Overloaded

[Kaylin Kumiho]

Hey... just wondering if this is a common experience. I've been on estrogen for about 6- huh... exactly 6 months today. Do any of you ever feel just, idk, overloaded with sensation? I keep running into this phenomena recently where I'm doing something and feel fine and normal, and then all of the sudden it's almost like I'm getting massively too much sensory input and I'm just completely unaware of what to do with it. Like it keeps happening with touch and smell... so like something will be cooking in the kitchen, and like I've always had a decent sense of smell, but now it will be so strong and so complex moving that I'll start crying. It's been happening with touch a lot recently too, like last night I was in bed watching stuff online and listening with my headphones, and idk, just suddenly the sheets on every exposed inch of skin was just too much.

Don't get me wrong, I feel great, it's not dysphoria, I mean usually when this happens is when I'm feeling most comfortable with myself and happy. I'm super healthy, I've been watching my diet and exercising long since before HRT, and I take no medications other than my estrodial/spiro. Basically, am I just being weird, or has anybody else felt something like this?

[helen2010]

Not so much sensory overload as 'fluffy thinking'.  It really freaks me out as I need to be in control and thinking clearly.  When it gets too much my endo encourages me to dial back the E and it removes the fluff

Aisla

[stephaniec]

to me I get a sense that I'm on some kind of sedative and my muscles feel good and relaxed. I just stare into space sometimes completely aware ,but just want to stare at nothing.

[Suziack]

to me I get a sense that I'm on some kind of sedative and my muscles feel good and relaxed. I just stare into space sometimes completely aware ,but just want to stare at nothing.

So, what exactly is "fluffy thinking?"

[mrs izzy]

Yes this is a normal reaction with HRT. Changing the receptors in the brain to that of more female.

The spiro will make you light headed at times and the estrogen will react with your smell and overall perspective around you.

Have to remember you are going from a hunters, who were traditionally men, needed an ability to observe from afar.

Women, on the other hand, had to be adept at searching the area immediately within reach for fruits, nuts, berries and edible roots.

So carry lots of tissues and it does calm down some in time.

Hugs
Isabell

[helen2010]

So, what exactly is "fluffy thinking?"

To me it felt like a loss of clarity in my thinking and decision making.  I felt less certain, more unsure and less confident and I didn't like it. When I am less pressured at work or socially this seems less important and indeed less debilitating but it really shocked me.  I have spoken with a number of folk and some, but not all, experienced something similar.  I hadn't thought that it could be a repositioning of senses to move from 'hunter' to gatherer' but this makes as much sense as any other theory I have heard.

Aisla

[Handy]

I dunno; maybe I'm in the minority, but I haven't noticed any weird side effects/impact on my thinking from HRT (apart from just being generally happier)

[Sarah Anne]

Same here Handy....I am over 1.5 years and I can't say I really noticed anything drastic. My wife tells me my behavior has changed and I might have gotten a tad more social, but I don't notice either of those. Things smell the same and I cry as much as I always did. I've read stories of people that basically feel "overloaded" from E but I can't claim to be one of them. I'm happy as all get out but that's all I notice myself.

Sarah

[Christine Eryn]

Kind of like Spiderman/Spiderwoman adjusting to new senses?