Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Community Conversation => Transitioning => Hormone replacement therapy => Topic started by: jessicadee on August 09, 2016, 04:16:00 PM

Title: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: jessicadee on August 09, 2016, 04:16:00 PM
I just started hrt almost a day ago and I have noticed that my mind has quieted down immensely. I always though I was hard of hearing and never realized that I had such a loud(high) level of white-noise in my head. I have a friend who is very soft spoken and I always have to ask her to speak up or I have to be looking right at her to hear her, but not today. I am sure this is all just a part of the placebo effect but who know, I though I would just put it out there to see if anyone else had a similar or completely different experience. Lol, I just had my first cry writing this...

tl;dr : tinnitus like noise in head disappears after starting hrt. Placebo-effect, maybe? What was your experience.   
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: Rachel on August 09, 2016, 06:57:56 PM
It took me 3 months to get use to the quiet. Yes, I had the background noise in my head too.
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: Eevee on August 09, 2016, 07:12:28 PM
Yes, absolutely. My mind used to be an absolute mess. I'm not 100% yet, but all that background noise is down to tolerable levels now. Every step forward helps a little bit more.
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: Ella_bella on August 09, 2016, 07:14:57 PM
Definitely.
I feel not just a quieter head... but a general calmness most of the time. Its the times where my dysphoria creeps in and things get a little noisy and less calm.
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: Gwen Rhydderch on August 09, 2016, 07:32:18 PM
Are you referring to an auditory hallucination (ie tinnitus) or are you using metaphorical language to describe your mental state?

There is a growing body of evidence which suggests HRT in the form of estradiol can actually trigger tinnitus in (biological) females.
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: Eevee on August 09, 2016, 07:38:17 PM
Quote from: Gwen Rhydderch on August 09, 2016, 07:32:18 PM
Are you referring to an auditory hallucination (ie tinnitus) or are you using metaphorical language to describe your mental state?

There is a growing body of evidence which suggests HRT in the form of estradiol can actually trigger tinnitus in (biological) females.
I'm not sure if the initial post meant that, but that's not what my answer meant. I personally have PTSD and it's difficult to control my anxiety. A lot of thoughts from bad places in my past push their way through into my head until all I can think about is how worthless I am. Adjusting my body image and getting the proper hormones in place has helped me dramatically in that sense. A good number of my issues from before revolve around that and the confidence boost has helped me ignore it all. Also, as someone else said, it has made me a lot calmer than before.
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: jessicadee on August 10, 2016, 03:23:26 AM
Quote from: Gwen Rhydderch on August 09, 2016, 07:32:18 PM
Are you referring to an auditory hallucination (ie tinnitus) or are you using metaphorical language to describe your mental state?

There is a growing body of evidence which suggests HRT in the form of estradiol can actually trigger tinnitus in (biological) females.

This is really difficult for me to explain. I never noticed the "white-noise" until it was gone. I still have tinnitus, but it has shifted to a higher frequency. I really think this is psychosomatic, but then again I have heard that gender dysphoria can manifest differently for everyone. 

I can't wait till I start feeling the calming effects. Thank you all for your input thus far. It's nice to know I am not crazy.
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: LucyNewport on August 10, 2016, 08:45:59 AM
Hi Jessica! I wonder if the sound is stress related? I used to get panic attacks that had an auditory component. I can say that I am way way more relaxed in general than I was pre-HRT. I'm a fairly anxious person by nature so even that hasn't gone away completely...
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: RobynD on August 10, 2016, 11:52:52 AM
My mental changes began to occur within a couple of weeks. Calm and loss of depression and anxiety, so i would call that a quieter mind.
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: Michelle_P on August 10, 2016, 10:28:58 PM
I never had anything auditory.  My 'noise' was just random short distracting thoughts, mental clutter that broke my ability to concentrate and distracted me.  It largely faded away on anti-androgens after a few weeks.   Adding Estrodiol into the mix improved my emotional state, at the expense of some swings that I'm learning to process.
Title: Re: Question: Has your mind quieted down after starting HRT??
Post by: Melanie CT on August 11, 2016, 05:57:03 AM
I've been on HRT for over two years and I am more calm. My depression has faded a great deal and started to come off my depression medication slowly. I'm on a medium dose and it is a life saver.

I never thought about the noise in my head but it does make sense.  There was always something going on in there. But now there is less and its calmer and quieter.


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