What was your HRT Milage and time frame like?

[Sluggy]

Hey everyone! I'm only about 3 weeks into HRT, taking Spiro and Estradiol orally. I'm in my mid-20's, and aside from the horrible dryness of spironolactone, I haven't really had too many big changes yet.

Testicle soreness came in about a few days to a week, but I still seem to maintain full function down there as of right now.

Breast pain is kicking in now at the end of week 3 (about 19 days) but mentally and emotionally, I'm not really noticing anything different. I don't know if that's good or bad lol.

So I'm wondering, for anyone else who's early on, or those who can remember this far back, how was your experience?
Everyone reacts differently, so I just find it interesting to see what others' experiences are like

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[DuchessBianca]

Hello! In my mid 20's as well, 25 to be exact, started 10 months ago when I was 24 and a half (Low dose of Sublingual Estradiol/Spironolactone for the first month and standard dose onwards, added Finasteride between months 6 and 7 onwards, switched from sunblingual Estradiol pills to Estradiol Cypionate Injections month 8 onwards) but based on what I can remember by the end of the first week I first noticed some breast tenderness and nipples becoming puffy and that puffyness has stayed since getting gradually getting everso since.

The most noticible thing in the first few months was the pure joy of finally starting HRT, a placebo I guess you'd call it. Libido pretty much plummeted by the end of the first month as well as body odor. I started in late may so it was quite happy to not smell so gross while sweating in the warm weather as bleh did my sweat pre hormones smell anything but horrid >_< By the 3rd month I actually started to feel some actual breast tissues forming into a decent size lump about the size of a cherry if I had to estimate, nipple tenderness was at an all time high and then from early September to late October  (Months 4-5) is when my first and only real massive growth wave of breast tissue happened so far going from just small tissue to actual forming breasts gaining about an inch.

Around that time is when I greatly noticed and increase of light blonde hairs all over my body predominantly my arms. Production down there gradually lowered after the first month leading to completely nothing by month 5 however after month 8th and still currently a very tiny amount of extremely thick, clear liquid seems to get produced showing about 10-20 seconds afterwards. Skin got notably softer between months 2-3 and since my switch from sublingual pills to Estradiol Cypionate injections from month 8 and on my skin feels just like a fluffy fresh marshmallow <3

Wasn't until between the 7th and 8th month that I finally was able to start seeing the physical changes I wanted the most aka facial changes as it was extremely hard to see anything which depressed me but mentally I couldn't keep pretending to be/dressing male so the day before new years I got my hair done (super scary) went straight from hiding as male to full time in a span of 2 hours and apparently I've yet to be treated as anything other then female in public and not so much as a single bad stare or misgendering in the slightest. It's certainly not perfect but where I am not I am starting to see my face as female a bit more and it's helping but whats helping more is how the public treats me and just makes me feel that I'm my own worst enemy and am seeing what no one else is and to not worry so much.

Face is pretty much completely clear, I do get a few small pimples here and there (have a big sweetooth so I assume thats the culprit) but they pretty much always go away in a few days and never large enough/enough numbers to be a problem. Complexion is pretty sucky, been cleansing/toning/moisturizing twice daily for months but still a bit of a pore problem and face is red quite often, though I live in northeast US and its damn cold and dry in winter (Used to be my favorite season and never could get cold now I freezing 24/7 and hate the damn season >_< haha) so that's mostly the culprit, I'll see come late spring/summer when its humid and warm if my face finally glows! -fingers crossed-

Body fat redistribution is something that I cant really say, when I started HRT I was 5'9 243 pounds, here 10 months later im 5'8.5 (Lost .5 an inch just got checked at the doctors early this week!) and 169 pounds and have pretty much been in a calorie deficit the entire time I've been on HRT so not sure if thats harmed the process for me. My breasts are entry level B cup though (wish they've round up though so damn hard to find a fitting bra at my band size with a cup size thats proper as they are also too big due to it being far too early on in HRT/breast growth to fill the damn things and I'm tired of sports bras T_T At least it's nice to have woman issues though! Haha) and have recently had another small surge and my butt feels a little bigger but I'm certainly disgusted by my body when I'm drying from a shower as I still feel fat, feel my shoulders are too huge, feel like my upper body isn't anywhere close to feminine despite me wearing a size M in womens tops and size 12 pants, yet I feel super tiny and feminine once I cover up my body with clothing, bleh

