I can only speak from my experience others vary widely. I was on Ethinyl Estrodoil and synthetic progesterone. It varied at different times depending on what the doctor and I were trying to achieve. My case is different because the primary purpose was libido suppression; the feminizing characteristics were just a bonus. It was experimental and so we made adjustments. I started off on low dose tri-phasal birth control pills. I found that when I was over one per day my drive increased as the dose went up. Progesterone is almost identical to testosterone in structure, so it hits some of the same receptors. Up to one a day my drive decreased inversely with the dosage. Later we moved me to the Estraderm transdermal patch because it had no progesterone and there were no reported cases of cancer in MTF on Estraderm.
So here's what I noted. At about two weeks my nipples started to hurt, I loved that. by six months my breast had swelled quite visibly, about an A and an AA cup. At first I noticed that the skin of my breast was sensitive but the tissue underneath became less able to sense touch as the tissue pad increased. Over time I don't notice this, either because nerves have infiltrated the new growth or because I had gotten used to it. At first the growth was just under the nipples and slowly spread out to form a number of branches. Pretty quickly you can feel them bounce, I love that.
After a few years I used the patches. What neither the doctor or I paid attention too was that even though the pills and patches have comparable doses the patches cause a serological Estadoil level nearly 20 times as high. This happens because the medication goes right to the blood instead of through the GI tract into the liver to the blood. That sounds great, however within two years I started having TIA (six of them) They are small strokes. This means it was causing blood clots which are VERY serious and can kill or disable you. I've lost 50% of my hearing, everything over 4000 Hz is just screaming in my ears as well as some loss of verbal expression ability, and some shorter term damage. The TIA's stopped when I decided it was time to go into menopause. On the upside my breast doubled to a B cup and a small A cup. I am quite asymmetric. The right breast formed roughly one ring of lactiferous ducts the other several layers. I'm working on balancing that right now with a device similar to the Brava System.
Other changes, I had a pretty good sized derriere already, but I noticed no change there, however I didn't start until my 40's. I used to need sunglasses in bright light, I became much more tolerant. Sweetness, everything tasted sweeter, I always wondered how chicks tolerated three bean salad, now I know. Hair, I got back about 1/3 of my male pattern baldness in two months. It goes away after two months off estrogen and comes back each time I start. I loose lots of body hair, cleaning the shower was a mess for a while. I measured my average beard whisker diameter at 1/3 smaller. I loved to hold babies, when ever I could talk mothers out of them. I wanted even more to sit down with the girls and chat. Not that it did any good because women clam up and give you the floor when a guy walks in. (There's a thread here on male privilege. I wonder why no one mentioned that there are a string of female privileges too?) As for body strength, I don't know. I'm 6'6" and 230#, I'm so strong that virtually no one matches me. A decrease would only put me back in the upper averages anyway. I was dramatically less aggressive.
randi1214
