I’m still pretty early on in my HRT journey at just under 5 weeks of estradiol IM injections and Spironolactone.
One thing that I kind of was expecting but still took me by surprise was the depth of my emotions increasing.
I kept reading about “a larger range of emotional responses” but feeling it is a whole new world! I feel like my emotions have so much more texture and nuance that I pick up on. I can feel them shift from sadness to anger to determination to whatever so quickly and so intuitively.
Before I started E, the best way I can describe how my emotional state behaved was like these blurry blobs of feelings that were difficult to distinguish or identify. Everything swirled around me without me being able to fully experience them. Now they are a part of me and I would never go back ❤️
Got breast buds way faster than I was expecting. Think it was about 2 weeks in when I noticed them
Something that really surprised me is that the shaft skin can secrete the same fluids as the vaginal canal. I was super confused when it first happened to me.
See on the gender dysphoria bible (You may have to scroll down to moisture and feminine oder section)
For me it didn’t happen until about 3 to 4 months but now at 8 months it doesn’t really happen to me anymore, which I don’t get.
Some things come and go. Especially those of a sexual nature. I’ve had 6 mo periods where for whatever reason, my genitals just did not function like normal at all. Then it all returns. Weird.
Indeed scent, texture, moisture, sensitivity and even coloration down there have completely changed for me. I started HRT at 37, so I had plenty of time to discover what my body was like before. And it’s very different now. I would say much closer to my AFAB partner whose body I have also had much time to explore.
Read through the link you provided. Some of those changes have me a little anxious. While I really want to be more fem, there are some masc features I want to keep. I’ll have to make a pro-con list. At the same time I’m still easily a year away from ever starting e. So I have time to think.
Thank you for sharing that link. It was really helpful for me.
it’s been many years since i started, but i don’t think anyone told me beforehand that my BO would change so drastically.
Amab enby here, taking E but no anti-androgen. The changes were noticable in the first week, but I don’t have the words… they should have sent a poet. XD
Like, how does one even describe girlsmell? I’ve always appreciated natural body odors in that all-too-brief period between the fading scent of their last shower and the sour tang of going too long without, but language never seems to do justice to something so fundamental…
Anyways, I caught the first hint of changes to my scent within a few days of starting on E. There was just enough girlsmell on me to trigger a memory of one of my partners and I took note of it immediately. That new part of my scent picked up while my boysmell gradually toned down over the next couple of months, though it is still present 'cause of the lack of anti-androgens. So I’ve ended up with a mix of both that I’ve decided to call enbysmell. I’ve also found that my body odor doesn’t build up as quickly as it used to, absent exercise.
You can take E without anti-androgens? I thought E always had to be paired with some sort of T-blocker. How has your body and mind responded to it so far?
I’m asking mainly because I really want to have more feminine features, but there are still some masc features I want to keep that taking T-blockers would get rid of (my functionality down there, for example). So the thought of going on HRT makes me apprehensive. But if I could keep them, I would feel a lot more comfortable moving forward.
This also has me wondering if I’m trans or more likely enby/genderfluid.
HOLY SHIT THE DROPSIES
One of the side effects of feminizing HRT is smoother skin, which is terrific. HOWEVER, be prepared for your fingertips to lose basically all their spidey-esque gripping power. Prepare for the butteriest of butter fingers. You will be dropping shit ALL THE TIME. Boxes that you used to be able to just grab the sides of to carry around? That life is OVER HONEY.
I’ve gotten used to having work gloves to wear when I’m doing anything physical.
Wooow I never made that connection!!
Indeed I have been frustrated for years over my sudden propensity for dropping things. I think there has also been a change in coordination/spatial awareness for me.
I wonder if this also factors into the increased difficulty of opening lids? No matter how much force I apply, I can’t move them without adding a grippy texture.
I think it’s also skin moisture. Since E, my wife feels totally different - her skin is cool, soft and velvety now, it used to feel warm and almost radiate humidity.
That humidity feel definitely helps grip, that’s supposedly the reason our skin prunes up in water; better grip!
Thats sound very terrific said like this 😅😅,
I have unfortunately to consider that 😥😭😭
My work is manual, and passions of the moment too 🙃🙃
Oh,if you’re anything like me, you neednt worry. The amount of times I’ve cut, sliced, or knicked my already large-ish hands (both from manual labor as a teen, and my hobbies now)… I wish my hands were changing at all… They’re more like lumps of charcoal than buttered noodles.
Oh my god… That explains so much! Did you possibly notice it around the 1 month to 6 week mark? The past couple days I have been CONSTANTLY dropping things that I thought I had a good grip on but never did. Just slips right out and I look down like “what the hell just happened there” 😖
Worth it for the gorgeous skin though
Apparently progesterone makes critters sleepy! … Okay, yeah, it’s a weird one but as a critter that’s never really had an easy time sleeping (the only plan that’s ever worked is “stay up until I fall asleep, then lie on the bed and hope I fall asleep again”) it’s really weird to lie down and blink away the whole night 😅
I just started HRT like a week ago, so that’s about all I’ve gotten to so far 😅 :3 🏳️⚧️
