I have a FTM friend that is acting more aggressive and more competitive after being on T. I knew him before he started taking T and it does seem like his personality has changed a little, like he seems a bit mean as times like he's less caring etc.


   Have any of you guys experienced anything like this while on T?

I didn't experience this, but I believe that part of it is sorta social. Like "I'm really a man now, I have testosterone in me. Now I'm going to take a poo on everybody's day"

I am actually really struggling with this right now... to the point where I am searching for a therapist to talk about it. I've always had anger issues, so I don't know if T is actually what's responsible here, but I have noticed lately that it's much easier to trigger that aggression.

I mean, I guess it could just be puberty. Everyone handles it differently. Some things crop up for certain people that never do for others. This could be one of those things.

Do you know what his parents are like? In my case the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. My behavior is mirroring my dad's quite a bit, and I have no doubt I am genetically more predisposed to this kind of anger. The sooner I can talk to someone about it, the better my chances are of not becoming him.

I will say that since starting T I've felt more comfortable just being myself. The things I do and say aren't any different from the things I would have done pre-T--it's just that I'm more comfortable in my skin, I'm starting to own my body, starting to feel like a person, you know? Like I finally have a place here, socially, physically, everything. So maybe to an outsider I act a little differently, but truthfully the only thing that's changed is that I am simply participating more.

   I remember when i was a teenage boy going thru puberty *shivers* i felt alot of anger & aggression so i know high T levels cause this in young boys. I tried suggesting to him that maybe his T levels were too high and he got mad and walked away. I'm really worried about him and he won't talk to me about it....ugh stubborn men. =/

Quote from: Nygeel on November 03, 2011, 06:45:34 PM
I didn't experience this, but I believe that part of it is sorta social. Like "I'm really a man now, I have testosterone in me. Now I'm going to take a poo on everybody's day"

Ditto.

I got a little like this when I first started living as male in public. I'm not on testosterone yet, but you'll definitely hear how it goes for me once I am. I think I'll try to make a special effort to be sensitive, though. I love the idea of being tougher and less emotional, but I don't want to lose access to empathy and compassion.

Quote from: Rukia87xo on November 03, 2011, 08:33:49 PM

   I remember when i was a teenage boy going thru puberty *shivers* i felt alot of anger & aggression so i know high T levels cause this in young boys. I tried suggesting to him that maybe his T levels were too high and he got mad and walked away. I'm really worried about him and he won't talk to me about it....ugh stubborn men. =/

I would probably react the same way. You're taking something that might be just natural behavior for him and trying to blame it on (essentially) the fact that he is trans. While it might be true that his levels are too high, that's for him to discuss with his endo, not for his friends to speculate about and decide. It also reminds him that he is at the mercy of injectable hormones, and that he has to take them at all. Not everyone wants to be reminded of that all the time, and most guys don't have the ability to just "adjust their T levels" every time the slightest bout of anger flares up anyway. Just please don't blame everything he does from now on on the hormones, when that might not be the case at all. I'm not saying you're doing that and not trying to be hostile, I'm just trying to illustrate how he might feel because I'm going through the same thing and I have seen someone I know post about me here to the same effect. This person also speculated what I did was caused by T and that just irritated me, because it was a selfish and one-sided way to view what was a complicated situation. Basically, they paid no mind to what my motivations were or what I might have been feeling and instead just wondered if T was changing my personality. Also, they did not ever know me pre-T and only knew me for a short few months at that, and if you know someone for that brief of an amount of time you have no right to decide what someone's usual behavior is or tell them they've changed. So yeah, again, not trying to pin my own experiences on you, but consider that this guy also has his own story and it probably has nothing to do with the hormones in his body. And if it does, great because then he stands a chance of mellowing down, but he has also decided that testosterone is best for him, and probably thinks he is closest to his realest, most natural state now, and wishes other people would see that, so he wouldn't have to hear people insinuate he was actually getting further from his true self. That's pretty much how I feel anyway.

Is he really being mean or is he just not acting like a girl anymore?

Hormones no doubt have effects. We're going through male puberty and learning how to deal with life from a new perspective. It takes time.
My personality isn't changing so much as the repressed parts are being let out more.

Here's an example of some of my own self talk (sounds best with a Tommy Lee Jones voice):
"Son, if you want to be taken seriously as a man, you need to start acting like one. You can't have it both ways. You've held back long enough. You do not have to please anybody else, but you need to be able to look yourself in the eye. You might go overboard until you find your own man spot. You will be a jackass at times...allow this and resist the urge to apologize for every freakin' little thing. There will be no whining in this house. There will be no medals for doing right and being good.  All that crap you learned to use as camoflage is history. You are free. You don't have to do that anymore. If you ain't gonna let yourself be free, then what the heck are ya doing this for? Now go out there and live. That is the greatest reward and revenge all rolled into one neat package."

Of course, we are all different. That's just what works for me. It may sound aggressive, but that's what I have needed to get through my own transition. If I didn't have that tough guy hollering at me all the time I might still be sitting on the couch wishing and washing about changing something.

Quote from: Rukia87xo on November 03, 2011, 06:36:30 PM

    I have a FTM friend that is acting more aggressive and more competitive after being on T. I knew him before he started taking T and it does seem like his personality has changed a little, like he seems a bit mean as times like he's less caring etc.


   Have any of you guys experienced anything like this while on T?

how long have he been on T?
it normal for it to raise alittle.

I must say when I started T I lightly felt sorty restless,
I was more horny more active, more annoyed, more easy to be angry, so and so.
but in the long run I feel more claim now, than pre T, because Pre T I felt very stressed out,
and after T I somehow can relax more knowing thats it in my body and time wont chance for the worse.