Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Community Conversation => Transitioning => Hormone replacement therapy => Topic started by: Jak of hearts on November 15, 2015, 11:07:10 PM

Title: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: Jak of hearts on November 15, 2015, 11:07:10 PM
Ok, so I'm hoping to start HRT soon.  The problem is that I will be starting nursing school at around the same time.  I wasn't worried about this, but my wife tells me that this is a bad idea and wants me to postpone my HRT.  Nursing school is extremely stressful and difficult and she said a few of her friends say that starting HRT is an emotional roller coaster equivalent to being pregnant x5.  She doesn't think its feasible to do both. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions?  Is it really that bad?  Any similar situations?
Title: Re: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: Kassie on November 15, 2015, 11:52:46 PM
Very emotional for the first week or so and  require a lot of sleep the first month or two in my experience good luck


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Title: Re: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: Mariah on November 16, 2015, 03:25:53 AM
Jak of hearts, it differs for all of us and yes it could make you very emotional to start with. I wasn't affected in that way, but if you would have asked others they might have said I was moody at times. You could always ask them to start you on a lower dose if your concerned about it making you emotional and want to want to ease in on it even though you will be starting nursing school. No matter what you study in college, it can possibly always be stressful on you. So many around here have started while in college and haven't had issues. Your call based on what your comfortable with. It might help to talks this over with your therapist too and explain how you feel and what your wife and your concerns are. Hugs
Mariah
Title: Re: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: Obfuskatie on November 16, 2015, 04:42:11 AM
It's been really hard for me to go to grad school while transitioning. I ended up taking a little over a year hiatus near the end of my masters to get my life together legally, surgically, and therapy-wise. I'm back now, but I had some serious difficulties during the last couple semesters before I took the hiatus.


     Hugs,
- Katie
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Title: Re: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: KristinaM on November 20, 2015, 08:29:44 AM
Along the lines of what others have said, you will likely be all over the map for the first few weeks, possibly months even.  I started on a certain dosage, then doubled it after 6 weeks and I've been on that ever since.  It took me probably 4 months since that first pill (with one dosage increase in there) to stabilize emotionally.

Hormones are no joke.  A friend of mine had some really dark times at the beginning too before stabilizing.  I'm not saying don't do it, but I'm saying to take it VERY slowly if you're worried about it affecting your school work.
Title: Re: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: suzifrommd on November 20, 2015, 11:55:35 AM
Quote from: Jak of hearts on November 15, 2015, 11:07:10 PM
Is it really that bad?

No. It was very pleasant. I had one bad day (not sure why - shortly after I started spiro), but in general it was painless.
Title: Re: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: Rachel on November 20, 2015, 08:03:15 PM
Everyone is different.

I have a very stressful job. I report to an EVP and HRT caused me to express how I "felt" twice. The problem was that I expressed it a bit too much. I apologized later and he understood what was going on. He acknowledged he egged me on when he suspected what was gong on.

I became jealous of a work relationship. I realize now what was going on in my head.

I had to close my office door a few time and cry.

When 2 work friends died (not at the same time) I was really emotional.

On the flip side I am much calmer, happy and able to handle difficult situations much easier and with clearer thought.
Title: Re: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: Ashey on November 20, 2015, 09:07:04 PM
I started while in college and am still in, and it has affected my performance. I was living with my now ex-boyfriend at the end of last year all the way up until three months ago. We started having problems during my fall semester last year and it caused me to fail half my courses and that snowballed into more problems which I've only recently sorted out. I'm currently attending now, and have a full load, and it's stressful... I'm very emotional (and my e-levels are on the high side which I'm sure is contributing to that) and I don't handle stress well anyway. It's all about how you can deal with things like that. I often resort to my vices to help me focus, de-stress, and shut my brain up a bit. So it can be hard if you haven't learned to cope with things. Transitioning in itself can be stressful and emotional, so if you add school on top of that, and then relationship stuff, it has the potential of being overwhelming. I mean, I'm two years in and staying out of relationships for now and ehh.. drinking and smoking a bit more than I should, but it's all helped and I have a handle on it all enough that I'm getting pretty good grades. I would recommend starting slow if you're going to do it.
Title: Re: Starting HRT and emotional effects while going to school
Post by: Valwen on November 21, 2015, 03:25:49 AM
I wish I could give a accurate picture from my own life but I have always been a emotional mess swinging between feeling ok and self hatred depression so strong its almost crippling followed by just random sobbing. heck I had laser today and during the treatment which is already painful and stressful she tells me she needs me to come back in a few weeks and dont shave for a day or two before hand so she can see how things are looking. the idea of not shaving for two days is so stressful it started to freak me out and between that and the pain I was in a full panic sobbing laying on the table, in the end she stopped and I am still a mess right now 14 hours later.

But like I said I was a mess before HRT I usually keep it together in public but in private...ya totally broken. Ok went on a tangent long story short, everyone has there own experiances on it.

Serena