Mental Changes After Starting HRT

[Anna_81]

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of seeing a gender therapist in the hopes to start HRT.
I am pretty sure this is going to be the right path for me, although like a lot of people I still have a few doubts.

So, my question to those of you that are currently on HRT, is did these doubts lessen after you began HRT? and from a mental point of view, how did you feel? I know HRT is'nt magic, but I guess what I'm hoping for is to see some positive mental effects after a couple of months, just to prove to myself that yes, I did infact make the right decision. Hope this all makes sense...

[suzifrommd]

Hi all,

So, my question to those of you that are currently on HRT, is did these doubts lessen after you began HRT? and from a mental point of view, how did you feel?

I held off HRT until I had tamed the doubts. I still have doubts since I'm not full time, and who knows what that would bring, but I am as certain as I can be short of that.

HRT has NOT changed the way I feel, except insofar as wanting my breasts to grow and being excited about the growth I have is an indication that I'm going in the right direction.

I have not noticed the emotional effects of HRT that so many of the women here talk about. OTOH I haven't started anti-androgens yet, so maybe some will come after that.

[Maegan]

Yes! I become emotionally calmer after starting HRT. I knew that it was right thing after only a very short time on HRT. I feel more at ease and generally happier. My happy meter skyrocketed after my orchi 2 months ago. Now that tells me I've chosen the right path.

Hope it helps.

Huggs

[Jane's Sweet Refrain]

Hi, Paula,

How wonderful that you're seeing a therapist and coming to a better understanding of yourself. I hope I don't sound like I'm splitting hairs if I say that "doubts" is so broad that it can encompass anything from the healthy caution we should have before embarking on any physical and social change this dramatic to the serious reservations that probably mean that transition and hrt are not the best way to go at this time. You probably, too, have tried to distinguish between fears over what will happen from doubts about whether you truly want to spend your life as a women. Although fear and doubt might be similar, the distinction helped me discern what I truly wished to do

Still, when I started hrt seven months ago, I could not be %100 sure that I would respond physically and emotionally to it. I sincerely thought, given a lifetime of cross-sexual desire, that I would, but reality does not in every case match fantasy. Within a few days, I was feeling calm and sure of this route, and have not wavered since. Mentally, I am more authentic. Even though I haven't fully transitioned, my sense of physical and emotional being in the presence of other people is entirely female. It's wonderful to feel a part of this world. I denied it to myself until 43.

Best wishes to you.

Jane

[Ms. OBrien CVT]

Your brain on T ...


Your brain on estrogen ...


Once I made the choice to transition, I had no doubts it was right.

[Rita]

Yes! I become emotionally calmer after starting HRT. I knew that it was right thing after only a very short time on HRT. I feel more at ease and generally happier. My happy meter skyrocketed after my orchi 2 months ago. Now that tells me I've chosen the right path.

Hope it helps.

Huggs

I became calmer to, Its like my mind had been conflicting with my hormone levels from puberty. Just this ease and feeling of being complete on the inside.  It was about a week after I started hormones where it started to really start sticking to me and thats the same time I started to feel different yet the same but a good kind of different which made me smile as well.

Beyond the euphoria of taking hormones the first night of OMG FINALLY which is all mental, the long term effects of hormones are real on the psyche. 

Some people don't notice it but its definitely there for all of us.

On top of crying like a baby a times, smiling like an idiot, and a day without blushing is a day wasted

Only caveat is, the more feminine my body becomes the more I desire SRS and to finally be rid of anything that could identify me as my phyiscal born gender.  I became more sensitive about it, sometimes depressed.  Prior to hormones it wasnt really on my mind but now its my today.

[Anna_81]

Thank you everyone for your replies, I enjoyed reading them and appreciate you all taking the time to reply.
I had my first thereapy session a couple of days ago, which went okay I guess, although she did'nt really seem to give me any
concrete answers to what I was asking, although obviousy it's going to take a few more visits before she gets to know me a bit better.
However, she did say that she saw a much bigger and happier personality inside me that she wants me to try and bring out. Is this personality a male or female one?? I'm not sure and she did'nt say either, but I would like to think it is a more feminine one

Anyway, will keep you all posted on further visits, it's gonna be an interesting ride of self discovery

[Tristan]

yeah. me and two trans people i know all started around the same time. just a little moody. that was all

[Shantel]

Everyone has mentioned the euphoria and it is true, a sense of wellbeing and calmness comes over you. But feminizing HRT for me was like heroin for an addict, it is and has been something that I can liken to a snowball going down hill, once you start it gets bigger and gains momentum until you can't stop it. When my meds get low and begin to run out it makes me anxious. I went off estrogen for two years after being on it for fourteen years, I regressed back to my old self and turned into a real bastard. Once I was back on them it was like a gallon of cold water after having been in a desert for two years. I'm told by cis women that I seem to be able to think with both sides of my brain now, it's a veiled complement I'm sure.