Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hi,,
This is question that bothers me a lot. I some may feel the same way too.. Have you experienced any significant loss of the capacity of your memory after starting HRT, where you can kind of assume that it is due to the treatment?

I am a student studying in the field of health and we have been taught that decreased level of Test can lead to decreased levels of memory, specially when aging. I have read several text books(actually 2) on endocrinology and around 5 books on memory and all sum up to the fact that it may affect the memory.

{Since I did not do these researches, ( ;) :) :)Kidding) } , I would like to know if anyone of you experienced a significant loss of ur memory capacity(short/long-term) during the HRT process...?

In my experience, I feel like I have lost some memory skills but I have no evidence to blame on HRT as there can be several other reasons and plus, I haven't been taking estrogen for that long and that efficiently.

Tashiya

You should look into the effects of progesterone on neurodegeneration and the implications of the role that the differing levels of progesterone plays in the fact that women experience lower levels of neurodegenerative diseases. Given that castration and GNRH both involve lowering natural progesterone below what evern a natal male would have, it does not supriuse me that there are complications from this for memory.

I think for this reason alone progesterone should play a part in the regimen of MTF people, still they recommend against it in the UK on the basis of the fact that they don't believe that it makes your boobs bigger so why take it. Rolls eyes.

Yep, but my GIC want to take me off it. grrrr.

Actually Im pretty sure that my already bad memory has become worse on hrt...

but I dont know...

I was a total dumbass this morning. I left a book I dropped on the sidewalk while loading my car even after I thought to myself, "I know I'm going to forget to get that." Got distracted, drove off and sure enough...  Damnit!   Then a little while later totally forgot to check the labels and mixed up two deliveries. A job that should have taken 30 min. tops took close to 2 hrs.  :(

Sadly I don't think I can blame hormones for that, since I am scatterbrained and ADHD naturally.

My memory actually improved, but then, my endo put me on prometrium from day 1.

I noticed no real difference, but then again it's hard to measure my own perspective.  It would have been interesting if I had started in college.  With all the information being thrown at me, it would have been easier to see if there was any memory change.  As of now, I don't see a difference.

No I got my GP to prescribe it but now I am going under gic meds they will stop it.  When they say it 'does nothing' they are talking about feminisation, specifically boob size.  There are lots of studies that show it has effects on cognitive function,  cardiovascular disease, thyroid function and a range of other things but no,  boob size is the only thing we care about and the only reason that would justify a script obviously!

Quote from: kira21 ♡♡♡ on April 25, 2014, 12:51:39 PM
No I got my GP to prescribe it but now I am going under gic meds they will stop it.  When they say it 'does nothing' they are talking about feminisation, specifically boob size.  There are lots of studies that show it has effects on cognitive function,  cardiovascular disease, thyroid function and a range of other things but no,  boob size is the only thing we care about and the only reason that would justify a script obviously!

I didn't even really know about progesterone until recently.  I'm going to see if I can get my endo to prescribe me it as well and or get her opinion on whether it's needed.  Of course all we care about as mtfs are boobs.  It's not like anything else in our lives has relevance, lol. 
 

I have definitely felt a decrease in my short term memory capacity- I really feel like an air head! It really frustrates me. It has really effected my performance at work, and my partner has to remind me 3 times to do something or I just forget.

I was making pizza deliveries last week, and I took 4 orders on one drive, forgot their receipts, forgot one persons drink, left my delivery tally on the top of my car and later found it in the parking lot. I was crying on my way to each house. It really worries me, because I am going to start applying to colleges for my undergrad soon...

I experienced the opposite and started HRT about half way through my Master's thesis. I found that with the raging beast of the dysphoria tamed I was able to not only absorb information more easily but to also think about things at a greater depth. This doesn't seem to have changed yet - my job is very mentally taxing so I like to think I would notice. Could there be something else causing it? Maybe a false correlation suggested by  reading that it does happen?

