How long before your emotions leveled off after starting HRT?

[Jay Cee]

I have an appointment with the local TG / TS clinic for an assessment. They may very well offer to start me on hormones right away - I don't know.

Anyways, one thing I'd like to ask is how long it took for your emotions to settle down after you started HRT? I've heard the stories about some new girls having 45 minute crying spells for just about any reason. I tend to already be weepy sometimes, when it comes to happy / sad movie endings (including some Disney cartoons - jeesh!)

I'm trying to be logical about this, and consider all factors. If I start having crying jags at work, my career may be fast-tracked to a bad place. I may wait until I get my journeyperson's papers before I start HRT, so I am looking at about 6 month wait. I don't want to do that, but I also don't want to toss away my chances at a good career either.

[Momarie]

Ask yourself this....how would a mature 13 year old girls emotions/hormones fit into your work environment?

It doesn't happen painlessly or "naturally" for you overnight you know, what makes you think this is going to be a painless, somewhat "weepy" lark?
"(I tend to already be weepy sometimes, when it comes to happy / sad movie endings (including some Disney cartoons - jeesh!)"

This isn't gonna be some Disneyland day trip you know....it's going to be a long, long process filled with a few highs and many, many lows that are not always pretty.

You had better be well prepared before you embark on such a journey so lightheartedly.

[CatAttack]

Umm I think whole super emotional crying spell thing is just a great exaggeration.. Emotions are still pretty much the same, you just kind of experience them differently. It's hard to explain haha

[renee k]

I'm already a layed back person emotionally. Hormones have made me even more so. I don't get road rage anymore. Well maybe not as much as before, just whip them the bird. LOL! I lost an old and very close friend over the weekend and I spent a good part of Saturday evening crying when recalling the times spent with him. The other big things I've noticed is how my interests have changed. I look more at clothes and fashion as opposed to sports and cars. I'm even decorating my home differently. Adding more colors and co-ordinating more.

Renee

[ReneeT]

Renee, i am sorry to hear about your loss. Making close friends is often difficult, and losing them is a real blow.

Like Renee, my emotions havnt changed much, just a bit mellower. No crying fits here....

[Momarie]

Umm I think whole super emotional crying spell thing is just a great exaggeration.. Emotions are still pretty much the same, you just kind of experience them differently. It's hard to explain haha

REALLY???

This from someone who uses a photo of SURVIVORS of a NAPALM ATTACK in his profile???

[Jorja]

In my case, emotions were not much of a problem. Like both Reenes said, my emotions didn't change much I just became more mellow. However, I have known several that had serious emotional swings. They would cry at the drop of a hat. As I have said before, taking hormones is a crap shoot. You just don't know how they are going to effect you until you are on them. Then you take what you get and work with it.

[Jay Cee]

Renee, I am sorry for your loss. I think anyone with normal human emotions, male or female, would cry over the loss of a good friend.



Ask yourself this....how would a mature 13 year old girls emotions/hormones fit into your work environment?

It doesn't happen painlessly or "naturally" for you overnight you know, what makes you think this is going to be a painless, somewhat "weepy" lark?
"(I tend to already be weepy sometimes, when it comes to happy / sad movie endings (including some Disney cartoons - jeesh!)"

This isn't gonna be some Disneyland day trip you know....it's going to be a long, long process filled with a few highs and many, many lows that are not always pretty.

You had better be well prepared before you embark on such a journey so lightheartedly.

Thank you very much, Momarie, for illuminating what is already painfully clear to me. I don't think it is a day trip to Disneyland. I am looking at losing family and friends, maybe my career, possibly my relationship because of choices that I will make in the very near future.

And please, please do not turn this thread into some platform for venting your rage de jour. I asked a legitimate question, seeking advice from others who have gone through what I may need to go through.

[Sharon]

I didn't experience any great change in my emotions as I had always been rather emotional anyway; I just felt more free to express them openly. :)

[Traci Elizabeth]

For the first year, I would cry at anything. Ball and ball was more like it. I also had unbelievable hot flashes and talked a mile a minute. Now at two years things have settled down for the most part but I can still cry easily and have become very tender, passionate, and social but only with other women.

[arbon]

When I was young I was very emotional but as I got older I felt somewhat "dead" in that department, I did not feel or express much of anything other then anger. But not anymore. About a year on hrt and I can tear up pretty easily and there are days when just about anything can set it off.

