Question
Will my HIV treatment affect my hormones as a trans* woman?
22 August 2014. Related: Drug interactions, Transgender.
I am a transgender woman, and was recently diagnosed with HIV.
Will taking medication for HIV affect my hormone levels or the effects of feminisation?
Answer
Hi,
I’m sorry to hear about your diagnosis. How are you doing?
Learning you are HIV positive affects people in different ways but it is still usually difficult. It is often more difficult if you are doing this on your own and I wondered whether you have any support or whether you have been able to talk to anyone.
There are many HIV positive people who are also transgender – or many trangender people who also are HIV positive. Either way, you are not on your own in this, but you will want to make sure your medical care is managed by someone who understands your situation.
Some HIV meds have the potential to reduce oestrogen levels, so the choice of HIV treatment will be made carefully with an awareness of drug interactions.
Your doctor can talk about options that include adjust your oestrogen dosing or use HIV meds that have no interactions. This decision will be individualised for you depending on your HIV treatment history and available choices.
If you also want to do your own research, Liverpool University have an excellent online drug-interaction resource.
http://www.hiv-druginteractions.org
The online drug interaction charts let you first select HIV meds. You can then select potential interactions by generic name or by drug class. For example, selecting “Contraceptives/HRT” lists 12 hormones. Clicking “Finish” will produce a traffic light summary for potential interactions: red is a warning, orange a caution and green is all clear. You can also print a personal PDF report that explains each of these interactions in detail.
[Note – for a trans* man there are 15 steroids listed in that drug class].
How are you doing otherwise? Are you getting support from family or friends, or another organisation?
CliniQ is sexual health and well-being service for trans people in the UK. This is an NHS clinic that was created by and for trans people. They are a great resource if you want further support and information.
CliniQ website:
http://www.cliniq.org.uk
Just found out you are HIV positive…
https://i-base.info/just-found-out
Hello Sanem and thanks for getting in touch.
I am very sorry to read about all your troubles and how difficult things have been for you.
Living with HIV might seem like an extra problem, however, things will get better, even if you don’t think so at the moment.
Give your self somme time to adjust to the diagnosis.
We have a lot of information on this site for people living with HIV so please feel free to use it for learning more about this condition.
Start with the most important information:
1. HIV is a chronic condition nowadays and with the medication you can live a very long, active and full life
https://i-base.info/just-found-out
2. If you are on medication and have an undetectable viral load you cannot pass on HIV to your sexual partners (even if you don’t use condomms). That explains why you never caught HIV from your first boyfriend too:
https://i-base.info/guides/testing/uu-undetectable-untransmittable
You did well to start medication and all your values will slowly go back to normal range.
Please let us know if you want to discuss this more.
Hello. I’m Sanem. I’m writing from Türkiye. I’m a trans woman. I was diagnosed recently. To be honest, it didn’t feel like anything new to me. When I first left home in 2011 (yes, in Türkiye, if you’re transgender, you leave your family no matter how old you are!) I met someone and I fell in love with him or I thought I was, I don’t know… Of course, we had sex many times without protection. I was only 19 years old. Later, I learned that my prince charming wasn’t that innocent and perfect. He was receiving HIV+ treatment. I learned this from the gossips. But I loved him so much that I accepted it at that moment. I had unprotected sex with him many times in the last 5 years. (I’m completely passive by the way). Despite getting tested all the time, I didn’t get infected. It’s been 10 years since I left him, and even though I wasn’t HIV+, the gossipers spread the word that I was HIV+. So this diagnosis didn’t upset me. And now I’m diagnosed with HIV+. The date I was diagnosed was 16.04.2025. My CD4 level was 46.47%, CD3 was 82.52%. HIV RnA was positive, 5.116E+02 was positive. HIV negative in the Elisa test? The values seem normal except for PWD. I started taking Arv immediately the same day. My medications are Tivicay and Truvent. Being a transwoman in Türkiye is a complete torture. On top of that, being HIV+ and a transwoman? There is not a single point where I can get information or support. I didn’t even tell my family that I am HIV+. What can I do?
Hi Morgan, do you know the name of the anti-androgens and the ARVs you are taking?
Hi I’m a trans woman living with Hiv, I want to start taking anti-androgen next month….will it affect my health…tho I’m already on ARVs
Hi Sky,
For me to be able to help you I’m going to need to know what meds you’re taking and what medication you’ll be using when you transition.
I am transgender man living with HIV
I want to start using (Testereone)if that’s the right word.Go on T next year, will it affect my health? I am currently on treatment.but I want to remove my top and start the treatment
Please help
Thanks for the feedback – i-Base is currently producing a resource that will cover interactions between meds used by trans women and men and HIV meds. We will put this online as somme as it is available :)
This was sooooooooo helpful as a struggling person it makes the difference. Im so grateful to have found and read this keep up the fantastic informing and lets spread awareness for HIV and AIDS :)