Did anyone try going full time pre or no HRT?

[JMJW]

Did you find it difficult the same or easier than post HRT or would it have been something you would have ever considered? What was it like in general?

[Alora]

Did you find it difficult or would it have been something you would have ever considered? What was it like in general?

I was technically full time for about 4-6 weeks prior. I received my breast forms around thanks giving and do to some complications had to order some different ones.

I got my first pair around thanks giving last year. But they were to small. So I ordered larger forms, which I love and hope my natural breasts grow to the same size. But the replacement forms came in mid December and I was on HRT by Jan 11th.


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[Wednesday]

Yup. Years ago when I started transition it was standard protocol for Social Security gender clinics to ask people for a RLE period (1-2 years) while doing therapy prior to get hormones prescription.

It was a bit more difficult than post HRT transition, which I think it may be more due a number on reasons being related to the novelty of the experience and the fear to the unknown than due the fact you're still not provided within hormones.

[Shy]

I've been full time for the past few weeks pre HRT. I'm out to everyone that's important to me so there was no real reason to hang back as I've a long wait for the gender clinic.
I mostly get gendered correctly. The voice isn't there yet so can cause a little anxiety, but overall I feel way more comfortable in my own skin.

Peace and love and all that good stuff,

Sadie.

[Devlyn]

I spent two years presenting full time before HRT. I wasn't planning on going the HRT route initially.

[Janes Groove]

I lived my first 6 months of RLE without HRT support and it was rough.  But after I started HRT things really began to change noticeably for the better for me.  I'm glad I didn't deny myself that experience of living full time w/o HRT as it gave me a significant metric to judge other people's reactions to me as I continued/continue to change with my own personal gender metamorphosis journey.

[Kylo]

It's would not have been possible to pass fully without the HRT. Voice, etc. So I didn't try to fit in that bracket until I had the tools.

What I did do was wear what I wanted, and acted myself, for as long as I remember. Makes transition quite unexciting really - I am not doing much that's new at all, just undergoing medical procedures and legal crap. Not becoming someone else. It's never been difficult for me to do that in my particular circumstance.

[bubbles21]

Hey,

Yeah i did but my hair had already grown out to just past my shoulders  and that did help but in reference to HRT this was back when you could buy hormones online, i started that way but soon shifted to my dr prescribing  me what i needed. It took me about 8 months of being full time before i got any hormones and ppl stared alot but it was to be expected, no one was nasty or rude but i think mainly curious lol When i got a long with my hormones ppl immediately noticed, i was flirted with and propositioned a lot more, i hardly ever got misgendered, the way ppl treated me shifted and it was noticeable. Its good to see the difference of how ppl treat you pre-Hrt as opposed to you being about 1-2 years in. I mean girls became a lot nastier once i got a bit further on in my transition because the guys that would look at them were also looking at me lol so that reaction from the girls really shocked me... i expected them to be alot nicer but nope... i've been outed by so many girls or gay guys telling men that i don't even know or knew that were interested in me,, this was trivial bcz anyone ive ever dated were told at the beginning that i was trans before anything else. It just was never a secret that i kept  so i couldnt understand why girls would go out of their way to do these things lol but oh well... i laugh at those times now when i think about it 

[MeTony]

I'm pre everything. I have short hair and dress in men's cloths.

But that is more accepted in my society than the other way around when people missgender me and say her.

I live in Sweden. Gay people are accepted. People think I am gay when they see a woman i men's cloths.

[Ive]

I will try to go full time, pre HRT, as soon as I get my life in order (I took one year off...), but I have really no idea about if and how it will work.

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[JMJW]

I think that only if I see improvement going full time without HRT  will I prove beyond all doubt that HRT is the way to go. 

[Shy]

I think that only if I see improvement going full time without HRT  will I prove beyond all doubt that HRT is the way to go.

I think social transition and physical transition should go hand in hand, the problem is the timescale and systems in place to help us are often out of sync with what we need. Essentially you're trying to make decisions when you've only got access to half the story.
If I were able to offer you access to HRT right now what would you do? And there would be your answer.
The goal is to be happy in ourselves, me being older my priorities will be different to someone much younger and vice verse, the destination is essentially the same but the sacrifices to get there will be different.

Peace and love and all that good stuff,

shy

[The Flying Lemur]

I really didn't want to go full-time without HRT, but since HRT has been postponed indefinitely due to medical reasons, I think I probably will.  Had my first experience introducing myself to a stranger with my preferred name yesterday.  I got stared at, but it felt more awesome than awkward.  8/10 would do again.  :p

[p]

I am currently full-time, no HRT, hoping to get my prescription soon. If all goes according to plan, I will have had 4 months full-time before starting HRT. I also have to grow my facial hair out for electrolysis, so I am _quite_ a sight some days.

I think that it's all about your mental state--do you feel like you can't wait to go full-time? Are you trying to make yourself live up to some kind of standard before you go on HRT to make sure this is not a mistake? I felt a little more like I just couldn't wait, but there was a part of me that was also thinking that before I try medicine, I need to make sure I feel comfortable with social transition. However, I can't say that my path would be right for everyone--in fact, I am sure I have rushed myself because I am a very impatient person! I also have good coping skills for facing social rejection, stares, comments--I was out as gay for years and years before coming out as trans, and where I'm from, that was already a big deal. I am an extroverted person and I generally have an attitude of "eff what everyone else thinks, this is right for me." So I have had very little problem going full-time. I also choose not to wear breastforms--they just didn't work for me. Does everyone on the street gender me correctly? I highly doubt it. Am I bothered by being perceived as a "man in a dress" by strangers? Not terribly. The good news here is that there are no wrong answers--and if you decide you don't like full-time without HRT support, you can stop if you need to. The important thing is to take care of yourself.

