This is my 2nd post ever in any venue on me as Jen. Reading posts of how Susan and her staff work hard to keep this a safe haven is comforting. But Jen still doesn't go out in public, at least not yet. Nobody knows I am doing HRT.
It seems my HRT has been pretty typical. Knowing what to expect from this forum and others has been helpful.
I am also on T-blockers. I think initially the dosage was too high. I was tired all the time, lost a lot of muscle mass/strength, and hadn't seen any of the positive (female) changes. The fact that I cut, split, and stacked 4 cords of wood at this underscored the reduced strength and stamina. I even had several dizzy spells, but concluded it was because I was dehydrated too. The T-blocker dosage was reduced and it helped while still achieving the desired results. I am now drinking more fluids and have more energy.
If I had to do it over again, I would probably want to try HRT without the T-blocker in the hopes my strength and stamina would be maintained without inhibing breast development and other feminization changes.
The good aspects of reduced musculature is that my arms and legs have a much more trim, feminine appearance. My waist has gotten smaller (probably due to muscle reduction) and my hips and outer thigh wider due to small but noticable fat increases (c 1/4", 4 mm). My fingers are also slightly smaller.
I have also become more flexible and can now cross my legs like a lady. Unprompted, my son commented on how my face looked thinner. That was encouraging.
I find that measurements to track bust, waist, hip changes have been useless. What has worked for me is how specific clothing used to fit, and how it now fits. For example, am I closer to filling out this bra? Or that cute fitted skirt, I used to be able to easily pull it over my hips, but the zipper was difficult to close. But now it is difficult to get over my hips and the zipper closes easily.
My nipple changes have been curious. My left nipple errupted within a week (wow!). My right one took more like 4-5 weeks. The diameter of my areolas have fluctuated from about 1.2 to 1.6 times the original diameter, even now. Nipple pain has also fluctuated. Mostly it's pretty mild but constant. Other times (especially the left) more so when it accidentally gets smacked or bumped causes an intense reminder of what is going on.
Question: Is this typical, the areola fluctuation and inconsistent nipple pain? Also, do transitioning girls feel any pain or tenderness in their breast tissue, or just the nipple area? If there is general breast tenderness, when does it start?
Reduction in size of my penis and testes are quite noticable, with no more erections and an 80-85% reduction in libido, and a marked increase in difficulty to orgasm. Orgasms are still intense, but different.
I have not seen any changes in my hair (or lack of).
Hopefully this is not TMI and helpful to some.
Jen