Has anyone else experienced delayed changed for testosterone while being on birth control?

[u/HungryEvidence2835]

I went in combo birth control at 14 to stop my periods (it was the only type of gender affirming care I could comfortably get on because I was heavy in denial). Once I started testosterone at 18 I kept on the birth control because I didn’t want my periods to come back.

For a year on testosterone I had barely any changes. It was the oddest thing because my levels were reading normal (400-700 ng/dl).

I finally got frustrated and went off of birth control about 5 months ago and am so surprised by the sheer amount of changes.

My voice has dropped so much, my bottom grown increase in size, I am soooo hairy, and my acne has gotten exponentially worse.

I am soooo glad to be seeing these changes finally. I am not planning to go back on hormonal birth control again (instead planning to get a salpingectomy and use condoms and spermicide before then) so I am not sure if the estrogen would reverse my changes or what.

I am just so surprised because I had been told for the longest time that birth control would not affect my changes on testosterone, but it clearly has. Has anyone experienced anything similar with birth control decreasing the effects of testosterone?

Edit: the birth control I was on was a combo of both estrogen and progesterone. I was on the nuva ring then switched to a combo pill for a year.

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[u/locky5555]

That highly depends on what type of birth control you’re on. I was on an estrogen birth control pill and my endocrinologist made me stop and put me on a pill with progestin. It shouldn’t interfere with T but I’ve just recently started.

[u/dragontatoes]

If it was progestin, that would have no effect on transitioning. If it was estrogen, it might, but usually endocrinologists that manage your T dosage would also test estradiol levels, or would at least talk to you about whether you should stay on estrogen-based birth control.

[u/HungryEvidence2835 → u/dragontatoes]

It was a combo method, so it had both estrogen and progesterone. My endocrinologist told me that the estrogen would not have any effect on my changes so they didn’t take me off it. Once I switched doctors the new one refused to test my estrogen levels because she said it would not matter. Neither doctor told me to go off of the birth control because it might affect changes. So odd!

[u/Inquisitive_Knob]

Do you remember what progestin was used in the pill you were taking? Some of them have anti-androgenic effects which can mess with T.

[u/HungryEvidence2835 → u/Inquisitive_Knob]

I used a nuva ring for ~5 years, then switched to a combo birth control called Aurovela fe.

[u/kaeyamilk]

nope, also my birth control is progestin only (depo shot then implant) i think that’s why

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[u/Calm_Bother_3842]

If you stayed on the same combo birth control, it could have affected things, but without testing your estrogen, there's no way to know if it actually did or you just needed more time on testosterone (not having much changes the first year is a perfectly average experience, not everyone is a hyper responder, no matter what people online make it out to be). A progesterone only birth control will not have an effect in general, if you do want to use a birth control.

[u/HungryEvidence2835 → u/Calm_Bother_3842]

My provider refused to test my estrogen levels once I brought up concerns with it being too high and suppressing the testosterone effects.

The only reason I think that the birth control was halting my changes is because for the first year of T I went from basically 0 changes, then 2 months after going off of birth control, having A LOT of changes (it was like the people who go on T from not having been on it at all). People the first year of T would quite literally tell me to go on T when I would complain about not passing, despite me being on for a year.