OTHER CONCERNS

Other changes my body would go through was a transfer of body fat and my face would look different. It would become more chiseled. Both of these changes would take awhile.

As for the body fat redistribution I really didn’t have any major concerns over this. I’m a very active person most of the time. So having fat go to different places I probably would not even notice. Therefore if I wouldn’t notice others wouldn’t either.

My face becoming more chiseled could take about two to 3 years. That being such a long process means that me and others wouldn’t notice either.

Because of these two taking long and the voice change happening over time Jennifer has suggested that I do a video of me talking so that I can see how long it take for them to change. I never would of thought of this. She probably would not have either. However, Jenn works at Starbucks where she has several workers that are transgender or they have partners that are transgender. One of the workers partners is transitioning from female to male and they started a video diary. Jenn’s coworker showed her the video at the beginning of their transition to now. Jenn was surprised at the changes in the person’s voice and facial features. I’m gonna start videoing myself today and do it once a week. Maybe as time goes by I will see if I can share here.

Another one of my concerns I didn’t even think about until I mentioned to one of my friends that is transgender that I was going to start taking hormones. This friend asked me if I had asked about how taking hormones could affect my seizures and my lupus. I didn‘t think about these two things because they are something that I have lived with for quite some time. I have been on medicine for both of them for awhile and the medication has helped me over the last 3 years to be seizure free and also reduced my pain so that I can be more active.

When I went in for the appointment to learn how to give myself the injection I asked the nurse practitioner the question about my seizures. She said I’m glad you asked me this, because that was one of the questions she had asked the group of doctors that consult on if someone is able to start hormones or not. Her question to me was are your seizures connected to your menstral cycle. I said no, they happen when I don’t get enough sleep or when I’m really stressed. Because of this taking hormones wouldn’t have any affect on my seizure activity.

As for the lupus she said that they have noticed that people that take masculizing hormones have improvements with their lupus. But that is a wait and see. The good thing is that it wasn’t going to make it worse.

So I suggest to those of you that might be thinking of doing any kind of hormone therapy don’t be afraid to ask questions so that you can understand the process.