Did hormones ampliy your need to trasition?

[Aprilrain]

The reason I ask is because I have been reading "Rasied By Wolves" by Melanie Ann Phillips and she wonders if she had stopped taking the hormones at a time early in her transition, when the doctor told her to, if she wouldn't have changed her mind or at least not gone as far. At this time she was on too high of a dose and later in the journal when she is on a proper amount she feels less girly having days when she really just dosnt care one way or the other if she is Dave or Melanie.

I find it an interesting question. It seems evident from many things Ive read that hormones definitely change the way you feel. The author says it didn't change the way she thought just the order of importance of her thought processes

[Karen564]

No, My NEED to transition came before the hormones.....The hormones were necessary to help with my transition, (not to mention that they made me feel so much better inside) so no, I don't believe they amplified my need to transition all the way, because that's exactly where I was heading anyways..In my mind, there was no halfway, it was all the way for me, nothing less...

[Louise C]

It confirmed the fact that i would and indeed should transition, but the sense of urgency and desperation was definitely reduced.
I felt a deep calm rather than the tense knot in the pit of my stomach.

[Faith_G]

I don't think they affected my sense of urgency one way or another. I was full-time except for work by the time I started hormones, so there was really no way of slowing me down at that point.

[Melody Moore]

No, my need to transition was already present & affirmed - it was fully understood & accepted before started taking hormones. I started living full-time as a female to test how I would feel & be accepted into society as a female a month prior to starting hormone therapy. I did things this way because I fully understood that effects of hormones can have severe ramifications & complications and many effects are irreversible. So my recommendation is don't ever start taking hormones unless you know for sure that you want to fully transition and are under the care of suitably qualified therapist (pyschologist) & doctors.

[Kathryn Martin]

I would not have started hormones unless I was sure of what I was doing. These treatments are very significant interventions into your body which should not be undertaken without being sure that you wish to transition. This is the main reason why MD will not prescribe them unless you have a letter from your therapist.

It has for me so far neither amplified nor reduced my desire to transform to congruent state of being.

[Felicity71]

Maybe they did, I will never know for sure. They certainly made it hard to go back to living male.

[arbon]

It confirmed the fact that i would and indeed should transition, but the sense of urgency and desperation was definitely reduced.
I felt a deep calm rather than the tense knot in the pit of my stomach.

This has pretty much been my experience.

I feel like starting on HRT actually gave me some time by reducing the feeling of urgency, the anxiety and depression, and clearing my head enough to more rationally move through this and understand better the decisions I was making. And plan it out a bit.

But I have heard that low doses will, with some people, reduce the GID feelings enough to where they don't really feel the need to transition at all.

[Danni Bear]

Hormones did not amplify my need and desire to transition. That need was always there, What hormones did do was to allow me to be at peace within myself. To have a serenity in the knowledge that what I was doing was correct. A peace within a body and mind that had been at war with itself for a lifetime.

Danni

[Sharon]

I transitioned four months before I began HT, but, boy, it was a momentous day when I held those first pills in my hand before popping them into my mouth. :daydreaming:

[noeleena]

Hi ,

What happens to one is not allways going to happen to another .

Factors to look at.

age , are there other meds being taken , or have been taken . depresson is all so a factor. the dose rate & the type of meds. h r t .
& to compare one person with another. dont do it...

To many details are going on , & every one reacts differently , that means your body & then the mind set.

At 56 h r t had no effect on my mind set. body wise that would be about 30 to 40 % if that we are only looking at breasts, & to lower T ,
a softer skin face that is , & hair , with the help of an epilater over all my hair is down to 10 to 15 %...on my head very little 20 % & growth rate 15 % to nothing. basicly a none event , hence my head wear.

Now i need h r t for health reasons to keep my body in good shape i need them for life.
H r t been on them over 6 years & thats only E & a low dose.
I think that covers it,

...noeleena...

[MJ]

Hormones did not amplify my need and desire to transition. That need was always there, What hormones did do was to allow me to be at peace within myself. To have a serenity in the knowledge that what I was doing was correct. A peace within a body and mind that had been at war with itself for a lifetime.

Danni

i felt the same way as Danni and i was 45 years young when i started

[Kaitlyn Michele]

ditto.

[morgan51]

I am with Karen. My need to transition came before the hormones. Ht has only given me some peace both mentaly and physically.

[Traci Elizabeth]

I had already been full time before starting hormones but I have to admit life is sure great with them, and I am a totally different person with them - all positives in my book!

[Anna the Dub]

It confirmed the fact that i would and indeed should transition, but the sense of urgency and desperation was definitely reduced.
I felt a deep calm rather than the tense knot in the pit of my stomach.

This is how they have affected me too. Some days I just don't care either way anymore, I know who I am and don't need any validation from anyone, but I am fully aware that if I ever stopped the hormones, all my unhappiness would come rushing back.

[Melody Moore]

I find it an interesting question. It seems evident from many things Ive read that hormones definitely change the way you feel. The author says it didn't change the way she thought just the order of importance of her thought processes
Hi April, as you can see that with most of the transsexuals here the hormones did not amplify or validate the need
to transition - so for most transsexual females here that need was already present before starting on hormones.

Oestrogen does change the way that I feel for sure but in a peaceful way. There is a real inner peace in me which was never there before I started on hormones. I also am starting to believe that high levels of the male hormone testosterone (a steroid) can cause anxiety, agitation & increased aggressiveness, as well as acts of risky behaviour and alcoholism. I was being treated by doctors with steroids for a health condition on & off over a 7 year period which has contributed a lot to my high anxiety & also to some male pattern baldness. During this period I seem to become more angry & aggressive at myself. One thing I did notice is that now when I drive I don't seem to be getting as frustrated & anxious about all the bad drivers on the road and am a lot more patient than I ever was before.

I was talking to a trans-male friend yesterday at our local meeting for Transgender Day of Remembrance. And I asked him how male Hormone therapy affected him when he told me that when started taking testosterone which is a steroid to transition (Female to Male) - he said that when he first went on Testosterone wanted to fight everyone. I also know another guy who is on male HRT that I stayed with for about a week when I was in-between moving house who is a real arsehole. Apparently he damaged his pituitary gland (which controls testosterone production) through getting a head injury. Because his pituitary gland doesn't work properly he is on Hormone Replacement Therapy, but I know for a fact that he also over uses his testosterone, as a result he drinks heavily and is extremely aggressive with an extremely high libido. He constantly harassed me for sex and because I refused his advances he tried to get violent with me. Bad mistake because I nearly threw him off the 3rd floor balcony because of his violence & sexual harassment. Personally I think he would be better of without testosterone.




As a male I was never overly aggressive to the point I took it out on others & certainly never had a drinking problem like the guy I just mentioned did. I use to only get angry at myself for having the body of a male. I did suffer a lot of anxiety over it so I use to smoke a little bit marijuana every now & again to self-medicate (even my doctor unofficially supported my use of medicinal use of marijuana) because nothing else seemed to work. However since starting on oestrogen & using an anti-androgen the anxiety has disappeared and I no longer feel the need to smoke marijuana to reduce my anxiety levels.

Like many others here I validated my need to transition by living full-time as a female for just over a month before I started taking hormones.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

This is how they have affected me too. Some days I just don't care either way anymore, I know who I am and don't need any validation from anyone, but I am fully aware that if I ever stopped the hormones, all my unhappiness would come rushing back.

This is soooooo true...

[Teri Jean]

Not really. I came into my transition for six months before hormones. I wanted to be sure of my choice and when I was comfortable it happened.