I haven't seen any sign of the conical shape they are supposed to have at an early stage. 
Karen.

34B... and growing... after 12 months of HRT. I"m happy. 

Quote from: Alainaluvsu on August 12, 2011, 01:51:21 AM
I've seen quite a few posts from girls on here that say their developments start and stop, n start n stop... so don't give up hope

And it CAN occur even many years post-op...it all depends on how the body reacts to the various forms of E and P. 

Quote from: Ann Onymous on August 12, 2011, 09:00:36 AM
And it CAN occur even many years post-op...it all depends on how the body reacts to the various forms of E and P.

I think I need a new doc... mine refuses to do P because she read something in a journal a few years back about how it doesn't work.  And she won't do an E dosage that my liver won't destroy either.

I think I'm currently graduating from a large 36A to a small 36B.  They started itching and hurting again 3 weeks ago.  I started massaging them daily and they're still itching and hurting.  I wonder if that's really helping or if it's psychosomatic.  I've been getting by with a gel bra that makes them look like B's, so I'll be excited if I don't need that crutch anymore. 

QuoteI think I need a new doc... mine refuses to do P because she read something in a journal a few years back about how it doesn't work.  And she won't do an E dosage that my liver won't destroy either.

Totally you do.  Giving up after a low dose of spiro, like you had said before, is ridiculous.  Like you, I seem to have a body that tends to overcome medications sometimes so I needed a little higher dose.  Find someone who knows what they're doing and you'll probably start growing again.

Quote from: Zoë Natasha on August 12, 2011, 09:12:08 AM
I think I need a new doc... mine refuses to do P because she read something in a journal a few years back about how it doesn't work.  And she won't do an E dosage that my liver won't destroy either.

I have never understood docs who can say it wouldn't hurt anything but it also won't work, so lets not prescribe it at all even for a short period when the patient is willing to pay for the prescription...and I stand as proof that micronized P worked for me.  As far as E was concerned, I had to go synthetic in order to get results.  Otherwise I have to do megadoses of bio-identical even with the metabolism having slowed down over the past decade.   

But yeah, as has been noted in your other threads, you need a new MD...just because someone is a known name does not mean they will have your best interests at heart.  And don't be afraid to think outside of the box when finding a new provider...in this day and age, my guess is there are A LOT MORE MD's that advertise in the gay and lesbian yellow pages (which is how I found my MD in Houston many years ago and is also where I found my GYN after moving to Austin). 

Are pictures allowed? We're all family here.

This is me, as of 10 minutes ago, braless in a tank top. I'm doing a tiny bit of squeezing action to make up for the lack of the bra. I'd like one more cup size, but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

38b/40b.


Edit: Uploaded a higher res pic.

Quote from: Samantharz on August 12, 2011, 09:43:08 AM
Are pictures allowed? We're all family here.

This is me, as of 10 minutes ago, braless in a tank top. I'm doing a tiny bit of squeezing action to make up for the lack of the bra. I'd like one more cup size, but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

38b/40b.

Nice!!   I hope that you do get that extra cup you want!

Going to talk to my doc on the 17th.  If she's remains firm about continuing down the same path as we've been going (very likely given what I've heard from other patients) or if she tells me again that I'm simply unlucky and HRT won't work on me, then I'm finding a new doc.  Because I'm just not seeing results and I know HRT WILL work on me.  I'm not insensitive to E, but all physical signs of progress (the itching and hurting) stopped two months ago after being around for only two months.  Most troublesome of all, the sensuous feeling that I had disappeared too.  My chest is a total dead zone, feeling remarkably like it did before HRT.

So I've been on HRT since September 21 of last year, but my doc says not to count my first three months since my T shot up to 650 by December.  So I've had two months of development in nearly 11 months of taking hormones.  Following Samantha's lead with the pictures, this is all I have to show for it:



No cleavage, can't even fill an A cup, could still walk outside topless because they just look like moobs.  Nobody would think twice.

Quote from: Zoë Natasha on August 12, 2011, 10:35:29 AM
Going to talk to my doc on the 17th.  If she's remains firm about continuing down the same path as we've been going (very likely given what I've heard from other patients) or if she tells me again that I'm simply unlucky and HRT won't work on me, then I'm finding a new doc. 

When I go back in two months to get my T levels checked, I'm going to start E.  Talking about it with my doc, I asked about injectibles since I know he favors them and told him I wanted to do the injections myself, his reaction was close enough to "Duh!"; he actually said it was totally up to me how I chose to get my E, I think his actual words were you can choose whatever method you prefer.

I contrast that with your doc, becuase it sounds like he's giving me total self control/self-determination and it sounds like your doctor is rigidly sticking to a method that clearly isn't working for you.  You know what you need to do, it sounds like its time to find a new doc.

Quote from: Sarah7 on August 12, 2011, 11:01:07 AM
That's pretty much how I look after 7 months of continuous sensitivity and itchiness. I'd be fine with a full A, less than that is kinda depressing though.

I wish mine was continuous!  But it took 7 months to start, 2 months of tenderness (no itchiness though), and now 2 months of nothing.

Looking online for new docs and finding that none of the trans centers list any docs except the one I'm seeing.  No endos either.  Am I to assume that nobody else in the entire Denver metro area does HRT?  Talking to other transwomen and two therapists, that's the notion I've got from everyone.  Yesterday I talked to another transwoman about wanting to find another doctor and she just said "good luck with that" (sarcastically).  I'm starting to lose all hope.

