T update: two weeks
For reference, one week is here.
I'm still using AndroGel 1% once daily, applying approximately half of one 2.5g packet to my shoulders and back, alternating sides daily. I'm also still folding up the foil on the day I open a new packet and using the other half the next day. There was one time that I think I gave myself a particularly inconsistent dose, but nothing notable happened. I'll hopefully be switching to a metered pump next week when I see my endo.
Voice:
I've continued making a short recording daily to track changes, and I can hear a difference between every pair of non-adjacent days, so it's definitely changing, if slowly. Though it doesn't feel any different from how it did after the first four-ish days after the swollen throat feeling ended, it drops into the lower range after I clear my throat but doesn't just drop there on its own, which is kind of how I thought voice cracking would feel. Even though it's evident on recordings, no one has noticed yet. I've been training myself out of what I used to do to make it sound lower, because I can now get it lower without doing that by just talking normally, although I haven't yet figured out how to get more volume that way.
Emotions:
Aside from last week's incident(s), I don't think there's much evidence for aggression or anger issues. I've been keeping a twice daily log for my therapist, and it's convinced me that T isn't really changing anything, just that there were a couple incidents that would have made me angry under any circumstances and they happened to happen when I was 6/7 days on T. I have still had a major problem getting work done and focusing in general, yet I'm not freaking out about it. I just smile all the damn time and am really confused about being happy when there's nothing in particular to be happy about. Apparently my work has always been motivated by despair at not understanding the great problems of the universe, and now I'm so self-absorbed (no, really) that nothing bothers me anymore. This will take some getting used to. Also, I'm not sure where to file this, but I'll just say it here. I have ADHD, and it's gotten noticably worse on T. I'm having a lot more of a problem with hyperactivity and not being able to sit still, when previously my diagnosis was based mostly on zoning out and having poor short term memory. I haven't changed any of my medications around, but I did tell my psychiatrist, and he said we could consider adjusting my meds after a month or so.
Metabolism:
Ever since I started T, I've been really tired in spite of getting more sleep than usual. In my giddiness, I also started getting a bit lax about taking various vitamin/mineral supplements I've been taking for a while (on the advice of doctors because I've gotten some vitamin/mineral deficiencies before). Now I think that might have had something to do with it, so I'm getting back on schedule with those. Also, my appetite has increased. I'm taking longer to be come hungry after waking up, but I can no longer skip lunch, and I've had trouble talking myself out of late night snacks. The skipping breakfast thing happens to me from time to time, so I doubt it's the T, but the not being able to skip lunch (whether or not I've had breakfast) is new.
Hair:
I've still got no facial hair (and my sideburnsy scruff hasn't changed), and my body hair's the same as always. My scalp has settled such that I can go more than two days between shampooings, but I've forced myself to wash it at least every other time I shower, so every four-ish days, just because I doubt my ability to evaluate it objectively.
Acne:
Oh, god, the acne! My chin has so many pimples I can't find my face under there. I switched to a higher dose of tretinoin, but I keep having to not apply it to the really bad areas because they're already too dried out. I've been really strict about not washing my face more than twice a day, but it's still dried out and covered in enormous cysts. I'm also getting more pimples in and around my ears than I've ever had at one time before, and some high on my cheeks, again, more than have ever been there at one time before, and I've expanded the area to which I apply a topical antibiotic to cover those places. My forehead and nose have cleared up though. Maybe it's getting bad where I have T receptors, i.e. places where I expect to one day have facial hair? Anyway, my bacne's worse than usual, but not by very much, so I'm gonna say that's not really changed.
Cycles:
I got a period 11 days on T, so, 21 days since the previous one. For reference, my average cycle is 26 days and I've only had one that was this short since I've been keeping records (about five years now). I think it's quite likely that my ovaries/uterus are reacting to the T and am disappointed although entirely unsurprised that things have gotten worse instead of better. The cramps on Saturday were the worst I've had in at least a year, and I was not pleased at having to spend the whole day curled up in bed. This period is also unusually heavy, although I'm inclined to blame that on failing to take my iron supplement for the past couple weeks because I was hoping I wouldn't have to worry about periods anymore.
Everything else:
I'm going to try to comment on body hair, muscle growth, body fat migration, aromatic changes, chesticle density, downstairs growth, and sex drive, but nothing's changed yet. As for passing, I got misgendered really severely by a friend who should know better, as well as by some new friends who are truly ignorant (although I decided on Sunday that they were worth trying to educate as opposed to just keeping them at arm's length to avoid dealing with it). At the same time, my partner had a (now dismissed) complaint filed against him to the local police for having "a sea of men coming in and out at all hours," which we think might refer to me going to and from his place toward the end of the semester when I was working crazy hours, so apparently his nosy neighbors think I'm a man at night from across the street.