I also laugh a lot more, but if I start laughing to hard it can make me start crying.

[Aprilrain]

Wow! someone needs to adjust her MEDS!!!
Jay Cee my experience was that I was pretty much the same as I had been before starting HRT until about 4 months. I was Cry proof for probably 20 years, it took a lot to get me to cry like really hurting my self or when my mom called and told me the family dog had died. Otherwise I would want to cry but couldn't. Anyway at about 4 months I started being able to cry, just a little at first and then I became like a faucet! I'm at almost 7 months and i haven't had any terrible crying fits for a few weeks. i never just started crying until I was alone I held it together until I could have privacy! bitchy and moody though! a lot of that had to do with where i was at with self acceptance at the time to though. What ever stuff I didn't have worked out just got cried about.

[sandra-leigh]

7 months of spiro, 5 months of estridol. The only changes I've noticed to my emotions has been that I am less depressed, and I don't wake up with sharp pangs of (e.g.) "I'm going to go in TODAY and tell them I want to dress at work!"

I have not noticed any more or any less crying. I already teared up sometimes (not consistently) watching movies; I do not know if that has changed as it so happens that I haven't had the opportunity to watch many movies during this period.

What else... let's see... these days, staying home and curling up with my wife generally feels like the more satisfying choice than going out to a CD "event"... I am no longer "bursting out" and feeling trapped at home. (Well not as much -- I still get days during which I am impatient and out of sorts if I don't get to wear a skirt or a dress, such as on the bus to work.)

For me, the sleep disruption has been much more significant than the emotional disruption. Spiro and kin usually lower blood pressure, and if your blood pressure goes too low you get tired a lot; for reasons unknown, it happens to me even with low doses of spiro. I don't mean tired in the "I've worked my body too hard" sense; I mean the sort of tired where you are wide awake and reading something and then you get the thought "I'll just get my eye focus back by resting my eyes for a moment" and then you jerk up suddenly and you realize you fell asleep for a couple of minutes.

Oh yes, some combination of the drugs tends to lead me in to long long strange dreams... sort of interesting ones, but if you are dreaming that much of the night, you are not getting the right kind of sleep, and getting the fog out of your head in the morning can be difficult.

[CatAttack]

REALLY???

This from someone who uses a photo of SURVIVORS of a NAPALM ATTACK in his profile???

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone. It's an internet meme where people photoshop "Leonardo walking" into various situations. The humor is that Leonardo is walking with a ridiculous smile on his face while in dangerous or terrible situations. I understand that it is distasteful and a sensitive subject for some, but I figured that it was safe as Vietnam jokes have been done on mainstream tv and movies for a long time. I will change it, please forgive me.. I'm so so sorry.

It was not to make fun of Vietnam/napalm survivors. It's part of a whole series of Leonardo walking pictures. This is another example, where Leonardo is walking through Mordor.
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/8241/mordorcopy.jpg

Again, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone..

[Amber99]

It was not to make fun of Vietnam/napalm survivors. It's part of a whole series of Leonardo walking pictures. This is another example, where Leonardo is walking through Mordor.


One does not simply walk into Mordor. They must strut.

Anyway for me I cry more but only at times that make sense to be crying. I don't just burst into tears in public or anything.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

jaycee....think in terms of amplifying your emotions, and letting them out...

if you are not emotional now, you will not become emotional...

45 minute crying jags are definitely possible but not likely..there are no guarantees...you may be holding it all in right now..and it may come out.

a more subtle thing will happen though which is the way you think about things will evolve..
a good example of how emotion may get in your way is the exchange you had with momarie where she let her emotions get in the way of analytical thinking..

her response to you was emotional in nature, to me it came totally out of left field compared to your OP.....
you may feel emotional thoughts coming in to your thought process more..and you will just have to be ready for that ...

[Dita_B]

I am looking at losing family and friends, maybe my career, possibly my relationship because of choices that I will make in the very near future.


You hit the nail on it's head with this comment... There are much more important issues to face than your reaction to hormones...

However, you'll experience a steady increase in emotions, of the like a teenage girl has when entering into puberty... Nothing to worry about... Taking female hormones means that you give your body instructions to become a woman... and that means that you'll become more sensitive to all that you experience... If a 13 year old girl can deal with it, so can you... Your emotions will not level off, but you'll grow used to dealing with them...

