I transitioned 9 years ago and these symptoms started to me around 4 years in. Usually they're not talked about in trans spaces despite being documented.
Lower body temp than people who aren't on HRT despite not feeling the cold. Sometimes I even feel hot despite my body being 36.5°C
Terrible blood pressure, my nails on my fingers and toes are always purple-ish and the nails grow thin and weak.
Dry skin.
Extreme dry eyes, they actually cause me vision loss.
Bruising, random bruises appearing on my thighs out of nowhere. One day I fell on my knees and even tho it wasn't a hard fall I got a terrible black bruise on my knee.
Dizziness, people report headaches more often but I don't get those as often as dizziness.
Some people say "wow HRT made me feel so good" and I'm here feeling like a corpse in recent rigor mortis 💀
Some of that sounds like you might have raynauds. Estrogen caused mine to manifest a few months in and now I can't go outside in winter without gloves or my hands hurt like hell. Is fun for screwing with my gf because my hands are always cold, so touching her is always a shock to her
People mention all the time that HRT will make you biologically more similar to other people with similar hormones since those are the things that cause almost all gender differences (granted some affects are restricted to certain developmental periods). You also are at higher risk of breast cancer and blood clots.
Super interesting and things I'll look out for as I get closer to the 4 year mark (half way there)! It is unfortunate that androgens and testosterone do a lot to regulate most of the things mentioned here- stimulates collagen so thicker more oily skin and stronger nails, and higher tear production so less dryness of the eyes. Estrogen tends to lower blood pressure while testosterone tends to increases it- could account for the dizziness. I think all these things become even more clear as we age and most definitely should be talked about! Much of it feels less about being trans and just more about being a woman 🩷
The dry skin and eyes I very much get. Feeling hot though is basically nonexistant now. Within about a month or so of starting HRT, my comfortable temperature range crept waaaay up, from ~21°C to ~28°C. Everything below the mid to high twenties is cold to me now.
Those don't seem too related directly to hormone levels. And most direct effects dont take quite that long based on anyone I've known. I've only been on HRT for a couple of years. Though it is possible they are indirectly related, meaning the hormone changes over the long term triggered some other issues. Have you had your iron levels and/or red blood cell counts checked recently? Every one of these symptoms can be caused by certain types of anemia.
all 37 comments