If it's any consolation, guys, I can't bind to my satisfaction either, because I have fibrocystic breast disease, which makes it extremely painful if I bind too hard.  Like, I'll seriously be gasping just from sharp, stabbing pain in my breasts, pain that makes me want to go kill things, it's so bad.

But my Ds turn into A-small Bs, and because I'm a little chubby anyway, it works for me.     Thanks for the warnings on 'why NOT to bind too tightly' and good luck with everything, guys.   

It's a great idea to have a few strong coughs after you take your binder off. Unfortunately, binding can cause many different lung problems, but the coughs do help.
When you're sick with any sort of respiratory symptoms, binding is just a bad idea. It will hinder your ability to heal and you'll stay sick longer. Just try to stay home or around people who know you're FTM.

I am getting the Tri-Top binder - Style: 983 from Underworks, I have no idea how to find the right size. D: I measured the biggest part of my chest and it was about 34-36 inches. I'm pretty flat now and I don't even wear a bra I wear a Compression shirt from Under Armour and they work pretty good. I need something that I can wear for about 8-10 hours to school pretty comfortably. I don't want it to be so tight that I can barely breathe tho, but I want it to fit so it will make me a little flatter. Also, what color should I get - black or white. I wear alot of collard shirts will they show?
Thanks in advance!

BTW: I'm new I have no idea about this site so I just asked this question here. :/
X-Small: (28-30 inches)
Small: (31-33 inches)
Medium: (34-36 inches)
Large: (37-40 inches)
PLEASE HELP! D:

I don't know much about binding but I have heard about this problem from other FTMs. Does it always cause problems like this? I have small breasts that can be hidden almost completely with a sports bra and I smoke, is binding a bad idea for me?

I would say that if a sports bra is working for you, and you're comfortable with how you look, stick with what you're doing. don't bind unless it's really necessary. binding is, at best, uncomfortable. and as zombie and others shared, can lead to medical problems. binding isn't something you have to do to be a transman. go with what works and what's more comfortable. i'm about a 36 B and i wear a velcro style binder from lezloveboat. i don't fasten it especially tight, but it's good enough. the problem i deal with most is a heat rash of sorts under my arms from wearing it in this hot weather and sweating so much. some talc powder applied to the areas affected helps. also, smoking is going to cause lung issues that will probably be worsened by binding. i suggest cutting back as much as possible or quitting, though i understand it's not easy. hope this helps!

Hey, just wondering if I can get any tips on this from anyone who's had it, or just severe coughing. The last three weeks since I was camping and so was binding almost 24/7 for a week (though noticed I was coughing a lot for weeks after the last cold I had in May...not sure if this 3 week bout of coughing is carried over from there, or if it's separate) I've been coughing a lot in the morning and at night. Basically, lately I've been coughing bad enough that it makes me puke and/or retch when there's nothing left to puke. I also coughed up some weird ->-bleeped-<- this morning that looked red, and I don't know if it was a bit of blood or something else. I even called in sick to work because I was coughing/puking/retching for so long that I'm not sure how I'd make the hour and a half bus ride without a bathroom. I'm gonna hit the walk-in clinic tomorrow after work, but I'm just curious if this sounds familiar to any of you guys.

Do you think it could be coughing left over from the cold back in May. That aggravated by binding almost 24/7 for a week and being stuck out in the rain for a few days while camping? Just random ->-bleeped-<- that has nothing to do with not taking off my binder for almost a week straight?

I dunno, I've had bad coughing bouts before following a cold, but never to this extreme, and I didn't have a cold directly before this last bout start...so I've been googling around to try to find out wtf is wrong with me.

Berserk - it sounds like bronchitis or (God forbid) pneumonia. I can't say for sure that it was caused by binding, but I can say that binding almost certainly isn't helping. Definitely get yourself checked out.

Hey Kyril, thanks for the reply. I went and got checked out today at a walk-in clinic. The doctor there gave me a prescription for an inhaler and some antibiotics. He couldn't specify what it was beyond that it was a chest infection of sorts, and that this was the best way from stopping from developing into something worse.

Binding isn't helping, but at the same time I can't remember not wearing a binder and I don't think I would be able to stand leaving my room to be around my roommates let alone going to work without a binder...so I feel kind of stuck, because it was suggested that I stop for a bit. I think I'm gonna chance it and just stick with the inhaler and antibiotics and hopefully they'll clear the infection up without having to stop binding until it does clear up. Times like this I really wish top surgery were in my near future... It's ->-bleeped-<-ing sad when I can't even decide if coughing weird ->-bleeped-<- up and coughing so hard I puke is worse than not binding. I have one binder that's one size looser...so maybe that's a temporary solution?

@Berserk I had walking pneumonia before (basically pneumonia where you're not bed ridden) and it sounds like what you have

I have asthma, get chest pains, and parts of my chest go numb...but I still wear 3 xs tri tops in various stages of stretched outed ness at one time..but I'm stubborn.

I have asthma and lots of cysts in my breasts. I bind for too long, but not very hard. I've noticed that my cysts have shrunken and gotten a lot less painful since I started binding. My nipples get numb, though. My breathing is definitely worse. I get winded faster.

I'm trying to be careful. It's not always easy to know where to draw the line with risks that make me happy, though.