An interesting side effect is that you'll gradually loose the function of your genitalia and that you'll start having interest in men instead of in women...
You'll also experience a change in the structure of your face as a result of fat re-distribution... And... the most exciting one: You'll start growing breasts!

A word of caution though... In my experience as a counselor, it is with starting to take hormones that you'll start to have problems in your relationship, as the effect of taking of hormones is irreversible... Your wife/girlfriend/partner can no longer comfort herself by thinking that you're in "a stage"... It is here when the s**t starts usually hitting the fan...

I wish you all the best in your journey... it's a beautiful one... enjoy it!

:love: Dita xo

[Aprilrain]

... you'll start having interest in men instead of in women...

so there are no lesbian transsexuals?

[Schatten Lupus]

so there are no lesbian transsexuals?
Yes, there are.
I've often wondered what will happen once I start on hormones. I'm already fairly sensitive for a guy and very laid back.

[Dita_B]

so there are no lesbian transsexuals?


Yes, there are and they are called: "Dykes" here in Canada... A couple of weeks ago I participated in an awareness march of Dykes here in Vancouver as part of the Pride festivities.. Although I am not a Dyke, but a M2F transsexual, I felt empathetic for all those women who want to express as a male and I also find it a waste of a good female body... LOL!

Since I am now a legal, fully functional woman and my girlfriend Roberta is transitioning into a woman, we, as a couple, could be called lesbian transsexuals upon the completion of my partner's transition...

Dita xo

[Kaitlyn Michele]

she didnt say no lesbians, she said you will start to have interest in men

this is usually, but not always the case..
you may also find yourself attracted to transsexuals if you aren't already..

no matter what you think going in, the HRT opens up your mind to your sexuality..prior to HRT, you are boxed in because you functioned physically, socially and hormonally as a male...

the most important thing to remember is that when you are taking the hormones, if your sexuality starts to shift ..YOU WONT MIND...it is nothing to fear.. it's just your own nature coming out..

this is not always good news for your SO btw... it's a a sad fact that many times there is an unkept promise around sexuality for transitioning transsexuals..

[Aprilrain]

My question was facicious, I know lots of TS woman who identify as lesbian. In fact I'm a little surprised at how many seem to identify this way. My point was I thought it was a bit of a blanket statement. "You will start having intrest in men" is simply not true for everyone. I know one woman who's intrest in men ceased completely once she started hormones. My interest in men has nothing to do with hormones, I was interested before I started.

[Melody Moore]

LOL, too funny - of course there are many lesbian transsexuals around - I am one of
them. I am open to the idea of a relationship with a male, but so far I haven't found
anyone that really ticks all my boxes and is interested. Yeah, I am a fussy b!tch I know :heehee:

Anyway, I personally don't believe that our emotions change from hormones, only the way we deal
with any of life's issues & manage our emotions changes. Everyone experiences emotions like peace,
calm, contentment, happiness, joy, elation, excitement, anxiety, agitation, anger & aggression. But
what I believe differs here is our emotional response to anything that has any profound affect upon us.

To give you a few examples of what I am talking I will describe how I things have
changed for me in how I react with my emotions to some different situations.

One of the noticeable different reactions I have with my emotions is how I react to strangers if they
are really nice to me or compliment me. As a male if someone was being nice then I was more guarded
& wondering if I was being manipulated or not. I was more guarded as a male, but then again males are
not known for being as 'emotional' as a female & showing their more softer & gentle type emotions.

What I mean by this is that now if someone is really nice to me I have just met, I feel a lot more flattered
& humbled and almost to the point I feel like bursting out in tears. But not because I was sad, but because
of the joy & the happiness I feel. I know that wouldn't have ever happened while I was still living as a male.

But if something really upset me before I use to feel anxious, then agitation & then depending on
the situation if I got angry or even possibly aggressive. But I never liked dealing with my emotions
like this but I know now that the testosterone played a big part in how I dealt with my emotions.

When I am driving I am also a lot more patient & don't get agitated by other stupid drivers so easily.

