Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Ya ya I know, your all thinking "She's gotta be joking right?" well I'm not. The past two months at around the same time in the month I've experienced all the symptoms of a period (ie bloating, breast tenderness, acne, low energy, cramps in my stomach, back and legs, and irritability [extreme at times[) without the bleeding of course. I do know that HRT can and usually does produce those results, but I'm pretty sure it's not in a certain time frame of the month. So my question is what in the hell is going on and has this happened to anyone else.

Thanks everyone,
Krista  

Maybe cycling meds?

I'd expect you'd get something like that without the blood. Estrogen is estrogen, whether in a natal girl or no.

Quote from: lisagurl on January 20, 2008, 10:31:18 AM
Maybe cycling meds?

That's the funny thing. I've heard of those syptoms while upping your dosage or lowering it, but one I haven't done that and two this happens literally at a certain time of the month, Lol.

Quote from: Nero on January 20, 2008, 11:05:11 AM
I'd expect you'd get something like that without the blood. Estrogen is estrogen, whether in a natal girl or no.

Have you ever heard of this happening before though in anyone? I was under the impression that a menstral cycle, including all of it's syptoms, could not happen. Don't get me wrong, I like just the thought that I might be getting a menstral cycle (and I know that might be a little weird) but I just want to know how it can happen. ;)

The monthly menstrual cycle is documented by the wide swing in hormones in the blood. Why would your hormone level be changing?

Quote from: lisagurl on January 20, 2008, 03:02:22 PM
The monthly menstrual cycle is documented by the wide swing in hormones in the blood. Why would your hormone level be changing?

I have no idea. I stay on a very tight regimen, I'm usually no more them about a half of an hour late with my meds (which does not happen very often), I NEVER miss a dose, and I haven't changed my dose. It's very odd.

Quote from: Ashley Michelle on January 20, 2008, 03:42:33 PM
i get *real* bitchy/weepy/depressed/achy usually the day before i change my patches

I'm on oral form so that wouldn't be the case with me. ;)

Quote from: Renate on January 20, 2008, 05:22:52 PM
Hi Krista:

I'm on oral, too and have a very steady response with no ups and downs.

The only thing I can think of, and it's a very slim chance, is that you have an ovary.
At your age it's just possible that an ovary would start getting active.
Has the doctor monitoring your hormone levels noticed anything?
Document the dates in a diary so that you'll have something for reference.

No, I'm not saying any of this is likely, but when you rule out everything else, what's left needs another look.

Renate

Actually I got my T levels checked about 6 weeks ago and they were normal BUT they never did check my E levels and even before the HRT and I did have a bit of breast growth, my bones have always been small and stayed small, and my voice was deepening but not really as much as other boys my age (not to mention the fact most people thought I was a girl before HRT and before I went fulltime.) So really I am thinking the same thing that you suggested, maybe I do have an ovary. I know that it is a long-shot but I've seen weirder and I do know that it is only a possibility.

Anyway I am going to take your advice and start documenting my symptoms and documenting the actual dates when they happen. Thanks for the help. :D

Krista

Yes it does happen, some girls do experience PMS type symptoms. I get them on the 4th of most months sometimes they are as minor as a headache and other times I get full and severe PMS symptoms. But it's up and down for me sometimes I think it was just in my head cuz I missed a month then on or around the 4th I get unmistakable signs that can be severe. But yes some girls get the symptoms, but I've never heard of any T-girl getting actual cramps.

Are you talking about PMS moments?  Yes, I do have them frequently without the monthly bleeding, of course.

tink :icon_chick:

Quote from: Jessica G on January 20, 2008, 07:38:49 PM
Yes it does happen, some girls do experience PMS type symptoms. I get them on the 4th of most months sometimes they are as minor as a headache and other times I get full and severe PMS symptoms. But it's up and down for me sometimes I think it was just in my head cuz I missed a month then on or around the 4th I get unmistakable signs that can be severe. But yes some girls get the symptoms, but I've never heard of any T-girl getting actual cramps.

There are definitely some cramping pains involved in this and they can hurt pretty bad.

