in my mid-late teens when talking to my mom about being TS, she said something about taking estrogen, saying I may just have a hormone imbalance and that maybe taking estrogen would "fix" it. of course the idea horrified me, I was completely reluctant. but I'm not afraid anymore. my thinking at the time was that if it "worked" and made me want to be a woman, I wouldn't be the same person. to me it seemed almost like mental suicide...something like that. but for some reason it doesn't worry me anymore. so what if it works? I'll probably be happier, better off. I really don't think it will change anything, though.

I wanted to know what you all think. is it even a possibility that taking estrogen will change my mind? would it be a waste of time and money, and just an awful unecessary experience, like I think? is it worth trying? I don't like the idea of it (of course), I've never been a very emotional person and I think it would just make me all emotional...I don't know. but at this point in my life I'm pretty much up for anything.

what do you think?

Let's say you hated country music. 

If I lock you in a room and make you listen to it for 24 hours straight, will you like it more?

highly unlikely.

Mister's right. And there have been studies that show that it's completely worthless for changing people's self-perception of gender.

Dennis

I've been on estrogen for 20 years. It doesn't change your thinking or mindframe. It helps regulate menstruation and affects you physically, but- if your trans- it doesn't change that.

Besides, who says you need to be "fixed"? No offence, but it sounds like a last-ditch effort from your mother. Stand your ground.

I'll third that. And depending on your age, it may make feminine body traits more pronounced while you're on it. Even taking birth control which has pretty low estrogen levels can make breasts fuller in some people.
I believe this test has already been done to death by the medical profession trying to fix gays and transpeople.

I agree with all the other guys too - if you're trans, no amount of oestrogen is going to "fix" it. In fact, my response would be - "Yes, I do have a hormone imbalance. I don't have enough testosterone in my body."

Quote from: Mister on June 01, 2009, 03:47:00 PM
Let's say you hated country music. 

If I lock you in a room and make you listen to it for 24 hours straight, will you like it more?

highly unlikely.

Sometimes you're just brilliant, Mister.

Quote from: Alyssa M. on June 01, 2009, 04:29:48 PM
Sometimes you're just brilliant, Mister.

haha, thanks.

Quote from: Dennis on June 01, 2009, 03:50:51 PM
Mister's right. And there have been studies that show that it's completely worthless for changing people's self-perception of gender.

Dennis

Just in case anyone missed Dennis comment the first time.

The magazine SciAm Mind has an excellent article on the brain and gender out this month.

Heck, marriage to a man and 2 pregnancies didn't change it!  Just made me realize all the more that I was NOT, ever, a woman.


Jay

Its funny how others know what is best for us. I was told I just needed to up my T levels. Or why couldn't I just take T? Why did I need E? Just take T and you will feel much better......

No. That would be like giving Alien an antacid like Rolaids.

Don't do it man!

I was on a version of the pill for 8 years - it was a mix of estrogen, and androgen blocker (cyproterone acetate - excuse the bad spelling). NASTY STUFF. It's nowhere near as strong as the course of estrogen you'd be looking at, but it was still strong enough to mess me up.

I ended up an emotional wreck - to the point where suicide seemed like a good option, nervous breakdowns were a regular thing, and I couldn't hold down a job. I ended up... errr... "falling to the communists" monthly instead of every 3 - 6 months, massive headaches, always feeling sick. It redistributed my fat in a more female fashion. It clouded my thoughts with emotion, and I think my IQ dropped a good 20 points for the duration (It sure felt like it. I couldn't think straight - it was like I was living in a mental fog).

It was a living hell.

What it didn't do was make me relate to females, or make me believe I was female. I hated the changes it brought, and I ended up feeling more "different" and "weird" than before.

And when I got off it? Everything went back to normal .

That's my experiance, anyway.

Rottingteeth, absolutely not.
I took estrogens for like 1 and a half years and during that time at 17 was when I realized I was trans. So I was up to the eyeballs on estrogen, and then realizing something wasn't right. Also I had bad side effects, like nausea.
My mom said the exact same thing last week. Goes to show how much our parents try to learn about this. 

