Stating HRT at 23. Expectations?

[Nevara]

Hey all! New to the forums, so first hi! 

So I have my doctors appointment to start hormones tomorrow (thank you Callen-Lorde!!) and for some reason I just can't get the worry out of my head that it won't do anything.

I'm 23 and a few months, so am I over the hill hormonally? I've seen so many girls begin transitioning at 21-22, so I don't know I'm just worried that the year or two I've waited between therapy, coming out and actually beginning hormones has kinda screwed me over. Should my expectations be pretty low at this point?

[michelle666]

I'm 44 and started a year so ago and have had really good results. It depends on you and how you personally react to them.

[Nevara]

I suppose the YMMV mantra goes a long way, but that's kinda what freaks me out so much. What I would give to just see what I would look like a year from now!

I'm pretty healthy, 5'10 and 150lbs. Never had much body hair (besides leg hair  ) - I'm barely getting a few chest hairs now and my facial hair could be considered patchy at best and if my hair wasn't so dark and my skin so pale I could probably go about 3 days between shaves before it's really got visible. My daily exercise is distance running mostly so my body is as skinny & lean as a healthy male body gets, but I'm pretty much a twig - no shape. Even with all that I still see my body as undeniably male, especially my face.

Some people's transformations - even at my age - are so crazy good I still have a hard time believing it's possible and I still can't picture my body changing even a quarter as much.

Besides that part of me is still kicking myself for not having the courage to start this 2 or 3 years ago when my dysphoria started hitting hard. I'm kind of worried how much damage was done in the last 2 years hormone-wise.

[LordKAT]

So many of us wish we could have started younger, even at your age compared to where we are now. You should have no worries on the age part.

[Kaylin Kumiho]

I'd say you are fine if you start around now. I was around the exact same as you when I started (23, 5' 7", 145 lbs, regular exercise and decent diet). I'm coming along fairly nicely, I'm about 7-8 months in and starting to pass... I don't think I'll really need any FFS, just laser for hair removal and some practice conditioning my voice.

I mean, your mileage may very, but I don't particularly think starting at 21 or 22 is really that far off from starting at 23.

[Emily1996]

How long is the Callen Lorde process? Just curious lol, and not really 23 is relatively still young but you had your first puberty already so those irreversible changes can only be reversed with surgery usually. I mean even at 21-22 you're stil pretty done with the major puberty changes... So yeah, but genetics it's a big factor, and if you are lucky you might not need any surgery at all. There is no shame in getting cosmetic surgeries though. Don't get depressed if you don't see many changes right away. It takes time, and as I said 23 it's really early. Some women can't start after their 30s. So you're pretty lucky =)

[Blue Senpai]

How long is the Callen Lorde process? Just curious lol, and not really 23 is relatively still young but you had your first puberty already so those irreversible changes can only be reversed with surgery usually. I mean even at 21-22 you're stil pretty done with the major puberty changes... So yeah, but genetics it's a big factor, and if you are lucky you might not need any surgery at all. There is no shame in getting cosmetic surgeries though. Don't get depressed if you don't see many changes right away. It takes time, and as I said 23 it's really early. Some women can't start after their 30s. So you're pretty lucky =)

Can be quick if there's availability and you're over 21 years old (because you don't have to do the HOTT program, which can take 3 months) but I looked for transitioning in the summer so I can only get to see the doctor and get my T prescription October 8th the earliest.

[Nevara]

How long is the Callen Lorde process? Just curious lol, and not really 23 is relatively still young but you had your first puberty already so those irreversible changes can only be reversed with surgery usually. I mean even at 21-22 you're stil pretty done with the major puberty changes... So yeah, but genetics it's a big factor, and if you are lucky you might not need any surgery at all. There is no shame in getting cosmetic surgeries though. Don't get depressed if you don't see many changes right away. It takes time, and as I said 23 it's really early. Some women can't start after their 30s. So you're pretty lucky =)

Thanks for the reassurance! Well I'm officially on HRT now so I'll see how it goes along.

