Hello again Serunser,
Yes you are quite right. Self medicating is very dangerous and we do not encourage people to do that around here. You should at least find an endocrinologist who can monitor you and make sure your liver and heart stay in good working order. Also for best results it is vitally important that you have a doctor monitoring your levels of estrogen vs. testosterone and such. There are many links on Susan's home page and if you use these as your starting point you should be able to find doctors in Mexico who can help you.
As to the effectiveness of HRT on someone in their 40's. By your mid 20's your body has already set a lot of male traits by your 30's they are practically written in stone. HRT effectiveness diminishes as you get into adulthood but oddly increases when you get into your 50's. This is not to say that you will not get satisfactory results just that you will probably need more than just HRT.
General affefcts are. Breast development usually in the range of GG's in your family. Softer skin, softer body hair, loss of muscle mass. Bones are set in stone, there will be no changes there however the redistribution of body fat which occurs during HRT will help shape you towards a more feminine figure. Diet and exercise can help in these areas as well.
Usually after 2 years HRT will have done about as much as it's going to do, however everybody is different and as some here like to say, your mileage may vary. Besides HRT there is electrolysis to get rid of facial hair. Some doctors advise against body hair removal until after you've been on HRT for awhile as some will stop growing, so it's more of a wait and see, unless of course you are really hairy in which case you might not want to wait on that. Voice training or voice therapy, learning feminine movement. Some of us may have started out with female mannerisms but life usually beats that out of us, sometimes literally.
For facial strucutre there is FFS (Facial Feminization Surgery) and of course last but by no means least SRS. Many of us began transition late in life. This is more the norm than the exception, for any number of reasons. It just takes some of us a long time to come to grips with our true selfs. Thing about true selfs is they will not be denied and sooner or later we all have to come to grips with it. As I like to say no matter where you go there you are.
So there's the layout in a nutshell and there is plenty more but I think I've given you enough to ponder for now. Check out some of the links and also you might want to check into therapists who specialise in TG issues. You will need letters from these for the doctors at various points in transition and it's also nice to have a human being in front of you whom you can confide in. It helps.
Godd Journey,
Cassie
