Testosterone Mental (psychological) Effects

[Shanna]

Hi,

I'm an MTF - not gone through GRS yet - been on female hormones from my doctor for 10 years.  I have felt great, not had those anxious feelings of pushing the surgery and just comfortable with life. Recently my energy level was low so the doctor put me back on testosterone. Within a week I felt more energetic but the "feelings" of really needing to be a female has surfaced again along with feelings of wanting sex. The doctor told me this happens to transgender people which is why if you are an MTF being on estrogen helps out with the psychological problems.

I just wondered if anyone else has had this happen or felt this way.  Just seems really odd to me. I like the energy but hate the mental struggles the testosterone causes.

thanks in advance!
hugs,
Shanna

[Ms Grace]

Hey Shanna

Welcome to Susan's    Great to have you here - looking forward to seeing you around the forum.

Yes, I think what you describe is quite common for many people on HRT.

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Grace

[mrs izzy]

Welcome Shanna to Susan's family

Lots of topics to explore and posts to write.

Safe travel on you path

Hugs

[mrs izzy]

After I was post I found that my estrogen level also dropped and made me less energetic.

Many doctors get in a to lazy checking on hormon levels and keep dosages and levels at to low for a healthy life.

Just my experence.

[Randi]

That's not at all unusual.  Anne Vitale has written on this:

http://www.avitale.com/TNote15Testosterone.htm

Randi

[Ruth Ruthless]

I didn't have this problem even when my t level was below measurable in the blood tests, though it did kill my sexuality. Lately I tried switching from e pills to e gel and my t and e levels became male again. Was nice to be able to have sex again for me, but we tried raising the dosage so perhaps we will reach a sweet spot.

Still, regarding actual energy levels, for me it has always been a question of what I ate. When I eat fried food and food with oil, processed food I get tired. When I eat fruits, vegetables, legumes and seeds I have energy. What I eat changes very much how fast I recover from runs and how much I feel like running. When I eat unhealthy, I just want to crawl in bed and sleep through the digestion problems. When I eat healthy, I am able to do intense exercise and I feel energized physically and mentally no matter what t levels I had, it just effected my sexual energy.

But again, that's just me.

[KayXo]

I think the right amount of E (and possibly progesterone) should be plenty to give one enough energy and sex drive. I'm post-op and wouldn't take T.

[MarissaJ]

Recently I had a dosage of testosterone pellets go sideways along withy a too high dose of arimidex. (an estrogen blocker). This caused a huge wave of dysphoria like I've never had before. It had always been there in the background, but when my testosterone spiked it hit me like a ton of bricks.

[Shanna]

Hi, this may sound like an odd question and one I will ask my doctor next time I am there.  I have been on female hormones for almost 15 years.  I would LOVE to complete the need to be a woman but.... I am married and have 2 daughter's.  I love my wife as my best friend – no sex obviously and love my daughter's so very much.  That is what prevents me from taking the final step – I just can't leave them and want to be a dad to them.  I recently quit taking female hormones and started taking testosterone.  My normal testosterone levels are so low I don't need to take something like Spironolactone to reduce it.  I find if I don't take female hormones or testosterone I just feel like a slug and can't think straight.  I know testosterone helps get rid of the brain cloud and helps build intelligence.  I am going to stop the testosterone as it makes me feel shaky, drives the need to be a girl more and gives me migraines.  Female hormones make me feel great.
So my question for you ladies is – when you are on female hormones do you find it gives you energy and gets rid of the brain cloud?  For me the brain cloud is like not being able to think fast or think of words I want to use in a sentence.  I know my doctor will tell me to go back and stay on female hormones but I wanted to ask you how you feel about the energy and clear thinking when taking hormones.

[Ruth Ruthless]

For me personally the only effect of hormones besides feminization is to drive me into junk food binges for a couple of weeks whenever I changed the dose, so it changed my hunger, but it stabilized back after two weeks.

Also, the feminization in my case is limited, so I am generally disappointed and frustrated with the hormones, since they don't give me any emotional benefit and I don't remember having any brain clouds before or after taking them so that hasn't changed either. For me the hormones are solely taken in the hope to feminize my body and thus reduce my dysphoria. It would be great if they also made me feel better, but in my case they don't make me feel better and they don't make me feel worse.

And they also have a major crushing effect on my libido, which has both pluses and minuses for me, but those are consequences of losing my libido and what it means to me - again, not a direct emotional influence from the hormones, as far as I can tell.

I was very depressed before taking hormones and after taking hormones, and I managed that problem only with adaptation of whole plant foods nutrition and running. Again, no influence from the hormones on that as far as I can tell.

From what I can tell though there are many women who feel better just from the hormones themselves. I can only tell about myself.