My boobs still itch, even after nearly 18 months on HRT. And they're super sensitive. I'm fairly satisfied with my boob size, but one more cup would make it just perfect.

Lordy Lord, Zoë
that is MORE then what I have to show after 15 month on E --- quel est votre problème!?! What's to be your problem?

Golly you doing fine in my estimation, though we sure know: your mileage varies...

In my old job (productivity consultant) it was all about: setting expectations (up front)

I think you doing fine, OK you are much younger, but even so.

Congrats!
Axelle

Quote from: Gravity Girl on August 12, 2011, 11:04:58 AM
I'm scared to say how big my boobs seem to be determined to be after just over a year. You'll either declare witchcraft and burn me at the stake or form a lynch mob, kill me and rend me down for my miracle DNA and drink the resulting potion of boobage.

I'll just assume you Have a D cup...

Yeah, now show! Not just tell --- and so say all us, and so say all of us... for she's a jolly good fellow...

Axelle

Quote from: Gravity Girl on August 12, 2011, 11:04:58 AM
I'm scared to say how big my boobs seem to be determined to be after just over a year. You'll either declare witchcraft and burn me at the stake or form a lynch mob, kill me and rend me down for my miracle DNA and drink the resulting potion of boobage.

I had a roommate once that actually got stretch marks her boobs grew so fast.  I suggested she might be the first MtF to need a breast reduction.

Now you too? 

Quote from: Zoë Natasha on August 12, 2011, 11:07:14 AM
Looking online for new docs and finding that none of the trans centers list any docs except the one I'm seeing.  No endos either. 

This is precisely why I have tried suggesting in MULTIPLE threads that you need to look outside of the box and so some legwork, beginning with the G/L yellow pages.  Too many people get hung up on sticking within the 'gender community' which is only destined to milk the savings accounts dry...same thing held true with therapists.  My life finally got on track once I simply worked the system MY way and just found lesbian-friendly providers...

Quote from: Ann Onymous on August 12, 2011, 11:23:06 AM
This is precisely why I have tried suggesting in MULTIPLE threads that you need to look outside of the box and so some legwork, beginning with the G/L yellow pages.  Too many people get hung up on sticking within the 'gender community' which is only destined to milk the savings accounts dry...same thing held true with therapists.  My life finally got on track once I simply worked the system MY way and just found lesbian-friendly providers...

I chose my therapist becuase he's an FtM and I seem to relate to FtMs really well AND he takes my insurance, so I pay all of $20 to see him every two weeks.  I use the doc he reccomended for my HRT and he's just a GP, I pay more for him becuase he's considered "out of network", but that was my choice.  If nothing else, there's a doc in every city that has a reputation for prescribing what ever you ask him for.  Figure out your own HRT and go see that guy, just make sure you get the blood tests you need.  But yeah, there's no need to pay the transgender "markup".

Quote from: Gravity Girl on August 12, 2011, 11:21:39 AM
Zoe, if it makes you feel better mine were only tender for the first few months but they do seem to grow steadily...mainly because i feed them pizza...still no call of cathulu jelly tentacle boobs yet tho.

Oh, I remember those!

Funny, because that's my approximate diet too.  Pizza, Ben and Jerry's (cheesecake brownie), and Powerbars.  It's pretty much all I've eaten since April.  Cut my diet back to about 4000 calories a day and the weight gain stopped.  Beginning to think there might be something wrong with my metabolism.

My breasts also have a lot of volume, like I'm pretty flat-chested, but completely filled out.  No pointy nipples or tubular shape or anything...

Brought me the need for a sports bra at all times. I have roughly the same amount of growth as Zoe, but mine do point. They've been sensitive for a while now too.

Quote from: Gravity Girl on August 12, 2011, 11:40:39 AM
Zoe, Have you tried going down a band size? i was wearing 36A bras for ages and wondering why the hell they didn't give any support, then i re-meaured my bamd size and i realised i was a 34 band size...and I needed a 34C!! Also mine are pretty filled out as well and I'm starting to lose the sticky out nipple, when they're all relaxed so in terms of tanner stages i'm somewhere between stages 4 and 5...4.5 maybe. hee hee.

another thing to bear in mind is where all the weight on your boobs is. To start most of my boobage was on the side of my chest...it's only now that i'm getting weight on the top of the boob...which means i'm starting to get a cleavage. If you have sideset boobies, then your normal push up bra doesn't work that well, you'd probably want to try a balconette bra as it would give you better support.

I was measured originally as a 38, but I've been wearing a 36 since the beginning.  At first, 36 felt tight at the loosest clasp, but now I wear my 36 bras comfortably at the tightest clasp.  I tried on a few other bras this past Tuesday, including a new one of the first bra I bought, and got definite proof that my band size has shrunk considerably.  New bras fit at their tightest setting just as comfortably as my worn one.  If I shrink any more, I may actually reach a 34 band size (not bad for being 5'11").

The weight of my breasts has historically been on the outside, but it's showing signs of moving inward.  Just the other night I was lying on my friend's couch and noticed that, when I was on my side, one boob got pushed up and the other was hanging downward and I had cleavage!  I got so excited I had to show my friend.  She rolled her eyes at me, I think.   But I noticed there was significant growth toward the top that I didn't have before.

Hard to say what my tanner stage might be, because not once in my development have I had pointy nipples.  Though my breasts are small, they've looked like stage 3 all along.  And I somehow wound up with damn big areolae (about 1.5" to 2" depending on temperature).

(Oops... I meant stage 3, not stage 5 like I previously said)