Alt text: Scene from Kung Fu Panda, depicting Oogwa as relieved, saying “Finally, inner peace”. End alt text.
Figured I’d ask a positive question. For me it was the first time I’d put on estrogen. The HUGE relief I felt… and a few months in when I no longer felt I’d needed a breast form.
I saw gals describe their first time on E as seeing everything in a much more vibrant tint, but I didn’t experience that. - is that really a thing, or is it more metaphorical? :3
that’s so great - it’s entirely possible my bias against oral E is misguided; it’s the most common route of administration, and while most girls I see on oral E don’t have great feminization, there was one girl I knew who only took oral and she was passing and had decent breast-growth (I just tended to see her as the exception to the rule).
I wish I had muscle atrophy - I’m sure it’s happened to some extent in the past two years, but my forearms, calves, shoulders, neck, etc. all still look way too muscular to me. My partner says my arms aren’t muscular at all, but she admits my calves do look fit still (they’ve lost some muscle, but not nearly as much as I would prefer).
Anyway, so glad to hear oral E is working for you and having good effects!
I think the main reason I’m getting so much pain from it is because of the rate I’m losing muscle. I wasn’t ripped as a guy, but I lift appliances regularly at work, so my thighs and glutes were toned as hell if not bulky.
Only reason I went with oral over injections is because I can’t get it local, so it would still be covered by public heathcare, but I’d have to pay shipping, and I don’t with pills. Always comes down to money with people doesn’t it 😠
I definitely wasn’t ripped, but I might also just be really sensitive to any perceived muscle tone 😅
I think I’m definitely weaker, I can’t lift as much as before (I never measured how much I could lift before, I just notice my capacity seems reduced), and my endurance is worse (I can’t hold a heavy object for as long as before). I also notice sometimes my biceps feel really shredded after I try to carry too many groceries at once (though mostly I’ve just learned to take more trips rather than overload my arms).
But I would imagine if I had a job with manual labor I would have a much greater sense of my body’s weakening … that’s really interesting.
This study of US Air Force service members who started HRT found that trans women lost their pre-HRT advantages over cis women in push-ups and sit-ups within 2 years of HRT, and I’ve passed my 2-year mark, so I would like to think I too should be weaker overall, but I mostly just feel disappointed with my muscle loss - I would like to see more, lol.
And yeah, rough re being forced to take oral because they would force you to pay shipping … since you’re mentioning public healthcare I assume you’re in Europe and not the US - here in the US injections are more common and more accessible … it’s really sad to hear how behind Europe is in terms of healthcare practices. Gatekeeping is more common there (compared to the adoption of informed consent in the US), and injections are not really supported by the public healthcare (which for most people just means it’s not an option at all).
At least you do have oral through public healthcare, though.
I’ve heard sublingual absorption is better and you can somewhat reduce the burden on your liver that way - but it might also make your metabolism of the drug more spikey (though oral is super spikey no matter what as I understand).
I wish the better alternatives were more common. Trans healthcare really needs improvement across the board, but esp. in places like Europe where best practices have already moved on and they’re stuck in older ways.