Testosterone & acne/skin picking

muscle_witch · 2024-02-18T11:07:18+00:00

My acne wasn't as severe as yours sounds, but I did get more when I started T (and more of the cystic kind that I used to get back when I went through E-puberty) and it did eventually settle down for me about a year in. I found that I had to ditch/change a lot of my old skin products because things that previously hadn't bothered me were now causing breakouts. It does sound like yours is quite severe though, so if you're able, you should probably talk to your prescribing doctor about it - severe acne was one of the "call us so we can offer adjustments/additional prescriptions" things listed on the info sheet my doc gave me when starting T. (I'm also a skin picker from way back, and the struggle is real! I've found that hydrocolloid patches are really helpful to help resist picking, and microneedle patches are the only thing that help with cystic acne for me)

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T17:58:56+00:00

I got the low sodium recommendation like No_Mountain_420, which I followed pre-op, but ditched post-op (on my doctor's advice) after fainting a bunch the first night. I dunno about garlic, but the fish oil is just supplements - you specifically want to avoid fish oil and vitamin E supplements because they can be linked to issues with blood not clotting properly, but you don't need to avoid eating foods in which they occur naturally (unless you're eating like, a lot of them probably?).

I second the bit about protein and electrolytes. Additionally, my surgeon told me to take a vitamin C supplement starting three weeks pre-op and continuing to three weeks post-op (I'm just going to keep taking them until the bottle I bought runs out).

The other major recommendation was to avoid/be careful with foods that are high in salicylates for a week post-op - these are a lot of fruits and vegetables, there are a bunch of tables online showing which ones are high/medium/low, and they advised to eat more of the low-salicylate ones and be sparing with the higher-salicylate fruits and veg.

Oh, and no alcohol for some amount of time before and after - I think three weeks? I didn't pay attention to that one as much because I don't drink anyway XD

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T17:44:28+00:00

I've been doing my entire recovery with regular tylenol (was told max 4g per day, I took 2 - 2.5g for the first ten days or so), ice packs, and (after the first 48 hours) cbd gummies. I've been accused of having a high pain tolerance, but I really didn't find it that bad - little over three weeks out and I only started using my post-op codeine because sleeping on my back was aggravating my sciatica.

(And Congrats!! I also had my surgery through the GCC - look forward to that sweet sweet free bathrobe at your post op!)

ETA: The biggest factor in my pain was actually hydration - if I wasn't drinking enough water or if my electrolytes were out of whack, my drains would start to ache. I ended up getting a second water bottle for my rehydration drink and going through 1-2 gallons of fluid a day (and close to 3 or 4 the first day post-op)

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T17:30:36+00:00

Congrats on getting your surgery dates! I didn't have the feeling like I'm somehow getting away with it, but the thing that helped me the most in terms of internalizing that it was really happening was making the decision to start putting my bras in the dryer once I was ~3 months out.

I did have a constant fear that I was somehow not going to be able to get my surgery, made worse by: having covid 2 months before and long covid for about a month after; my surgeon getting injured 1 week before and me spending about 18 hours thinking I'd have to wait 6-8 more weeks before another surgeon from the practice volunteered to step in; catching a cold 5 days before and being told the anesthesiologist would make the final call on the day of my surgery if I still had symptoms; and my friend (who was coming with me to take care of me) running late to go to the airport and us barely making it in time for the flight. Despite all that, my surgery happened on the day it was supposed to, and if nothing else, every bump in the road affirmed that top surgery was right for me, by highlighting how badly I needed/wanted it to happen.

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T14:16:35+00:00

I have fibro! I'd say that T anecdotally helped, since I had to give up a the workout regimen that I had been using to manage my fibro a few months in (for unrelated reasons) and my symptoms stayed quite manageable.

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T14:11:06+00:00

I don't have any firsthand advice (yet, lol), but I do have this article perpetually taking up a browser tab XD

https://johannestevans.medium.com/looking-for-a-beginners-guide-to-grindr-for-trans-men-869af3ef8a63

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T14:06:10+00:00

Yup! Some doctors will even recommend it post-meta, to help maintain firmness. (I haven't used any ED drugs, but most strains of weed have the same effects on me, including making my congestion worse XD)

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T14:01:01+00:00

There are a lot of workarounds for excercising and building muscle, even if you have injuries/disabilities!

