Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I've been on HRT for 31 months. I have to say the first year was bumpy wondering if it was working or wondering if I was doing the right thing. The second year was better, my face getting feminine and my breasts taking off I started to relax and just take things normally. The third year has been really good with full time being proper and being accepted in my neighborhood . I can truey say now that this was the right move and has stopped my severe depression for the most part. I still worry about practical survival needs , but the torment of my gender is gone.

How long? About 24 hours? :)

I knew quickly within the first few weeks. Then began a short period of kicking myself because i had not done it earlier.

Within a week.  I felt much happier, and more accepting of myself. At first it was an undefinable feeling, then it hit me - it was the absence of dysphoria!  Having lived decades with self-loathing and shame, I had forgotten what it was like to be okay with myself. It was a nice feeling.  Not that everything has been all hearts and flowers since then, but I know now I can never go back to being male and be happy.

~Terri

About 7 years before I started the first time I knew it was the answer.


Sapere Aude

I think for me finally being full time and the remaining doubts melting away my brain just seems to finally accept this path totally. I posted this because today I just sat back and said yea. The first dayI had E I was in euphoria because it had taken 40 years from the time I first tried to figure out if I could get away with stealing my sisters birth control pills.When I realized that wasn't possible I thought about breaking into a pharmacy then I just gave up and turned to LSD which temporarily stopped the pain, but wasn't what I truly needed. So yea, first dose immediate relief , but then it has taken 31 months to be totally free. The combination of actual physical and mental change and living properly is amazing.

I knew "this" was the answer long before I got hormones. Back when I went through it, I didn't even think HRT was a thing. I'm not sure I ever got the right HRT in fact. And I only took hormones a few years... some years after my surgery.

Quote from: RobynD on June 06, 2016, 03:38:35 PM
I knew quickly within the first few weeks. Then began a short period of kicking myself because i had not done it earlier.

This! Can't help but think what would have been possible if I had the courage when I was younger. Alas, can't change the past.

I just didn't know how to go about it  plus there wasn't muxh help in the medical community when I was growing up.

I was pretty sure it was the answer at a month when I realized my breasts were already growing, ahead of the best schedule I could have hoped for.

There are still problems, my sex drive is still more or less missing at a little under 6 months out and I'm seeking answers to how to find it again, or find a more feminine sexuality.

I'm also terrified of surgery and so if the best outcome still feels like hormones + GRS and I'm not sure I could stay on transition level doses if I don't go through with GRS.

Back during the dawn of time when I first tried low dose HRT, within a few weeks I had no doubt how much it help me emotionally.

Back 7 years ago when I tried to tell myself Low-Dose was the way to go.... I was only fooling myself. I knew long before, months before, what I needed to do to save my life

for those who need it , it sure does wonders

For sure for sure?  4 months in when I came out to my family and friends in person. 

Pretty much after the first time I took HRT. It felt pretty wonderful. I'm still going through that first year of impatience and wondering if it'll work well for me. I've gotten a little bit of hair back and hoping for more. And my boobs seem to be going nuts and changing the most, so it's a bit awkward. My skin is totally great looking now though.

Two or three weeks I guess. Dysphoria disappeared super quickly. It was awesome.

The next day. I still tried to stop it though. That didn't work out so well.

About 30 seconds after my first Estrace pill dissolved. Sure, I had an extremely bumpy ride with the Finasteride. But, that's long gone.

Quote from: Laura_Squirrel on June 09, 2016, 01:53:20 AM
About 30 seconds after my first Estrace pill dissolved.

LOL!  I just took my first dose today, and found myself dancing around the kitchen, grinning and damn near crying from happiness.  OK, 'just' a psychological boost.  It's all in my head.  And ain't that the point?

:)  :)  :)

congrats

I knew way before taking hormones that this was the right decision, would had never started them unless I knew it was the right decision.

About 2 minutes......... :)

By lunch.

Before they arrived I knew T was my problem and reducing it was important to save myself but was genuinely unsure what E would do to me as a person.

3 days after starting I got the first concrete proof for me..... my first dream in over 30 years.
Dreamt every night since and love it.

Will never give them up  ;D

Quote from: Michelle_P on June 09, 2016, 11:14:33 PM
LOL!  I just took my first dose today, and found myself dancing around the kitchen, grinning and damn near crying from happiness.  OK, 'just' a psychological boost.  It's all in my head.  And ain't that the point?

Well, now I'm on day 11, at full strength on spirolactone, and after the last couple of days I am absolutely certain it's the right choice.  Emotions are running close to the surface, the old 'flat effect' is fading away with no effort, and there's a strong sense of calm beneath the surface.

It's like I've been living with a buzzing angry beehive in my head for decades, and I was so used to it that it didn't consciously register.  Ah, but now it's gone, and the quiet is wonderful!

It was about 3-4 weeks for me.  Very gradual and subtle, which is not what I expected.  But I'm fine with that.  :)

I always say it was like a forest fire that was burning in my brain for 45 years..... After 24 hours - it had gone out and after 4-5 days - the smoke completely cleared....

The sun came out for the first time in my life... I think it would be a lot like a blind person seeing a sunrise for the first time... Undefinable calm and beauty for me.

Quote from: Michelle_P on June 21, 2016, 11:26:11 AM
Emotions are running close to the surface, the old 'flat effect' is fading away with no effort, and there's a strong sense of calm beneath the surface.

"Flat effect"? Could you expand on that?

My first foray in 1996, it was inside of a week that I realized the answer was now my path.  After a few months, I questioned again when the emotions started to go out of control and by seven months, it was still the answer but I could not have transition and HRT be my priority.  It took about a day when I recently started HRT again to know that the cart was on the correct path again.

This time has been much smoother than the last and I am happy, content with how it is all going.  Guess overall maturity has allowed me to stay within reasonable control of the emotional energy this time.

Quote from: Fresas con Nata on June 22, 2016, 04:17:59 PM
"Flat effect"? Could you expand on that?

I've been emotionally 'distant', sort of not engaging with others, my whole life.  I suspect much of this was hiding behind a male persona, a construct that let me hide while effectively passing as male to others.  In other words, I didn't let my feelings show out of fear that they would show me to be feminine.  I presented the world with an affectation or image that was emotionally flat.  I learned to be this way early in elementary school.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_affect_display

About a week in i felt better my anxiety eased and i just knew i was on the right track.  But it took a lot of patients to see results but the inner feelings were the most important thing to me all the best in your journey

It's been a pretty amazing feeling since the first day. I've so much wanted this my entire life and the release of actually do it is phenomenal  .