Hello everyone.
In 2016, I started my transition via subcutaneous injections to go from female to male, I believe mid April... the year after that (2017)- I decided to stop transitioning for personal reasons, but mostly due to medical concerns: I was getting really sick often, crushing fatigue, bad fatigue, I mean like couldn't move my arms cause they were lame fatigue, and just a plethora of horrible things I started experiencing when my endo suddenly switched my dosage. We got me back into the original, but I started developing serious anxiety of getting the shots and from there just kept getting sicker anyway. We had concluded that I was possibly allergic to the oil it was suspended in, but I never got to see the effects of the new solution because I just quit it cold turkey.
So... I obviously started feeling better (my fuming rage went away) but what unfortunately has stayed is that every now and then, before my menstrual cycle hits— about a week before, and a few weeks after, with a week break in between— I'll start feeling the injection sites itch again, as though I had give myself a shot, and I get brain fog bad; I also noticed that my hair started falling out in clumps shortly after stopping. I stopped, ironically, mid April of 2017 (so I had been on T for at least a year), and the hair loss was noticeable some time around July-September, when I was starting to see more of my scalp. Now it's been falling off every time I shower, and while my hair is still pretty thick— I am getting a noticeable balding on the area of my hairline, and especially on one side from my forehead, and now around the crown area. Hair is super dull and stringy, and sometimes just very dry.
I've decided to make an appointment with an endocrinologist (a new one, because the last one I had was unfortunately a very bad experience, and even ignored my calls whenever I tried to reach her about any issues I was having while on T, and only cared when I said I couldn't swallow well anymore)— just in case, but also because I'm still experiencing tons of bad side effects regardless... joints are just always super achy, and my knees are just getting worn out. I'm always so tired, and I crash alllll the time from fatigue (random bouts of insomnia too).
I just wanted to get a second opinion on here, and maybe some support: that's not normal right? I get doctors left and right dismissing me, despite telling them my obvious HRT situation.
My endo was seriously zero source for me during this transition, and even now google searching can only do so much for me. I'm worried that it's basically male pattern baldness being set off or something like androgenetic allopecia, even PCOS, considering it can happen. I wasn't aware of a lot of the things that could have gone wrong with taking Testosterone, but since being off of it, it just seems to have gotten worse for me. I was getting a male hairline at a normal fallout rate, but now I'm just thinning everywhere 😨 I've tried vitamins, shampoo, no shampoo, organic products seem to help for a while, rosemary oil (which did make a difference for a short time), but then nothing is working now. So I can only imagine there's one culprit.
In any case, I wanted to reach out. Thank you so much if you take the time to read this and have any suggestions for me. I would so greatly appreciate it. It's been a long struggle now trying to figure it all out alone (my family subscribed to the idea that I'm responsible for my actions so they have unfortunately been little comfort for this). I've just kept coming across more confusing topics like DHT and tellogen effluvium, and UGH. I just need an opinion that seeing an endo is likely the best option for me. And to know that if someone else out there has had such an experience like mine on T— honestly, I'd truly like to hear from you. I'm starting to wonder if I should have been started on a lower dosage than she had prescribed.
It was terrible. She didn't run any blood tests, didn't care to tell me if my insurance had covered me or not, and said it wasn't fine that I hadn't undergone any prior examination. I also didn't know I was getting my first t shot the day I got it— she literally looked at me fed up and just pulled a needle and vile out. It was the strongest appointment experience in my life, but I went ahead and trusted her medical opinion because she was my doctor (or rather endo). I'm not too sure how well the process was between her and I, but I only learned after that it shouldn't have been that easy for me to get my hands on T as early as I had.
I'll learn from my mistakes, and I certainly hope she is helping others transition well. I tend to get the short end of the stick in life, but I never regretted transitioning— only that I didn't know my body well enough to go through with it.
