Well friends, tomorrow marks six full months of HRT for your nutty lil' friend here

So I've been reflecting upon the +'s & -'s... So here goes...LOL

+ = Breast growth and general feminizing of body and facial features 

The ability to actually be able to express emotions

- = Weight gain, insatiable cravings 

Riding the emotional roller coaster with the mood swings from hell!!! 

Anyone else experience these and/or other +'s and -'s from HRT?

I am at 5 months so it is pretty new to me.
Bonus is just about everything realy.
From being freed from an insatiable libido, too being able to understand other people better due to improved empathy. Not too mention the restoration of my fragile sanity.
The part that sucks is that people do not give me the male privilage I had grown so fond of without even knowing I had it. I ussed to be taken at my word and taken seriously. Not anymore it seems. /sigh
Anouther negative is new to me I have lost my muscle and my center of gravity is shifting which is makeing me clumbsy.
But I think the bigest negative to HRT is when I get hit in my tits. OMG that freaking HURTS!

I'm a year on HRT.

Plusses: Breast growth, increased size of butt and thighs, softer skin, rounder lower belly (the 'pouch'), center of gravity has shifted so I stand and walk in a more feminine way, more emotional, freer, able to "feel", chattiness, more even (despite being more emotional), able to cry, the evil twins are dormant.

Minuses: I've gained 15 pounds in the last year, lower upper body strength (but not enough to be a problem), weight gain.

All in all, not a bad deal.

- Kate

Oh yes... You can def. expect to be humored by "The Men" if you try to talk to them about "Guy stuff" as you did before

Yes... Your center of gravity does shift and makes you feel uncoordinated and you can't really help but stand and/or walk like a woman

The loss of strength didn't affect me as much because I'd already lost most of my strength due to injuries incurred

On the plus side of that... No-one expects me to be as strong as I once was

Another plus that I'd forgot is thicker, fuller, softer hair

Oh and yes, the ability to have empathy and understand others better

Sorry to mix 'n match but you both brought up great points 

Two years
Pluses: Breast growth ( B cup ), finer slower growing body hair, weight loss, lower center of gravity, more emotional, total loss of male libido, more head hair growth.

Minuses: No growth in the butt or hip area, some weight gain, more emotional at the wrong times, increase in female libido.

And with the removal of the evil twins a reduction in the number of medications.

One of the quickest and biggest pluses that made me almost squee in joy was seeing how my hair and skin which had been so oily and so greasy and dandruff and zits the upkeep was so hard I could never enjoy it... 1 week of hrt and it was a different person. Seriously it was like someone flicked a switch with them from
"Violent psychopath" To "My Best Friend forever <3"

And I was equally happy to see buds, I'd never in my whole life until then experienced a pubertal change that didn't make me crushingly depressed to the point of self harm or worse. but when I saw them I felt normal for the first time in my life.
Happiness confidence and nervous anticipation and only alittle anxiety googling my worries sent me to pages for young teen girls, instead of "suicide hotline and mental health advice" when I checked my feelings about male changes.

Minus... I still worry about my kidney and liver function going wrong or developing a reaction against the blockers and having to potentially go back to how I was. It's a spectre of worry that follows me part of me wants rid of the poison glands right now so I don't have to depend on risky meds.

The only minus I thought about in any great detail was the irreversible sterility... I was acutely aware how angry and guilty I was at not doing taking action and getting there sooner, a future version of myself is disgusted with a historical version for them doing something seemed like a good idea at the time.
I worried that although I don't want a child now and squirting DNA is not parenting... A future incarnation of myself may think differently and may resent my priorities at this time.

I have been sterile long before HRT.
Azoospermia due to hormonal imbalance. The doctor could not get my T above 225 ng/dl. That is not enough T to enable sperm production.
Kinda wierd how they couldnt get my T up to even close to normal on the same dose my wife is on that put hir up too 600ish ng/dl.
Guess my body just doesnt like too absorb T like other people.

i LOVE everything thats happened in my 6 months

the only bad thing is when you feel so emotional that you could cry at anything. your having a perfect day and BAM that pissed me off and now im an emotional wreck.... hello BITCH :O

i hope it comes natural to sort yourself out quicker in them emotional moments :,) hehe

xoxo

I only started HRT about a month ago, but I'll put the things I've noticed so far

Pluses: My skin and hair isn't oily anymore. I didn't have much acne before HRT, but now I don't have any. My hair and skin overall seems healthier too. I use to take anti-depressants don't need them anymore. Now I'm not sure if it's the hormones or just my life is going better now. Whatever it is, I feel happier now, less anxiety, and just overall feeling great . My sex drive has dropped considerably too. 

I was already emotional before HRT, so no changes there. I actually got better at "controlling" it before I started HRT, so I'm not an emotional wreck too often . I tried to "hide" my feelings, and my feminine side when I was in my teens, and I was able to let myself "be" before starting HRT also. I think a lot of it is being able to accept yourself, not necessarily that HRT brings it out.

