What are the none physical changes you noticed on HRT?

[Myself]

Just curious!

I heard people saying their sense of taste changed and they suddenly like new things they hated.
Regarding to that - I think I am more sensitive to spicy and bitter foods.

Anything psychological, emotional, sensual or even behavioral you might have noticed?

[kaide]

I've never liked spicy foods, as my friends say I have a cat's tongue, heck, big red bubble gum burns my mouth :/

Bitter foods I like though, and sweet food

As far as the emotional and psychological, I'm not on HRT yet so I'm not sure what all it affects, but people have told me different things about it. Some people say get more emotional or more aggressive depending on if they are taking T or E. Some said they feel calm or relieved. To me it sounds like they just feel happy in general that they are on that step and are happy they are transitioning.

[Hannah]

I had made it through life by swallowing and internalising emotions, both negative and positive. About three, maybe four months into hrt (and really geting cookin at 6) they just wouldn't stay down anymore and the whole system collapsed. My entire mentality was about walls and protection, and the most painful yet greatest gift of the hrt is the dissolving of those structures. There really aren't words to describe how profound it has been.

I'm slowly learning how to feel these incredible gifts, even the ones that hurt. having never faced emotion head on before it's an experience that's for sure. I'm learning to like and dislike, distance and love all over again and it's just...beautiful.

[Nero]

I had made it through life by swallowing and internalising emotions, both negative and positive. About three, maybe four months into hrt (and really geting cookin at 6) they just wouldn't stay down anymore and the whole system collapsed. My entire mentality was about walls and protection, and the most painful yet greatest gift of the hrt is the dissolving of those structures. There really aren't words to describe how profound it has been.

I'm slowly learning how to feel these incredible gifts, even the ones that hurt. having never faced emotion head on before it's an experience that's for sure. I'm learning to like and dislike, distance and love all over again and it's just...beautiful.

That's beautiful, Becca. 

[Arch]

You mean non-somatic changes?

If so, sex drive is up. WAY up.

Aggression is a bit up. I had to learn how to handle that, especially while I'm driving. I get impatient more easily. I've learned how to stay patient with people I know personally; I get more impatient in traffic with total strangers than I ever used to.

Crying is down. It takes something really, really big to make me cry.

I seem to need more sleep than before--either my body recognizes that I'm going through adolescence, or the current stresses of my life require that I get more sleep.

Taste and smell seem as keen as ever.

[Autumn]

My reaction to human touch is quite magnified... I really want to be touched all over. Like, being brushed, hugged, caressed... it all responds so much more significantly than it used to.

I get hit on by guys now.

[JodieBlonde]

First time around on Premarin, I couldn't stop crying. It didn't have to be something sad - even talking about things that made me happy caused a welling-up in my throat. It was the Premarin I feel that made me so moody.

This time on Progynova - no crying at all. I believe that I experienced my best and biggest "conversion" with Premarin, but the Progynova is a lot more gentle and I just feel better on it.

Sexually - and this is my quantitatively anecdotal experience only - I think the Premarin caused more libido (sex-drive) than the other - and that may be modulated with my age now.

My current endo says that I need somecody's hormones and sice T made my prostate balloon into severe BPH - then it's E for me from now on.

My Dex-scan has come back with surprisingly good and improved results and some added bone mass to my bones - so there's something else to be happy about since improvements are not the usual in osteoporosis. I have an "exceptional" result according to the VA. 

[Valerie Elizabeth]

Non physical changes.  Hmm.

For starters, I can sleep for days now.  I was always the odd ball in college who couldn't handle more than 6-8 hours of sleep a day.  If I took a 30 minute nap, I wouldn't sleep that night.  Now, I can easily sleep for 10 - 12 hours at night, and have no problem taking a nap in the afternoon.  I hate it to be honest.  I like getting up early, and having the whole day.

I don't know if I feel less aggressive, but I feel like I am better adjusted at dealing with it.

I get more emotional with things, but I still compartmentalize really well.

[aubrey]

Anything psychological, emotional, sensual or even behavioral you might have noticed?

As far as taste IDK. I don't think my preferences have changed.

I get annoyed more often than angry now when something irks me, and I don't hold on to it like before, I can let it go pretty quickly and move on. I love that.

Colors stand out more in my peripheral vision and memory. I'm less likely to know the direction a sound came from which is strange. More easily read peoples intentions and read between the lines. In all of the senses it is like I was numb before and now have full feeling.

There's so many things, too many to mention.

[Hannah]

My reaction to human touch is quite magnified

oh yes, this is true for me too. I was in a class the other night where the fascilitators had us close our eyes while they cradled our heads and rubbed our shoulders and such and wow, just Wow.

