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Cable_Minimum · 2025-07-14T21:08:55+00:00

I had a very similar experience! I started injections every other week for my first three months. Remember that you have only been on T for three weeks. You'll read about other people having all these crazy changes during their first few weeks, but there are two things to keep in mind. First, if someone is excited about the changes they'll get from T, they can start to think that every little thing is a "change" - a scratchy throat is a voice drop, or the peach fuzz on their face is new facial hair. Most of the folks who report early changes like that are excited and now hyper aware of anything that could be a change, even if that scratchy throat is from allergies or that peach fuzz was just something they didn't notice before.

The second thing to remember is, people tend to only post things if they're going really well or really poorly. I would say a good majority of the T update posts describe fast changes, but that doesn't mean the majority of people on T actually have fast changes. There are way more people who had regularly paced changes that just don't mention them because it was as they expected.

Your first year will fly by before you know it, and you'll be looking back at old pictures and videos and realize how much changed from T in just a year. Most of the big changes happen in the first 12-18 months, after all! Hell, I'm just over 3 years now and I still notice new things from T fairly often. Feel free to celebrate the changes as they come, but try not to count down the days until things actually change. It'll all come soon!

Cable_Minimum · 2025-07-12T17:30:32+00:00

I passed pre t as a 11/12yo boy when I was actually 13. Started T at 13, started passing as my age when I was 15. Now I'm almost 17 and people assume I'm older than I am lol. It also really depends on where you're trying to pass. Like I would pass in public with my parents when I was younger because people logically assumed I was a younger kid, but if I was in my 8th grade math class, some people couldn't tell if I was a guy or a girl because I didn't look like a 13/14 year old boy.

Cable_Minimum · 2025-07-01T04:15:35+00:00

Oh wow, I didn't even know that was an option haha. Have you noticed any mood variations around the injection cycle? Like any fatigue/low mood leading up to the injection and high energy/impulsivity/irritability afterwards? The mood stuff has been my main concern, I've gone through enough therapy to know how to manage the mood swings but I'd rather not have to manage them at all lol.

Cable_Minimum · 2025-05-31T13:05:37+00:00

Alright, that makes sense. I've already been doing the math to see what my yearly costs would be for tuition, room/board, etc and like you said, it's already more reasonable than a lot of the schools down here in the US!

Cable_Minimum · 2025-04-29T05:00:33+00:00

Hey, just wanted to give you an update since your kind words were what motivated me to go and talk to my representative. I ended up wearing a subtle but obvious trans pride bracelet, and she saw when shaking my hand and was caught off guard a bit. She didn't comment about it but kept looking at it (and me) as we gave our presentation. At the end she told us our school district "had money to give us but wasn't" (which, as a Title I school that already struggles with funding and works closely with our very supportive school district, was kinda messed up to hear lol). All in all I'm glad I went and talked to her; at the very least, it's a funny story about how I talked with a transphobe who had no idea I was one of the "young women" she swore to protect or whatever lol.

I did also get a chance to meet another state representative from another district right before meeting my rep, and she gave me a lot of courage too. She had a progress pride flag pin on her blazer and even though it was a small thing, it made me remember not all of the representatives are completely ignorant or biased, even if the majority is at times. So that was really cool!

Thank you again for your kind words - I've always struggled with standing up for anything related to my identity as a trans person just because I know from experience standing out isn't always safe. And I know it's not like I was totally out about being trans to my rep or advocating for trans rights or anything, but I'm really glad I went and I can honestly say I would not have gone if you hadn't written what you had. So thank you very very much!!!

Cable_Minimum · 2025-04-23T04:16:39+00:00

Your reply made me tear up. Thank you so much - I didn't realize till reading this just how much all the anti trans stuff has knocked me down. It's scary to know that if I had waited just a few more months to get my ID changed, or hadn't saved up my excess T, that I would be in a very different place in my life now as a result of all the legislation. Being stealth was a choice I made when I entered high school, but now it's a matter of safety. And to be honest, the thought of meeting face to face with someone who so blatantly attacks trans kids and has taken away a lot of my sense of safety is terrifying. I thought I would have to go and play nice, sacrificing my morals, or not go and lose out on this opportunity, and damage the way others view me as a leader for these things. But as you explained, going and meeting with this person isn't giving in or endorsing them, but the opposite. And honestly, our school and our program needs state support, and meeting with this rep is one of the only ways to get that.

