One of my close friends, who having only recently began hormone replacement therapy. Reminded me today about my own early days on hormone therapy and the effects it has on your body.
June of 2010 having been on Oestrogen for the best part of four months with a wide range of effects being noticed: softer skin, increased sense of smell, emotional peace, hard painful lumps under my nipples, as my breast buds started developing and one Side effect that I certainly wasn't prepared for nor even expected. my bodies sudden inability to keep warm.
my firsts job in Melbourne saw me contracted out to a roofing company, so here I am working 25 feet up on a school roof, handling sheets of iron all day. The wind ripping through my multiple layers of clothing, chilling me to the bone.
An average days attire would be:
- Two pair of thick socks
- A pair of leggings
- A pair of thick denim jeans
- One vest
- Two T-shirts
- Two jumpers
- And two Jackets
Combine this with a thick beanie and gloves, you would be forgiven for thinking that I would be toasty warm.
But not so, every day I would shiver and shake, almost as if I was on the ski slopes in just jeans and a light T-shirt.
So cold was I that I even resorted to taping two cotton pads to my nipples to try and alleviate the burning cold and incredibly cold breasts. Just touching them or brushing then against fabric would be painful enough to make me cry. I kid you not, some mornings it was so unbearable that I would be holding my chest tightly to try and relieve the burning cold.
Working on a roof exposed to my first Melbourne winter, which by all accounts was the coldest and wettest in ten years. At night going from being the thermal blanket to curling up at night under multiple layers of bedding and even then needing to keep the oil heater on high just to stay warm enough to stop shivering
And now one of my friends is going through a similar intolerance to the cold, she told me today that had she known about the effects HRT would have on the bodies ability to cope with the first winter, she would have delayed commencing hormone therapy till spring
Looking back, I too might have delayed beginning therapy
Although having said that, having cold & sore breasts was a constant and strangely enjoyable reminder that I had finally begun my transition, the one thing I had dreamed of doing for so long that the discomfort of my first few months was surpassed by the joy I felt in finally being true to myself