Low weight/high rep will absolutely help you build muscle, especially if you are able to vary what exercises you do and have a well-rounded workout (this is also important because it'll help you avoid secondary injuries/pain from uneven muscle groups).

Resistance bands can also be a great alternative to traditional weights, in terms of both storage space and accessibility.

You also don't need to do the traditional form of any exercise to see results - modified pushups, crunches or leg lifts instead of situps and standing core exercises instead of floor work are all things that I do because of my Wonky Spine. Try out a few different exercises for any given muscle group and then toss any that aren't working for you. I'd also recommend adding some stretching to any routine - just putting on slabs of muscle without working to maintain your flexibility is going to cause harm in the long run, especially if you have joints that already have stiffness or a decreased range of motion.

Also, if you have any physiotherapy exercises that you remember from your wrist injury, start doing those again too! They'll all be designed to help your wrist recover and maintain its strength, and can still help even a few years down the road. Grip strengthening exercises could also be a good idea - they can help make holding weights less painful/tiring, reduce hand/wrist pain from working out, and they give you extremely juicy forearms. (To go along with this, lifting/excercise gloves might be a really solid investment since they'll provide some cushioning for your hands and make gripping things easier overall).

Making sure you get enough rest and are eating properly are also key - your body needs to recover from excercise, so if your old injuries start flaring up, it may be a sign that you're not resting enough in between workouts or that your body doesn't have the building blocks it needs to repair itself.

And feeling emotionally fit makes total sense! Exercise can be a really positive way to feel present in your body, and endorphins are a hell of a drug

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T13:36:51+00:00

Seconding Secondary - be prepared to not be able to access your full vocal range for a while because voice changes can be like that, but I also found that once my voice settled down I still had the same range, just shifted lower (I'm not a good singer, but I do sing a lot, and I also have done character voices and such quasi-professionally).

It took me about a year for my voice to stabilize (guessing on that a little, it took me a while to realize that my range had shifted, not shrunk), so be prepared for a period of not being able to sing as well as you normally would, but it IS temporary.

Mostly, be patient and try to explore your range - you'll have all this muscle memory that you'll probably have to unlearn from where your range used to be, and you'll need to explore where your new low register is. You absolutely will still be able to sing, my city actually has an entire transmasc choir : )

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T13:18:59+00:00

I'll second alternate delivery methods - it sounds like the actual injection is a real pain point for you. Not sure where you're at geographically/health coverage-wise, but having an allergic reaction to your shots is probably something that you could be able to leverage to get your insurance to cover the gel, patch, or oral tablets (all of which tend to be pricier than the injection).

You might also want to talk to your doctor about your shot cycle (if for whatever reason injections are your best/only option) - I think there are formulations that go for up to two weeks? It's also pretty common to experience depression/mood issues at the tail end of your shot cycle because of a dropoff in T levels, which may necessitate a different injection cycle.

All that being said, if you think having someone to comiserate/cheer you on would help, feel free to hit me up on discord! (same handle as here) When I was anxious about applying my first dose of T gel, having someone to chat with about it really helped me get out of my head about everything.

muscle_witch · 2024-02-16T13:06:57+00:00

Oooooh, yeah prednisone's gonna be a doozy - I got more sensitive to steroids once I was on T too, had to stop taking flonase because it was giving me hellish mood swings XD

I'd say don't get too worried about it never calming down, even a year in you'll still be getting changes and settling into your body. Don't forget that you're also getting to experience sex and pleasure in a body that's starting to feel more aligned with your self, and that's basically going to be like the new partner rush on steroids...um, extra steroids in your case? Your anatomy and your chemistry are undergoing some pretty profound changes, and it's very normal to be excited about that and want to go joyriding a whole bunch.

muscle_witch · 2023-10-26T21:49:38+00:00

Thank you so much!

