subtle changes dueto HRT / transition

[pamela7]

I've been noticing that my sense of smell and taste have been gradually changing since HRT, and I was wondering if anyone else experienced this or other subtle changes?

First on hormones I noticed my own urine and body smell changing, to something much nicer, and while I'd always found the male urinal smell horrid, the smell of male urine is really abhorrent to me now. Then I got used to my own smell and don't really notice it any more, but my sense of (food+drink) taste has changed. I'm more balanced with vinegar based foods such as chutneys whereas before i tended not to enjoy the taste. I'm not sure that I've noticed going off any foods as such though I'm pondering returning to vegan food.

[Jenna Stunned]

Hmmm, Changes I've noticed at just under 5 months :thinking: My taste in music has changed. I really enjoy much more laid back and mellow type beats now verse before I really like more intense songs. I still like the intense stuff but its more like my range of music has opened up so much more now. I am enjoying stuff I never would have before. Really my whole attitude has mellowed out a great deal. Things seem less intense although emotionally right now I'm all over the place. Also I think that my own body odor has started to change, Kind of odd perhaps? But now some of my smells reminded me of my Ex wife at times. I'm starting to notice some men in a different light, I even have a type. lol. Interesting. That's about it for now other than the normal physical changes, Hair, skin, Breasts.

Its an amazing experience.

[Pat]

Yes! I noticed my sense of taste changed a few months after starting hormone therapy. I started a thread on it here and few people noticed changes in the ability to taste but many noted a change in the ability to smell with most noting that they became aware of "the male smell."

For me, the inciting incident was when my girlfriend and I opened a bottle of a wine that had been a favorite of ours for a couple of years and so we both knew the flavor profile very well -- but suddenly it went all technicolor on me. I could taste subtle things I had never experienced before but my girlfriend (with a well-educated palate) said the flavor was the same as usual. Then I started noticing I could "take apart" foods -- I could taste each individual component of sauces and such. It was a cool, unexpected side-effect. Congratulations. :)

[Jenna Stunned]

A friend I chat with on Facebook had mentioned her sight went technicolor. Said she was driving down the street when all of a sudden she could see colors so much more vibrant, Like a whole new world. And it never turned off she just got used to seeing the world in a new light. She is a few years into HRT I think. I'm so jealous! I want something cool like that to happen!!

[Kaitlyn Michele]

all kinds of unpredictable changes, some of them kind of just in the head, some of them very powerful....but they all work...

the best change is just knowing its the right way to be....to me knowing that my body chemistry was "right" felt so good...I took my shot and I felt profoundly INSTANTLY better....so I know that's a placebo effect but man it felt real

in my life, my skin got much softer and the laser I did on my back and chest worked permanently ...I didn't notice any taste or smell change...I did become very emotional but that kind of went away once I got used to it..

[Anne K]

Well stated, Kaitlyn!

[Janna]

From what I've read in places like this (https://www.susans.org/wiki/Hormone_replacement_therapy_%28male-to-female%29#Senses), an increased sense of smell is common. They don't mention taste changing, but smell has a lot to do with how you taste food, so that may be why your taste changes as well.

I went to a transgendered group meeting today and one of the members said it was common for patterns of thinking to change as well. She used to have an internal map and could navigate like a GPS, but that ability was totally lost after hormones. Even her sense of north/south/east/west was lost. She said MtF hormones commonly make you see more patterns and relationships in things and lose some ability to follow a step-by-step path to a goal. I'm not so sure I like the sound of thought processes changing because my chosen profession is a completely mental one and I don't want to lose any of my skills to changing mental processes... but we'll see what happens.

Bottom line: Hormones can have lots of weird effects.

[pamela7]

That's interesting, Janna.

I've always been a pattern-recognition person, joining intuitive dots, so far no effect on that from the hormones. I'll have to check out if my direction-sensing shifts. :-)

As to the smell, I had a highly-developed one before, and what has really changed is that as my body now radiates female hormones, I'm more aware of male smells.

[OCCarly]

My list of foods I liked or would tolerate before HRT was so short I thought I had to be on the autism spectrum. Now to my Filipino wife’s delight I like to eat such a wide selection of Asian food that we are constantly discovering new places to eat. I never could master chopsticks before HRT. Now I use them like an old hand.

[MarieTS]

A big impact I experienced was producing tears like a leaky faucet.