DeliaTS~The Blog

Posts Tagged ‘hormones’

Okay, 2008 the good, the bad, the ugly . . . maybe we’ll skip over the ugly for now.

On the positive side there are 2 huge things that happened to me on a personal level that will make 2008 a benchmark of sorts. The first one being that I started on HRT (hormone replacement therapy). The second was that I finally came to grips with my alcoholism and started on a path to recovery by joining a 12 step program.

They say alcoholism is a progressive disease and the further along you are the more difficult it is to recover. Also that no amount of sobriety will ever “cure” you of alcoholism. These are a few of the things I had to learn the hard way. I am not very good at asking for help in most cases. Most of the time I feel like there is nothing that I can’t do on my own and by doing things without the help of someone else it somehow makes it all the more rewarding. Unfortunately I took the “go it alone” route when seeking sobriety, which didn’t work out so well. I white knuckled it for almost 6 months before falling back into my old patterns of drinking. I’m just thankful that Trixie was there to shove me in the right direction when I needed it the most. Sobriety for me is indeed a blessing and my life is becoming a much happier place because of it.

Starting on HRT was somewhat of a bitter sweet experience for me as well. After trying to conceive for over a year with Trixie we decided to give it a rest for awhile so that I could start on the next phase of my transition. I did however store up enough sperm over that period so that we could have children together someday if we ever choose to. It’s one of those things that may end up being a blessing in disguise in the long run. It was nonetheless a very frustrating process that was taking a toll on us physically, emotionally and financially.

One of the sad things I’ll always remember about 2008 was losing my grandmother. She was a an incredible lady who raised 11 kids in an old farmhouse out in the sticks basically all on her own. Somehow through it all she never lost her sense of humor. She was a kindhearted and gracious woman who possessed a quiet strength and down to earth wisdom that I’ve never seen in any other person I’ve met. She will always be an inspiration to me. She will be missed by many for years to come.

After all that has come to pass over the last year I am really looking forward to 2009. In some ways 2008 seemed a bit like a stale continuation of 2007. Towards the end of the year though I did sense a shift, like things were all starting to come together. Like the pieces were all starting to fall in place. A sense and belief that things are going to get significantly better in the days to come. In a lot of ways they already have gotten better so in 2009 I’m looking forward to more betterness!

Hormones! I feel like my body is really starting to feel the effects of being on hormones for almost four months now. It seems like there are a lot of little changes that have been happening at a really gradual rate. At times it feels like watching paint dry or something. Slowly breasts are starting to emerge from my flattened chest. My skin has been getting softer and smoother. My hair feels like it’s softer, less coarse, and a bit more shiny. My ass is beginning to round out a bit and my facial features are starting to soften some.

I’ve also been having this strange sensation lately, like something is stirring inside me at an emotional level. I know it sounds a bit trite but I feel kind of like I’m just waking up after a long sleep or the fog is finally starting to lift. I’m starting to feel more in tune. Sometimes it seems like I can feel the estrogen moving through my veins and pulsing through my body. Kind of a faint tingling sensation that makes me feel like I’m more alive. I feel like my whole body is resonating at a higher frequency, where it should have been long ago. Like things are starting to sync up on a bunch of different levels.

When I first hit puberty and my body started cranking out the testosterone my brain was like WTF? It’s like somehow the wires got crossed and my brain started to function differently. Parts of my mind shut down. I became more socially isolated. My verbal communication skills began to dwindle. I began to lose touch with my feelings growing more and more emotionally numb. I spent less time with others and more time on my own. My whole outlook on life was apathetic. I knew something was wrong but I had no idea what it was or even how to express what it was that I was feeling.

I know that puberty is a really hard part of anyone’s life but for me it was especially hard. My parents could see it and were concerned enough to send me to a shrink. I only saw him a few times and never trusted him enough to talk to him about my crossdressing habits. I think I just thought he would blab to my parents and I would end up getting in trouble for it so I just told him what I thought he wanted to hear; just enough to get him off my back so I wouldn’t have to go see him any more.

When I first starting telling people that I had started HRT a few transsexual friends said “Welcome to second puberty”. I think in a large part this is like going through a second puberty. I also feel like the initial stage of it is wiping out some of the damage done by my first bout with puberty. Kind of like I’m reversing my male puberty while I’m starting my female puberty. So today I feel like I’m close to where those two intersect at some kind of hormonal crossroads. Like I’ve reached equilibrium between the amount of testostorone and estrogen in my body and now I’m ready for the second puberty to really kick in.

Of course there are other factors in my life right now that are contributing to this sense of overall well being. I quit drinking and started on a path of recovery from alcoholism at the same time I started on HRT. So sobriety has given me a new outlook on life as well. I also feel like I’ve been reconnecting and growing a bit spiritually which is another positive factor in my life. Overall though things just seem to heading in the right direction in my life for the first time in a very long time.

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2008 Tranny Awards

Something else exciting going on in my life is getting nominated for the 2008 Tranny Awards. I just wanted to thank all of you who went over and voted for me during the pre-nomintaions. I’m pretty excited and honored to be in the running for an award in the “Best TG Amateur Style Website” category. Here’s the rundown of the other nominees:

It’s a nice collection of sites. I was a little surprised to see some TS sites mixed in there when I first looked over the list, since they also have a “Best Solo TS Paysite or Paysite Operated by a TS” with the following sites nominated:

But they did include a asterisk with the following explanation:

* these sites were selected into this category and not the Solo TS Paysite either because the model wasn’t somebody who mainly worked as a “porn performer” or it’s a very personal website – most of the sites in the other category are aided by larger companies whereas the “Amateur Style” is also for models who run more of the website themselves.

Which does make sense since some of the solo TS models don’t actually have much input into there sites or the sites are run big production companies with fat budgets. But on the other hand a few of the sites in the “amateur style” category do have other companies doing design and promotion work for them and aren’t run completely by the models themselves. So I think they need to refine the parameters a little in the future to better define the categories. I think they are off to a pretty good start though, considering all the obstacles.

See all the Nominees at The Tranny Awards 2008

We had a good little trip down to Portland earlier this week. I needed to see my doctor before getting a refill on my hormones and also wanted to see about upping the dosage. We decided to go down a bit early so we could get some shoots in while we were there. Including this one with Mandy:

I hardly ever shoot with other people so I felt a little bit awkward at times. But once we started getting into I felt a little more at ease. It’s hard when you are shooting with someone as pretty and svelte as Mandy not to feel like a clumsy oaf at times, but most of the pictures turned out pretty good. And the video . . . I don’t want to ruin any surprises but . . . ummmmmm, yeah . . . pretty, pretty, pretty . . . hawt!

Anyway, Mandy was a delight to work with and editing all that footage should keep me busy for a little bit. Right now I’m busy editing another really nice solo set with more of a Halloween theme to it.

But before I get too far into it I’m going to take a little break and make a batch of chicken enchilada soup!