FtM's and menstrual cycles

[CandyCaneTie]

Hey, guys! Just something I'm wondering about. I have read that most female bodies react to their menstrual cycle in certain ways, namely feeling low at the beginning of their cycles (when their estrogen levels are lowest) and happier as the cycle goes on (when estrogen is highest) until they may start feeling worse again a few days before their period.

For me, it's the exact opposite. I feel my best right before I start my period, through the few days after it ends. I think this is because my estrogen levels are lowest then and my testosterone levels are at their highest. Then, when my estrogen rises throughout the month, my mood plummets.

It makes sense to me, being an FtM, that my brain and body wouldn't react well with high levels of estrogen...but is this common amongst FtM's? Would be an interesting correlation.

[Ryan55]

I honestly never really noticed or paid attention to my moods before or after my cycle, I guess I get more irritable and aggressive during my period, things tend to bother me more than when its not around that time. I'm going to have to see now, cause that is interesting.

[Ayden]

I have always been even tempered. I never had the "typical" moon fluctuations at all.

[Daniel006]

Back when I used to cycle, I thought PMS was something you got once the bleeding started.  I didn't make the connection than PRE menstrual syndrome was something that happened before bleeding.

My mood was always highest right before starting and plummeted after starting.  After finding out how the hormones ebb and flow over a month, I noticed that I was at my highest when estrogen was at its lowest and my mood was lowest when estrogen was highest.  In my own experience, my brain and body did not play well with estrogen.

[blink]

I'm bad at both remembering when the last shark week was (had to start writing it down just to have a rough idea of when to expect the next one), and bad at that kind of self-awareness. So I'm not sure about any emotional effects. I do know I get wicked hungry a few days before it starts.

[MarcBanks]

I can suck it up that there is blood down there because i know soon i won't have it anymore (because of T), but what i really hate is that the first day of my period i get 100x more emotional then i normally am. It really, really bothered me. So I used to work out 24/7 and eat a lot of protein it made my period stop for about 4 months I was so happy but sadly it was very unhealthy for my body & then i got sick with anemia. Now i'm healthy again though :p

[FTMDiaries]

I used to feel absolutely awful for the week before Shark Week. Miserable, depressed, short-tempered, crying at the drop of a hat... sheesh, it was a nightmare. But I never felt truly comfortable for the rest of the month: I was always highly anxious and constantly on edge. That is, until I started testosterone and my moods levelled out completely.

So never mind the 'female' body: I think the male brain simply doesn't like those crazy oestrogen/progesterone swings. And my brain really didn't play well with progesterone in particular, which rises to its peak in the two weeks before menstruation.

By the way, oestrogen doesn't rise through the month: it's at its highest during the first two weeks of the cycle and it drops off around day 14, where it remains at a low level before increasing again immediately after menstruation.

[mm]

Mine starts about the 20th of every month.  I know when I get cramps in my deep gut that I will start bleeding in a day or two, no guy get monthly bleeding that they can't control.  I need to use super tampons for a day or two, then I start feeling good again and can control the bleeding with tampons 2-3 times a day.  I want to get on t so the bleeding will end, hopefully have all those parts out of me in a few years.  I feel fine all month until it starts all over again.

[CandyCaneTie]

By the way, oestrogen doesn't rise through the month: it's at its highest during the first two weeks of the cycle and it drops off around day 14, where it remains at a low level before increasing again immediately after menstruation.

Though everyone's cycle is different, I think estrogen is typically at its lowest the first week of one's cycle and then starts to rise between day 8 - 14 before dropping again and then rising again and then dropping again. According to what I've read, the first few days is also the only time during the month that testosterone levels are higher than estrogen and progesterone, which I find interesting because the first week is by far the time I feel the best.

Overall, agreed with you. I think the male brain doesn't do well with these ups and downs in different hormones. Though I cannot imagine how the female brain could be okay with them!

On another note: how many of you guys took birth control at some point? For those who experienced hormonal swings that they disliked, did birth control help at all with this?

[Alexthecat]

On another note: how many of you guys took birth control at some point? For those who experienced hormonal swings that they disliked, did birth control help at all with this?

I'm on depo-provera for years now. I'm so mellow and patient. I don't know if before was hormonal swings but that time from 12-17 just sucked. Now I can live and be happy and not worry about staining my khaki pants at work.

[Ryan55]

birth control helped with cramps and shortened the periods, but that's really it for me

[mm]

I don't like the idea of taking more female hormones.

[Nikotinic]

I get pretty depressed during the few days before. I can actually pretty much forget about keeping track of the date because I reliably know when it's coming by my terrible mood. When I was a teenager it got so bad that mum took me to the doctor and I was prescribed something to help.

I tried going on birth control pills for a couple of months when I was about 20 but it made me really depressed. I got moody and grumpy and would cry at the drop of a hat. As soon as I stopped taking them I felt better again so I've stayed away ever since.

[mm]

Nikotinic, for many of us taking more female hormones just makes us feel worst, our bodies just can't handle female hormones.

[Nikotinic]

That's basically how I feel about it too - like my body was telling me "stop it with this oestrogen s**t, we have enough of this already.

I studied the basics of our hormonal systems as part of my Biology degree and I found it interesting that female hormone levels aren't at their highest when I feel my worst, and yet when I take more, I feel worse.

*edited for spelling mistake