Trans-identifying women — biological women who identify as men — are suffering menopausal symptoms after taking testosterone, a new study shows.
Symptoms like incontinence, sexual disfunction, and even bed-wetting were found among women in their 20s who tried to medically transition with cross-sex hormones, according to a study published last month in the International Urogynecology Journal and led by researchers at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil.
The researchers looked at 68 trans-identifying women who were taking testosterone. The women were as young as 18, but had an average age of 28.
The study found that more than 94% of the trans-identifying women experienced some type of pelvic floor disfunction.
About 87% experienced urinary symptoms such as incontinence, frequent bathroom visits, including during the night, and bed-wetting.
Women taking testosterone were about three times more likely to suffer from urinary incontinence or urine accidentally leaking than women not on the drug — about 25% of trans-identifying women had this symptom compared to 8% of other women, the study found.
About 74% of the women had bowel issues such as constipation or being unable to hold in stool or flatulence.
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Other symptoms included burning sensations and difficulty urinating and defecating.
Meanwhile, more than half of the women, 53%, also experienced sexual disfunction, including nearly half who had an “orgasm disorder” and a quarter who suffered from painful sexual intercourse.
Elaine Miller, a pelvic health physiotherapist who has worked with around 20 detransitioners, noted that bladder issues are embarrassing and have a profound impact on the lives of these young people.
“A lot of women are absolutely fine until the menopause and then they start to get leaky. That appears to be exactly the same trajectory for female people who take cross-sex hormones, but there hasn’t been much in the way of research,” Miller told The Telegraph.
“Wetting yourself is something that just is not socially acceptable, and it stops people from exercising, it stops them from having intimate relationships, it stops them from traveling, it has work impacts,” she said. “The impact a bit of leaking has on these young people’s lives is huge. It really needs to be properly discussed within gender clinics because I would expect that almost 100 per cent of female people that take cross-sex hormones will end up with these problems.”
Miller added that some women say they were never informed of these risks by their gender clinic.
“It’s really sad when we hear people say, ‘nobody ever told me this,’ and they should have been informed of the risks in gender clinics,” she told the outlet.