Things not usually mentioned.

[soquili-gitli.livejournal.com]

So, I'm just now over 7 months on HRT. And I figure, in hindsight, that perhaps I would have done things differently had I known 7 months ago what I know now. I don't think I would not have done it, and it's truly a moot point, but these are the things I wish someone had told me would happen. They are MY experiences, and Your Mileage Will Necessarily Vary. Also note, I'm just cataloging the things that caught me off guard, which tend to be the negative things. For each of the items below, there's been at least two or three "Hm, that has to be tied in to the HRT levels too". Ranging from thicker hair to the fact that my entire body is an erogenous zone and everything in between.

1) Olfactory perception. Simply put, my sense of smell went haywire and it now gets me some LUDICROUS input. I should not be able to tell from across a room that the person who just walked in is REALLY in the mood. I really don't need to know these things! And while I'd heard it might happen, I now hear that it's a lot more common than most people would normally credit.

2) Muscle loss. This was one of the more expected ones, but I don't think I really could have ever guessed it would happen so fast. I'm not making much effort to regain what's lost, or even to tread water honestly, but that's mostly due to other, unrelated health issues.

3) Migraines. When I asked my neurologist about why I'm getting migraines and/or migraine symptoms nearly daily, he merely asked what my HRT load was. When I told him, his exact words were "Welcome to womanhood." Biologically speaking, women just get migraines. For natal females, it's a cyclical thing that's tied in with their cycle. For girls like me, well, my estrogen levels are static. Therefore the chances of me having a migraine at any time are static. This leaves me with a severe reaction to bright light and high-frequency noise almost 24/7/365. This is, without a doubt, one of the Big Giant Sucky Things about HRT for me.

4) Leg/Foot/Ankle cramps. These are a very close second to the migraines for sucky things about HRT. My bloodwork is all happily normal, electrolyte balance and all that within norms, but I'm getting these at least once a week, sometimes to the point of being unable to move or do anything but roll on the floor. I've been checked for DVT and that came back negative. Still waiting to baffle my GP with this some more in the coming week.

5) Visuospatial changes. As far as I can tell, and some people will call me crazy, biologically female persons (defined as those with hormone levels within 'typical female' ranges) just perceive things different from biologically male persons (defined as those with hormone levels within 'typical male' ranges). I noticed about 3 months in that my driving habits were shifting subconciously.

I was following closer, tapping curbs more frequently and pulling too far into parking stalls and nudging my tires to the tirestop almost constantly. I had to relearn how to drive, focusing most/all of my effort on a task that had been second nature for 10 years. I had to actually start to take things like a '3 second follow distance' seriously, as well as not look away from my direct path of acceleration. Things I totally took for granted.

I'd noticed this one off-road first. Navigating the cube farm of my office was more difficult, even. I was bumping into things that I could have sworn were "right over there" instead of directly in my path.

I've done some research on this and found some references to connections between testosterone and "flow navigation" and estrogen tying in with "shape from shading". This does explain how I've been perceiving things. Changes to my night vision, photo-sensitivity, color distinction and many other little tiny things. But the downswing has been that I really just have to pay a lot more attention to my environment than I have previously.

Those five items are the big ones that immediately spring to mind. I could probably ramble on and on about the subtle things for days, but I think this pretty well covers what I wanted to say.

Again, this has been my experience. Yours will be your own.


Shining brightly,
Mikhaila