Rosie

What was the question again? LOL

I'm just as scatterbrained as I ever was, but this week I had my grocery list on my iphone but it died when I got to the store and was able to remember everything I needed anyway. 

I was always forgetting things before HRT, too busy and distracted and not paying attention were the main culprits. I'm possibly a bit better now I'm on HRT, like Emily a bit less single focus and driven but better at multiple tasks...memory seems the same if not a bit better.

my ability to focus and stay calm improved, but my short term memory took a small hit, just enough for me to notice, and it was more of a air head type hit. I can remenber it, but sometimes when I need it most it wont manifest in my noggin.

I have noticed myself becoming a bit more scatter-brained since starting HRT, forgetting little things like my keys or what I'm shopping for a bit more often, but not really enough that's it's made too much of significant difference. Mostly it's just little stupid things. When I really focus on something, and when I'm actively trying to remember and learn, I'm just as capable as ever.

I think it's mainly just that my brain is a bit more distractable recently, and the active short-term memory can only hold so many things at once, so when I get distracted I forget things that I otherwise would have stayed focused on.

Actually, I find my memory is slightly improved. Just yesterday I was reminding my wife of a couple things she'd forgotten. Prior to HRT it was usually the other way around.

Maybe it's because I'm not as distracted. I feel like I can focus better now that dysphoria has subsided some.

 I lose short term memory every time the meds get tweaked, sometimes worse than others.  Now its only a day or two.

was bad in the beginniing.  Got better later on, after about 3-4  months

These meds are heavy duty... and they work;)

I write stuff down a lot at work to protect myself.

Memory depends of hell lot of stuff,, but, I kind of have a decrease in short term mem since recently...

In fact, I am doing an experiment sort of a thing these days about my memory capacity. I always had a good memory that can be called as a semi-photographic memory. for any examination I wait till the very last moment and I just go through things once and I always end up getting 95++.. (Ok I am not boasting....). my point is,  since recently i am not able to do so like that. Now I have to read the same text several times to get something inside.. and now i am in 80s-90s level...

Normally, in an hour, I could effectively read and grasp information of more than 40-50 pages of advance study material. Now it has gone down to 20-25.
My conditions around me still remains the same as before I started hormones. I don't have any distractions or anything to be more stressed...... and most of all the subjects I am doing now are the easiest comparing to ones I have done in the past...

anyways,,,I am not coming to any conclusions,,, I will update you all about my results of the personal experiment... but then again it won't be valid as I have only one subject, who is my self.. but at least I can find a reason for my sudden memory loss.. :).. or just rule out hormones and carry on...

Even if I will lose mem, I dont care,,,, I love HRT... :)... I am just curious...

Tashiya,,,..

That would be great. I'd like to forget anything about being male & only enjoy being normal/a woman.

I haven't noticed any significant changes to my memory, short or long term, but I am infinitely more organised!
I wouldn't be able to get anything done previously and now I've such a busy schedule that I wonder if I'm pushing myself too far, but I get everything done!
Except maybe "Me" time, I neglect that. You always hurt the one you love :p

It would be interesting to hear the hormone regimen of those who have commented.

I experienced a profound change in my memory functions, but it has not been detrimental to my studies or profession. Let me explain.

BEFORE:
Growing up I inherited very high natural T levels. Working my way through school, including an ivy league college career, learning foreign languages, and embarking on a technical career, I strengthened with practice and discipline the memory faculties that are enhanced by T. I navigated by studying a map and imprinting the image in my mind; I could take wrong turns but never get lost. I pictured complex organic molecules as 3 dimensional wholes floating and rotating in space. I knew where I put my keys and my car because I carried a spatial model of the house or carpark in my head and could reach in my mind to the spot where I put the image of the object, corresponding to its location in real life.
To prepare for tests I would create structured lists and crib notes, then photographically memorize them, working repeatedly through the list so key words in the image would connect to rote or semirote explanations unfolding in multiple dimensions.
I constructed memory palaces to hold complex bodies of knowledge and walked the halls, adding to my collections.
I would make lists of key info about each friend and acquaintance and memorize it spatially.

