Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Community Conversation => Transsexual talk => Female to male transsexual talk (FTM) => Topic started by: notyouraverageguy on December 20, 2010, 09:30:36 PM

Title: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: notyouraverageguy on December 20, 2010, 09:30:36 PM
Also, what do you do to cope with them?
And do any of you still pack or use your stp while on it?

PMSing and having a period makes me feel weak and like a girl. You know, being extra sensitive and emotional, having cramps and headaches and being in so much pain. Having to worry about "changing", and not wanting to go out or do anything.

One thing that helps me usually forget, after the first day cause thats usually my heaviest and most painful(just the worst cause you havent had it, you knkow)..Tampons, they work wonders to help you forget your even on it.

But idk sometimes I just feel really girly, so do any of you use packing to help you feel more like the man you are?

I hate this :(
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Sharky on December 20, 2010, 09:37:52 PM
I don't really feel different. I don't pack or have a stp. It's just a hassle and my pants fit snugger. Whenever I'm feeling down I just play video games.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: rexgsd on December 20, 2010, 09:42:52 PM
well, of course if it isn't enough that i'm a guy born in a chicks body and i think its disgusting, i have to have the female's cycles too. and even worse, they are really heavy and ->-bleeped-<-ing gross and horrible. excuse my french.
but basically, those few days, my mind just goes on full blast of 'blocking out' everything basically (the same thing i have to do when i shower, etc, but atleast a shower isnt 5 days long :/ )
i just say "i dont give a damn, ill go to the bathroom a hundred times during work,  i dont care what people think, but im not gonna sit here in my own female filth and rot and feel disgusting and womanly'. i dont use tampons, eww gross nothing is going in that female private area thats on me. i use pads, and i dont  care i use the biggest overnight whatever ones or else ill be going to 'change' them every 5 minutes instead of every 30 minutes or w.e., ugh. but yeah, i dont use my stp =( cause its just too much, and would interfere with my minds extreme blocking-out of everything. i still pack though, but partly because i have a weird layering method so its between my 'real' underwear where the pad is and stuff and another pair of underwear over it, so its safe so to say.

but yeah...i mean, i wouldnt say it makes me not a guy anymore, but it definitly doesnt make me feel like a regular guy. its like having a weird disorder that only girls get, and you happen to be one of the few guys that get it. in that case, how would you be able to feel very guyish? but yeah, i just block out everything those few days and get the hell through it, then after wards, i come back to earth and keep on living, haha.

(wow that was a long post lol. anyways, hope that helps a bit =P )
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: notyouraverageguy on December 20, 2010, 10:26:10 PM
Sharky, what system do you have? I would play video games but I dont have any :/

Rex,
I feel you, Its a real pain that I wish we didnt have to deal with.
It makes me feel vulnerable, and like im not tough lol idk I just try to get through the first day then im usualy good.
Yeah I wear 2 layers of undies also. And I think that trying to STP would be an extra hassle to having to go to the restroom every few hours.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Sharky on December 20, 2010, 10:39:51 PM
Xbox 360, PS3, and a Wii that I never play. I'm going to start playing WoW too. You could play PC games.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Mr.Rainey on December 20, 2010, 11:20:01 PM
Nope. The first day I am in so much pain I pass out and vomit. I feel pretty angry around it. Not because of PMS but the blind rage that I cannot have control over this body and that I am sick of it. I punch walls, cuss, yell and act like a complete bastard. The rest of the week I kinda avoid people. I still act kind of edgy because its not supposed to happen to me. Sometimes I drink and smoke after the first day because I get so fed up. I want this thing gone, and I wanna be better but I'm still in the closet because I want to keep my family. I tried to ask my doc for just a hysto and she won't listen, I know that I should seek someone else but I don't know if any transfolk are allowed surgery and no hormones. I guess i am blathering on but I am just so frustrated and pissed off that theres nothing else for me to do.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Tad on December 21, 2010, 12:15:46 AM
I view it as annoying and painful, but it's not the end of the world. I still pack but no STP as I really don't want to deal with bloody crappy bodily fluids on my stp. I use the big overnight pads too, so I don't have to change them every hour or so. I can throw one on and try and forget about it for 5+ hours.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Alexmakenoise on December 21, 2010, 12:33:59 AM
Mine aren't bad.  I wear pads and otherwise don't think about it.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: ilanthefirst on December 21, 2010, 01:30:49 AM
I feel defeated when I see that it's started, but then I can sort of talk myself out of feeling like less of a man.  I say to myself, "this is an opportunity to prove how much of a man you are" by some silly macho standards that basically boil down to stoicism and try to just deal with it quietly and pretend it's not even happening.  The worst part for me is wearing girl underwear, because pads and boxers don't mix, but I can mostly forget about that except for when I go to bed and when I wake up, the only times I change my clothes. 

Oh, and I do use my STP (a pStyle) all month long, but the open funnel style isn't any trouble to clean. . . if I had an STP packer (or a packer at all), I don't know if I'd use it during shark week.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: jmaxley on December 21, 2010, 01:40:47 AM
Shark week.  There's a good name for it.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: PixieBoy on December 21, 2010, 01:41:18 AM
I "over-compensate" for my "lost" manliness. When I was younger and still closeted, I borrowed father's shower gel and used it then. Now I simply play violent video games and listen to music with more screaming (L7 and Hole are very good). I also try to look at "manly" videos and such things, and generally overcompensate.

I don't get PMS, I get PMH. premenstrual happiness. I get happy, confident and sex-crazed right before the period itself starts, ad I think it might be because the body is washed with T before the period. Most women/female-at-birth apparantly get cranky because of low E, but I get happy and feel awesome because of the high T!
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: LordKAT on December 21, 2010, 03:22:16 AM
-quoted from Mr.Rainey
QuoteI don't know if any transfolk are allowed surgery and no hormones.

My surgeon was willing whether or not I was on hormones. I just happened to get my T letter a bit before I got to my surgery date.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Lukas-H on December 21, 2010, 05:23:55 AM
It doesn't really make me feel anything except pain and annoyance. I hate having to use the pads and use 'different' underwear (I normally wear something akin to boxer-briefs, but pads just don't work in them and I have to use my old 'girly' underwear again every month).

The pain is terrible for a while, sometimes I try to ignore it but I end up giving in and taking pain-killers because I can't focus on anything when it feels like there is a big fist inside crushing my abdomen just below my stomach. The blood sometimes makes me a little dysphoric but I mostly try to ignore the hot, wet feeling and do things like watch movies, play video games or whatever else distracts me. I really try not to make a big deal out of it or complain because I don't see it as a really big thing unless I'm in a lot of pain and feeling really cranky and gross.

The mood swings are annoying as anything too, and I don't really always know how to deal with them, so I don't have much to say there.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Aikotribs on December 21, 2010, 07:00:14 AM

I'm not sure if it make me feel less of a guy, but it certainly doesn't make me feel like a girl.
For coping methods, I'm just a geeky gamer, I go kill stuff in a virtual realty. Since I got anxiety to rooftop proportions I rather stay home in general.
I'm not packing as long as it looks ridiculous on me.

I don't seem to get PMS, or real moodswings, I just get utterly depressed and I'm not really pleasant to be around with. I can be a whine, and I don't like it heh. As for the pain, I'v always imaged them to be a dozen of knives trying to find a way out of my body, thus I drug myself up completely for 2 days so I can somewhat resume my job without feeling like I'm dieing on the spot. I'v been taking pain killers starting from my early teen years, I can't imagine going true it without them.
oh and noting goes down there, just pads thats all. I don't mind the blood, tho its a hateful disgusting mess, and its like a once in a month reminder that 'I have noting down there' isn't really true.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Clay on December 21, 2010, 07:26:55 AM
i manage to ignore it most of the time. i just don't dig the blowfish-look^^
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: meh on December 21, 2010, 08:26:49 AM
Only when I talk about it.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Wolf Man on December 21, 2010, 12:33:04 PM
More and more recently, I've been forgetting about this little bastard. It's nice and joyous and suddenly I'm in pissier moods than I have been. Or maybe I feel like crying a river over something so mundane. That's when it hits me like a sack of bricks and I feel disgusting.

I feel like a woman, I feel wrong, I feel like I'm being punished in a way. I hate it. Being stealth and having these things really don't go together. I feel more self conscious when I have it. I do my best to try and just live through it.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: mm on December 21, 2010, 12:57:35 PM
No guy his blood flowing out of him every month and call it a normal part of being man.  I use tampons so I don't feel that pad between my legs all the time and don't see it every time I pee.  I need only change it 2 or 3 times a day  usually.  That is all I have ever had in me.  I haven't mastered a stp yet, they all seems to all leak, probably need more paractice i n the shower to learn to feel where my urethra opening is.  Don't like to do much feeling around down there.  I should have a hose like guys do so I can just take it out and aim to pee.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: PixieBoy on December 21, 2010, 01:01:19 PM
I tend to forget that I even have a period, as I forget that I have breasts and female parts. I have to think "Oh yeah, I have periods." and "Oh yeah, I have breasts, I can't just take my shirt off in summer." and "Oh, right, I can't pee standing up.".

I must be the most stupid member on this board :)
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: DylanAugusten on December 21, 2010, 01:59:25 PM
Completely. I hate that time of the month and can't imagine ever using sanitary napkins again, I did when I first started but moved over to tampons when I was in high school.

*Side note: I started T two weeks ago(Dec.8th) and a week ago shark week started...and it's still going on. I take my second shot tomorrow and I was just wondering if that's (I don't know) "normal"? Is it likely to stop when I take my second shot?
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Lukas-H on December 21, 2010, 05:50:20 PM
Quote from: mm on December 21, 2010, 12:57:35 PM
No guy his blood flowing out of him every month and call it a normal part of being man.  I use tampons so I don't feel that pad between my legs all the time and don't see it every time I pee.  I need only change it 2 or 3 times a day  usually.  That is all I have ever had in me.  I haven't mastered a stp yet, they all seems to all leak, probably need more paractice i n the shower to learn to feel where my urethra opening is.  Don't like to do much feeling around down there.  I should have a hose like guys do so I can just take it out and aim to pee.

But you have to remember that a lot of people look beyond the genetics part of being a 'man' or a 'woman' or anything else, and then you have to remember that men and women come in all shapes and sizes and bodies. If you are being clinical, then you're mostly right yes.

So there really is no 'normal' part of being a man or a woman, it's normal (or not normal) to each individual and how they feel about the situation, but I can respect that for you it's not a 'normal' part of being a man in your own eyes.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Sharky on December 21, 2010, 09:36:12 PM
Quote from: PixieBoy on December 21, 2010, 01:01:19 PM
I tend to forget that I even have a period, as I forget that I have breasts and female parts. I have to think "Oh yeah, I have periods." and "Oh yeah, I have breasts, I can't just take my shirt off in summer." and "Oh, right, I can't pee standing up.".

I must be the most stupid member on this board :)

Sometimes I forget too.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: aranikace on December 21, 2010, 10:18:47 PM
I don't know if I feel like less of a man more than being just utterly frustrated. I just try to forget about it as much as I can, and keep myself occupied. But it gets to me.

Quote from: Ilan Reshon on December 21, 2010, 01:30:49 AM
The worst part for me is wearing girl underwear, because pads and boxers don't mix

I use tampons, but for the first day or so I usually couple it with a pad. Boxer Briefs are great for this! Just pull them up really high so they're really snug and roll the top down. A little annoying, but it works like a charm and I don't have to wear girly underwear crapola. I haven't owned girls underwear in five or six years and no way I'm buying some just for hell week. ;)
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Alexmakenoise on December 21, 2010, 11:41:31 PM
Quote from: PixieBoy on December 21, 2010, 01:41:18 AM
I don't get PMS, I get PMH. premenstrual happiness. I get happy, confident and sex-crazed right before the period itself starts, ad I think it might be because the body is washed with T before the period. Most women/female-at-birth apparantly get cranky because of low E, but I get happy and feel awesome because of the high T!

Don't mean to put a damper on things, but that sounds like ovulation.  A doctor once explained to me that during ovulation, it's normal to experience an increased sex drive and energy level.  I don't know if androgen levels rise or if other hormones are responsible for it.  Anyway, I experience the same thing - a sort of "high" during ovulation, and then nothing worth mentioning during the bloodletting season.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: SidESlicker on December 21, 2010, 11:59:19 PM
I don't know if I feel like less of a guy, but I feel super disconnected with my body, which is couple with mondo amounts of "what the ->-bleeped-<- is this ->-bleeped-<- this is wrong"

Periods aren't happy moments :(
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Matthew J. F on December 22, 2010, 12:38:12 AM
I try to act more of a man when I'm on my period then I do when I'm not. I see it as a mental challenge.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: JohnR on December 22, 2010, 04:30:44 AM
Quote from: DylanAntonio on December 21, 2010, 01:59:25 PM
*Side note: I started T two weeks ago(Dec.8th) and a week ago shark week started...and it's still going on. I take my second shot tomorrow and I was just wondering if that's (I don't know) "normal"? Is it likely to stop when I take my second shot?

Yes, that's normal. It may take up to six months to stop getting any type of bleeding.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: DylanAugusten on December 22, 2010, 11:06:41 AM
Quote from: JohnR on December 22, 2010, 04:30:44 AM
Yes, that's normal. It may take up to six months to stop getting any type of bleeding.

Haha awesome...Well I did my second shot not too long ago and I'm feeling better...still bleeding but at least I have T in my system. Thanks.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Rossiter on December 22, 2010, 01:46:12 PM
I've also been bleeding since the day before I got my first shot (so this is day 10 when it's normally over in 7-8), which is annoying. At least it's not heavy.

Periods haven't bothered me as much since I had this dream last year about NASCAR drivers being sponsored by tampon companies...long story...
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Sly on December 22, 2010, 01:59:35 PM
Quote from: Mr.Rainey on December 20, 2010, 11:20:01 PM
The first day I am in so much pain I pass out and vomit.
This used to happen to me.  I take birth control, it makes a huge difference.  There is still mild pain but it won't make you throw up.

Anyway, I always get a little crazy around my period.  I get emotional and then get mad at myself for letting my icky female hormones control me.  Not that I can help it.  But I SHOULD be able to.  And then there's the mess...  I stick with pads.  Never used a tampon, the thought of it grosses me out.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Nikolai_S on December 22, 2010, 02:57:00 PM
They make me feel kind of female but not less of a guy. The emotional bit and the fact that I'm having one - female. But a period is bleeding out of your ass and getting mad mood swings that make you want to punch people. It's not really a girly thing. They're bloody manly times.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Yakshini on December 23, 2010, 01:35:51 AM
They don't make me feel like a woman, they don't make me feel like less of a man. I get extremely dysphoric during my period (Ugh. got really uncomfortable even typing "my period"). It makes me think... "What is this? This doesn't happen to guys! This shouldn't happen to guys!"
But as I have mentioned before, my appearance doesn't make me so dysphoric, but the chemical aspects of being female-bodied do. Periods? Pregnancy? Not things I should have ever needed to worry about in my whole life. Sometimes bio-guys have tits, sometimes bio-guys have small penises. But bio-guys never EVER need to worry about getting pregnant or think about the next time they need to change their tampon. >=/
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: ilanthefirst on January 04, 2011, 06:30:37 PM
Quote from: Aranikace on December 21, 2010, 10:18:47 PM
I use tampons, but for the first day or so I usually couple it with a pad. Boxer Briefs are great for this! Just pull them up really high so they're really snug and roll the top down. A little annoying, but it works like a charm and I don't have to wear girly underwear crapola. I haven't owned girls underwear in five or six years and no way I'm buying some just for hell week. ;)
I can't stand hiking up my underwear!  I used to do the same rolling them down thing as a kid because my parents bought me big packs of kid-sized granny panties, because they're dirt cheap, but I've never been able to stand wearing anything higher than a few inches below my navel.  If I had any sewing skills, I'd just take some of the boxer briefs I normally wear and move the waistband lower.  I think I'm going to try men's briefs to see if they're any more tolerable for this purpose.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: KHOL on January 04, 2011, 06:50:49 PM
Quote from: SidESlicker on December 21, 2010, 11:59:19 PM
I don't know if I feel like less of a guy, but I feel super disconnected with my body, which is couple with mondo amounts of "what the <not allowed> is this ->-bleeped-<- this is wrong"

Periods aren't happy moments :(

I feel like this too.
Title: Re: Do periods make you feel like less of a guy?
Post by: Darrin Scott on January 04, 2011, 07:11:24 PM
Quote from: SidESlicker on December 21, 2010, 11:59:19 PMPeriods aren't happy moments :(

I don't think anyone likes getting periods. Many women hate them as well....