I’m still pretty early on in my HRT journey at just under 5 weeks of estradiol IM injections and Spironolactone.
One thing that I kind of was expecting but still took me by surprise was the depth of my emotions increasing.
I kept reading about “a larger range of emotional responses” but feeling it is a whole new world! I feel like my emotions have so much more texture and nuance that I pick up on. I can feel them shift from sadness to anger to determination to whatever so quickly and so intuitively.
Before I started E, the best way I can describe how my emotional state behaved was like these blurry blobs of feelings that were difficult to distinguish or identify. Everything swirled around me without me being able to fully experience them. Now they are a part of me and I would never go back ❤️
Starting Estrogen had the same effect on depression for me, I’m finally looking to actually get off them! Also, very unexpectedly, I’ve apparently started emoting more and putting more expression into my voice. I’ve always spoke with a monotone, so I was very surprised at the development.
Also yeah guys are sweaty and stinky lol
That’s pretty interesting. I wish there were more studies comparing antidepressants to HRT in trans people. Interesting how your voice changed in its innotation too. I notice if I get gendered correctly then my voice is much more masculine than if i get misgendered by someone.
Somehow being sweaty and stinky gives me gender euphoria. When I was an egg I’d try to shower as little as possible both to avoid dealing with my body and because I thought it would make me more masculine and somehow turn me into a normal teenage boy going through puberty (what the hell was I thinking. i was like twelve or something). I definitely take regular showers now but getting sweaty and stinky more than I used to makes me think “yay, the testosterone’s working”
It would be interesting, but also it definitely makes intuitive sense to me. I had an unidentifiable lifelong depression, seemingly stemming from a hatred for my body, “not fitting in” in social situations, and “feeling broken” generally. Pretty obvious what the cause was in retrospect 😅. Transitioning has resolved all of those, and I think intonation creeping in is another effect of finally feeling comfortable socially for the first time in my life.
Gender euphoria comes from funny places, I get it from boob sweat haha.