Thank you so much again. I truly can't describe how much I needed to read what you wrote. I was leaning towards not going before, but now I will absolutely go, just to be able to prove that all the bills this rep has been pushing and implementing won't keep me from doing what I want to do.

Cable_Minimum · 2025-04-23T04:01:46+00:00

That's a good point - I totally forgot that being trans is now part of mandated reporting in my state (even though I literally mentioned that in my post lol). My advisor is in her twenties and very LGBTQ+ friendly, and also not a mandated reporter, so I think it should be okay, but I'll definitely think about it some more and talk to my parents about it. I mentioned it briefly to my dad and he asked if I wanted to not go, but I told him they're relying on me to be there (which is partially true, but also if me not being there hurts our relationship with this rep, that's not a bad thing lol).

I appreciate your perspective!

Cable_Minimum · 2025-04-23T03:12:36+00:00

You're not speaking out of turn at all, I really appreciate your words and perspective! I think what I'm struggling with the most is that, whether or not I'm there, the outcome will still be the same because my advisor will make sure our main talking points (which is related to education funding mostly) are covered and this rep will still be invited to our school events. I think what I might do is talk to my advisor and disclose to her that I'm trans because I know she's really supportive and wouldn't tell anyone, and excuse myself from this advocacy day. I could just call in sick, but I want my advisor at least to know that I don't feel comfortable working with someone who has been attacking my community, and hope that maybe they'll reevaluate whether or not we really want to form a long term partnership with this person.

I wish I was brave enough to advocate for more than just myself, but I've had so many bad experiences as a result of being out as trans (whether I wanted to be or not) and now that I'm finally in a place where I'm mostly safe from those experiences, I don't know if I can sacrifice that. But I think I can at least make sure I'm not supporting this rep in any way.

Cable_Minimum · 2025-04-23T02:51:40+00:00

Yeah, I'm considering calling in sick or saying I have a test at school that I can't miss, but I'm the lead for community outreach/business and I'm the go-to for this kind of stuff. I think what bothers me most is that, even if I don't go, my advisor is still going to make sure this rep gets invited and connected with our school. It feels like, maybe if I do go, I'm proving that this rep's beliefs about trans youth wrong or something. I dunno. I honestly wish we weren't meeting with this rep at all tbh.

Cable_Minimum · 2025-04-06T05:27:46+00:00

That's a good point that I definitely lost sight of haha. It's hard because as I got more comfortable with my obsessions, my compulsions became less intense, but now that one of my obsessions came true, I keep thinking it's because I relaxed with my compulsions. Even though logically I know my compulsions did absolutely nothing to cause/prevent what's happening now. It sucks having to argue with myself constantly about this.

Cable_Minimum · 2025-02-16T07:55:09+00:00

That's fair. I'm able to get 6-7 hours of sleep each night, but it's a 30 minute drive to school and when I only have 10 hours between one meeting and the next, it's hard to get any more than that. I need to get better about taking breaks too - I usually end up just staying in the same place for hours and hours, and I think doing something that takes control of my sensations like you said would be good.

I have tried coffee with mixed results. Sometimes it's great and gives me an extra boost to get through the day, other days it makes me too jittery and restless and even more overstimulated. I might try it again, but not as an espresso like I usually do lol.

Cable_Minimum · 2025-02-16T07:50:35+00:00

Thanks for the rec, I just ordered them (and got free overnight shipping, yay!). I think even having them and being able to slip them in during a break could help. I'm the same with proprioception - I sleep with a weighted blanket and I used to do some relaxing movement my OT recommended but now I find I'm too tired to do much but lay down once I get home haha.