But the one thing that did test my emotions & I could see a difference in how I was dealing with them
was when I experienced a 'loss'. I lost my mobile phone twice since transitioning and both times I dealt
with it differently, the first time I felt lost without my phone & got distressed to the point I just cried my
eyes out over it. I was like "What the hell was I going to do?" and feeling lost & confused about it. But
I found the phone after I lost it the first time, but silly me lost it for good the next time it went missing.

But the second time I lost it I was a lot more calmer & rational & I think the reason I got so upset the first
time was because because the way I reacted to the loss was so very different. If I had of lost a phone as
a male, I would have felt annoyed & angry about it, but I think I would have still somewhat rational in how
I reacted to the loss. But I wasn't out of control because think I had learnt how to control a lot of these
really bad emotions that seem to be easily triggered by testosterone.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

My question was facicious, I know lots of TS woman who identify as lesbian. In fact I'm a little surprised at how many seem to identify this way. My point was I thought it was a bit of a blanket statement. "You will start having intrest in men" is simply not true for everyone. I know one woman who's intrest in men ceased completely once she started hormones. My interest in men has nothing to do with hormones, I was interested before I started.

;)

probably my interest was there all along too..i just refused to notice it.

[sandra-leigh]

Dita, in Winnipeg, the Dykes probably wouldn't exclude a transgendered person, but neither do they communicate with us much. The Lesbian community is a different organization, and they do invite us whether we are CD or TG or TS even if we are not lesbian.

I do not know the differences between the Dyke-identified and the Lesbian-identified: I just know that there is a difference here. For example, there was a Dyke Pride Parade the evening before the Gay Pride Parade (which makes a point of including LGBTTTT*) and there was notable concern from the lesbian-identified about this splintering the community and diluting the message, but Dyke Pride felt strongly that they needed to have independent recognition.

[gerigirl]

I see some of my experience in several of the posts here, but the bottom line is that your reaction to hormone treatmemt will be unique to your body chemistry, metabolism, and psychological make up. Yet, I feel confident in assurring you that suppressing your testosterone and replacing it with an optimum amount of estrogen for you will not, in and of it self, turn you into an emotional wreck even temporarilly? If you have good medical and psychological support you will almost certainly do just fine.

There are a few other things that I feel pretty confident in saying. Barring some deep psychological problems or a strong desire to act the part you will not become a sterotype. You won't act or feel like a 13 year old "girl gone wild" or a "hysterical woman". Some 13 year old girls (and some slightly older boys) have hormone driven "behavior issues" in puberty because of their age, lack of emotional maturity, and or interpersonal support. From what I can tell you are an adult and it is likely that you can manage your emotions. If you are sitting at your desk and feel the sudden urge to have a good cry I am betting that you will be able to hold it together until you get to a place where it won't appear un-professional. Thus, you will be among the millions of strong and capable women who do difficult jobs every day.

[Dita_B]

I do not know the differences between the Dyke-identified and the Lesbian-identified: I just know that there is a difference here. For example, there was a Dyke Pride Parade the evening before the Gay Pride Parade (which makes a point of including LGBTTTT*) and there was notable concern from the lesbian-identified about this splintering the community and diluting the message, but Dyke Pride felt strongly that they needed to have independent recognition.

Sandra-Leigh: The difference between a Dyke and a Lesbian is that a Dyke is a woman who expresses as a man... He/She is usually lesbian, unless they have a sexual preference for men or for any expression in between... A Lesbian is a woman, expressing as a woman, who's sexual preference is for other women...

However there are so many variations that for clarity I have used a generalization; of course transsexuals are part of it: I am living proof of that... Since I am post operative M2F, I identify myself as a woman, my partner, who is a pre-op transsexual, but is technically still a man and expresses as a woman full time, I also identify as a woman... This is technically not correct, but what the heck... my post might become unreadable when I'll go into all the specifics, so I don't... LOL

For what concerns the Dyke Pride parade here in Vancouver, on the Saturday prior to the Pride parade, my girlfriend Roberta and I participated in both parades and were welcomed by the Dykes, the Lesbians and the gay boys, with open arms...

Dita xo

[Schatten Lupus]

this is not always good news for your SO btw... it's a a sad fact that many times there is an unkept promise around sexuality for transitioning transsexuals..
Me and my girlfriend decided we would keep a boy chained up in for sexual purposes.:devil:
:dom::chained: