If the medications aren't making you feel better, I would stop taking them because they aren't doing anything for you and they come with a chance of negative side effects even if low chance.

To be honest, I feel like what the trans community says about most of us passing is false. I think most of us don't pass. Look at /r/transpassing and /r/transtimeline. There is so much hugboxing. Yes, some pass, but most don't even years on hormones and after facial feminization surgery. Look at the gallery on The Facial Team in Spain, and in my opinion, most of them do not look like women to me. I think passing facially is unlikely even with surgery. Adding in height, bone thickness, body shape, voice, mannerism, I don't understand why we pretend that most of us eventually pass.

It is unlikely you'll get hips if you transition in your mid twenties or later because the hip bones growth plates stop by then. Fat redistribution can help, but it is usually minimal. For me, the fat redistribution made my hips slightly wider and ny upper body slightly smaller, and I got a little bit more define waist, so it does look more feminine but I am an inverted triangle shaoe still after >3 years on hormones and 11 months post genital surgery. I started hormones at age 26 too late for hip bone widening.

For me, the medications do make me feel better. I like ny body more. I still take feminizing hormones, but I do not present myself to the world as a woman. For me, the medications still help. If they don't help for you, stop. They come with negative side effects that could be deadly like blood clots. If they aren't helping in any way, why chance it even if the chances are low?

I am not a detransitioner; I am transfemale (male to female). From what I've seen, people who detransition generally do not regret transition in the first place. It was an experience they needed, they knew they would regret it if they didn't try it, and it seems the majority do not detransition. I always knew that I was somewhere on the LGBT spectrum, that something was wrong or different from me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. When I finally learned what being transgender was, I immediately thought that's what it was, but I did have a hint of doubt. I read online of so many people who questioned and questioned, waiting to be 100%, and regretted not starting sooner for a smoother transition. Transition is slow. It is not what it is made out to be where you get a single pill or shot and you instantly turn into a boy/girl. We are talking months to years. Surgery is usually a late part of the process, and many do not get any surgery at all either due to choice (people are happy with their parts) or price (it can be expensive). Anyways, transition is generally a good litmus test, and after 3-4 months on hormones, I felt awake, calm, and became 100% sure I was trans then. As a transfemale, I hadn't even come out or presented. For transmen, there are concerns with hair and voice, but for many, this is not immediate, but months to years like I said. Very few instantly get a beard and deep voice immediately, but it is a possible risk you will have to understand. If you decide that transition is not for you afterall, there is laser/electrolysis to remove hair, and your voice can be trained similarly to any transgirl (we can get high pitch, sing, scream, etc), so you will not be completely hopeless if you want to "go back". I think that the odds you will be happy to try transition no matter which direction you end up going, but it seems most commit and are happy to continue transition. You generally just have a vibe.... like an inner voice... that just knows.

Being trans (or not) is about being trye to yourself. If you aren't trans, why live a lie? And coming out as trans, potentially starting hormones or having surgery (and informed that these things can be difficult or impossible to reverse), doesn't mean all of these things were failures. Sometimes people just need to do these things to find themselves, so I would look at it as a success. You can thank people for supporting you, but you've found that it isn't really you, and you can take step backs in whatever ways you want eg keeping your new name, going back to old one, using both (eg like use one or the other as a nickname).

Good luck!

It actually increases it. It is a 5 alpha reductase enzyme inhibitor, Finasteride (Propecia or Proscar) or Dutasteride (Avodart). The enzyme converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). If you block the enzyme, it converts less testosterone leaving more behind. The biggest issue with these medications is that 5 alpha reductase doesn't just convert testosterone to DHT, but it converts other stuff that is important for your nervous system. It is associated with depression, memory fog, and ataxia. The risks are low, especially at low doses, but low risk does not mean no risk.

Honestly, suddenly stopping wouldn't be the worst thing ever. It would just give you menopausal-like or PMS-like symptons that would resolve after a couple of weeks. Before surgery, many people usually go cold turkey a week or longer without any major issue. Gradually reducing your dose is just to attempt avoiding these uncomfortable symptoms. Like someone else mentioned, developing a plan with your healthcare provider is best. Nobody can give you an estimate on your levels; Labs are needed for that and it is definitely different for everyone pre HRT, on HRT, or while detransitioning.

It's honestly complicated. Even at stereotypical female levels, without additional testosterone, DHT can cause female pattern baldness or thinning of the hair.

The hormonal process of testosterone converting to DHT, which then harms hair follicles, happens in both men and women. Under normal conditions, women have a minute fraction of the level of testosterone that men have, but even a lower level can cause DHT- triggered hair loss in women. And certainly when those levels rise, DHT is even more of a problem. Those levels can rise and still be within what doctors consider "normal" on a blood test, even though they are high enough to cause a problem. The levels may not rise at all and still be a problem if you have the kind of body chemistry that is overly sensitive to even its regular levels of chemicals, including hormones.

https://www.americanhairloss.org/women_hair_loss/causes_of_hair_loss.html

I was trying to look at some studies to see if cutting your testosterone would literally cut your DHT by 50%, but I couldn't find anything. Even if it did, 1 mg of Finasteride would block 71% conversion to DHT (note: the study was, of course, done on men), so it still seems more effective.

Drake et al (1999) reported on the biochemical efficacy of finasteride in men with androgenetic alopecia (AGA), demonstrating that median scalp dihydrotestosteroneDHT levels were decreased by 64% and 69% after 42 days of treatment at doses of 1 mg and 5 mg, respectively, compared to a 13% decrease with placebo. Median serum DHT levels decreased 71% and 72%, respectively, compared to a 1% increase with placebo. This study also demonstrated that at doses as low as 0.05 mg daily, finasteride significantly decreased scalp DHT, although only doses ≥0.2 mg were near-maximally effective in decreasing both scalp and serum DHT.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X15529357

What's awful is that I think a lot of the positive changes that people get from testosterone cypionate is really from the DHT rather than the testosterone by itself. Again, if a non transgender man takes Finasteride, he'll start to experience some feminization like fairer skin, less oily skin, decreased libido, gynecomastia, decreased body hair, and his facial hair growth might slow down or become lighter. For a female to male, they might even get their period back. In my opinion, that makes the whole thing messier. It's kind of like you either have to embrace the baldness or be willing to accept less masculinazation. Hormones are a really difficult thing to play around with.