Feeling Self Defeated When HRT Changes are Too Slow?
You're on hormones but not seeing changes—Dr. Z explains why you shouldn't blame yourself or question your transition.
You're on feminizing or masculinizing hormones but changes aren't happening fast enough, they're taking way too long, or they're not producing the results you wished for. What happens psychologically? Between 8 months to a year or longer without seeing changes, you start feeling self-defeated. You wonder whether you're actually transgender—"if I were transgender, shouldn't the hormones work?" You wonder if maybe you're not "trans enough." Worse: you're blaming yourself as if there's something wrong with you.
Here's the reality: Everyone's body metabolizes hormones differently. Testosterone is strong but voice deepening and facial hair may not happen for everybody or may take incredibly long. Some people don't produce facial hair until a year after starting testosterone despite normal male blood levels. Feminizing hormones are trickier—changes are more evident in younger populations who are already more youthful-looking and can mask secondary sex characteristics from testosterone puberty. Older trans feminine individuals take longer—you had years of testosterone exposure.
Watch to find out why social media creates skewed expectations (people post positive changes, not how long things actually take), why your endocrinologist needs to know how to read bloodwork beyond normal ranges, and why you cannot defeat time, body chemistry, or health issues.
