the high potency and purely antagonistic action of bicalutamide on the androgen receptor, leading to increased testosterone levels that are subsequently aromatized to estrogen. In those tested, liver enzymes remained normal, and estradiol levels were above 20 pg/dl with only one exception. There were no apparent adverse effects of bicalutamide in our patients. However, our results must be considered extremely preliminary, and additional data are needed. How bicalutamide might compare to other androgen receptor blockers in terms of safety and efficacy in the adolescent age group is unknown, and the risk for liver toxicity needs to be investigated in larger sample sizes and over a longer duration of time.

The limitations of this study are its small size, minimal laboratory testing, and retrospective nature. Another limitation is that the efficacy of androgen suppression can only be monitored clinically, as testosterone levels actually increase. However, our results suggest that bicalutamide may be an option for transgender MTF adolescents who are denied GnRHas and are also ready for physical feminization. Bicalutamide is also significantly less costly than GnRHas, which costs thousands of dollars per dose. Larger, prospective studies with a more diverse patient population are needed to further evaluate the safety and potential role of bicalutamide in the therapeutic armamentarium for the treatment of transgender MTF youth.

 

[Almas]

Our onliest article on Bica for feminization says that it is great for boobs! Hooray! And Particularly This is True for the Very Young, Under 25!

Bicalutamide as an Androgen Blocker With Secondary Effect of Promoting Feminization in Male-to-Female Transgender Adolescents

The purpose of the study was to describe the novel use of bicalutamide in transgender youth.This is a retrospective review of patients with gender dysphoria followed in the pediatric endocrine clinic at Riley Hospital for Children.Of 104 patients with ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

100% of patients experienced breast development while on bicalutamide alone

The potent androgen receptor blocker bicalutamide represents a potential alternative approach to GnRHas in natal males. Other antiandrogens used in transgender females include spironolactone and cyproterone acetate. However, both are far less potent than bicalutamide and their use has primarily been limited to adults [1,3]. In contrast, bicalutamide has been used in the treatment of familial male precocious puberty and other forms of peripheral precocious puberty in young boys [4–6]. One of the most common side effects of bicalutamide is breast development due to an alteration in the ratio of androgens to estrogens. Our experience with the use of bicalutamide in precocious puberty formed the basis for the use of this medication in male-to-female (MTF) patients with GD as a strategy for blocking puberty when GnRHas are denied. Interestingly, the resulting “side effect” of breast development has been welcomed by these patients, all of whom are eager to receive cross-hormone treatment (in this case, estrogen) and to undergo feminizing changes. We are not aware of any previous reports of utilizing bicalutamide as a way to block puberty and promote feminization in the transgender MTF population.

Anecdotally, all patients were extremely positive regarding the breast development they experienced on bicalutamide therapy.

This is good because it suggests that the higher the dosage, the higher the E levels in the tissues, which is beneficial for the hair. Because the information on dosages and blood E levels is rather strange

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

Oh wow thank you for your nice words...

Interesting study, what do you think of cycling on and off Cypro 6mg to prevent spiking T? Or how can we deal against spiking T while on Bica!? I mean, we actually need the spiking T, so it can aromatize, but what if the excess T is unhealthy!? As in IGF-1 spikes, as you said...

Spikes and half-lives are interesting in terms of our needing more research. Somehow pills seem to feminize when swallowed without especially long half-lives or long periods of spiking compared to injections. It might be that brief spiking works towards feminization. Sucking on pills ups E levels much quicker in the short-run but in terms of long run feminization, I find little to support the notion that any ingestion levels work better than good old fashion pills albeit with a slight increase in liver distress long-term. Sucking also produces different metabolites which still doesn't seem to make a difference except for the psychological effects of estradiol which can be addictive and compelling....

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I take 4 mg sublingual, and i'll try to maintain this for one year

At your age without time, hopefully, for significant dormancy and/or fibrosis, it should be plenty.

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I find these curves bizarre with little to explain what is going on as normal dosage curves like say for finasteride and duta level out fairly quickly.

 

[Almas]

I find these curves bizarre with little to explain what is going on as normal dosage curves like say for finasteride and duta level out fairly quickly.

View attachment 157696

Bicalutamide takes a long time to reach its concentrations

 

[Gergely]

At your age without time, hopefully, for significant dormancy and/or fibrosis, it should be plenty.

what?

