I got adhd meds pretty much the same time as estrogen. get ADHD meds, seriously. There are literally days where I take Ritalin and life just suddenly becomes so livable, I can’t even describe it

Holy hell this is interesting and i’d absolutely love to see where this goes.

Speaking of my experience with University Clinics, people there regularly conduct studies (for example the Medic University Vienna, linked to the Vienna AKH (general hospital)). Also if this does get into actual testing then I’d love to be a test subject too :D (didn’t have surgery get tho)

Oh I know exactly what you’re talking about.

Something I have also noticed since passing quite well is something my mom calls “female solidarity”. In a sense, a sort of connection between all of us.

For example, I’ve gone to a lot of raves in my time both before and after passing as a girl for other people.

• I do sometimes take (legal) substances but I do have bad trips from time to time, resulting in my energy going down a fuck ton. Nothing major, just getting really tired and relaxed (can also be a good feeling but not what I want from a rave). As a result, I tend to gravitate to corners or places where I can sit down. Before passing, nothing. I just was there. Who cares if I’d OD in that corner. Nowadays, I get approached almost exclusively by either other girls or security if everything is alright and if I need help.
• I was at a rave with my bf recently and the same energy thing happened to me so I cuddled up against him and leaned my head on his shoulder. I got approached so often by other girls asking if everything is fine in case it was a case of him drugging me.
• 8/10 times, being approached at raves by a guy means that they want to hit on me (which is strange for that community but times change I guess). I don’t think I ever had a bad experience with girls approaching me at raves. Either just raving a bit together or just in general the most wholesome experience.

Or a non-rave example:

• I was at the doctors office once with some sort of cold which made it really hard to talk. That kinda made communicating with the receptionist a bit of an issue, especially since the other people in the waiting area where kinda loud. As a result, the receptionist accidentally affirmed me so hard while still being early in my transition by saying “haha yes and then men say that we are the loud ones”. It just made me so happy

I mean yeah but

eh, I’m not going to lie, that sounds awful and I wouldn’t wish that life on anyone

It’s fine to think about what could have been but I’m not judging anyone for being happy with their status quo. What matters is that someone is happy and all things considered, that colleague feels so much better like this. (Also he cross-dresses in public and to work for some more context)

a lot of folks don’t realize until their 40s or later, 34 isn’t too bad!

One of my colleagues at work had the realization well into his mid to late 50s, also having a wife and kids. He didn’t start any hormone therapy because it would be too much effort for him, only really cross dressing every now and then, still staying with his current name and he/him pronouns.

I can’t say much about his life outside of work but I do know that he generally hasn’t had too many issues being the way he is. Still got a wife, still got kids and all.

I really truly hope that OP will have a similar experience. In contrast, we are in a moderately accepting area of the world luckily so who knows…

Idk how your situation is but my siblings helped a lot with it. I felt like I was able to talk way more about my issues with them in comparison to my parents.

Just stuff like asking my brother if I can just hang out in his room when I felt lime shit and just being there, sitting somewhere and just not being that alone. Either staring into my phone or into nothingness

If you take it seriously then nothing is really safe. Taking estrogen could lead to issues with blood sugar levels long term too (am currently part of a study/research for that but it’ll take probably still 10-15 years until the papers get published). Not a doctor either but I assume that even pills are safe as long as you don’t have specific preexisting condition that puts you at higher risk for blood clots and strokes. I’m also pretty sure that the chance is very low in comparison to things like an unhealthy diet and stuff (assumption!!)

First of all: CONGRATS!! Let the girl-ification begin for you too :D

I use pills (oral, not sublingual) actually and it’s not that big of a deal at all. It kinda becomes a routine after a while and isn’t really annoying, especially if you already have meds to take daily.

From what I’ve heard (mostly from my mom who uses gel because of menopause) the gel goes into your skin pretty fast so I don’t think there’s any concern about you playing with your cat.

If you are still to paranoid then you can always try patches.

Biotin also is also commonly referee to as vitamin B7, just look out for that

I’m glad you’re such a big fan 🥰

A proper CPU so i can calculate the repercussions of the mistake I’m about to do

An internal data storage space that is more reliable than my brain. Need to look up some iso standards for screw sizes? No need, I have the wikipedia page in my head, word for word.

YES! YEESSSS!!! I’VE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS SO OFTEN. It has to be sooo nice to just plug yourself into a wall socket for a few hours to recharge your energy so you wouldn’t have to sleep or eat. Or even better, just swap out batteries. Life would be so much easier but we’re stuck in this mortal shell ;-;

There are very few colors that actually look good on me so goth I am :D

What helped me a ton was getting other issues in my life fixed. Especially getting my ADHD meds really made things a lot easier. Starting off small with fingernail paint like I’ve heard here or growing out your hair is an incredible confidence booster. And if you can’t do even fingernails yet, do your toenails and never wear anything open toed. You still have that “hehehe I’m doing something girly” without the struggle of someone seeing anything. (Also helped me a lot getting over the “oh my god, my feet are so huge and manly and ugly” feeling)

I think you should keep in mind that transition timelines and success stories are just that. Stories about specifically the success, not the full story…

Over all I’m incredibly happy with my transition but I feel like for almost all of us, there is going to be at least one wrench in all of it. Friends/Family we had to cut out of our lives, belittlement from people, outright discrimination, or even just the nightmare that getting HRT is.

You got this, even if it takes you time. And you’re not alone in your struggles!

I used to use a (female) nickname for anonymity sake on the internet sometimes and it kinda grew on me…

Since I liked both that nickname and by dead name somewhat, I decided that I’d try a mix between the 2 names and it sorta worked but I was never really convinced. That was until I was going through some old google accounts of mine and noticed that I had a profile pic of a character from a game that I really liked and was incredibly similar to the mix between my nick- and dead name (and could be considered gender neutral).

The only issue was: since it’s a very uncommon name, not only did no one know how to spell it, there was also a very good chance that the responsible government agency for name changing stuff would outright reject the name because for some reason you can’t have a uncommon/strange name (the rules are extremely vague).

So while that game char name grew on me for a year, I basically had to come up with the name that I actually took within like 2 weeks because of other regulatory issues…

So I picked a pretty common name where I can say “oh, please use [game char name] as a nickname”. Don’t get me wrong, I quite like the name I took but especially with friends/family it just feels way too serious in comparison. With most people even at work I go by the game char name as a nickname tho and I love it ( ᵔ▽ᵔ)

Edit: I also thought about using the female version of my former middle name - Valentina, but I have too many bad memories of getting made fun of my former middle name… Now that I think about it tho, I might add Valentina back as a middle name in the future

The most i’ll allow you to do is draw the pentagram with your blood and even then only if you let me patch you up afterwards properly (ó﹏ò｡)

Let’s just embrace it, we are a cult now. This means we need sacrifices!

The only question now is, are we gonna pick this guy or JK Rowling first to sacrifice

Also I’m sure someone else has told you that already but don’t wait for estrogen or a name change until anything. The faster you get it done, the happier you will be

I hated my face too… Pre HRT some of my facial features where just so masc, quoting a friend of mine “you got a jawline more chiseled than roman statues”. HRT doesn’t change bone structure so I was devastated that I’d be stuck with that until I could get ffs. But what it does do however is round off facial features. My jawline didn’t go away, it got covered. I’m at a point where I am so happy with myself in general that I can’t even describe how it feels. I don’t think I could bare even a single day going back to how I used to look…

HRT does wonders. There is no other way for me to describe it. You just need to give it the time it needs