Hello gals and pals, I know this may seem abstract and “could never happen” and as most people around me say “collapse is a slow process so you’ll have time” but as the Seneca effect has shown - that is usually not true - collapse can and mostly likely will be much faster than we imagine.

And considering geopolitical tensions and the fact that most hormone precursors are made in China I can see the supply drying up almost entirely

I guess my question is - how are you preparing?

For me community is a massive one - learning where to get blood work done outside the system, how to diy, how to get in touch with homebrewers - but at the same time I’ve not found anyone who actually makes hormones from scratch - most still mix existing precursors into injectables.

I’ve though about storing pills and making them into stickies but I still doubt they’d last more than 5 years even if stored in ideal conditions. on further research it appears pills could retain 50% or more of their potency for 15-20 years if stored in extra vaccum sealed packaging in a cool dark place

And I know the HRT pharmaceutical business is much bigger than just trans people but AFAIK very few cis people cannot live without exogenous hormones as most produce at least some by themselves - which I dont think is the case if you’re trans and have been on HRT for years/decades (not to mention after bottom surgery) - so I can see how their production can get deprioritised in favor of much more critical things like insulin for example.

How are you dealing with all of this?

  • Premadekrill(She/Her)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Chinese transwoman here, and I share similar concerns.

    On the black market in China, the main hormone medications available to transgender women are Progynova from Thailand, Androcur from Turkey, and Progynon from Japan. Due to the deterioration of China-Japanese relations following Takaichi Sanae’s appointment, the price of Progynon skyrocketed a while back; and because of the Turkish government’s recent anti-LGBTQ+ policies, I’ve heard that transgender people in Turkey are also having a hard time getting Androcur—though it’s still available on the black market here, I’m not sure how the situation will develop in the future; Although the military conflict between Thailand and Cambodia a while back ultimately did not escalate, it still caused me great concern. I do not want anyone to die in war anywhere, at the same time, due to China’s strict gatekeeping policies regarding bottom surgery, Thai hospitals remain the only option for many Chinese transgender individuals who lack parental support to undergo surgery and change the gender on their IDs. Some people are also worried that if war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, China might adopt even harsher anti-LGBT policies like Russia’s. However, in such a scenario, medication probably wouldn’t be the top priority anyway.

    Regarding homemade medications, after China issued a ban on the online sale of hormonal drugs in late 2022, some transgender individuals, fearing further restrictions, began purchasing industrial-grade estradiol to experiment with. Due to safety concerns, homemade injections and oral medications have been met with resistance within the community. However, some people still produce estradiol gel, believing that hormones absorbed through the skin allow for more impurities to be filtered out.

    • zeezee@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Thank you so much for sharing! That sounds genuinely terrifying - hope you’re staying safe and are managing to get your medicines safely 🙏

      I’m not sure you had a chance to look at the stickies zine I linked in the original post but a major benefit is that you can get:

      10 months’ worth of stickies for every month’s worth of tablets

      This is only 5x if you’re already using tablets sublingually or buccal but it’s definitely an improvement either way

      I’ve personally not tried it yet but you can read up on reddit and a lot of people swear by it (you can also up your dosage and do mono if you’re finding it hard to get ahold of androcur/anti-andros)

      but yeah I’ve also heard of a diy lab mixing e-powder into gel and injectables in France - but usually people here find LQBTQ+ friendly professional labs that are willing to test those diy mixtures for purity - I’m guessing that’s not really an option?

      again thanks so much for sharing 🫶

      • Premadekrill(She/Her)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        Thank you for sharing the link; I think it will be very useful in many situations. At the moment, I’m not familiar with the stance of professional labs in China or the relevant procedures, and I don’t seem to have come across any cases where people have sought their assistance for testing. Since I’ve noticed that more and more people are choosing to make their own gels, perhaps trying to arrange for testing is a good suggestion.