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I am not going to pretend to understand all of the chemistry here as it is a racemic mixture which indicates that flipping of the molecule changes it's effects similar to dextroamphetamine and Adderall. It also does a shitload of stuff unrelated to occupying receptors but I will say that at medium glance it appears to be less oriented to female stereotypical sides sexually and strength-wise. It might be safer with few sides for males single-shot than spironolactone or MPA while being equally feminizing when used with E2. It will take me a while to go through all of this:

Bicalutamide - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

what?

Baldness seems to have a significant inertial factor with some young folks even restoring pubertal hairlines perhaps up to 25 on "male" treatments, not sure about anagen though.

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I see that daro is not a true 'mide but rather engineered to perform similarly in spite of lacking the same chemical structure to flutamide, bica and enza.

 

[Gergely]

Baldness seems to have a significant inertial factor with some young folks even restoring pubertal hairlines perhaps up to 25 on "male" treatments, not sure about anagen though.

I'm not on "male" treatment, the only thing i can do on top of this is get an orchiectomy

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

So here's the downside. Bica seems to be a great cancer med relatively in terms of unwanted female stereotypical sides, cost, toxicity and so on. Unfortunately, none of this seems connected to desired feminization which is our issue here as we are not particularly interested in non-feminizing side effects or features unless completely relevant to restoration of dormant hair follicles. SARMS like SERMs also merit further looking into.

Overview​

Bicalutamide and the other nonsteroidal antiandrogens (NSAAs), since their introduction, have largely replaced cyproterone acetate (CPA), an older drug and steroidal antiandrogen (SAA), in the treatment of prostate cancer.[1][2][3][4] Bicalutamide was the third NSAA to be marketed, with flutamide and nilutamide preceding, and followed by enzalutamide.[5][6] Relative to the earlier antiandrogens, bicalutamide has substantially reduced toxicity, and in contrast to them, is said to have an excellent and favorable safety profile.[4][7][8][9] For these reasons, as well as superior potency, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics, bicalutamide is preferred and has largely replaced flutamide and nilutamide in clinical practice.[10][11][12] In accordance, bicalutamide is the most widely used antiandrogen in the treatment of prostate cancer.[13][14][15] Between January 2007 and December 2009, it accounted in the U.S. for about 87.2% of NSAA prescriptions.[16] Prior to the 2012 approval of enzalutamide, a newer and improved NSAA with greater potency and efficacy,[7] bicalutamide was regarded as the standard-of-care antiandrogen in the treatment of the prostate cancer.[6][7][17]

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I'm not on "male" treatment, the only thing i can do on top of this is get an orchiectomy

I know but I am referring to these male meds working better when dormancy period is small and fibrosis only incipient in nature if true for younger guys. Fibrosis to many might come on like Barry Allen regardless of age, sadly though.

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

So, the 'mides are engineered to be less feminizing in terms of cancer protocol as they raise T, at least some of them. However:

One advantage of CPA over NSAAs is that, because it suppresses estrogen levels rather than increases them, it is associated with only a low rate of what is generally only slight gynecomastia (4–20%),[97][109][48] whereas NSAAs are associated with rates of gynecomastia of up to 80%.

Unlike with spironolactone, CPA and MPA, we might see a complete divergence of effects of Bica between females and MtF's, and males on the other hand with the respective literatures having less correlation than previous prostate cancer meds. The literature of MtF medications per se might be of little use to those who wish to remain chemically male.

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I note that many MtF's identifying as female do not desire particularly any of these purported benefits (bugs vs. features) related to maintaining typical male interest in sex, particularly its compulsiveness nor are they interested in maintaining function or size of male genitalia whereas non-binary folks tend to split down the middle related to what is a bug and what is a feature. I would never, ever want to be hostage to T or DHT again.

Monotherapy with NSAAs including bicalutamide, flutamide, nilutamide, and enzalutamide shows a significantly lower risk of certain side effects, including hot flashes, depression, fatigue, loss of libido, and decreased sexual activity, relative to treatment with GnRH analogues, CAB (NSAA and GnRH analogue combination), CPA, or surgical castration in prostate cancer.[51][49][123][124] For example, 60% of men reported complete loss of libido with bicalutamide relative to 85% for CAB and 69% reported complete loss of erectile function relative to 93% for CAB.[51] Another large study reported a rate of impotence of only 9.3% with bicalutamide relative to 6.5% for standard care (the controls), a rate of decreased libido of only 3.6% with bicalutamide relative to 1.2% for standard care, and a rate of 9.2% with bicalutamide for hot flashes relative to 5.4% for standard care.[125] One other study reported decreased libido, impotence, and hot flashes in only 3.8%, 16.9%, and 3.1% of bicalutamide-treated patients, respectively, relative to 1.3%, 7.1%, and 3.6% for placebo.[126] It has been proposed that due to the lower relative effect of NSAAs on sexual interest and activity, with two-thirds of advanced mPC patients treated with them retaining sexual interest, these drugs may result in improved quality of life and thus be preferable for those who wish to retain sexual interest and function relative to other antiandrogen therapies in prostate cancer.[49] Also, bicalutamide differs from GnRH analogues (which decrease BMD and significantly increase the risk of bone fractures)[127] in that it has well-documented benefits on BMD, effects that are likely due to increased levels of estrogen.[120][128]

