Trans people and HRT - experiences?

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Hi guys,

I've been thinking about this recently so I decided to make a thread about it and see if I can attract anyone else to share their own experiences.

I've come across a couple of other trans people in threads here who have transitioned or are in the process of doing so, and there was the mutual feeling that hormone replacement had an effect on the presentation of our autistic symptoms. I found this very interesting, as hormone levels during brain development are considered one of the main contenders in the development of both autism and transgenderism. This would also explain the high co-incidence of these two things, and it may be that studying transitioning trans people could be a valuable direction for autism research.

I was born female and am now male, and I've been on testosterone for around six years. While I have certainly been autistic all of my life, I feel like I've become (although I hate to say it) "more autistic" over that time. Recently I decided to lower my dosage of T, and I'm keeping an extremely close eye on myself to see what happens. It will be interesting if it makes a difference.

Are there other trans people here on HRT? Do you think your hormone replacement has affected your autism symptoms?

And while I'm making a thread for autistic trans people, I'd also love to hear anything you would like to share about how you found/are finding the process of transition while managing the social challenges autism presents.

Thank you!

Hello.

I transitioned about 12 years ago from male to female. For what its worth my experience with HRT brought alot of emotions that were pretty uncontrollable. It was a completely new experience for me. I have been off HRT for around 5 years now and those emotional hits have disappeared

I would say HRT most certainly has...I started just two months after I turned 18 and after almost precisely three years currently (on moderate levels of Estradiol, Spironolactone and Premarin with no intention of stopping) I have experienced quite substantial changes not just in how emotional I am but also in the manner in which I think. My mind doesn't fixate as easily as it did before HRT, I tend to look at the big picture and the applications of various pieces of information over details more than I did before and interacting with others (picking up non-verbal cues and reading between the lines for instance) has become far easier for me. I had alot of trouble with the latter especially pre-HRT.

I dunno, I feel as if HRT has essentially remedied all of my major Autistic symptoms. When I tell people now that I was diagnosed as a child (and in fact almost held back in preschool due to that) they're typically very surprised; even my current gender therapist (an LCSW that I've been speaking with for about three months now) was surprised to hear it.

I have even theorized based on all of this that my apparent Autistic symptoms as a child (which resulted in a high-functioning diagnosis) may have been a result of my transsexualism. I've known I should've been born female since as long as I can remember (like preschool) and I would've pursued action at a much younger age than I did (16 in my case, when I learned that other trans people existed) if I had known I could've done so and my feelings didn't just make me "crazy".

Hi! My first post here. I'm FTM, been on testosterone nearly 6 years too. Interestingly I had been wondering the same thing as Jinks, whether HRT affected autistic symptoms. Before transition I wasn't aware of my own autistic behaviours, and was perceived as an "eccentric" girl. Since transitioning, those symptoms became much more distinct and noticeable enough for me to make a connection with what I had read of ASDs and my own self. For me this was actually a positive thing as making this realisation was probably just as helpful as realising I was trans - up until then I'd just struggled to try and be more "normal".

I've also observed that some of my behaviours that were considered weird or unusual pre-transition seem to be more accepted now that I am male. My difficulties with interacting socially seem to be unremarkable, almost ("It's okay, he's just one of those computer geek types"), rather than unsettling ("What is up with that creepy girl over there, she never says anything"). I find this to be an interesting insight into gender expectations.

Testosterone therapy also seems to suppress my emotions more, too. They are still there but less consuming. Having had time to fine-tune over the years, I even notice the variation in all the above between higher T levels and lower ones. I don't think about how I feel about things as much as before, like it's a thought forming in the back of my mind that never quite makes it to the front. This was a welcome relief for a while after many years of depression and introspection but I also get the feeling that I might be missing out on processing some important emotional stuff... though again, it just stays at the back of my mind!