Effects of Hormones on the Body and Mind

[Anonymous]

Here’s some observations from a close friend who’s known you through this change, and prior to it:

1. You’ve never tried it on me so I consider you never had a sex drive.
2. You’ve been shedding the kg’s for ages, but as I don’t monitory your scales I’ll have to just agree that hormones are agreeing with you.
3. your genitals never offended me as you’ve always had them tucked away, but I understand in all seriousness that some girls are repulsed by them and some want to keep them.
4. I’m totally with you on having your own boobs, it’s feels so superficial when I think about it but the thought of it really makes me feel like a complete woman.
5. You’re still Sue to me, you were always a girl.
6. Finally you admit it
7. You’re being yourself so the the real you can talk about real things with no inhibitions.
8. I think you’re getting taller but I just might be getting shorter.

[Anonymous]

Hi . 1. My hair has grown back .
2. Boobs have grown and are very noticeable .
3.My family and friends have commented that I seem totally at peace with myself . Ive always been a tourtured soul !!
4. My body has changed dramatically .face, hips, and muscel loss
5 . Weight loss
6. Acceptance from everyone that I’m female . community ,work, play .
7. Learnt how too cry !! This was a real biggy for me !!
8 .Not having too pretend Imm a male ,being able too express my thoughts without fear ! Feeling comfortable in mixed company .
9 . My oldeste Son gave me a big hug and said he loved me !! He has never done this in his 23 yrs !
Cheers Ella-Kristine

[Anonymous]

All of the above but without taking a single hormone. I think it is because I am getting older and more sure about who I am.
Hopefully we can get to this state by working on who we are and being honest with ourselves and others as well as by hormones if that is your need.

[Adrian]

Quote:

I think it is because I am getting older and more sure about who I am.

Totally agree.

Whilst the male-ness in us focuses on the physical (chopping bits off and making things grow) – the real changes of who we are and how we feel don’t exclusively need HRT.
They need an inner confidence and acceptance of who you are.
Whilst HRT can help achieve these mental changes – it can also bring its own set of mental issues.

So this is one of the few times when I can honestly say there are advantages in getting old – naturally falling testosterone levels and increased self confidence can I believe get one a long way.

[Anonymous]

Hi , One thing I forgot too mention and I was very skeptical of at the start of HRT . It seems too be the fountain of youth , Knocks at leaste 10 years off your biological clock .
Cheers Ella -Kristine

[Anonymous]

Well it’s around the first anniversary of my commencing HRT. I started on it to see if it would change me very much in any way. If it had changed me a lot mentally I might have reconsidered who or what I was. I figured if I am really a woman, or at least more female than an XY person should be then HRT should really only affect me greatly in a physical sense, and that’s pretty much what has happened. I have small but quite apparent boobs, I’ve lost weight and musculature and I desire women. I have more confidence too, but this is moslty because my ex chose to blab to the office gossip. Thanks to her I no longer have to fear meeting anyone from work while out dressed. If there is a mental change, it’s a greater desire to be me all the time. I haven’t transitioned at work but it frustrates me at times-but every day I add a little more and a lot has happened that I would once have thought would happen only after I had transitioned. Is that the effect of HRT or just the passage of time?

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all for the input, I love to hear your side. It confirms that I am sliding inexorably toward the feminine, and enjoying it all the way.

[Anonymous]

Emotions now appear to be linked to those of others tears of others bring tears to me , sad programs get a physical emotional responce, waist goes in boobs go out things get heavier lol and i notice the loss of muscle tone brings more fluid movement.
Change to sex drive, now must be encouraged or it aint gona happen and the buttons on the front are suddenly like triggers for it .
A strange feeling of internal satisfaction and well being i decided to pause for a few weeks and was almost in tears at the first time i missed the pills hmm . well thats me !

[Anonymous]

1. sex drive is still there though lower and different. Kids, study etc. are suspected as equally to blame! The physical feelings are different also – perhaps better but it also feels like I have to learn how to use the equipment.
2. Weight loss, but only due to lots of km’s on the bikes. Not off my hips though!
3. Feel pretty much the same about my genitals as I did prior to starting HRT.
4. chest – letting the hormones take their course for now.
5. I am the same person just on the right path.
6. I am more in love with my wife and she with me, than ever before but that is incidental to HRT. We don’t do as much but that’s due to kids, study, work…
7. Most of my friends know and are accepting. I find it hard to bring up in conversation though (I am not yet full time though for all practical purposes, I may as well be)
8. Other effects that I have yet to quantify. Me too!

[Lisa_W]

I have been on HRT for 2 years now. Going on HRT was the best decision I have ever made.

The changes that I have noticed can be broadly categorized into the physical & mental.

The physical is easy; breast growth, changed perspiration, altered body odour, thinner skin, drier skin, much smaller genitals, some head hair regrowth but decreased body hair. Unfortunately I have an increased appetite & therefore weight gain. I am really struggling to develop a female hourglass figure.

The mental changes are harder to quantify. I sort of agree with earlier posts. Maturing; with naturally decreasing T level; gives you the self confidence to explore your feminine side but I believe that we need HRT to develop that further.

The mental changes that I have noticed are emotional lability, less aggression & competitiveness , a readiness to accept other points of view & accept other people as they are. Sometimes I find myself saying – where did that thought come from? When I think about it it is obviously a female interpretation of a set of facts. Libido is zero & I am very happy about that. I am not repulsed by my genitals but they are certainly excess to requirements & I wish for their removal. Finally & I must admit annoyingly, a loss of spatial orientation.

All these mental changes did not happen overnight, but only after 18-24 months of HRT.

