My Update from dressing to hormones!?

[shawnsheila]

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to give you an update on my status. It was about 4 years ago I joined this group to understand why I dress and I just want to say I am very thankful for all the loving and kind words I have gotten from many of you on my various posts and all the information and experiences you all have shared. It was soon after I joined this group, I began to embrace and really explore what it means to be feminine and dress up. Fast forward to today I really feel my desire to look like a woman really has accelerated. My therapist, who specializes in gender identity, told me it tends to get stronger with age.


Here is how far I have progress since I have first joined:
I have had my beard / mustache laser removed (I love not having to shave and not have to conceal the 5 o'clock shadow) I am getting my chest hair laser removed soon too and I regularly shave / wax my pits and legs.

I am now considering taking hormones and am currently taking Finasteride (partially for hair loss and partially to reduce my testosterone levels... they were elevated... don't work my doctor knows I am TG and it is an official prescription) My therapist is waiting on me to decide if I want to start estrogen too but I am partially on the fence for that.

I just wanted to add that, 4 years ago, I had no desire or interest to laser my beard off let alone take hormones. And now, here are am, strongly considering HRT.

Side note, I have not experience any sexual dysfunction since taking Finasteride. I do notice I am calmer and things that would normally set my anger off do'nt as bad any more. It has reduced my daily sexual fantasies (i had a lot per hour) so its good from a focusing stand point but everything still works like normal and i still strongly desire my wife ;)

I am wondering if any of the other gals out there have experienced something similar? I am currently 37

[Helena Gwyn]

Thank you for sharing the update on your journey. I really admire the fact that you've taken all these steps.
I don't have any real experience yet, just accepting this part of me for a few months, so I can't share anything about that, but it's reassuring for me to read about how you started and where you are right now. Somehow I feel that I will always be restless deep down unless I go all the way. It kinda frightens me, certainly not ready for that if it's what I have to do, but reading your post I know I don't have to fly, I can take small steps.
Thank you for sharing and I wish you all the luck and happiness with every step you take.

[Jenniferathome]

Nope. I was a cross dresser when I joined three years ago and I am still a cross dresser. That's all I will ever be. Not one change outside of telling my wife and maybe gaining some makeup and fashion skills.

[Hell on Heels]

Hell-O Sweetie, thanks for sharing your journey with us.
I don't have any plans to start HRT, but I can tell you that I
believe your therapist is correct about the dressing, and desire
increases with age

[CynthiaD]

I love your story. Thanks for sharing.

[kimdl93]

Oh to be young! I don't know if "it" gets stronger or if we begin to remove the barriers that hide us from ourselves. I don't think this is a learned desire...but it may be buried deep by repression. Glad you're finding yourself.

[Abbygirl]

I can definitely say my desires have increased over time. For me the increase was on a relatively longer time scale. It's hard for me to define the amount of time I've "crossdressed", but a conservative estimate would be 20-25 years. Here it is in what I'll call my 25th year of CD'ing and suddenly I too am having my face/beard/chest/torso hair permanently removed. Last year I started taking herbal AA's and phytos but decided to give it up due to health risks. I pursued and obtained a bottle of Finasteride although I never found the guts to take it (if I knew I could take it and not damage my potency I would take it in a heartbeat). I find myself wishing/fantasizing I had small breasts and larger hips.

I won't say my experience is the same as yours, but I think we are similar- if nothing else, I understand!

[sometimes_miss]

Fast forward to today I really feel my desire to look like a woman really has accelerated. My therapist, who specializes in gender identity, told me it tends to get stronger with age.
I don't think the urge gets stronger; it's just that over time, it simply gradually eats away at us, and our resistance gets weaker, eventually subconsciously feeling like, why am I fighting this? Then when we embrace it, all the pressure we put up with for all those years, simply goes away......

[Beverley Sims]

You have an interesting progression, one statement interests me, "and I still strongly desire my wife"

What about her?.

[shawnsheila]

I am very grateful for all of you ladies and will continue to learn from you as much as I can :) To answer the "and I still strongly desire my wife" from Beverley, It has not been easy for her and one of my struggle points was to be more open with her about my CDning and how i feel. She has progress in her acceptance since she first discovered my CDing (that's another long story) but she did say she is definitely not ready for me to look like a girl full time. Slow and steady I suppose.

[Diana81]

This has really made me think. I'm in this point in which I only started doing it fully a couple of months ago, and now I'm kind of refraining myself, giving some time to think, so I haven't dressed for a couple of weeks. I'm trying to know what I am, where I'm going to. Some of you girls confirming the feeling grows with age, I don't know. The options I have... well, going back to my previous life and forgetting all this, I just can't do that. I know how unhappy I was. Then, staying as a crossdresser like many other girls here have done, accepting that part of them but not looking to go deeper... I don't know if I would be happy that way, I don't know how could I share that with a significant other, or anyone actually. Nowadays, it looks to me like "accepting" I can't go further.

So I lean to needing to transition, eventually. But that just scares me to death...