I´m posting a lot lately... 
I think I haven´t posted this many questions on any other forum.

But very often I find myself wondering whether other transguys go through the same thing or experience the same. I guess most of the time the answer if that they experience something similar.

I get incredibly uncomfortable with other people around during shark week. Normally I can hide the "femaleness" but during this week I get slightly paranoid about other people being able to "sense" that I´m "no man".

I prefer to keep as much distance between me and other people as possible during this time.
How about you? Do you socialize normally?

I think I was kinda the same now that I think about it. I'm uncomfortable around strangers in general but during that time it extended to being uncomfortable around everyone.

I´m glad to hear I´m not the only one.

I´m not sure if cis-girls get this feeling, for me it definitely seems to be tied into trans identity, and being exposed to all these female hormones in my system all of a sudden. Makes me extremely wary of other people and how they see me.

I use to all the time, even when I dressed as a girl in high school and starting college.  Now since I being taken as a guy most of the time I haven't felt that way near as much.  By bad time is the day before I start with such bad cramps, i try so hard not to give any indication that I have them.  It would be so embarrassing for me to know someone knew I was having a shark week; the guys in my classes all see me as one of the guys this year.

In the past I'm sure I never experienced PMS, or was just so not into menstruating I deliberately failed to remember or recognize the signs of it coming. I know as a kid my mother would ask me when I needed more pads or tampons and I'd shrug because I couldn't remember when it was "due". I cared that much.

Honestly I haven't had a shark week in... years but from what I remember the process of it is just so gross and disgusting - like it feels and smells and basically is grotesque on so many levels... yeah yeah I know some people are like it's natural and not a source of shame and all, but it is congealed and rotting blood seeping out for 4 days, nothing glamorous or beautiful whatsoever about it - so to me it's like sitting around feeling sweaty and dirty after a long run. I actually become irritable unless I feel clean so... yeah, I probably avoided people and got pissy with them just on account of having to sit around dropping my guts out over 5 days.

It's funny, other stuff seriously bothers me, but I have no problem with "shark week" (unless you count getting sad when people refer to it as "shark week" because I get all excited thinking it is ACTUALLY Shark Week on the Discovery Channel and feel let down that it's not, LOL).  So no, I don't think tons of cis-girls feel that way, and I don't think it's tied to being trans, either.  I'm trans, and I don't think menstruation is gross or smelly or annoying or weird.  Honestly, it's a lot like sweating or peeing to me.  Just another bodily function.  Things that people can actually SEE, like my feminine facial features and my breasts, bother me WAY more than menstruation does.  Sometimes the shape of my body makes me want to cry, and I feel humiliated by my looks in public.  I REALLY hate my jawline.  I also get stressed at the idea that I will never have a penis that functions 100% like a cis male's.  Menstruation, eh, whatever.  But I have always used tampons, so I basically can't even tell when I have my period except when I change it which takes like two seconds.  There is no congealing blood or mess or whatever that I have to deal with.  Plus, I don't get bad cramps or anything.  I think it's just one of those things that some people are super dysphoric about while others don't care about at all.  I don't even see a period as being feminine, even though men obviously don't get them.  Heck, I hardly think about it at all.

I'm fairly antisocial in general, so even without shark week I don't socialize normally. I haven't had mine in almost a year at this point, but when I did I noticed I would "go through the motions" so to speak. At work I'd put in the barest amount of effort in order to complete whatever the task was, and then I'd go home (I don't have a schedule, I show up and do things/talk to people as needed and otherwise work from home).

I would sleep way more. It was not uncommon for me to get 12-16 hours of sleep a day until it was over.

Quote from: T.K.G.W. on December 03, 2015, 07:30:52 PMHonestly I haven't had a shark week in... years but from what I remember the process of it is just so gross and disgusting - like it feels and smells and basically is grotesque on so many levels... yeah yeah I know some people are like it's natural and not a source of shame and all, but it is congealed and rotting blood seeping out for 4 days, nothing glamorous or beautiful whatsoever about it - so to me it's like sitting around feeling sweaty and dirty after a long run. I actually become irritable unless I feel clean so... yeah, I probably avoided people and got pissy with them just on account of having to sit around dropping my guts out over 5 days.

I find your description very accurate  I try to ignore it when I can, and when I can´t well... I try to calm down. I remember when I was 16 and people congratulated me for it. I never understood why they congratulated me for something happening to me that I had never agreed to.

Quote from: FtMitch on December 03, 2015, 08:48:38 PMI think it's just one of those things that some people are super dysphoric about while others don't care about at all.

Definitely. I have no problem dealing with my body shape even though it´s clearly feminine. I just don´t think about it, just like you don´t think about Shark Week. In a way, I can ignore my body shape but for me it´s difficult to ignore shark week because it´s not just phyical but brings up a ton of hormonal fluctuations as well.

Quote from: FTMax on December 04, 2015, 08:44:50 AMI would sleep way more. It was not uncommon for me to get 12-16 hours of sleep a day until it was over.

From what I understand, Shark Week brings about a drop in estrogen, which means that you get way more tired. I get so much fatigue that I spend all day on the couch. As long I have dumb cartoons to watch, I´m o.k.

Yeah, I tend to avoid other people if possible. I'm convinced that I smell differently then, I'm certain of it. And that people notice. Other than that I ignore the entire thing to the point of risking my health, but I just can't deal with it.

Yeah I´m pretty sure other people can notice it when I get shark week as well. Just going to isolate myself for a couple of days I guess 

Thankfully it doesn´t last that long.

Quote from: November Fox on December 04, 2015, 11:31:45 AM
From what I understand, Shark Week brings about a drop in estrogen, which means that you get way more tired. I get so much fatigue that I spend all day on the couch. As long I have dumb cartoons to watch, I´m o.k.

This makes so much sense! I never knew this.

^I can well believe it does cause tiredness. When I quit birth control pills after years of taking them, the drop in estrogen actually caused borderline hypothyroidism in me for 10 months. I couldn't go 4-5 hours without laying down.

All of this info people gave was so amazing, I also tend to avoid people during my "Shark Week" (I never call it that lol) But it great other feel the same!!