I'm going to add to the warnings...

I've just been diagnosed with Pleurisy as well, and binding is the only cause I can find. Three weeks of chest pain I finally caved and went to the student health center. They gave me some anti-inflamitory pills to help with pain, told me to stop binding for a few days and see how it feels then.

Does anyone have suggestions for how to support the moobs without binding? The only bra's I have left are A sports bras (I'm a B-C) that I used for binding before I got my underworks medium binders. Even if I managed to turn up an old bra I don't know if I could wear it without feeling...girlish. I've fought so hard to get out of them so going back seems like a failure.

Felix, I'm with you on trying to figure out where to draw the line. I'm on campus for 10-14 hours with an occasional 19 hr day thrown in and I've been binding for all of it for a few months and feeling great. Now with the pain I'm having to figure out where I NEED to bind and where I'd WANT to bind, but can miss due to health. My friends have made it clear that if its harming me that I not bind around them. They're good about the dysphoria, one even lets me take my shirt off as well so I can feel more like a guy (I love being shirtless).

I try to make myself occasionally go a day without binding, just to give my body a break. I tend to do that on days off and mostly stay home then, but it still feels weird. On those days I wear a large t shirt and a large sweatshirt or hoodie (not the zipper kind). Sometimes a wife beater underneath. All this leaves me shapeless, which is alright. If my breasts' movement makes me aware of them and bothers me, I wear a sports bra, but sometimes the bra bothers me more.

I don't think I'd feel good about myself if I dressed like that very often, though.

I don't know where you live, but when it gets cold enough, you can wear enough layers that binding might not matter so much.

I'm sorry to hear about that...have you tried slowing down on binding?

Quote from: GamerJames on June 24, 2010, 01:28:38 PM
I wish I could take advice like this and make my brain understand that what I'm doing to myself is dangerous, but I just can't.

My chest dysphoria is so bad that if I'm not bound "properly" (by my own insane definition) then I feel like complete crap, and that I'm walking around looking like a girl and being an utter fraud.

I wear a wife-beater underneath, then my tritop, then I reach under and flatten and position everything and use medical tape directly on my moobs to physically prevent anything from shifting or coming loose. Then I fold up the bottom of the tritop so that there are essentially 6 layers of compression fabric over the chest and safety pin that in place. Then an underarmour shirt on top of that. Then my tshirt, then a hoodie.

When I take it all off at the end of the day (usually 12+ hours later, up to 18hrs some days), my skin is raw from the chafing on my back/sides, where the tape was (from nips to shoulders) is irritated and sometimes a thin layer of skin peels off, and I put polysporin on all the raw/open areas. My ribs are always tender to the touch, and I probably haven't taken a deep breath all year (even when I'm unbound, such as for sleeping, I tend to breathe more shallowly now as I guess that's what my body is used to).

I know that I'm damaging my skin at the very least (there is already scarring developing in some areas), and potentially my ribs/lungs as well. But I honestly don't know how to bind any more safely while still being able to leave the house without feeling completely exposed, dysphoric, and panicky.

It's no good to just say "it's dangerous for you" because that hasn't helped me quit smoking either. I'm sure I probably sound obstinate, but it's not intentional. I just can't force myself to bind more gently when it's my dysphoria that's calling the shots.

Any thoughts anyone?

i totally understandd wat ur talkn bout n judge from ur pic u look like w/o oin that u couldd pass for a guy who has nice chest muscles w just wearin a bindder thats wat helps me bot go overboard w doin that bc i ct stan bein confined eityr freaks me out if im not free. So I'd try just puttn the binder on n look at urself w/o the other stuff n flex ur muscle b oput urself ina trance in ur mind sayn im a muscle man...look at thee awesome pecs n arm muscles grrrrr lol. but for real do it bc it helps me thats wat i hafta o as well n if lookin at pix of bioguiys n there chesy after u put ur bindder on will help as well bc u lookn down on urself u think they r still "poppedd" out but they aint. look at vin diesel for example his pecs r huge n if u look at him from the side looks like he has booobs...

I wonder if daily breathing exercises would help long-term binders with lung problems. Has anyone here tried?

I haven't been binding long enough to have any problems, but I usually try to incorporate some kundalini yoga into my day which has a lot of breathing practices (Possibly the best Kundalini practiceS I've found ( by Snatam Kaur )).

I used to have a binding too hard problem as well. For some reason, i just felt more comfortable having an extremely tight bind. But after I started working it, my chest shape got better and it was okay for me to let loose a bit. And I found that different binders gives me different affects. the high performance velcro binder from love boat is what i wear most now, it allows me to adjust the tightness and worked best for my body shape.

It got to a point where I figure, if i have to wear binders all day all the time, might as well make it comfortable.

Wow. Crazy to look back on this thread. Zombiesarepeaceful was my original account and at some point I think it got deleted somehow by accident, for not logging in or something? idk

I've come a long way from when I posted this thread. I finally got top surgery a week ago.

But that aside, I learned awhile ago that my asthma was induced by smoking cigarettes and when I quit smoking, binding got much easier. Still had pain and numbness on my skin and cuts and bruises and scars from binding but no pleurisy. I had never considered smoking to be a contributing factor, so there's something to think about