Minuses: None yet Although I'm interested to see if I gain weight, my family and friends always say I'm too skinny, so maybe it's a good thing

I can only hope I gain weight!  Bit of a twig at the moment .

OK I shouldn't be here...as no HRT..

..but my mood and emotion swings are like I have high E..

..and my aggression, libedo, and frustration is like I have hight T...

...I really don't know if there is a solution for me...but I'm glad it's working for so many of you...



Chrissty

im 41 and only been on hrt for 3 weeks as of today,

plus points so far, im now very relaxed, happiest i have been for a very long time. skin has improved but is now starting to feel quite dry, so will have to start using moisterisers i suppose. looking forward to breast growth (surprised to see some developent this week due to my age) hair feels really good to the touch for the first time in my life.

negative points, frequent trips to the bathroom, small price to pay  other than that i have no negative points. not sure how i will handle the change to emotions though, spent all my life controlling my emotions to a high level. no change to emotions so far, as far as i can tell

my + are finally having peace GID has lessened quite abit, breast growth softning of skin and thicker hair this is a definate plus i love my hair lol less body hair reduction in facial hair or at least slowing of its return but laser has impacted this as well. one curious note is i seam to be shrinking lol ive lost an inch in height and have gone from 91/2 shoe to a size 8 i like this but not sure why its happening.
loss of upper body muscle mass this is a plus but it sucks watching my gym work evaporate lol.
- = loss of upper body strength substancial in first 2 months of hrt.
jessica

As I am not allowed to get HRT, my +/- are like

-: in the mirror, I see my face become more and more masculine. I should insert some pads when wearing bra. my body skin is not smooth.

+: physically I am stronger than most women, although weaker than most men.

Weight gain? Even without HRT, my weight increases quickly when I do not exercise enough, especially in winter. Spring is a period for loosing my weight.

Barbie~~

HRT hasn't worked on me, so I only see minuses! I gave it my best shot for 12 years but it's not working for me. I am now considering quitting altogether.

Plus: Having my body run by female hormones like I wanted
Minus: There are no minuses. Seriously I've been on HRT about half a year now and there's NOTHING I could say bad about it.

After 1 year of HRT here are the plusses and minuses for me:

Positives:

More in touch with my emotions
A wonderful sense of well-being
No more of that stupid male aggression
Breast growth, albeit modest
Super-smooth and soft facial skin
Fat redistribution, especially to my bum
Weight loss and much smaller tummy
Softening of body hair
I have become a lot weaker, and can't lift much anymore
Change in sexual orientation from bisexual to only sexually interested in men
A complete transformation of my libido from selfish animalistic lust to a desire for connection
Sex, especially climax, consumes my whole body, and my mind, and the world really does shake lol.
No more messy boy excretions to clean up

Negatives:
Physical changes have been slower than I would like
Bouts of melancholy and uncontrollable crying, especially regarding the slow (albeit sure) progress
Muscle reduction has been significant, although not as significant as I would like. I hear this takes years.
Worrying about health issues especially on different AA meds and oral estrogens - every little ache and pain is a heart problem in my mind
Constantly tired for the first six months
Not able to sleep as long as I used to (6 hours whereas I used to sleep 8 hours)
Scattered feeling - it's a lot harder to concentrate

6-1/2 weeks on HT.
Strong emotional changes, spelled improvements, and one major emotional improvement - I know this is the right choice for me; somewhat improved skin smoothness, although could be partly to starting to pay attention to moisterizing; no changes in hair or body (yuck) hair; no noticed loss of strength; strong loss of male libido without loss of orgasm but with much less output; little to no change in body fat distribution; perhaps a very small increase in breast size or perhaps in perception of size (come on girls, grow damn it!)
One more thing, a compulsion to watch the calendar closely, wishing days away.

SusanKG

HRT is vastly over rated and for many the results are limited.
On the plus site it seems to help people's minds and well being.

Quote from: Naturally Blonde on April 26, 2010, 06:30:30 PM
HRT is vastly over rated and for many the results are limited.
On the plus site it seems to help people's minds and well being.

No you just vastly under rate it and for most under about 30 the results are pretty good.

I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but I see you post this stuff in virtually EVERY HRT related thread. I am really, REALLY sorry that HRT hasn't had the effects for you that you would like. But virtually deterring other people from going on or being unrealistically pessimistic because you're bitter just isn't right.

If you're before mid-20's. You can probably expect pretty significant changes. There are no guarantee's, but the vast majority of the time it's pretty effective.

The HRT forum is FULL of examples, all of the people I've known in that age bracket who've done it have had good results.

Again, I'm sorry you haven't gotten what you wanted, but going around constantly making out as if HRT is useless is just bitter and harmful. 

EDIT: For interests sake, of her past 20 posts, 7 are just saying how HRT doesn't work.