So while this reiterates my previous post a bit, I wanted to put up an official 2 week status update for the sake of my own OCD!
- Initial flatulence side effect has passed, thank freaking god.
- My back has been hurting a lot around kidneys, so I might not be drinking enough but I'm trying. Has been better the past few days though so maybe I've finally hit equilibrium. As expected, I pee nonstop. Which... I kind of like because it plays into the "women pee more than men" cliche. Small victories, small victories...
- My skin was always soft (my sister has always been jealous
) but now it's softer, and significantly drier. My complexion has also cleared up a good bit, and I honestly believe it has had a positive effect on my psoriasis. My trouble areas that survived psoriasis meds have softened up more than anywhere else, and don't seem to be scaling up or getting raw like they were before. Which, damn, that alone would be worth the HRT.
Shaving also seems a little smoother, and stubble is less visible. No clue why. Might just be acclimation regardless of HRT, might be because of skin effects.
- Sense of smell keeps flaring up. It's not constant, but it's there. Probably limited as well by the lack of any humidity in my room, and my sinuses are always dry and my mouth is always parched just due to environment.
- Psychological effects have been profound. I'm still not at the actual physiological hormone emotional effect phase, but just knowing I am on the HRT meds has had a positive impact. Outside of a few holiday-family related blips, I'm just overall jut relaxed and happy. I'm smiling more for sure.
- Non-HRT related addendum: Hair continues to grow in on scalp at a pretty great pace based on what my understanding of the common effects of Finast/minox are. More vellum hairs go terminal seemingly daily. While I still look very much like I'm going bald and hair is super thin, nonetheless it is as though the clock has already been rewound about 4-5 years. Some of that for sure is that not all of my hair loss was traditional MPB or genetics, and had to do with psoriasis damage to the scalp. I have a feeling that hair was mostly just being suppressed by purely mechanical damage and the medicines have helped to kick start it more readily since it didn't require the time for DHT to be suppressed to function properly. I'm excited to see what the added effect will be in the coming months with HRT at play as well. The goal continues to be shaving cost off of transplants, rather than full regrowth of course.
- Non-HRT related addendum #2: I havent weighed myself since my HRT start date, but I definitely haven't lost anything and feel like i probably put on some pounds. The food situation has been... ugh, too delicious. But whatever! I'm not one for new year's resolutions, but once family is gone and the holidays cease I can readily go back to maintaining my previous diet.
- Non-HRT related addendum #3: I am now out to my father, step-mother, sister, and younger brother. Left to go are my older brother, step-brother, and step-sister. I was planning to tell my older brother when he came down today for New Years, but they cancelled last minute so not really sure how to deal with that. I hate the idea of telling him over the phone. I'm telling step-brother after everyone else is gone so it's less hectic. Step-sister I'm not super close with and not sure how I'll go about that. Hrmm... maybe I'll go ahead and tell my step-brother today, then tell step-sister before they leave on Sunday. I want to tell him before her though for sure.