As for the process, the longest part is pretty much waiting for appointments. The wait list at Callen Lorde is pretty long. It took me 2 months to get my initial doctors appointment were I told my doc I wanted to begin HRT and another month for the follow up to start 'em. Had a nurse appointment in between to get explained all the risks and effects and so on.

[Brenda E]

Awesome news, Nevara.  Can't wait to hear how you're progressing.

[galaxy]

I think 25 is the limit for HRT for good results. Everything after that is a lottery of luck and expectations should be very low, better to have no one. That is my experience. I'm started with 35 and this all is a agony. Bodyhair is getting a bit thinner now after 20 month ... look in the internet, they say after 3 month.

[Sammy]

I think 25 is the limit for HRT for good results. Everything after that is a lottery of luck and expectations should be very low, better to have no one. That is my experience. I'm started with 35 and this all is a agony. Bodyhair is getting a bit thinner now after 20 month ... look in the internet, they say after 3 month.

We have seen Your pics and it's not true! Believe it or not...

[galaxy]

My luck was to look not very masculine before. Its not the result of the HRT. My testo-levels were very low before HRT ... believe it or not. 
After nearly two years ive NO breast-development (growth was 2-3cm) and no other fat distribution ...

[Sammy]

My luck was to look not very masculine before. Its not the result of the HRT. My testo-levels were very low before HRT ... believe it or not. 
After nearly two years ive NO breast-development (growth was 2-3cm) and no other fat distribution ...

Well, I can say that I got a sort of next growth spurt after 16 months (A cup is filling in) and some stuff is apparently going on in the "fat distribution" department as well. It started to happen when E dosage was raised a little bit.

[galaxy]

20 month here, tried nearly everyting whats possible

[Lostkitten]

Not sure if it is age related so much really.. too many sound so negative about certain ages and of course it would have been best if you started when you were still a child. But in the Netherlands there is a trans girl who took hormones when I believe she was 15 or so and she still gotten 6.2 ft tall. She is gorgeous by the way, that aside. But genetics do a lot too.

Some start with hormones on their 40 and look great after. Some start when they are 22 and the hormones just don't do much.

It isn't as if your body, when it turns 24+ suddenly starts operating like it used to. Age is really just a number o.o.

[Brenda E]

I'm pretty sure that starting at any age beyond early twenties is something of a lottery.  The damage is done by that point.  But lots of the problems with late-start HRT are expectations-based.  I know the best I'll ever achieve at my age (40s) is looking like a forty year old girl.  I'll never possibly look like a cute twenty five year old girl.  HRT also can't overcome factors such as genetics, age, build, looks, body type, health issues etc.  And of course, luck plays a role too.  Blaming any one factor misses the complexity of the process.

There are plenty of late starters here who have had phenomenal results, and plenty of younger girls who struggle.  Age is far less important than we think, and I worry that blaming poor results on age alone will serve no purpose other than to unreasonably discourage transition and will lead to unhappy lives, rather than encouraging people to live the lives they want to.

[Jenna Marie]

I started at 32 rather than 23, and things still went pretty well.  (I couldn't pass as a guy at all by six months in, and am now 42DDD and curvy.) Personally, I think a lot is definitely genetics, and age may not make much difference post-puberty through the late middle age point where some women have a surge of masculinization - so basically from about 16 to around 45-50 it's a genetic lottery. Anyway, I think you'll be fine.

[michelle666]

Like I said before I started at 43 and have had excellent results. I have a large b cup, waist has thinned out and hips and butt got bigger. My face is totally different than it was just a few years ago. I've been passing without a problem lately and things are still changing.

[galaxy]

Yes, it depends a lot from your genetics and my genes are bad. They loved testosterone and now they hate the estrogenes!  The first visible things such as skin and a bit in the face happened after 12 month of HRT!

[Nevara]

Well hopefully I get lucky with the genetic lottery! Seems that's the biggest part of it for anyone doing this past their teen years. My face is probably the biggest concern but there's always FFS is hormones decide they don't want to do anything about my Adonis-like lines.

Day 2 and I haven't really felt anything (wasn't I supposed to have mood swings or something) emotionally and not expecting anything physical for some time so I'll keep y'all informed.