[Wednesday]

I am currently full-time, no HRT, hoping to get my prescription soon. If all goes according to plan, I will have had 4 months full-time before starting HRT. I also have to grow my facial hair out for electrolysis, so I am _quite_ a sight some days.

I think that it's all about your mental state--do you feel like you can't wait to go full-time? Are you trying to make yourself live up to some kind of standard before you go on HRT to make sure this is not a mistake? I felt a little more like I just couldn't wait, but there was a part of me that was also thinking that before I try medicine, I need to make sure I feel comfortable with social transition. However, I can't say that my path would be right for everyone--in fact, I am sure I have rushed myself because I am a very impatient person! I also have good coping skills for facing social rejection, stares, comments--I was out as gay for years and years before coming out as trans, and where I'm from, that was already a big deal. I am an extroverted person and I generally have an attitude of "eff what everyone else thinks, this is right for me." So I have had very little problem going full-time. I also choose not to wear breastforms--they just didn't work for me. Does everyone on the street gender me correctly? I highly doubt it. Am I bothered by being perceived as a "man in a dress" by strangers? Not terribly. The good news here is that there are no wrong answers--and if you decide you don't like full-time without HRT support, you can stop if you need to. The important thing is to take care of yourself.

I can't applaud loud enough.

That's the attitude. And I wanna take advantage of your post (which also resonates with mine) to point out that usually the reactions, even when they clock or second guess you, are not that bad. Watch out, I'm not saying transphobia doesn't exist nor this is all rosy with unicorns. There are still issues that society needs to solve. But frankly, if I had to put a number, I would say perfectly that the 80% worries and catastrophic-scenarios that most trans* folks struggle with are just not happening. It's way worse the kind of anxiety-fueled mental storm they suffer than actually the real thing.

My 2 cents.

[SeptagonScars]

I did go full-time before my medical transition, and even had my name changed legally before starting with testosterone. However I know not everyone can do that and it depends on one's country's name-change laws and such. I didn't pass 100% but did manage to pass some of the time. Already had a quite androgynous/masculine looking face and my voice was deep for a female but not within the male range, however not everyone read me as female after hearing my voice. I mainly dressed masculine but did keep my hair long and sometimes even wore makeup and nail polish. (Being kinda goth). I worked on changing my mannerisms, the way I walked and the way I spoke a lot to pass better. I did come out and started living full-time at age 19 and started hrt at 21. For me passing was never my main concern, but to just become more comfortable with my body regardless of how other people viewed me, but of course passing has been/is of some importance too. But I mean, I think it did help me feel more confident in social settings living full-time pre-everying because passing wasn't my main focus. Also yeah, I never felt it was dangerous for me to do so because of how accepting almost everyone around me was, and yeah, society viewing masculine people looking like females as less of a threat than the other way around (sadly), probably was in my favour too.

[Draculess]

yeah I did for a while before I started taking E, I can relate to a fair amount of what p is saying. I had heard about that real life experience stuff that gender therapists and such sometimes want you to do before medically transitioning and even though I think its gate-keeping b.s. at the end of the day (that is I don't think anyone should have to do it), I think, as just a personal undertaking, it can be a good way of testing the waters to see if you need medical transition. I don't think I probably passed most of the time, although sometimes I certainly did, but it was like yeah, hell with it. I wasn't exactly sure about medical transition at the time, but social transition just couldn't wait, or couldn't be stifled really. I just couldn't live the lie anymore.

I sometimes still hid myself from certain people even though I basically always left the house en femme and there was a brief period where I tried keeping up both gender presentations, but it became clear pretty much immediately that only one of them was actually me. the duel presentation thing came right after getting cold feet after the first dose of HRT (that is, I took one dose and discontinued for a time even though the meds felt right) and coming out to certain people that weren't as supportive, so it was really just fear, a defense. then I did just electrolysis for a bit, again dipping my toe in the water, trying to see if I could make things work with just that, but at the end of the day I really needed HRT and the lack of it was causing problems emotionally, psychologically, physically, etc and not a day goes by where I don't wish I started it sooner. don't kid yourself, being out can feel incredibly vulnerable especially if you don't pass, but if you need to do it, you need to do it, meds or no and it's extremely liberating. ...but I also really needed estrogen!!! and personally I think if you need HRT, the sooner the better.

[p]

I can't applaud loud enough.

Aww, thanks Wednesday, I'm blushing!

I would say perfectly that the 80% worries and catastrophic-scenarios that most trans* folks struggle with are just not happening. It's way worse the kind of anxiety-fueled mental storm they suffer than actually the real thing.

I totally agree that the biggest struggle has been internal -- dealing with my own fears and insecurities -- rather than dealing with the outside world. To me, RLE without hormones has made it seem like it's totally possible for me to do this with or without hormones (as much as many of us want HRT, not all of our bodies can handle it for one reason or another, as in The Flying Lemur's situation). All of this being said, I do feel HRT will be right for me if I & agree with Draculess that I don't think RLE should be required before starting HRT. 

Are you reaching any conclusions JMJW? It's also worth noting that depending on the providers around you, how busy their schedules are, and your options of who to go to based on insurance/price, and the prescribing policies of the provider you choose, it could take you a while to get on HRT if you decide that that's what you want.

[Janes Groove]

I think it's important to consider that living full-time can have an impact on one's decision to pursue a medical transition with HRT.  I mean here I was, liking everything about living full time, except for the sometimes ignorant and sometimes hostile reaction from people who don't understand a thing about being transgender, and it was like why not? It will most likely help me blend into the crowd and it will ease my physical dysphoria and it will make my body look less like a man and more like a woman. After a time, it just became obvious to me that it was the next logical step and helped to dispel all the fears, insecurities and uncertainies I had about starting HRT.