Lastly on the side effects side Spiro hasn't been kind to me at all, on top of the dryness (despite drinking plenty) severe constipation is an issue but worst of all the constant low blood pressure that just last week I blacked out and got a concussion, sprained wrist and all that nasty stuff, working with my doctor to hopefully find a solution but just need to hold out for 8-12 more months then SRS and ditching those awful pills for good!

Hopefully this isn't too long I just wanted to try and  answer your question on a wide variety of experiences during my time on HRT!

[Sluggy]

Duchess, thanks for all the info, this is amazingly in-depth!

Yeah I'm afraid of the blood pressure thing, but I guess I'll have to wait and see how it effects me more.

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[KathyLauren]

I am just over two months on oral S and a patch for E.  Within two weeks of starting, my nipples started to hurt.  I didn't notice anything else until, at about 6 weeks, I could feel my breast buds growing.  They and the nipples hurt enough that I have to wear a sports bra now under my male disguise.  My measuremants haven't changed noticeable yet, but I can feel an increase in volume and firmness.

In other physical changes, something around my eyes is different, though I can't quite tell what.  And my lips are noticeably fuller.  My beard seems to be growing more slowly.  I dread my electrologist telling me that I have to grow it out four days instead of three before my appointments. 

Interestingly, my prostate seems to have shrunk.  Being 62, my stream wasn't what it used to be, but suddenly, I am peeing like a fire hose again.

Emotionally, I feel really whole, like I am no longer faking my way through life.  It feels really good!  It makes me feel really confident, too.  In fact, I have to be careful not to get overconfident, because there are real dangers out there.  But I thought nothing of going to an appointment last week dressed as Kathy but with an unshaved patch on my face in preparation for electrolysis.  I even went to a restaurant like that, something that would have scared the crap out of me before.

[Deborah]

I am just at the two year mark.  Sometimes I have a hard time seeing it but things have changed a lot.   Maybe not one thing individually so much but lots of little things that add up.

A couple of days ago I came home from work where I am still in male mode.  I changed into a t shirt and a pair of blue sweat pants and was sitting around reading.  Someone rang the doorbell and when I answered a man somewhere around my age immediately greeted me with "Good Afternoon Ma'am."  I guess all those little changes have had an effect although any one of them by itself might not look so impressive if I were to write down before and after comparisons. 

But it does take time and even after two years things still seem to be changing.


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[kellykh]

My boobs are in that early B stage like DuchessBianca mentioned. It's nice to fit into a B cup bra, since there are so many more to choose from. But on the other hand, mine are not rounded/filled out yet, so they don't really fit most Bs. What I found worked that may help others is Ekouaer bras. They are sexy and they carry a great 38B that fits me. Amazon sells them and has some not-great reviews because some women think they are too small for a B. But they fit my early-B boobs, so they are great for me. Cheap and sexy too.

I've been on "official" estradiol for 6 months now, though I started with a not-to-be-named herbal initially for the first year, when I could not get to a doctor who was willing to work with me. The herbal worked well for me, but the official pharmaceutical is much better. Because of that history, I don't know how to report/compare HRT results because I started on estradiol with golf-ball size breast buds already. But with that in mind, I noticed a lot of changes on 6 months of E, including my boobs, loss of body hair and growth of blond vellus hair, return of the hair on my head (though I am on Finasteride too for that). My emotions are the best, though. The waves of moods are a pain sometimes, but prior to E, I didn't feel any emotion 90% of the time, and 10% of the time I was angry.

Now, I worry about going off HRT in preparation for GRS, hopefully this fall. Last time I stopped HRT, it was just the herbal and my moods crashed badly after 2 weeks, to the point of getting suicidal ideation. I figure I may need to ask for more frequent appointments with my therapist during those weeks.