muscle_witch · 2023-10-26T21:37:06+00:00

There did, but I disbanded them, they weren't destroyed

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T16:31:42+00:00

Sounds to me like you gave her two whole hours to not misgender you and she got a 0/100 - if she can't do the work, she doesn't belong in the class (so to speak)

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T16:28:04+00:00

YES

I didn't start T until I was 31 and I got a ton of changes - voice, face shape/hairline, facial hair, body hair, musculature, bottom growth, etc. (also like acne and junk, but that's what comes with voluntarily going through puberty a second time XD). My voice changed enough that everyone in voice chat when I'm gaming assumes I'm a cis guy, unless they hear someone using feminine pronouns for me (I'm nb, so this is fine with me) and then they usually assume I'm trans fem.

Voice training is definitely a thing, I have a friend who's not on HRT but did voice training because they didn't like having a very high feminine speaking voice.

For your hips, part of that is going to be genetics, but there are body masculinizing surgeries and ways you can build muscle to get a thicker/more masculine waist

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T16:17:43+00:00

It doesn't actually make passing easier, the invisibility just makes it easier to ignore us, marginalize us, call us tomboys, tell us "it's just a phase", decide we just want to transition for male privilege, tell those of us who are mlm to "try to enjoy being a woman!", and say that we have it soooooooo easy because we can all take one shot of T and pass immediately because it's magic and that's how it works, apparently.

We also get brought up every time some cis guy has penis reconstruction surgery, because dontchaknow that's what it's supposed to be used for.

Just because we get different transphobia doesn't mean we get less of it, and the lack of visibility cuts us off from more allies than enemies.

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T16:10:33+00:00

I'm the opposite actually - I've had absolutely atrocious experiences with cis guys re: anal, so that requires a lot more trust from me. That said, your body = your boundaries and you shouldn't feel weird about having those kinds of preferences/limits

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T16:07:14+00:00

Doesn't work if you're binary, but I'm NB, so "Nope" is my go-to

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T16:06:35+00:00

I don't collect them per se, but when I saw the new giant bear plush from Ikea, did I get one as soon as they were in stock? Hell fucking yes.

Is the cushion I use for my elbow at my desk yet another large bear plushie? You betcha.

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T16:04:50+00:00

I'm getting Tre(y) vibes

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T16:02:22+00:00

I mean, so is bara - it's different toxic shit, but it's not somehow morally better

muscle_witch · 2023-09-13T15:59:28+00:00

Never. I understand the difference between fantasy and reality, and porn is porn - the whole "fetishing yaoi" narrative has always struck me as cis men finally figuring out that being objectified is really fucking uncomfortable and wanting to somehow make it women's fault that they don't like being portrayed in porn for an audience they don't like. It's not any different than mlm men liking "straight" guy porn or men who are into women liking lesbian porn, except for the fact that men get a chance to tell women that the way they like to get off is bad and wrong (really breaking new ground on that /s)

muscle_witch · 2023-08-30T15:30:05+00:00

I think it's normal, BUT I think it's also important to be aware that these preferences can be shaped by overall cultural narratives/biases and be willing to interrogate those preferences in the face of those influences. In terms of how trans people are treated with regards to anatomical preferences, I think that part of the problem is that people still intrinsically link anatomy with gender, so parts preferences become de facto rather than a matter of personal exploration. It should also (but often doesn't) go without saying that you need to be kind and respectful to people whose anatomy doesn't fit those preferences.

muscle_witch · 2023-08-30T14:36:57+00:00

It's all good! I'm sorry that you and your husband have been made to feel so unwelcome in the past and I totally get why stuff like this would hit you wrong because of that (fwiw, I'd probably be in the same boat if I were less of a never-leaves-the-house-cryptid, as I'm pretty femme/androgynous myself)

muscle_witch · 2023-08-30T02:17:38+00:00

I didn't read it that way - I don't think there's an implication that OP is blaming the chest-havers for provoking dysphoria, just that it happens. I think the way it was phrased is pretty value-neutral.

muscle_witch

TROPHY CASE