AFTER: Initial regime, and two subsequent dosage increases, I had to adjust my techniques to the subtle but profound shift in my faculties. Long term was all there but how I make new memories changed. I started losing items, losing myself, and losing information that I used my old habitual methods to store for recall. I realized that what made memories stay or melt away now was not the clarity of the image in space, but the connections to other things and people, the relationships as you will, and the emotions and stories attached to them. Associate a feeling, emotional and sensual, and it stays for recall. Put it in an emotionally meaningful narrative and complex knowledge is retained amazingly well. I navigate now by landmarks and memories of my experiences (real or imagined) associated with the landmarks and route. I remember stuff about people by the emotions and smells and touch and color and taste and sound and feelings and conversations involved. Concepts are less abstract floating free and now woven into tight webs of meaning and association. I remember what I was feeling when I set the keys down and I immediately recall where I set them and the things I was saying doing and feeling at the moment.

After relearning how I learn, I am much more capable with school and professional. I keep a lot of the trivia I crammed in my head before, in external memory systems, the knowledge equivelent if a woman's purse.

personally, I haven't had any memory lose or gain since starting HRT but I did only start a few days ago. I have noticed changes in the way I think such as thinking a little more rationally, using logic instead of desperation, and being a little more moody.

My meds went from sublingual to oral and my short term memory is (temporarily) shot.

Oh well.  lol

I've had no loss or gain in memory since HRT. I do seem to multitask and list better while doing other things.

I am like Carrie Liz;
My short term memory has definitely been affected since I have been on HRT. Thsats said I can now do myultiple tasks and my  creastivemess already  good has gone up a notch.
Just yesterday I was packing up some stuff in a Bournemouth Hotel where I was staying. I had got dressed, put my make up on and gone down for breakfast - lots of nice people said good morning madam.  I was wearing a turquoise  top, black mini skirt, block sheer stockings and black flat shoes feeling very relaxed. I had a nice breakfast, felt great and then went to the ladies, had a... then powdered my nose and put on some fresh lipstick and mascara, went back up to my room grabbed my bags to check out then thought.......Gripes where are my car keys!!

It took retracing my steps and pulling all my unpacking out of the cases, before I found it at the bottom of my make up bag. I then remembered taking it out in the ladies loo thinking I should move the car nearer to the Hotel entrance. In my haste to redo my lipstick, I must have dropped it into my make up bag and put that into my purse.

Duh!!

I used to be a very one dimensional thinker - I would focus in extreme detail on an issue to the exclusion of anything else going on around me, finish that issue, and then move on to the next issue. One of my main problem solving abilities was to model things in my mind in 3d and spin them around and examine them from all sides. I work as a software engineer so both of these abilities were extremely handy.

Now? Pretty much every morning when I get to work it's "what did I forget this morning?" I forget to take my meds, I leave my lunch packed up and sitting on the counter in the house, I forget my access card to get into the building, and so on. I have adult ADD so that's part of it, but it has taken on a new dimension since HRT.

With the increased forgetfulness comes the ability to think of many other things at the same time - I can multitask now. I forget the little daily things but I remember the important stuff. My ability to focus and exclude everything else and model in 3d in my head really doesn't work anymore, but I seem to have developed other ways to think about problems and solve them.

I also catch myself "drifting away" far more than I used to (ADD) which is a very dangerous thing to do when I'm driving.

As for memory loss, no.  I am able to recall almost anything if I take the time to go through the world in my mind, however this can take time.  But when I did start HRT I did notice that my higher logical skills seemed to lapse and I had a hard time concentrating on tasks (would drift off or stare at something knowing what it was but not knowing what it was at the exact same time).  This lapse started about a month in and left in about another 30-45 days.  I would now say that I am back to where I was before in regards to mental acuity, but my communication has gone from strongly robotic and a lot more emotive.

Oh, and I've started dropping stuff more.  One of my female friends thought that females tend to grip things with less force than males and so they tend to drop things more.