estrogen

So I think it bears repeating here, but transition is a really personal thing. Stopping androgens and starting estrogens causes another puberty. And if you look around at cis people, you can see how different puberty is.

My sex drive went down right away. Without getting into details, we are talking maybe 3-5 times / week down to once a week or so. Which was a huge plus to me but ymmv. I'm expecting my drive to come back a little more as I become more comfortable with my body.

I should add though that as I become more comfortable with my body, I am noticing women a LOT MORE than I used to. Sometimes it gets annoying when I am around my ex. It's kind of a shame I didn't feel like this back when we were together, but then I guess if I did I wouldn't be transitioning

Breasts are way random. I had larger than guy sized ones before I started. Mine are finally starting to grow and I'm about 3 months in. They will probably be there if I ever detransitioned. Right now I would say I am still about a 36 B, which would just make me look overweight if I presented male. If they get bigger and I want to present male, I always have the option of binding.

If you stop taking estrogen, what reverses is your drive, your body hair starts growing in guy ways again, and your fat redistributes a little. You keep your breasts, but everything else reverts. Your face for instance will return to looking more masculine. But that's only if you revert before your body's natural T producers start to shrink. If you do it afterward, then you'd actually need to boost your T to detransition.

If you are worried, I would find other things and see how they make you feel. Work on your voice, wax your body hair. Hormones are something you should feel good about taking before you take them. It is true that you'll notice some stuff while there's still time to go back. And it's also true that no matter how far you go, you can always detransition almost completely if not completely.

The thing is, hormones are just like any other medicine. They're special in that your body makes them whether you like it or not. But the wrong ones have harmful side effects, and some of those are really scary. I don't like to bring it up, because it's an unfortunate stereotype and leads to harmful "you should only transition if it's transition or die" thinking that causes a lot of problems in people's lives. But there is a link between the wrong hormones and suicidal ideation.

So if you are just scared, that is one thing. But if you are worried about hormones doing what they are designed to do, then transition might not be right for you. I know though it's really hard to tell those two apart.

 

According to The Standards of Care, effects and timeline for feminizing hormones are:

1-3 months for onset of: decreased libido, decreased spontaneous erections, hair loss. The maximum effectiveness occurs by 6 months to two years.

3-6 months for onset: body fat redistribution, decreased muscle mass and strength, softening of skin and decreased oiliness, breast growth, and decreased testicular volume. Max effectiveness occurs between 2-5 years.

6-12 months onset: thinning and slowed growth of body and facial hair. Max effect >3 years but requires electrolysis and/ or laser removal for complete removal.

decreased sperm production is highly variable in both onset and effectiveness

*These are estimates based upon clinical observations and results may vary.

 

If you decide to stop after a month, then you will not have had significant enough changes for it to really matter. If you go 6 months, you still might be okay. Go a year? YMMV MY libido has not been negatively impacted by the use of estrogen. In fact, it has improved.

 

Any breast growth you may develop will be permanent, the fat that surrounds and fills the breast takes longer to develop and will most likely decrease when halting the use of estrogen.

Keep in mind ... If you are on estrogen for any extended period of time (even 3-6 months) you can cause permanent sterility.

 

Hey Chef,

First off, I really recommend not starting hormones at all unless you want them to feminize you. That's what they're for. That said,

Are you thinking about trying hormones to see if they are right for you? If that is the case, you should know a lot doctors start us on smaller doses and increase them as needed. They draw blood pretty frequently so they can keep tabs. Most of us figure out whether hormones are right for us long before our first endo visit. If your first endo visit is coming up after starting hormones, and you still need more time, you can ask for more time then.

Just be aware, when you are ready, hormones do take time to work. So after that first visit after starting, when a doctor starts actually feminizing your body, you'll still need to be patient. Also be aware that if you take TOO long on any hormone dose, there are health consequences. I am going to have to have some kind of "bottom surgery" eventually; it is literally medically necessary for me because I can't fight my body's testosterone forever. Sterile testicles still pose health risks.

Even at lower doses, some of our medicines do have immediate risks. One of them, for example, makes it impossible to detect whether you have prostate cancer. I really recommend you figuring yourself out before taking any medicine at all.

But as far as figuring out where the "point of no return is", I really don't think that's the healthiest approach. If you are on hormones and you start second guessing, asking your doctor to keep you on a lower dose for a little while is better. And again, if you're sure before you start, there isn't an issue.

 

Also, if there are huge doubts about all this and you think you're going to want to detransition, your therapist will probably pick up on it beforehand.