I hope you can get your health back on track, and you can continue the journey you have chosen. Good luck Misty.

Do TG on synthetic hormones have these problems at a higher rate? If it is caused by lack of testosterone wouldnt that be the case?

I honestly don't know if this has ever been studied or even considered. The incidents of macular degeneration are increasing in our society for a number of reasons, but I can find no research on elevated incidents among TGs undergoing HRT. That doesn't mean it isn't there (it could mean no one has thought to examine any possible links).

I did find research by some doctors who theorize that many cases of MD may be caused by hormonal imbalance (and in particular sex hormones). Here's one of the links discussing the possibility:

http://www.macular-degeneration.net/sex-hormones-and-macular-degeneration/

In short, the doctors believe that the drusen that form behind the macula are made up of cholesterol, and that the cholesterol is accumulating in an attempt by the macula to produce sex hormones (that the body is otherwise lacking). The drusen are believed to crowd the healthy cells which causes a thinning and "drying out" of the photo receptors. This causes the cells to die and results in permanent vision loss.

If correct, the question is why does one individual's body want to produce more testosterone while another's wants to produce estrogen. Obviously genetic males would want more T and females more E, but how does the body know which one to produce? It has to be in the genetic makeup, and if that is true then anyone purposefully trying to reverse their hormonal balance would have to trigger this response.

Still, there are lots of other possibilities and other areas to consider. There are two reasons I suspect the PM does indeed play a role (and possibly a major one). First, the presence of drusen corresponds almost precisely with my use of PM, and second another male member of this board has had similar (but more severe) complications while taking large amounts of PM (but in his case with the addition of BO).

As far as the fasciculations are concerned, I am 95% sure that PM is the primary culprit. I believe that to be so because my doctors both believe the issue is related to my endocrine system (i.e. hormones). When I stop PM for a month or so the fasciculations dramatically decrease. When I start up again they return in force within a few days. I have repeated this three times now.

Thank you for your concern! I will keep everyone up to date on what I discover. I do hope other members will at least pay attention to their own bodies and any potential warning signs that may pop up.

Misty

My dad also had a sudden onset of Macular Degeneration, but he isn't on pm or anything like it, I seriously doubt it's pm causing it.

My dad also had a sudden onset of Macular Degeneration, but he isn't on pm or anything like it, I seriously doubt it's pm causing it.

I wish I could be as sure, and then again I sort of hope the PM is causing it (because then I could probably stop any further damage). I know that the vast majority of people with MD aren't messing around with their hormones. Unfortunately that by itself doesn't rule out the PM as a major contributor.

Misty

If correct, the question is why does one individual's body want to produce more testosterone while another's wants to produce estrogen. Obviously genetic males would want more T and females more E, but how does the body know which one to produce?

Wouldn't one's gonads be the deciding factor as to how the body knows which one to produce?

I hope I'm wrong about this, but it's starting to sound like the more you find out about Macular Degeneration, the less likely you'll find a favourable outcome for both your physical health and GD.

Self medicating has gotten a lot of negative publicity and deliberate misinformation...to pursued individuals from choosing to take natural and sensible alternatives to pharmaceutical products.

There really are only a few things we need to consider when deciding to medicate with non pharmaceutical drugs:
1) what family of plants are we allergic to,
2) avoid herbs with similar properties as any medication you are taking = synergistic,
3) avoid herbs with opposite property effects of any medication you are taking = antagonistic (negates the effects; cancels out) or the more dangerous incompatible where the combination is actually harmful (synergistic in a negative way),
4) make sure the properties are safe to others sharing your bodily fluids and system = pregnancy and breast feeding.
* often times women have issues when taking certain herbs while pregnant, but this is usually due to the change in hormones and hormonal level changes and fluctuations.

Another issue is how are the herbs taken and in what dose. Most male health issues occur when males testosterone levels dropped significantly (whether naturally or aggressively influenced through a substance...it is the same for women and estrogen. It could be that there was way too much estrogen being introduced to your body, while not keeping up your testosterone levels (on the lowest normal level). This would allow a safer familiarizing phase for your body. The effects of gradual physical stimuli seem to help direct the body into manifesting what our Mind desires.

