https://estrolabs.com/products/i-cant-believe-its-not-estrogen?campaign=twitter

This website is selling a product they call "I can't believe it's not estrogen" and the marketing is clearly such that it is targeted at transgender women who do not have access to hormone therapy. There are testimonials claiming how well it works and all kinds of other nonsense.

Ashwagandha as a natural root / drug raises your normal levels of LH. Luteinizing hormone acts on whatever gonads you have to increase their output.

As a result, a pre-HRT transgender woman taking the supplement would literally produce more testosterone on it than they would normally produce, inducing the literal opposite effects of what is advertised.

This has been sent to me now by both a friend and a patient asking if it was a good idea for them to take to help with their transition. It is not, not only is it terrible for an MTF that's pre-HRT, it's just a flat-out evil and cruel thing to do.

Normally I don't make warnings on stuff like this but this is trending on Twitter right now and I want to make sure that nobody that comes here is ever fooled by some nonsense like this. Please be very careful when it comes to taking supplements that can alter your hormones.

This post they have made, it's been viewed over a million times. I shudder to think how many people who don't have access to gender affirming therapy or who have lost it in states like Florida will be fooled by this and end up making their situation even worse so that someone else can profit off of their suffering.

Supplements that claim that they will boost your estrogen often do the exact inverse effect if you are an MTF because the way that they function is to increase the output of gonads. So for cisgender women, yes, that is exactly what it will do. But if you have testicles, it's just going to make you make more testosterone.

Link to their Twitter post: https://twitter.com/thequeerquirk/status/1666146391717040128?s=46&t=6GOoRDiyu2WkoONRg7mhVQ

Edit: finally Twitter is starting to show some evidence that this would do the exact opposite of what it's claiming to do.