Replacement NOW Available for Testogel Sachets

Trans men in Europe who use Testogel for their cross-sex hormone therapy are facing a problem when they ask for their repeat prescription. 

Testogel in sachets is no longer being made. Instead there is a new product. Almost identical, it is now called Testogel 16.2mg/g 

The manufacturers Besins Healthcare (UK) Ltd say they informed the NHS of this change in March 2018, but my GP and pharmacist had no awareness of this. 

They told me that Testogel it was no longer available.I was instead given Testim gel, or Androgel. Both gels are  perfectly good, but like all medicines it doesn't suit some. According to my wife Testim and Androgel have an unattractive smell. 

Testogel 16.2mg/g comes in this bottle containing 88g of gel, in a box. 

If you prefer Testogel, just ask your GP to prescribe the new product. Your GP will need to use its full name Testogel 16.2mg/g to find it on the Medicines UK site. 

• Details and a leaflet or your GP  can be found here 
• The Patient Leaflet is here  

To put the gel om, you press down a pump at the top of the bottle and it deposits a small but definite amount of gel (1.25g per pump) in your hand., which you rub on your shoulders as usual. 

The dose is presented slightly differently, so the table below should help you work out how many pumps per day will give you the same dose as you used to have with testogel sachets. 

(Old) Testogel  (30 x 5g sachets in box)		Replace with	Testogel 16.2mg/g (88g bottle contains 70 pumps)
1 sachet = 5g gel	50mg Testosterone (T)		1 pump of top = 1.25g gel	20 mg testosterone (T)
Comparing former dose with NEW dose
Monthly prescription	Provides		Monthly prescription	Provides
30 sach. x 5g gel	1500mg of T	=	1 bottle= 88g gel	1425mg of T
60 sach. x 5g gel	3000mg of T	=	2 bottles= 176g gel	2850mg  of T
Daily Dose	Provides		Daily Dose	Provides
1 sachet = 5g gel	50mg of T	=	2 pumps= 2.5g gel	40mg  of T
2 sachets=10g gel	100mg of T	=	5 pumps= 12.5g gel	100mg of T

Further advice for Patients is available here  

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The WHO removes Trans identities from the ICD 11 Mental Health Disorders section

July 18, 2018: In what is a historic announcement for activists, the World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the rights of trans people[1] to have their gender identities without prejudice, persecution or stigma. 

A new online version of the International Classification of Diseases version 11 (ICD11) has removed gender identity related diagnoses from the chapter on mental health disorders. Instead, the WHO has created a new set of trans-related diagnostic categories for adults, young people and children. These have been placed alongside physical illnesses, disorders and syndromes in the chapter “Conditions related to sexual health”.[2] 

Patients will now receive the diagnosis of ‘Gender Incongruence’, which has three subsections:

·        HA60 Gender incongruence of adolescence or adulthood

·        HA61 Gender incongruence of childhood 

·        HA6Z Gender incongruence, unspecified 

Effectively ICD11 acknowledges the reality of the experiences of people with trans- gender identities and gender incongruence, and that these are normal human variations. With ICD11, the WHO is signposting a requirement for trans health care to be provided without the added stigma of a mental health diagnosis.

Activists from the global trans community have been demanding these changes for well over twenty years. The medical psychopathologizing of gender incongruence, often based on nothing more than moral and religious indignation, allowed the systematic, institutional and personal abuse of trans people. Research has demonstrated a global, universal experience by trans people of transphobic prejudice, discrimination, harassment, violence, and criminalisation of trans people’s core identities.

The announcement and publication of ICD11 should signal the end for any vestiges of historical, abusive transgender ‘mental health’ practices such as aversion therapy, compulsory sterilisation and enforced hospitalisation.

Julia Ehrt, Executive Director of Transgender Europe, on hearing the announcement said

 “This is the result of tremendous effort by trans and gender diverse activists from around the world to insist on our humanity, and I am elated that the WHO agrees that gender identity is not a mental illness.”[3]

Trans people in North America[4] will continue to experience the stigma associated with a mental health diagnosis. In the rest of the world, though, these new diagnostic codes should mean significant, positive changes for all trans people pursuing any health care, including gender-affirming and reassignment treatments.

Details of the WHO ICD11 categorisation of Gender Incongruence can be found here  

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[1] Trans refers to those people who experience their gender identity as different from that assigned at birth.

[2] World Health Organisation (2018) 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics, Chapter 17 Conditions related to sexual health: Gender Incongruence (Foundation Id : http://id.who.int/icd/entity/411470068) at https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http%3a%2f%2fid.who.int%2ficd%2fentity%2f411470068 , acc. 19/06/2018

[3] Transgender Europe (2018) World Health Organisation moves to end classifying trans identities as mental illness, 18 June, at https://tgeu.org/world-health-organisation-moves-to-end-classifying-trans-identities-as-mental-illness/ acc. 19 June 2018

[4] American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) (DSM-5). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing is used, primarily, to code mental health conditions in North America. DSM-5 replaced the previous categories contained under Gender Identity Disorder, to an overarching diagnosis of gender status of a mental health condition