Women who undergo trans-affirming hormone therapy are likely to suffer from incontinence and constipation, a study has found.
Researchers reported that nine out of ten women who took testosterone to ‘transition’ from female to male suffered from Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (PFD), a condition which affects bowel and bladder function.
Using an online questionnaire, 68 women who had taken the sex-swap hormone were assessed for symptoms of PFD.
Health problems
Urinary symptoms, such as bed wetting, affected 87 per cent of participants in the Brazilian study.
Nearly three quarters of respondents said they suffered from bowel problems, including constipation and flatulence.
And over a half of those questioned also reported some sort of sexual dysfunction.
The study concluded that women on sex swap hormone therapy “have a high incidence of PFD (94.1%) and experience a greater occurrence of urinary symptoms (86.7%)”.
Menopausal
Commenting on the findings, pelvic health physiotherapist Elaine Miller said that incontinence “stops people from exercising, it stops them from having intimate relationships, it stops them from travelling, it has work impacts”.
Miller observed that females who developed incontinence because they are taking cross-sex hormones appear to be on “the same trajectory” as menopausal women.
She added: “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.”
Following the Cass Review’s long-awaited report, the NHS is set to review the transgender procedures it provides for both children and adults.
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