Saw this today:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/03/cross-sex-hormones-available-online-11-pounds-a-month-young-people-gender-identity

"Guardian research found online pharmacies in places ranging from India to Hong Kong and Portugal offering hormone treatments without a prescription, typically ranging from around £10 to £30 for 28 days’ supply of a starting dose of feminising hormones."

Although it talks about injections rather than herbs, one might think that NBE herbs would also enter the crosshairs.

Yup, I saw that too.
To be honest, there has been a lot of pressure recently around online pharmacies. I don't think they are talking about PM or BO here, more likely about inhousepharmacy etc...
That said, Where you you find E for £10 a month?

I don't know, never bought E.
This however might cause issues for Progesterone creams (which I did get from Biova), and maybe DHEA and Pregnenolone.

Lowest cost is always injections... There are local suppliers in UK too for those in need to know. I really hope this doesn't blow up or it might get a lot of people in serious trouble. Then again, if something goes down, demand will make new suppliers pop up overnight. People have a tendency to be resourceful. And fuck medical gatekeeping! Fuck it! Its ruining lives.

DiDi


Thank you.  Why will the establishment not help transgender PEOPLE.  They want to build barriers, lock doors and make us jump through hoops like some kind of animal.

I feel we would be better off if they just forgot about us, at least we wouldn’t have their barriers to navigate.

Pooky

Yes, I want all trans healthcare to go under the radar. Including DIY. More secretive and quiet it is, better it is for us who need it. Like in the old days when it was a "secret society" of people in the know....

Btw, in UK, Vannapharma is reliable source. Worth checking out.

DiDi


Thank you.  Why will the establishment not help transgender PEOPLE.  They want to build barriers, lock doors and make us jump through hoops like some kind of animal.

I feel we would be better off if they just forgot about us, at least we wouldn’t have their barriers to navigate.

Pooky

This here is the exact stuff I was talking about in my introduction. there's so much contempt out there towards trans people and it's only gotten worse in the last decade,especially violence and intolerance,  i mean, why punish us for something we were born with?

I'm in teh UK, and think this has been happening on and off for a while.
When I started on HRT I bought my E two or three times, then for reasons unknown the banks put that supplier on their banned list!
I now use Vanna InHouse, fingers-crossed they stay under the radar.

I've been curious about E - I assume it's not something I can just take for a week or two to see how it works for me?

I know TRT gets tightly controlled in the UK, the government basically treats it as a Class C drug. If you are lucky to get on it via NHS then usually you can get it fairly easily on the NHS and don't need to find underground sources. For E, I'm not sure how stringent the rules are in order to qualify to get E on the NHS. Presumably there's the whole thing about pshych tests to confirm whether you are trans?

I know there are TRT clinics outside of the NHS, basically official private medical clinics. Are there any like that for Trans people that want / need to get E?

Otherwise, yeah, either NHS or underground sources, or phytoestrogens I assume are the only options in the UK.

The article is mostly about the underground sources, but I posted it because I wasnt sure if we would see phytoestrogens being controlled more and more in the future. So far we can still get PM etc in the UK, but for how long?

I've been curious about E - I assume it's not something I can just take for a week or two to see how it works for me?

I should have expanded on this ^^^^^
I just don't think I can go to my GP and ask for 2 week's supply of estrogen, just to "try it out". I mean, it would probably raise red flags for them (especially because I'm on TRT), but how else would I know if it fits me better and whether I'm actually trans (that test in the other thread suggested I might be).

So the only way to do that, is via phyto (like PM), or underground sources.
If the NHS made it easier for people to try either way (they probably still want to make sure you know the risks / side effects etc), it might help people work out which way they want to go: stay male, or get closer to transitioning. But at least it wouldn't have to be all hush-hush with shame and embarrassment.

But hey, it's the NHS after all (they won't give T to a male that wants to be a male, until their T levels drop so much that they are < 8 nmol/L usually, like an 80 year old male level, for like a 30 year old). So I'm not convinced they would be sensible with my proposal above.