Quote from: Tink on January 20, 2008, 08:31:03 PM
Are you talking about PMS moments?  Yes, I do have them frequently without the monthly bleeding, of course.

tink :icon_chick:

I wouldn't really call them moments... more like week or days of the week and weekend. They always are pretty distinct too in the way they come. I get cramping, bloating, irritability and pretty much everything else after that. Lol.

Hmmm...yes I know what you mean.  Hormones will do that to you ;)  Yeah, days, weeks, months, years, decades...LOL  ;D

*hides*

tink :icon_chick:

Quote from: Tink on January 20, 2008, 09:16:51 PM
Hmmm...yes I know what you mean.  Hormones will do that to you ;)  Yeah, days, weeks, months, years, decades...LOL  ;D

*hides*

tink :icon_chick:

Lol. Well it actually happens like this, I usually start around the 12th-15th of the month and I get most of the symptoms of PMS excluding the bleeding and around the 20th-26th of the month I dradually stop getting those symptoms and they disappeare till the next month around the same time and that has been happening for the last two months.

Um, I am not extremely consistent with the time of day I take my meds. however I do get really irritable about once a month, but I've always been like that, even before HRT.

So I take it, 'for best results," you need to take them the same time each day?

Quote from: Angel on January 23, 2008, 02:21:00 AM
Um, I am not extremely consistent with the time of day I take my meds. however I do get really irritable about once a month, but I've always been like that, even before HRT.

So I take it, 'for best results," you need to take them the same time each day?

Me too, I'm the same way. I've been like that for quite a while, even before HRT, as a matter of a fact it started at puberty and now it's just gotten more intense and there have been more effects that I've seen that follow a typical female pattern menstrual cycle.

Also, to your question, it's a good idea if your on a regimen with any medicine or drug that you take it the same time in the day as it is just a goo habit to get into. ;)

My endo cycles me on progesterone for 12 days out of the month. the first 4 or 5 days, it's painful and i can get really irritable. but i just love it. i look forward to it.

Quote from: Jessica G on January 20, 2008, 07:38:49 PM
I get them on the 4th of most months sometimes they are as minor as a headache and other times I get full and severe PMS symptoms. But it's up and down for me sometimes I think it was just in my head cuz I missed a month then on or around the 4th I get unmistakable signs that can be severe.

My experience has been similar to Jessica's, but mine is more emotional than physical. I am also taking Progesterone for 21 days then sugar pills for 7. I don't know whether it's the shots or the Prog. or maybe a combination of both, but it is almost like clockwork with me. It's around the 10th or 11th of the month when I have 2-3 pills left before I start the sugar pills. I think it's the Prog. only because I have the emotions and they don't seem to correlate to the shots.

I don't really think about it that much, I just know that I might be a little more emotional than usual for a few days out of the month and I allow myself the freedom to feel the emotions.

That's just me though :) Meghan

Quote from: Krista on January 20, 2008, 12:44:19 PM
Have you ever heard of this happening before though in anyone? I was under the impression that a menstral cycle, including all of it's syptoms, could not happen. Don't get me wrong, I like just the thought that I might be getting a menstral cycle (and I know that might be a little weird) but I just want to know how it can happen. ;)

To me.  I went through this most every month in synch with whoever the alpha female in the house was.  It didn't stop until I was put on a strong enough HRT regimen to overcome it.  If you were exposed to enough estrogen before you were born, it will cause your hypothalimus to cycle your hormone levels instead of keep them steady.

Quote from: Krista on January 20, 2008, 09:12:46 PM

Quote from: Jessica G on January 20, 2008, 07:38:49 PM
But yes some girls get the symptoms, but I've never heard of any T-girl getting actual cramps.

There are definitely some cramping pains involved in this and they can hurt pretty bad.

I haven't had that since I was a teenager.

Quote from: ell on January 23, 2008, 03:28:14 AM
My endo cycles me on progesterone for 12 days out of the month. the first 4 or 5 days, it's painful and i can get really irritable. but i just love it. i look forward to it.

If you're cycling progesterone then of course you're going to have a monthly cycle.

I am very new to this whole thing but I can say that I have experienced really bad cramps in the abdomen.  I just figured it was something to do with the Anti Androgen, without breaking forum rules its the AA that happens to be a diaretic.  Sorry if thats too much info.  I wasn't emotional before I started HRT but I think its done something to me in that aspect because I cried during Batman Begins which obviously isn't a "chick" flick and I was watching it with friends too really embarassing.  As for moodiness, well I was born with plenty of that now I got something to blame it on. 