We then have the issue of stress being a heavy influential factor (not heredity/genes) as I personally do not believe "blueprints" have the potential to dictate the body's make up...it's just a guide. Which means our own stresses could heavily affect our bodies in a negative way and manifest into certain negative health issues (cancer and cardiac disease being at the top, but it can be a contributing factor to your Issues. And the PM can just be an aggravating agent and or causing inflammation somewhere causing "clots" which could effect the body's normal function.

Self medicating has gotten a lot of negative publicity and deliberate misinformation...to pursued individuals from choosing to take natural and sensible alternatives to pharmaceutical products.

There really are only a few things we need to consider when deciding to medicate with non pharmaceutical drugs:
1) what family of plants are we allergic to,
2) avoid herbs with similar properties as any medication you are taking = synergistic,
3) avoid herbs with opposite property effects of any medication you are taking = antagonistic (negates the effects; cancels out) or the more dangerous incompatible where the combination is actually harmful (synergistic in a negative way),
4) make sure the properties are safe to others sharing your bodily fluids and system = pregnancy and breast feeding.
* often times women have issues when taking certain herbs while pregnant, but this is usually due to the change in hormones and hormonal level changes and fluctuations.

Another issue is how are the herbs taken and in what dose. Most male health issues occur when males testosterone levels dropped significantly (whether naturally or aggressively influenced through a substance...it is the same for women and estrogen. It could be that there was way too much estrogen being introduced to your body, while not keeping up your testosterone levels (on the lowest normal level). This would allow a safer familiarizing phase for your body. The effects of gradual physical stimuli seem to help direct the body into manifesting what our Mind desires.

We then have the issue of stress being a heavy influential factor (not heredity/genes) as I personally do not believe "blueprints" have the potential to dictate the body's make up...it's just a guide. Which means our own stresses could heavily affect our bodies in a negative way and manifest into certain negative health issues (cancer and cardiac disease being at the top, but it can be a contributing factor to your Issues. And the PM can just be an aggravating agent and or causing inflammation somewhere causing "clots" which could effect the body's normal function.

Stress does not cause cancer (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/stress). Eating your vegetables doesn't cure cancer. Cancer is a very nasty thing, and I really run out of patience fast these days with people who promote wishful thinking as some kind of cure. Wishful thinking helps nothing and can be very harmful especially when repeatedly pushed to people who don't have the education to reject it.
Self-medicating is not intrinsically bad. Doing anything to yourself without doing your homework, and intelligently monitoring the effects of it over time is bad. Telling other to do things you saw on the interweb and some salesman said (or someone repeated without checking to find out where the suggestion originally came from) was good for you no matter what the science says is worse than bad, it is harmful to others.

Stress does not cause cancer (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/stress). Eating your vegetables doesn't cure cancer. Cancer is a very nasty thing, and I really run out of patience fast these days with people who promote wishful thinking as some kind of cure. Wishful thinking helps nothing and can be very harmful especially when repeatedly pushed to people who don't have the education to reject it.
Self-medicating is not intrinsically bad. Doing anything to yourself without doing your homework, and intelligently monitoring the effects of it over time is bad. Telling other to do things you saw on the interweb and some salesman said (or someone repeated without checking to find out where the suggestion originally came from) was good for you no matter what the science says is worse than bad, it is harmful to others.

Kind of like what you did in that last statement?

Inform yourself with the new levels of recent science and you will see that stress (negative feelings and mentalities [beliefs] condense our DNA, which is the same as worrying about cancer)...and positive attitude, feelings and mentalities expand the DNA (radiate with constructive energy). What I was mentioning has nothing to do with wishful thinking, which is the same as covering one's head and hoping the bad thing goes away...or praying.

Just because something is beyond your level of understanding or outside your own beliefs does not automatically mean it is invalid or dangerous. I have to yet to read anywhere where anyone has mentioned to ONLY self medicate as you suggest. Such extreme examples really points others in the direction of your personal beliefs and where your faith stands. That's fine, but YOU are pushing your beliefs and thoughts on others. Do as I say, not as I do?

Before you blame PM remember that correlation does not imply causation. For example, if a study found a correlation between declining sex hormones and MD, one could point to another factor...aging, which is also rather strongly correlated with MD. Would it not, by the same assumed correlation, be evident in transitioning TS, or for that matter among aging women not on estrogen replacement therapy?

The other problem, is that you're jumping to a conclusion based on an N Of one on what may well be a spurious correlation.