I’ve been transitioning FTM for 6 years, on testosterone for a total of 3 years and 9 months, and testosterone completely damaged my body & life.
While taking testosterone I experienced;
- High blood pressure in hypertension stage one
- Glaucoma developing from ocular hypertension (from hormone fluctuations)
- Eye twitching/Dryness/Seeing spots & flashes
- Intense back pain
- Migraines (1-4 times a week)
- Debilitating body aches
- Sciatic leg pain that would wake me up
- Chest pain/Shortness of breath/Heart flutters/Palpitations
- Severe uterus cramping
- Vaginal atrophy
- Constant dizziness
- Scalp soreness/tenderness from rapid hair loss
- Face skin very oily
- Sweating/Hot flash problems
- Sleep apnea/Loud snoring/Choking in sleep
- Difficulty swallowing/Choking when eating
- Bladder retention with burning urination
- Protein in my urine during pee tests
- Rise in bad cholesterol on blood tests
- Painful fibrocystic breast tissue
- Full body paresthesia, especially in face/nose/arms/hands
(this I hated most, as it caused extreme stress & fear)
- Scary and upsetting dreams frequently
- Huge increase in depression/suicidal urges and anxiety
- Stopped being able to cry around 4 months on T
- Had hard time feeling deep emotions/Felt very void/empty
- Less emotional response towards situations and other people
- Less inner dialogue/Shut off most internal chatter/thoughts
- Aggressive (physically & verbally), assertive, argumentative personality
(which is the opposite of me pre-T)
- My personality and thought patterns changed uncontrollably
*** My T levels were always perfect and spot on. I’ve had 72 hour heart monitor tests, breast ultrasounds, vaginal ultrasounds, MRI on my spine and brain, and many blood/urine/eye/full physical tests over the years to figure what is wrong with me. But everything has always come back saying I’m fine and its side effects from the testosterone. T was killing me, and desecrated my life. I literally couldn’t take it anymore. I’m 4 months off T at this point and I’m still suffering.
This isn’t to discredit medical transition, but T was very dangerous to my body. It was hurting me in so many ways… ways I never imagined. More studies really need to be done on the side effects and harm that T can cause. I was always told, “testosterone won’t hurt you, it only raises your risks to a bio male level.” Well that was very untrue for me, as I’m sure AMAB people do no deal with all these issues, all at once.
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