I get PMS, even though my meds are the same, I don't cycle, and etc. Some people will tell you that this doesn't happen, or only if you cycle your Progesterone, or while others (like myself) experience it and it is real, with no med changes. Mine can get wicked bad at times.

So, you're not crazy, or delusional, etc. Different people just experience HRT differently; not everyone's biology is going to be the same, in other words. Some people just don't, and never will, experience PMS, while others might only while cycling their meds, and then there are a few who actually have PMS. I don't know if age is a factor, but it could be also biological factors, as your body has it's own hormones and produces Progesterone and it could be producing it's own supply and fluctuating the levels like a natal woman would.

--natalie

i'm a mad woman all the time ;)

here's a question I have saved for my next Endo appointment in March.  Both my mother and sister suffer from that PMS disorder where their symptoms are extreme and almost unbearable.  I think its called pmdd or something like that.  Anyway I am wondering if I start my own form of PMS from the medication I wonder if I might develop the same disorder. 

Quote from: Kateri on January 27, 2008, 08:58:20 AM
here's a question I have saved for my next Endo appointment in March.  Both my mother and sister suffer from that PMS disorder where their symptoms are extreme and almost unbearable.  I think its called pmdd or something like that.  Anyway I am wondering if I start my own form of PMS from the medication I wonder if I might develop the same disorder. 

That's a likely possiblility, if you have the gene in your body which hereditarily gives you that disorder it very well might activate. I'm not an expert though (although I'd like to think of myself as one. Lol) so you should defnitely ask your endo about it. ;)

Quote from: Krista on January 27, 2008, 11:24:25 PM

Quote from: Kateri on January 27, 2008, 08:58:20 AM
here's a question I have saved for my next Endo appointment in March.  Both my mother and sister suffer from that PMS disorder where their symptoms are extreme and almost unbearable.  I think its called pmdd or something like that.  Anyway I am wondering if I start my own form of PMS from the medication I wonder if I might develop the same disorder. 

That's a likely possiblility, if you have the gene in your body which hereditarily gives you that disorder it very well might activate. I'm not an expert though (although I'd like to think of myself as one. Lol) so you should defnitely ask your endo about it. ;)

I don't think anyone has demonstrated a genetic cause of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD).  I'm not convinced that it should be listed as a mental disorder at all.  Yes, some women are subject to severe physical symptoms, but that doesn't make it a mental illness.

I didn't read all the replys to this post, so I'm not sure if this has been brought up. I knew and mtf who started her hormone therapy and she was noticing some of the same types of symptoms, she said she felt like she was on a period. She went and got everything checked out and found out she was actually intersexed. I can't remember the exact percent of development of her female organs, but i want to say her female organs were about 70% developed, which caused these symptoms to occur. Just something to throw out there, you might be interested in getting checked out.

Quote from: jet3 on February 06, 2008, 01:19:03 PM
I didn't read all the replys to this post, so I'm not sure if this has been brought up. I knew and mtf who started her hormone therapy and she was noticing some of the same types of symptoms, she said she felt like she was on a period. She went and got everything checked out and found out she was actually intersexed. I can't remember the exact percent of development of her female organs, but i want to say her female organs were about 70% developed, which caused these symptoms to occur. Just something to throw out there, you might be interested in getting checked out.

Actually that has crossed my mind a couple of times and I have thought about possibly going to get a test done on it. Not to mention it would explain lots of things, why I'm definitely shorter then most males my age, my hands and feet are very small, why my hips are so large, why my waist has been small and is very small right now, why I was developing breasts when I it puberty, why my facial features are so feminine, not to mention the thing that has kept me scratching my head "Why am I getting period like symptoms?". I really am leaning toward doing it just to find out.

Anywho, thanks for posting this jet3. It defnitely helped me a lot. :D

That's what was going on with her. She was always very fem. she also said when she first hit puberty she noticed breast growing then as she got a little bit older they went away, and her voice never got very deep and she never grew hair on her face, like most 16 year old boys. She is also about 5'5" and very little. So yea, that could be a possibility. Good luck with everything though, hope you figure things out!
Jet