I am coming up on a pretty big milestone: 6 months on HRT. It honestly amazes me that I have been on HRT this long. It has definitely not felt like 6 months. This is an important milestone because I plan to start taking progesterone at around the 6 month mark. The general consensus seems to be that this is the ideal time to start taking it, so I have been holding off starting progesterone until that point.
There have been three significant changes in the past few weeks. The first of these changes has been some significant weight loss. Since the last time that I was weighed, which was about 3 months ago, I have lost a considerable amount of weight. I don’t have any solid explanation for this weight loss, I haven’t made any lifestyle changes that would cause weight loss. If anything I have been less active due to the lock-downs. My doctor suggested that the weight loss could be a result of HRT decreasing my muscle mass. I don’t see any visual changes that would indicate such a drastic loss in muscle mass, but I can’t see any other explanation for it.
This loss of muscle mass is likely responsible for another change: increased difficulty when exercising. Starting a few weeks ago, I began to struggle with my standard exercise routine. I have been performing the same workout routine for the last 4 to 6 months, without changing either the rep count or the amount of weight. I have been able to maintain that routine without much difficulty. However, it has recently become difficult to complete that excercise routine. I find myself lacking both the strength and endurance necessary for the weights and rep counts that I have been doing for months. I am not too upset about this. I only started exercising regularly because I wanted to start HRT. I knew that it would result in a reduction of muscle mass, so I wanted to build some strengthh before hand to mitigate the muscle loss. I am not surprised by the loss of strength, only by how quickly it occurred.
The last major change has been to my emotional state. I have found myself crying a lot more these past few weeks. The longer that I have been on HRT, the less it takes to make me cry. During the first couple of months on HRT, it would take a pretty sad movie to make me cry. Now, it takes almost nothing to bring me to tears. This has not been accompanied by mood swings, which I have been warned is a common effect of HRT. It has been an odd feeling going from being unable to cry to being able to cry at a drop of a hat in only 6 months.
Besides these changes, I also had my appointment with my HRT provider in the past few weeks. I had the standard blood tests performed, so I should soon have a better idea of how my hormone levels are looking. I am cautiously optimistic, they were trending in the right direction last time they were checked. If they are not still moving in the right direction, I will have to look into adjusting my HRT regiment.
Natalie's Transition Diary 