Hello Kendra, and welcome to the magical mystery tour. Everyone seems to experience estrogen replacement therapy differently. That being said, you can expect an increase in emotionality, a lot like a teen girl going through puberty, 'cause that is what you are starting to do. I found I cried at any picture of puppies or kitties doing something unutterably cute, and chick flicks were new experience. I have always been able to "lose" myself in a book with a heroine (that went a long way in saving my life as a teen) and tender moments in a story I am reading leave me with tears also. And there may be other effects, like babies becomming incredibly attractive, and a baby's cry pulls at you. I have not been around babes long enough yet, but other have found themselves lactating a bit if they hold a baby often.

I have been on hrt since April 2006. Nine months after that, there was a miscommunication between my insurance and the pharmacist over a holiday, with the result I was out of estrogen patches for 7 days. After a few days I started feeling irritable, then crappy and easily angered, and then crying jags, and about the time they got it straightened out, I was feeling not so bad. My friend from Alaska arrived to visit in the midst of a crying jag, and found me sitting curled up in a chair crying, so she asked what was wrong, and I just wailed "I don't know!!", and my friend nearly laughed her butt off. The she said, "Now you know what other women go through. Sometimes we just have no reason." I would really recommend you avoid that if you can. .

Kendra, you didn't say if you are on pills, patches, or injections, but that can have an effect. I was more even on patches, but they don't make them in strong enough doses until after SRS. And they have the effect that some people are allergic to the adhesive on them, as I was. Injections give you an up and down, with a flush of energy a day after the injection, followed by an emotional period a few days after an injection, and a drop in emotions up to a week before time for the next injection on a monthly cycle. The nature of the emotional period can vary, from quick to anger and just feeling crappy, to crying jags and sometimes both. It likely most closely matches a natural cycle but can lead to difficulties if you are working. If you have injections every two weeks, it is usually better than once a month. The pills usually keep you pretty even, and after a few months, the feeling you have now will just become a normal feeling, business as usual, unless you miss a few days. Is your anti androgen Spiro?

Uhhmmm, physical effects. You will lose upper body strength. You can minimize this loss by keeping up an excercise regime, and not lose too much, but still have body weight/fat distribution become a more feminine pattern. Need to keep up the excercise for another reason, as the E kinda tends to make it easier to gain wt. and harder to lose it.

Another thing is to have your doc keep track of your glucose level and pottasium. It is not a described side effect, just my observation, but people who are over 50 who are using spiro may come up with a case of type II diabetes. In our 3-D support group, this has happened in 4 out of 25 people. It might have done so because of other risk factors, but the correlation could be seen as positive. You need to keep a sharp eye on pottasium levels, and calcim, as the Spiro, if you are using it, is pottasium sparing and you can wind up with too much. My calcium and vitamin D dropped, but sunshine (10 minutes a day), excercise, a calcium and vitamin D supplement brought it all back in line. You may need to readjust if you have SRS.

Anyway, you are on your way girl. Some therapists kinda use E as a way of confirming their first diagnosis, and it is true that if you are not TS, you will tend to not like being on E. The difference between T and E is remarkable, and both are in such tiny amounts. I found the emotions mostly positive things, and felt better for their expression. I do well understand the theraputic effects of a good cry over some movie (I have not rewatched Old Yellar as of yet, LOL), and just a good cry when the world kind seems to push hard at me.

Enjoy your second puberty Kendra. CaroL