As noted by Bridge who definitely was in this cadre of folks preferring the feminine aspect and mind-set, our solution to all of the "benefits/bugs" listed above is to increase estrogen levels, not decrease them and that depression often seems to accompany being "stuck in the middle" and is not associated with ~200 pg/ml and upwards, and interest in non-compusive sexual action and thought increases as E levels go up for many, not down. Again, individual divergences can be strong, hence our slogan, YMMV.

 

[Pls_NW-1]

Bicalutamide as an Androgen Blocker With Secondary Effect of Promoting Feminization in Male-to-Female Transgender Adolescents

The purpose of the study was to describe the novel use of bicalutamide in transgender youth.This is a retrospective review of patients with gender dysphoria followed in the pediatric endocrine clinic at Riley Hospital for Children.Of 104 patients with ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

We have found that bicalutamide appears to be effective in decreasing androgen exposure with the welcome side effect in these adolescents of promoting feminization. We suspect that the relatively rapid breast enlargement is because of the high potency and purely antagonistic action of bicalutamide on the androgen receptor, leading to increased testosterone levels that are subsequently aromatized to estrogen. In those tested, liver enzymes remained normal, and estradiol levels were above 20 pg/dl with only one exception. There were no apparent adverse effects of bicalutamide in our patients. However, our results must be considered extremely preliminary, and additional data are needed. How bicalutamide might compare to other androgen receptor blockers in terms of safety and efficacy in the adolescent age group is unknown, and the risk for liver toxicity needs to be investigated in larger sample sizes and over a longer duration of time.

The limitations of this study are its small size, minimal laboratory testing, and retrospective nature. Another limitation is that the efficacy of androgen suppression can only be monitored clinically, as testosterone levels actually increase. However, our results suggest that bicalutamide may be an option for transgender MTF adolescents who are denied GnRHas and are also ready for physical feminization. Bicalutamide is also significantly less costly than GnRHas, which costs thousands of dollars per dose. Larger, prospective studies with a more diverse patient population are needed to further evaluate the safety and potential role of bicalutamide in the therapeutic armamentarium for the treatment of transgender MTF youth.

Check my post of bica hepatotoxicity in the thread: Bicalutamide - Diabetes? Or smt like that!

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

I need a Remedy for what is Ailing me. All I want is a Remedy.... I'd take enough to please me....

Can I have some remedy?
(All I want is a remedy)
Remedy for me, please
(For all of the things I really do need)
If had some remedy
(oh, I'd take another one)
I'd take enough to please me (please me), yeah!

I need a remedy, huh, yeah
For what is ailin' me?
Don't ya see?
Remedy, but what is havin' me?
Remedy, havin' me
Ooooh...If I only had a remedy
Say baby baby I want it
Say baby I need it
Gotta have it
Yeah gonna sing it, sing it, I believe it
I really want a
Remedy, remedy, remedy,remedy, remedy, remedy
Remedy, remedy
What I want? What I need

 

[JaneyElizabeth]

If I had to be male and 26 as here, I choose to be Chris Robinson, an embodiment of grace and beauty and still likely to get plenty of sex from everybody....

If I come on like a dream
Ohh, will you let me show you what I mean?
Will you let me come on inside
Ohh, will you let it slide?

 

[Pls_NW-1]

I still want to close this up;

Is Raloxifene bad for hair? Will it lower Bica's effectivness?

 

[DogoDiLaurentiis]

You need to use progesterone, not these drugs, hair growth depends on two hormones it is based on progesterone and part of estradiol

I got absolutely no benefit from progesterone and I took prescription doses of it.

Nothing grows hair like estrogen, yes other hormones need to be in balance, but seriously if that's a problem, continue topically applying estrogen and take exogenous pregnenolone.

Progesterone is directly competitive to estrogen and will halt whatever hair growth gains you're getting from E2, in EXACTLY the same way that when women experience progesterone dominance, their skin turns to sh*t and they act psychotic.