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i've asked this question before somewhere else, but i didn't get a wide variety of answers. i'm just wondering if any mtf here have noticed that on estradiol, you have a higher frequency of anxiety and panic attacks. i get these quite frequently, and i do have obsessive tendencies to begin with, but since i started anti androgens, and then estradiol, it's seemed harder to control my anxiety.

All of what you wrote seems contradictive since E is suppose to calm us down

Quote from: JS04011027 on April 03, 2012, 03:22:06 PM
All of what you wrote seems contradictive since E is suppose to calm us down

not everyone.

that must be why we arent doctors

I remember this happened to me after 4 months of starting HRT. My doctor told me to reduce my AA dosage by half and E dose to 2/3 of what I had previously been taken. This totally worked for me I still had some anxiety but it was much more manageable and the panic attacks vanished. You might need to do the same!

I don't know what caused what to happen (there's so much emotional weight to beginning hormones in the first place, without the added endocrine impact too) but since my dose was corrected up, my PTSD has been a lot more acute. Not fun.

my E count is high and I feel great.

Not me. High E, low T, happier than ever. I remember seeing a video on youtube of a girl who had to stop taking HRT because of the panic attacks. I feel bad for her :( I think she was only on it for a few months though, it's not something that just popped on after years of doing it.

Quote from: Alainaluvsu on April 04, 2012, 12:09:27 AM
Not me. High E, low T, happier than ever. I remember seeing a video on youtube of a girl who had to stop taking HRT because of the panic attacks. I feel bad for her :( I think she was only on it for a few months though, it's not something that just popped on after years of doing it.

well, it isn't that bad for me. it's just something extra to deal with at most.

I have been having high anxiety and panic attacks for quite some time without HRT.  Taking Spiro for a couple months seems to have helped a lot and I am hoping adding E will help even more.

I first started seeing a therapist because of the panic attacks and anxiety.

With E and spiro, I still get them...but...well, it's hard to describe:

Before, when I got attacks, it'd take me a couple or so days to get out of that "place" in my mind.

After E, when I get them, it's a matter of hours to get out. In my memory of previous attacks, it was like my soul had to walk out of the "Dark" area(s)...now I can fly instead of walk, and can flit out of the area relatively easily.

But yes, I do still get them. Much reduced, though.

I used to take estradiol sublingually (dissolves in about 3 minutes), and had no noticeable anxiety. However, I decided to start taking it between my bottom lip and gum a week ago. While it takes much longer to dissolve (nearly an hour), physical effects seem to be going noticeably faster. But what seems to stick out is that I felt noticeably on-edge/stimulated a few hours after dosage.  ??? That effect has tapered in intensity since then.

The first emotional change that I noticed was that I was embarrassed far easier, and more frequently, and I had more of a physical reaction to the embarrassment.  In general, most of my emotions now register on a physical level where they didn't before - it was like I felt them as an abstract idea.  Now I feel my body react(light chest tightness, or tingles, or lightness, or pain in my stomach, or short of breath, or flush).  I also found, for the first time in my life, that I would be hit by panic attacks.  Deep breathing helped manage those, and the mantra that "There is a solution" no matter what problem I face.  I've found that E level is very important - I've been on a high dose and I've been on the low-side of typical, and the higher dose made me feel more secure and less moody.  I'm somewhere between those, and, really, I'm somewhere in the middle on the moodiness scale. :)

Hormones can influence anxiety, for better and for worse.

If your anxiety is serious you may want to seek medical help for it. Therapy and Anxiolytic medications can be very helpful when done right.

I find my anxiety peaks around dosage increases.  Especially now doubled my E and started Progesterone at same time. O_o

I know that Im not on HRT.

And I have those problems, and it feels like I have those problems every once in awhile because Im not.
I can tell when T Surges. And I hate the feeling.

In endocrine normal XX females or XY males physiological levels of estradiol has anxiety reducing effects, progesterone in the other hand has anxiety producing effects. The data indicates that estrogen reduces anxiety by rising the levels of endocannabinoids. The situation for intersex patients has not been evaluated.

Quote from: peky on May 02, 2012, 08:08:10 PM
In endocrine normal XX females or XY males physiological levels of estradiol has anxiety reducing effects, progesterone in the other hand has anxiety producing effects. The data indicates that estrogen reduces anxiety by rising the levels of endocannabinoids. The situation for intersex patients has not been evaluated.

wow, i have no idea what you just told me, lol. i don't study that much biology.

I have also had this problem and my panic/anxiety seems to get worse now whenever I up my dosage, I recently did that and now im on edge again.  I've been on hormones for about 6 years now and only within the past year I started having really bad anxiety culminating into panic attacks every now and then. There were other factors involved, I was going through some particularly distressing issues around the time I got my first blown panic attack which happened a couple days after I started taking hormones from a month long hiatus. Before this time I never had any problems with panic attacks when taking the hormones so it is disturbing because I feel like I may not be able to take a normal regimen again.