Last week I had my first appointment with the endocrinologist. We had a brief chat where he explained what to expect, possible side effects and such which I’ll get into in a bit. He also a did a basic physical examination like checking my height, weight, blood pressure and lungs.

Everything checked out okay so he then wrote the prescription for the hormones which I was able to pick up downstairs at the hospital’s own apothecary.

What I get to take is Cyproterone acetate (50mg tablets) which is a testosterone blocker and Progynova (estradiol) (2mg tablets) which are the female sex hormones. I take both of those 2 times a day, once during breakfast and once during dinner.

In about six weeks I will have to go back there. I was unable to make appointments that day as they told me they were swamped with scheduling all kinds of appointments so they were trying to figure all that out. They’ll get in touch with me when they figure it out.

There will be about four appointments total which they’ll try to keep as close together as possible. Apart from seeing the endocrinologist again I’ll also see my psychiatrist again.

They also want to do a bone density scan (which I’m not sure is new to the protocol or not), and I’ll get an ‘introduction’ to speech therapy. As far as I understood they actually have in-house speech therapists now, that’s pretty cool!

Anyhoo, back to the hormones which I am super excited about! :D

As every person is different the exact results of HRT can be hard, nay impossible, to predict but I’ll list what one can at least expect. There are of course also many other side effects that may occur while on HRT so I list some of those as well.

• Reduction in body hair. Or more specifically: reduction in the overall thickness and rate of growth. Facial hair will still need to be lasered away along with any other areas that might require it such as the genital area in preparation for sex reassignment surgery (SRS).
• Redistribution of body fat. Most discernible in the face, hips, et al.
• Growth of breast tissue. Tends not to start after about 3 months of being on HRT and takes about 1-2 years to fully form. It begins with increased sensitivity, especially around the nipples, and painful lumps. Several other factors play into the end result but it’s safe to say that most won’t/aren’t happy with it. I foresee cosmetic surgery in my future.
• Softening of the skin.
• Change in hair texture.
• Stronger and more frequent emotional responses. Both good and bad emotions, so this’ll be fun as I’m overemotional as it is.
• Reduction in libido.
• Reduction in testicle size.
• Inability to have or maintain an erection.
• Become sterile.
• The estrogen can help to prevent osteoporosis.
• Slight increase in the risk of thrombosis.
• Slight increase in the risk of breast cancer.
• Headaches.
• Nausea. Including vomiting.
• Depression.

And much more.

As I have only just started I’m not sure exactly what to expect beyond what I’ve been told and have read but I did warn some of my surroundings that my behaviour might change a bit or be erratic.

Of course I am not there yet. First step is the diagnostic stage which normally takes about 6 sessions, all about a month apart. So yeah, add another half year of waiting before I will even be considered for hormone replacement therapy. So we’re looking at February at the earliest here for them to tell me what I have already known for all this time and label me with gender dysphoria. Bummer.

While I really do understand the need for the entire lengthy process as this is not something someone should go into lightly and it most certainly has a major impact on every aspect of your life and the people around you, I already made my choice last year. I am Julie. Period. There is no confusion, no wishing to ‘go back’ or thinking that I made a mistake. There is no doubt. None.

So to me, the waiting is sometimes grueling. I know I’ll get there, I know I should not even worry about that fact. Even my therapist reminds of that. I already transitioned. Most people who apply and get to this stage have never been out in public or even told anyone outside their immediate circle yet. Those are the things that they will work on with the people that reach this stage. The coming out part to family and work and such.

I did all that already. Everybody knows. I am living full time as me, Julie, and I even got rid of my ‘just in case’ bag of guy clothes months ago. Hell, its even hard to think of a time before my transition. It’s not just like that was a different person, it really was a different person; and I’m still changing more and more. When I first announced I was going to transition I said I would still be the same person. Oh how wrong I was. They say I can expect more changes once hormones start kicking into a full gear.

Anyway… To get back on track here. I met my assigned psychologist. She explained the procedure which I of course already knew so nothing new there. Other than that we just covered some basic stuff, did a quick rundown of my life and some of the things that were written down from my earlier visit way back in March. She’s really nice and easy to talk to.

You have probably noticed by now that each time I write about my visits to my therapist and such I don’t go very in depth about what was talked about. This is not because I don’t want to, it is because I was advised not to. Sadly, that is all I can say about it at this point in time. I will of course always speak my mind about the things that I can talk about.

After the talk was over I made three new follow up appointments, for October, November, and December, and also another one in November for a psychological test type thing. Having been nervous as all flipping hell over this thing I was glad it was over and also relieved that it went well.