Also Teknoir, I know how that feels. I had extremely bad mood swings from the pill, especially because I was bleeding every day for months, and it was really, really wearing me down. It's funny how estrogen affects our minds, it's almost like a poison. Now that I'm off it, I feel much better. Haven't had a mood swing or even cried since I was on it.

I really do think that estrogen messed with my head and made my depression MUCH worse. If my fetal brain was exposed to a high dose of testosterone and that made me trans, then maybe it would make sense that estrogen would feel "foreign" to me and mess me up.

On a related note, when I got my pre-T blood tests, my T level was extremely low, even for a female body. (I should point out, though, that expert opinions seem to vary about how much T is normal for women.) Anyway, my partner then made some half-hearted remark that maybe getting a little boost of T--to get me to normal female levels--would fix everything.

I understand where he was coming from. For a brief moment, I wondered the same thing myself. Then...naaaaaaah, I don't think so.

Quote from: Arch on June 02, 2009, 12:48:16 AM
I really do think that estrogen messed with my head and made my depression MUCH worse. If my fetal brain was exposed to a high dose of testosterone and that made me trans, then maybe it would make sense that estrogen would feel "foreign" to me and mess me up.

On a related note, when I got my pre-T blood tests, my T level was extremely low, even for a female body. (I should point out, though, that expert opinions seem to vary about how much T is normal for women.) Anyway, my partner then made some half-hearted remark that maybe getting a little boost of T--to get me to normal female levels--would fix everything.

I understand where he was coming from. For a brief moment, I wondered the same thing myself. Then...naaaaaaah, I don't think so.

Funny, Arch, mine was really low too. When I got on T, it was a breath of fresh air. And I did start on low levels, but needed more.

Dennis

I'll agree with all the other guys on here....that sounds like a really bad idea, given what you know about yourself.

QuoteI wanted to know what you all think. is it even a possibility that taking estrogen will change my mind? would it be a waste of time and money, and just an awful unecessary experience, like I think? is it worth trying? I don't like the idea of it (of course), I've never been a very emotional person and I think it would just make me all emotional...I don't know. but at this point in my life I'm pretty much up for anything.

You may wanna reread those lines in bold that you said.

There are legitimate reasons for taking E.  Trying to overcome being trans is not one of them. I was on female hormones (ortho-cyclen - whatever that's comprised of) for years.  It did even out my mood swings, clear up my acne, and make my period lighter and less horrific.  It did not make me any less trans. 

I had a doctor once suggest to me that I go on estrogen to help with a disorder (PCOS).  It was a legitimate idea for my health, but I had to shoot it down.  Just not my thing.  Later, when I was locked in a conference room with twelve doctors (and gender specialists) interrogating me, they agreed that estrogen would not have helped my GID, and probably would have just made my dysphoria worse.  Good enough for me.

I used to wonder about this. The thing is, though, first and foremost, unless your estrogen levels are low for a female, how could you even think you had a hormonal imbalance to begin with? I DO think it's wishful thinking on the part of parents, etc to think that being trans could be fixed with a pill or a shot, that you could just magically feel okay in your own skin. Hell, I'd love it if that were possible! As much as I love how T makes me feel, I'd love to not have to give myself a shot every week, and have to worry about a painful and expensive top surgery! But unfortunately, there's just no evidence to suggest that's anywhere near possible.

Besides the fact that other guys have already attested that even the small amount of estrogen/progesterone in birth control has made their moods, etc go haywire while doing nothing to curb their dysphoria, you have to also consider the fact that when a hormone is in superfluity, it converts to another hormone... i.e., when there's too much testosterone in the body, as in guys who shoot steroids, the excess converts to estrogen and manifests in external feminine characteristics such as gynomastia. In women, or female-bodied persons, an excess of estrogen converts to testosterone... so really, if you took too much of it, you could end up with a beard regardless, lol.

Unfortunately, there's no quick fix to the trans situation. And as I've told plenty of my trans friends, you don't choose to be trans... you only choose whether or not to transition.

SD

haha, I knew it. well, I figured. and this was years ago, 5-6, I'd only just started to talk to mom about it. she has come to accept it now...mostly.