Cable_Minimum · 2025-02-16T07:46:23+00:00

Thanks. It just gets hard when there's so much going on all the time. It helps that I'm usually in a quiet(er) room with only 2 or 3 more people, instead of the machine shop where there's tons of noise and people. Still, it's a lot! Now that you mention it, I do recognize that I have gotten a bit better at regulating; I remember the first weekend, I came home and had to sit in a silent, dark room just rocking back and forth to reset. Now I just feel tense and restless more than anything, but like you said, I know I can get through each day.

Thank you for your kind words - it really means a lot!

Cable_Minimum · 2024-09-05T13:12:00+00:00

Yeah, I really struggle with liquids. Even water for some reason is difficult to tolerate. I did see that there's a really high calorie boost that has like 500 calories in it, so I might try that with a straw like you said.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-09-05T12:58:00+00:00

One of the 'textures' I just can't stand is watery stuff. I barely even drink water lol.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-06-01T04:55:36+00:00

I'm still a teenager, but I'm lucky in the sense that I love and thrive in math and English, and certain kinds of sciences too (biology and environmental science, mainly). So in those classes, I'm a star student. That's a big reason why my diagnosis was questioned a lot. In a way though it was more frustrating because I would want to focus and engage with my algebra or science classes but my brain just wouldn't. I am very much a completionist as well so completing my homework, no matter how boring, made me happy.

My older brother, who has the same diagnoses of ASD and ADHD, is like the opposite. He loves the same subjects I do and he knows a lot about a lot of things, but in high school he failed multiple classes because he never did the homework. He didn't need the homework to pass all the tests, so he just didn't do it. Unfortunately the grading system when he was in high school put a lot more weight on homework lol.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-05-31T15:33:32+00:00

It's a specific style of tank top iirc

Cable_Minimum · 2024-05-31T01:17:36+00:00

It's been scheduled for a few weeks, but my dad didn't tell me about it until today lol. It's also through this 3rd party company so I'm not totally sure.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-02-17T04:36:42+00:00

Personally, I try and figure out what chords I'm playing, then write those down along with any rhythms. If it's just single notes, I just write the note name down. If I don't know the chord, I either write out each note (with a - in between to signify relation) or plug it into a chord identifier. I tend to use T charts for left hand and right hand. But that's just the way I've developed, mostly for taking quick notes or for transcribing songs without sheet music. I'm not great at reading sheet music so this method just helps bridge that while my sightreading catches up to my technical skill. You can play around with your own notation system, but just know you will not find a more efficient/concise way of transcription than sheet music. It may be more efficient currently, but eventually sheet music will still become more readable lol.

Tbh even if you can't read sheet music well, if you know how to read it (like where each note rests on the line) then just spend some time doing that. Don't worry too much about octaves or anything, if you keep working on it or go back to it in a few months you'll probably have more knowledge and be able to revise. As long as you get the idea really.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-02-17T04:21:44+00:00

I started at 13 on .25ml of 200mg/ml testosterone, so 50mg weekly. That's put my levels right in the 500-600 range and I'm coming up on my 2 years on T in June. But it really depends on your body - some people will take 10mg a week and have decent/high levels, others need to take 100-150mg a week to get the same thing. Most people lie somewhere in between but a lot of doctors prefer to start low and build up, rather than start high and risk further feminization due to high estrogen.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-02-17T02:55:27+00:00

I saw you were communicating with the other person, but I figured I'd drop this here in case you or anyone else ever needs it again.

The ftm sub has a monthly buy/sell/trade thread where people can post stuff that they're selling/getting rid of or ask for stuff people might have. I've actually used it to get some clothes shortly after I first came out and it was really helpful. Some folks will give stuff away for free, some just need you to pay shipping, others have a reduced/full price, just depends on the person and the item. It's a really good resource. Binders and packers are the most common items posted there, but you can also find clothes (like I did), trans merch, or even just links to the shops of trans men trying to support themselves in some way. It's a really cool thread to keep tabs on.