I'm still using AndroGel 1% once daily, applying approximately half of one 2.5g packet to my shoulders and back, alternating sides daily. I'm also still folding up the foil on the day I open a new packet and using the other half the next day. There was one time that I think I gave myself a particularly inconsistent dose, but nothing notable happened. I'll hopefully be switching to a metered pump next week when I see my endo.
Voice:
I've continued making a short recording daily to track changes, and I can hear a difference between every pair of non-adjacent days, so it's definitely changing, if slowly. Though it doesn't feel any different from how it did after the first four-ish days after the swollen throat feeling ended, it drops into the lower range after I clear my throat but doesn't just drop there on its own, which is kind of how I thought voice cracking would feel. Even though it's evident on recordings, no one has noticed yet. I've been training myself out of what I used to do to make it sound lower, because I can now get it lower without doing that by just talking normally, although I haven't yet figured out how to get more volume that way.
Emotions:
Aside from last week's incident(s), I don't think there's much evidence for aggression or anger issues. I've been keeping a twice daily log for my therapist, and it's convinced me that T isn't really changing anything, just that there were a couple incidents that would have made me angry under any circumstances and they happened to happen when I was 6/7 days on T. I have still had a major problem getting work done and focusing in general, yet I'm not freaking out about it. I just smile all the damn time and am really confused about being happy when there's nothing in particular to be happy about. Apparently my work has always been motivated by despair at not understanding the great problems of the universe, and now I'm so self-absorbed (no, really) that nothing bothers me anymore. This will take some getting used to. Also, I'm not sure where to file this, but I'll just say it here. I have ADHD, and it's gotten noticably worse on T. I'm having a lot more of a problem with hyperactivity and not being able to sit still, when previously my diagnosis was based mostly on zoning out and having poor short term memory. I haven't changed any of my medications around, but I did tell my psychiatrist, and he said we could consider adjusting my meds after a month or so.
Metabolism:
Ever since I started T, I've been really tired in spite of getting more sleep than usual. In my giddiness, I also started getting a bit lax about taking various vitamin/mineral supplements I've been taking for a while (on the advice of doctors because I've gotten some vitamin/mineral deficiencies before). Now I think that might have had something to do with it, so I'm getting back on schedule with those. Also, my appetite has increased. I'm taking longer to be come hungry after waking up, but I can no longer skip lunch, and I've had trouble talking myself out of late night snacks. The skipping breakfast thing happens to me from time to time, so I doubt it's the T, but the not being able to skip lunch (whether or not I've had breakfast) is new.
Hair:
I've still got no facial hair (and my sideburnsy scruff hasn't changed), and my body hair's the same as always. My scalp has settled such that I can go more than two days between shampooings, but I've forced myself to wash it at least every other time I shower, so every four-ish days, just because I doubt my ability to evaluate it objectively.
Acne:
Oh, god, the acne! My chin has so many pimples I can't find my face under there. I switched to a higher dose of tretinoin, but I keep having to not apply it to the really bad areas because they're already too dried out. I've been really strict about not washing my face more than twice a day, but it's still dried out and covered in enormous cysts. I'm also getting more pimples in and around my ears than I've ever had at one time before, and some high on my cheeks, again, more than have ever been there at one time before, and I've expanded the area to which I apply a topical antibiotic to cover those places. My forehead and nose have cleared up though. Maybe it's getting bad where I have T receptors, i.e. places where I expect to one day have facial hair? Anyway, my bacne's worse than usual, but not by very much, so I'm gonna say that's not really changed.
Cycles:
I got a period 11 days on T, so, 21 days since the previous one. For reference, my average cycle is 26 days and I've only had one that was this short since I've been keeping records (about five years now). I think it's quite likely that my ovaries/uterus are reacting to the T and am disappointed although entirely unsurprised that things have gotten worse instead of better. The cramps on Saturday were the worst I've had in at least a year, and I was not pleased at having to spend the whole day curled up in bed. This period is also unusually heavy, although I'm inclined to blame that on failing to take my iron supplement for the past couple weeks because I was hoping I wouldn't have to worry about periods anymore.
Everything else:
I'm going to try to comment on body hair, muscle growth, body fat migration, aromatic changes, chesticle density, downstairs growth, and sex drive, but nothing's changed yet. As for passing, I got misgendered really severely by a friend who should know better, as well as by some new friends who are truly ignorant (although I decided on Sunday that they were worth trying to educate as opposed to just keeping them at arm's length to avoid dealing with it). At the same time, my partner had a (now dismissed) complaint filed against him to the local police for having "a sea of men coming in and out at all hours," which we think might refer to me going to and from his place toward the end of the semester when I was working crazy hours, so apparently his nosy neighbors think I'm a man at night from across the street.