If you notice – there is a number of similarities with the above posts but each of us respond to HRT in our own unique manner, so each of us has our own journey & story to tell.

This has become rather rambling but gives an idea of my journey on HRT.

Lisa

[Anonymous]

Hi all
for me around 3mths in things I have noticed are.
Mental-calm feeling of peace and seem to deal with my GID a whole lot better, like a huge weight is off my shoulders. Usual loss of sex drive although it’s still possible. Increased ability to express emotions though im not a babbling mess, I have an increased sensitivity to sad and happy encounters. Sexual orientation same as before starting hrt .Also more inclined to spend more time on presentation and beauty routines.
Phisical-Still early days ,and taking into account I had a good go at herbal hrt products for twelve months previous .Sore nipples, and what I would consider rapid growth of breasts size and shape I hope this is a indication of things to come down the track fat redistribution seems to be concentrating on my butt and thighs, big change there forget any male jeans I had left in my wardrobe ! Strength same I think ,skin softer ,pores smaller though a lot of this can be contributed to an intensive skin care regime. You don’t seen to notice yourself but I am getting lots of remarks from people on how good I look, eg have you lost weight? wow your skin looks good, no just changing into a girl lol ,so maybe. .Hair I don’t know maybe slightly better texture no more dandruff issues no reduction in body hair as yet but it is regrowing slower. Genitals way smaller , and overall my body is kinda softer more rounded you might say.
Scylla xxx

[Elizabeth]

Lovely observations from members on HRT. There are common threads but like everything else being human, HRT would have differing levels of effects on different individuals.
Due to awful health reasons I’ve never partaken HRT. However, being a crabby, wrinkled old bugger I have noticed certain effects of the ageing process in respect of hormones. For a start the testosterone levels have diminished quite dramatically causing natural bodily alterations. Firstly the machinary doesn’t work as well, who cares? Have noticed increase in boob size, hormone effects or pectoral droopiness? I suspect the latter. Weight gain, probably eat too much, especially the wrong foods. Placidness, nah! I have noticed an increase in crankiness alongside a cranky face set in concrete. Loss of muscle tone? never had much anyway. Hair? well I’ve always had hair, and very little greying, now a nice ‘Bob’ length and styled. Do I feel more feminine? now that’s a difficult question; I honestly don’t know, I most certainly feel more comfortable in my own skin, and far more comfortable as myself irrispective of the consequences, and I don’t mind mixing with the general public as Liz. If they, the general public don’t like it, well then they have a problem. As has been said many time previously, it’s not so much the HRT that counts, it’s the self acceptance that’s the most important hormone.

[Anonymous]

Thats a great outlook Liz, I truly wish I could be content with who I am, and whilst I really don’t care what other people think of me, unless it’s somebody I truly love and or respect it’s just not that simple for me. As a guy I had pretty much taken myself to the “social limits” as far as long hair plucked brows acrylic nails girls jeans ect but no amount of dressing on any level or therapy was going to help, it is something far deeper it’s hard to explain. Needless to say it was driving me crazy mentally and physically. Like you said we are all different! it’s all very well and good the physical changes ,but by far the best part for me is my mental state for the first time in my life I have relief and clarity ,I feel like me ! how hormones have achieved this for me I don’t have the answers, and to be quite honest whatever decisions I make in the future whether it be srs or going full time whatever I can now make said decisions with a clear mind ! I am happy.
Scylla xxx

[Carol]

6mths in on anti-androgen and 5mths in on estrogen, I’ve noticed dramatic reduction in body hair, noticeable boob growth but not enough to throw away the forms yet, boob soreness, very slight reduction in diameter of bald spot, some weight loss but I’m dieting too, fat redistribution onto hips and bum but not enough to make me throw away the boy jeans, slight reduction in waist but it’s still to big. Massive increase in propensity to burst into tears at sad stories on tele and a shorter fuse in terms of other people’s stupidity.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Depends on the hormones wether they are synthic or maybe organic i wont get into that one could be a can of worms,

And then theres another though i dont hear much about this and it would depend on how well you know youir own body and if you know how to moniter your self so there could be details that may not be factual.

one of the details to me has been when talking with others and because of things going on in the persons life they appear to me to be very unsure of what they are thinking clearly in other words disphora or an unstable mind .so this has and does effect what the person really understands about them selfs for a time wether before or after they take added hormones of what ever type or dose rate,

And its most times others who know whats going on and thier comments are more reliable

any way ,

My self my own hormones went into changes about 20 years ago. in prep for liveing as a woman or growing as one, because my body is intersexed this can happen for some of us,

There was no change with in my mind as in changeing from male to female as i hear about from others because of being female as part of my makeup from long before birth, even my body in many aspects was well placed as a female so not much in the way of changes there, weight height and so on and shape, of cause i lacked my womb as you know some of are born with others are not,

even added synthic hormones did not do much for me as i expected, in combination with my own there were a few nice one’s that took place,

as a person with all combined with in my body it really was a matter of growing as a normal woman that happed any way with or with out added synthic hormones. some say they had to learn to be like a woman all that happened for myself was ill be blunt here, growup and became and express who i have allways been, not change into something different than what i was before,
The added hormones are really only to maintain my body against health issues later in life,

some changes , have been able to express myself as a person .and as a woman confidence in myself have selfworth and be able to love myself as a female / woman. in the way i should have been able to years before, due to my background and detail this was not possiable,

Many of the changes that needed to take place had to come from with in not from external what ever , had that been the case i would say you could have writen out or off my life,

over all im happy confident contented very able and involved with many others in what i do. so all in all a neat life and one thats worth living,

…noeleena…