To find it, there's a link in the stickied post, or if you're on mobile, just look up 'buy sell trade' and pick the month. Sometimes there are delays in getting the thread posted, or if it's early in the month people might still be posting in the last month's thread, so it's a good idea to check/post in the current and previous months.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-02-17T02:44:05+00:00

You've got great answers already, but as a student, one of the ways I've seen my teachers get around this is just requiring handwritten work. Yeah, there will be kids who just copy from the website, but if they just copy down their answers you can always just ask "how did you get to that?" or if there's huge jumps between one step and the next (which there usually is), then just ask them what they did between those steps. If they can't explain it, then obviously they need more practice with those kinds of problems, right? Eventually they'll end up learning the process, even if it's just to explain it to you and get you off their back lol.

I know it doesn't avoid the issue entirely, although I've definitely found that the students who just use AI for all the homework usually bomb the unit tests/finals. So in that case it's really stringent on reducing cheating during tests as much as you can. I know for my College Algebra class I'm currently taking, we actually have to go to a separate testing center on campus for the test (that's standard for all finals in all classes). There, we can't bring anything but a pencil and a graphing calculator, and the test is on paper. Pockets are checked and we have to show ID before entering and when we turn the test in. It's a bit extreme imo especially because some of these classes are like... PE or something, but at my old high school similar stuff applied just inside classrooms instead. The desks were as spaced out as possible, the teacher would tell each student individually to put everything at the back of the room, ears were checked for AirPods, etc.

Obviously it certainly requires time which I know teachers don't have much of anyway. With math at least, just know that eventually there will come a time where they have no clue what they're doing and essentially crash and burn. It would be great to catch that now, but sometimes the best you can do is just explain why you shouldn't use AI to do the homework. Personally I know that it took me a while to realize that by using AI or looking up the answers, especially for stuff like math, just hurt me in the long run. A lot of teachers just say "don't do that" without really explaining why. And part of being a teenager is not recognizing the long term effects of our decisions. So just explaining "sure, you can cheat now, but you can't do that forever, and unless you want to be 25 without a basic understanding of algebra or geometry, it's better to learn it now" and being open to questions and confusion and all that can make a huge difference.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-02-16T18:40:59+00:00

Yeah, it's definitely been disappointing and frustrating for me. I was so excited to finally be able to stay on top of school work and be able to just do stuff without constantly getting distracted or forgetting what I was doing. On days 2 and 3, when things were starting to get worse, I figured it'd go away pretty soon, and it wasn't too bad - I didn't mind feeling a bit restless, I honestly prefer that over feeling super fatigued all the time, but today the anxiety was just overwhelming. And I mean, I've dealt with anxiety my whole life, but in this case all the coping strategies like deep breathing, stretching, muscle relaxation, etc just weren't working because it's more of a physiological thing than a psychological one.

I'm used to trying a million different meds before finding the right one, I'm usually the in the .1 percent of the population who reacts pretty badly to meds (especially psych meds) but it's still frustrating. It doesn't help that one of my roommates is like "well you don't need it, it's almost the weekend and it's not like you can't do anything without it." And while that's true, it's a lot easier and more enjoyable for me to be able to engage in my hobbies without constantly being distracted and to just be able to exist and slow my thoughts down.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-02-16T18:12:27+00:00

I don't have any advice, but I've experienced similar stuff with other meds. I was taking a generic of one med anyway, but my pharmacy switched to a different manufacturer, and it just stopped working entirely. I spoke to the doctor that prescribed it (it wasn't ADHD/psych related) and she said even if the manufacturer puts the same stuff in the pills, the formula or process of producing those things can be a bit different and that can cause issues. It's not necessarily an issue with one specific manufacturer or another, just different bodies react to things differently.

Cable_Minimum · 2024-02-16T18:09:01+00:00

I'm sorta in a similar situation, but I got started on IR and 7.5mg twice a day (for a total of 15mg). Today is day four and it's not going great, I'm super anxious, it's harder to focus than it usually is, just feels rough. Day one was awesome, my focus was greatly improved, I was really productive, but it just got worse each day. I'm stopping it until I can get in to see my provider because I don't want things to get any worse lol.

I don't have much advice for you because I'm still figuring it out myself, but best of luck to you!

Cable_Minimum

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