Things To Know Before You Start Hormone Therapy
If you’re just beginning your transition, it’s a meaningful time. But it’s also a time of uncertainty. Odds are, there aren’t many people around you who can tell you what to expect. Hormone therapy is one of the most important steps of the process. When you’re in the thick of it, you’ll start to look like the person you’ve always known you were. Though it’s a necessary action, it’s crucial to know what happens to your body once hormone therapy begins.
Trans Women
As you start your journey towards matching your physical body with how you have always felt inside, you’ll notice some pretty significant changes to your body. Among them, you may find more fat distributed on your hips, a loss of muscle power and size, an increase in the tenderness and size of your breasts, and less overall hair growth on your body and face. If you suffer from male pattern baldness, you might find that the process stops. Penis and testicle size may be reduced a bit, and erections and orgasms may be more difficult to reach.
Trans Men
For trans men, they may experience the flip side of what trans women experience. Beard and body hair growth are stimulated. Male pattern baldness might even begin. Libido can increase, and clitoris size may also increase. Periods will stop, but an adjustment of hormones may be needed if bleeding still occurs here and there. Muscle bulk will noticeably increase. You might even develop acne.
General Issues
It’s important to exhibit patience in the process. If you think that upping your dosage without doctor approval will speed up the transition, it won’t. You need to follow directions to make sure you aren’t putting your body in danger. Going faster and bigger won’t make the process any quicker.
Also, your first prescription may not be perfect. You might find that it’s too extreme or that it needs to be increased. Pay attention to how you feel and how your body reacts. If you experience symptoms that your doctor hasn’t explained, share this information. In the beginning, there needs to be an open dialogue between you and your doctor about what’s working and what’s not.
Your emotions may not always be in your control. You’re altering the makeup of your body. So unexpectedly, some of your feelings might be a little out of whack. Some members of the trans community find balance while others hit the extremes. Keep in mind that when teens get their hormones that cause them to develop into their adult bodies, sometimes emotions come with it. In time, we all will figure out to handle these emotions.
While a physical transition is most certainly one of the key parts of your gender identity, it won’t solve everything. It’s important to continue dealing with your identity both internally and in regards to the outside world. Know that a lot of people don’t understand the trans community. While you’ve cleared a personal hurdle, there could be others that pop up.
Last but not least, consult with your doctor because you’ll likely have to take hormones for the rest of your life. Since this is a transition of your birth sex, you have to continue to send signals to your body that help you maintain your true gender identity.
Hormone therapy is often one of the last keys to freedom for trans people, but it’s important to understand its effects before saying yes.
If you are looking for a Transgender friendly therapist in Long Beach for yourself or your child, please call to set up an appointment. Please remember that if you are not in driving distance from my office, that I do provide skype and facetime sessions. It is sometimes difficult to find a trans friendly therapist, so we try to accommodate our clients by providing tele-therapy (meaning skype, facetime, etc).