Bad Binding Habits/More Dysphoria...

Maybe get some thick T-shirts for sleeping so you feel better. I know how you feel. I wear mine probably 16 hours a day the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed. It's worse because I live with my fiancee and I don't want her to see me without it. However I have a smallish to medium chest and I haven't had any discomfort so far. You should prolly wear a tight sports bra and thick shirt at gym or to work out, otherwise you're probably fine. And don't sleep in it, but a nap is prolly fine. Maybe get a slightly looser one to wear for longer periods. Listen to your body.

 

It's very important that you know continuing to wear your binder for extended periods of time/while you sleep can break your sternum or ribs (possibly causing a pierced lung), cause spinal damage, cause intense breathing difficulties, or even kill you. When you sleep is especially dangerous because you're not necessarily going to wake up if there's a problem, and there won't necessarily be someone else around to help you - people breathe slower and deeper when they sleep, and since a binder causes some restriction to breathing, you could end up suffocating. For this same reason, you definitely shouldn't wear it during exercise since you need to breathe harder and a binder makes that very difficult. Wearing a binder too often and for too long can also ruin your breast tissue, and while I know you're probably completely apathetic about having "perfect boobs" it can seriously affect your surgery options in the future. If you get a binding injury, you will be unable to bind, AT ALL, for six months or maybe more. Trust me, that isn't a path you want to go down because it sucks ass. It's a much better idea to follow safe binding habits so that you can bind as and when you need to. You say that everything has been fine so far, but really it only takes one time for an injury to occur - the fact that you haven't had one yet is almost a miracle. Forgive me if that sounded lecture-like, but it's so very important to bind safely, not just to save your life but also so that your future options remain open in regards to transitioning.

Patrick's suggestions are very good ideas. I use a loose hoody for sleeping when I get bad top dysphoria. Layering two sports bras can help reduce the size of your chest when you want to exercise/do Gym, or you could purchase a dance undershirt online. They are designed to hold things in place and stop them moving around and provide a fair amount of compression, they work wonders and are lightweight and breathable (since they expect people to be dancing in them after all). They also come in fancy colors and patterns, if that's your sort of thing. :icon_wink It's a very good idea to have at least one or two days a week where you don't wear your binder at all - this is to help your chest recover, prevent sprains or bruising or other stress-related injuries, and just in general to give your body a break. When you need to take your binder off, you can wear baggy shirts or a loose hoody, or do what I do and just wrap a blanket around your shoulders. When your dysphoria isn't as intense and you won't be going outside, see if you can try to have a break from your binder. It greatly decreases your chances of injury. Like Patrick said also, having a bigger binder that you can wear when your dysphoria is less intense will also help a lot with your health.

With a looser binder, keep in mind that while you may think "my chest must be perfectly flat!" like a lot of trans guys do, there are a LOT of cis men who have noticable pecs that create a pretty significant bulge. Muscular men, overweight men, or men who just have bigger pecs for whatever reason. What you see when you look down isn't at all an accurate representation of what the world sees. Try to distract yourself and do things that make you feel good - playing games, drawing/writing, talking to friends, things that can help you be you while also giving you the recovery time you need.

 

Whenever you don't want to take off your binder think about this: if you break a rib by binding in unsafe ways, you won't be able to bind for at least 6 weeks. Remind yourself how awful that would be, and then take your binder off because it's not worth the risk. Have a plan for how you're going to distract yourself once your binder is off. Personally, I like to watch TV shows because I can lose myself in the show and not have to think about my body. Playing games, reading, listening to music, etc. can also help.

 

Hey. I'm a cis-ish lady with VERY significant mammerjammers. For sleeping, I have these realty old, stretched out sports bras that I wear under a baggy tshirt. Almost no compression, really dead sports bras from TJMaxx or something. It looks a little more androgynous than if I just let them roam free, and also it helps stop that feeling like you're just flopping around with them in the bed, lol. Less noticing them while you're trying to find a comfortable position. Maybe that would help?