[FairyGirl]

The biggest psychological change has been in reducing (though not yet eliminating; waiting on surgery for that) the frustration of body dysphoria I have felt since childhood. Though I always felt female on the inside, now my outsides "feel" it too. I was always an emotional person but emotions now have a depth to them not previously experienced. I cry every single day over something, but I'm okay with that, really.

[Abby]

My sexuality has been cleansed.  I used to think that loss of testosterone would put a damper on me.  It turns out testosterone is a sort of poison.  It is painful.

I have not developed any interest in men (it could be the men).  Where I used to feel some sort of need for camaraderie, now I could care less.  It is as if that world was completely shut off to me.

I like my self more and I dislike women less.  In fact the only guy I like is me.  Is that incestuous?

Oh yeah and I'm sort of an idiot.  I have these presents he left for me.  And I know things.  I just can't figure anything out.  Before it was an emotional thought journey though the time space continuum that produced amazing concept and theories.  Now it's just...

I'm now a better athlete.  Probably because the simple mundane tasks don't drain my energy.  Now it is very blasse.  Which make me seem like people who I didn't like before.

It's problematic.  I get a sense that I want to move out -- like, up, time for sex!  And here I have a very awkward situation.  It doesn't take much to sell what you've got but...you know?  And it's so easy these days.  Dog ->-bleeped-<- everywhere you go.

[Naturally Blonde]

Just curious!
What are the none physical changes you noticed on HRT?

I haven't noticed any physical changes? the non physical changes are more obvious such as taste, emotion, patience etc. But the physical changes were more of what I was seeking.

[Pippa]

For a while my emotions were all over the place but they have settled down a bit now.  I find it easier to cry at soppy films.   Sex drive has definitely dropped away.    Interestingly since taking Eostrogen I find it difficult to sleep more than 8 hours a night.

[K8]

Like Becca, I've begun to FEEL.  My range of emotion is much greater - far happier, but also can actually feel sadness.

After speaking little in my lifetime, I have become incredibly chatty.

I actually see people and recognize them and remember who they are and, often, even remember their names and their stories.

I seem to be vibrating at a higher rate.  It isn't my pulse or respiration - more like I'm tuned to a higher frequency than I was before.

If I had to choose between these and the physical changes, I would definitely choose these.  I love'em.

- Kate

[Hannah]

I seem to be vibrating at a higher rate. 

That's a really, really interesting concept.
I've been taking classes on this subject and it seems to be quite real. Ever since I declared a psych major the alternative psych people won't leave me alone; my electrologist is especially dangerous because she is trying to program me with scientology and I don't dare argue with her because she can hurt me.

However my old laser girls invited me to this r.e.t. thing and the vibration concepts are interesting. Seems people who are depressed actually do vibrate slower than happy people. The thing that really strikes me is that they haven't asked for any money, they are teaching this stuff just to make the world better. I can't find any ulterior motives because my laser is done and they quit doing dermabrasion. Anyway I'm taking an advanced class on it next term, I'll make up my mind for sure then.

[YoungSoulRebel]

My panic attacks have been different since testosterone.  What once were wild fits of screaming and crying and hysterics are now...  well, uncontrolled stammering to the point that I am, for all practical purposes, temporarily non-verbal and hyperventilating and just physically "shutting down" (exhaustion and sometimes sleeping just from stress) for the rest of the evening.

My room-mate thinks it's a lot easier to witness.

[Naturally Blonde]

Re: What are the none physical changes you noticed on HRT?

Still trying to get the physical changes..

[Myself]

Re: What are the none physical changes you noticed on HRT?

Still trying to get the physical changes..

Are you sure you are not over-critical?

Other than hips, which is hard for most people here to get due to it beng mostly bone, others things might just be fine.

My mother carries most of her fat in the waist, maybe you are smaller frame and need to lose weight, or lose and regain?

[The None Blonde]

What did I notice?

Well firstly, colours seemed brighter... i know... right? odd... My tastes broadened in food, i ate things that before i couldnt stand, and liked them. Music too... I'm very emotionally lead with music. I listen to things that i can feel.... before, i felt only pain, and steriotypically, rock, metal, really hardcore dance was all I could listen to. Now? Classica, Indie, Pop, Rock, Dance, trance, Techno, r&b... the lot really, I try anything.

Emotionally I'm a lot less restricted, angry is angrier, when im sad, its just... the same, but bigger really. I headbutted a speaker at work the other night, and i was in tears, more from the shock than the pain, I wouldn't have done that before... well, i might, but in truth, What made me that way, wasn't testosterone, it was the knowlage that I was different. When I was younger, 13 or so, and I came to the realisation of who I was, I restricted myself. I forced myself into a shell to project the right image, and it stuck. Was hrt the cause of being free again? Not directly no, but indirectly, it allowed me to let go and be myself again.