For those #trans folks (#NonBinary, #TransMasc, #TransFemme, #Agender, others I’m definitely forgetting sorry about it please chime in too!) on #HRT, what are some of the fun effects you’ve felt?
I want to hear about your hormonally-induced #TransJoy!
Sensory changes. Touch, taste, scent, and visual -- I've had all of them expand and change.
I respond to touch a lot differently, with a number of things that used to be irritating suddenly quite pleasant.
Visually, I seem to have a better eye for color -- picking out shades and differences I couldn't before. My spouse has noted it a few times.
My sense of smell has increased, and I've become MUCH more sensitive to certain smells -- for good and ill.
Taste has been weird -- I'm definitely capable of tasting more complexity than before. I've not encountered any 'favorite foods' that went from good to bad, but I've found SEVERAL foods that went from "bad" to "good" (bananas, for one) and others that went from "meh" to "good" -- coffee, for instance.
I don't know about hearing, but I know those four all got more...nuanced.
@Willow @EmilyGB2023 Estrogenated bodies maintain the eyeballs for a higher ratio of cones to rods, so after a bit of time on HRT, yes, you are absolutely seeing more colours and finer gradations of colours. It's science!
Also your night vision goes to shit. But it's worth it for all the pretty colours!
I've gotten a bit of teasing from my wife because I can differentiate between shades I couldn't have seen two years ago.
"I respond to touch a lot differently, with a number of things that used to be irritating suddenly quite pleasant."
If you felt like it, could you expand a bit on this? I've noticed something similar, but more like some touch or personal-space stuff irritates me more.
My skin is just more alive, I guess? The sensations I get are more complex -- a cool breeze isn't just ""I'm cold and it's windy".
I can feel the feedback from the little hairs moving on my arms, the goosebumps rising, I can trace the contours of where the breeze touches without looking. I can feel the tingle of it, the cool/cold/movement sensation ripple across my skin.
Warmth, like hot water in the shower, went from "the water is warm and running down me" into a warmth I can feel penetrate my skin, working it's way inward. I can feel the tracery of heat running down me with the water, feel tiny little shifts as my muscles relax under it.
My wife running her hand across my arm used to be dull, almost irritating at times. Now? I mean depending on the mood and context, it ranges from a pleasant feel of skin on skin to an electrifying feeling that races across my skin, up and down from the point of contact
It's like putting on glasses for the first time
@EmilyGB2023 @Willow It seems like, to grossly generalize, you went from kinda numb to noticing when things feel pleasant or interesting more. Does annoying or painful/scratchy sensation hurt more too, or is it about the same?
For me, on T, things feel ~about~ as good or sensitive as they did before, but I notice I tune some of it out more if I'm mentally engaged with a thought or project. Like, "yeah-that's-nice", and I have to consciously yank my head out of it and make myself be present and appreciate it. And things that are scratchy or aggravating, like a shitty sweater, are so much worse. But I've been chalking that up to no longer numbing out pain.
One thing I've noticed is if I don't want to be bothered, someone getting in my space has a physical sensation now, and one that can spark actual anger. Obviously I used to feel people's presence on E, but it was more of an emotional wariness rather than a skin sensation.
Physical sensation is potentially overwhelming these days, in a way it never was before.
It's like it's louder and more insistent, more encompassing. Pain and discomfort were always quite demanding. Sex, of course, was demanding in it's own way.
But I never before would have stood there in the shower and just luxuriated in sheer sensory delight from the combination of running water and heat.
@EmilyGB2023 @Willow I know what you mean. I wish everyone could feel it briefly, but I suppose it might not be affirming for everybody. Still, I am so glad this is happening to you.
For real, so many times trans femmes/people on E have shared their perspectives on the changes, and it sounds so much like the description of having first turned into a vampire in Anne Rice's novels. How the emotions are so much fuller and more colorful, and sensation and visual & hearing perception just rockets up in sensitivity. It's so cool. I love reading threads like this.
I've always liked "right fuel for my engine" as a metaphor. Or an analogy. I can never remember which is which.
It's certainly how it felt to me. Like...everything smoothed out, like static clearing from a channel.
T's great for some people. But not me.
But within a week of starting E, I knew that no matter what else happened, I wasn't going back to T dominance.
I couldn't. Not after knowing how I was supposed to feel. It wasn't ever what I was supposed to run on.
@EmilyGB2023 @Willow Yup! And it took my engine a while to clear out the diesel, even after I started putting proper gas in it. It still ran janky for a few months. But damn, once it caught on...
I'm with ya, never going back.
I know some trans people don't need or want hormone changes, but I needed that more than just about anything else.
It really feels akin to finally having your vision corrected. A lot of "oh wait, is this how it is for everyone? Wow"
It's not just more detailed, it's richer and more full.
The skin is thinner, the fat layer different, and estrogen and testosterone are neurotransmitters, so I'd imagine it's a combination of things -- including how my brain processes it.
I'm pretty prone to describing the effects of HRT as "finally getting the right fuel for my engine". Everything just seemed to suddenly be working smoother.
There's also the psychological work I'm putting in on top of all of that, and the slow dissipation of dysphoria.
Still can't believe I suddenly like bananas.
(reminds me of being nine, getting my first glasses, and realizing trees were entirely made of leaves, it wasn't just the lower branches)
I suspect I'm generally predisposed to tactile sensation.
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