HRT quick question

[Dearhart]

So, I'm about a week or two into my HRT, and i have a question about the breast pain I was told to expect. How does/did that manifest for all of you? Tenderness and soreness like with a recovering bruise, heightened nipple sensitivity, or just itchy nipples?

[Tori M]

When mine grew during my 40's, I never experienced any "pain".  Tenderness and ultra sensitivity, yes!  Especially right after removing the bra for the day.  But then, I've always been pretty sensitive in that area.  The worse breast pain I ever experienced was from impact, like from a dog, child, or car door.  That can hurt for a while, but not as bad as a kick in the you-know-where.  Leaning over and pressed into a hard surface like when trying to retrieve something behind a piece of furniture is painful.  You'll learn not to do that, lol.

[KathyLauren]

Mine were itchy.  They became very sensitive to being rubbed by my shirt, or to any kind of impact or pressure.  I had to start wearing a sports bra just to protect them.  I was surprised at how much even little breasts could jiggle when trotting down stairs. 

 

You will at some point bonk them on a door frame.  They don't have to be very big for you to experience that.  You will quickly learn not to bonk them on anything!

[Emily michelle]

I’m a month in and mine hurt every once in a while. Mainly they are tingling and itchy, but it comes in waves. Hopefully they start growing soon.

[Denisenj]

I've only been on my HRT for 3 weeks really don't feel any different but I've always had man boobs even though I lost 57 lb my boobs always stay there. I sent a picture to a friend of mine that knows I crossdress and said hey do you still play golf. He says yeah but are you going off the ladies tees or the white tees. I said the White t's and he jokingly said well maybe you should start going off of the ladies tees  cause your nipples are starting to show through your shirt. I don't know how that can be I don't know if I should be happy or sad cuz I'm in guy mode and lately I haven't even been feeling like dressing.. I don't feel no pain in my breasts at all. What should I do. I love the feel feminine but I don't know if I really want to transition completely. I want to give the estradiol and spironolactone a couple months.. the one main thing I noticed is never aroused in the morning anymore.

[VickySGV]

Swinging doors will not be your friend and getting hit with one brings out the LEAST ladylike language you have, and you will be sure to aim for the doorways center from that incident forward.  As sweet as your pet kitty cat is, no more sleeping on your chest for them.  The same for tiny children.  Sleeping on your stomach will not happen until you are  six months to a year along in actual breast development.  Driving on curvy mountain roads will become a challenge as you do handovers on the steering wheel.  My first actual discomfort came at about 5 months in.  I had been wearing breast forms to bed and woke up in the middle of the night with sharp pain just in my nipple area which I knew was not a heart attack.  Taking off the forms and being sure I was sleeping on my back or side did the trick.  At about 2 years on HRT, my nipples became ticklish, which was nearly worse than the pain because I was wearing loose fitting shirts.  A year after that they became Eros triggers.  You have some adventure ahead of you..

[Dana Michelle]

I am two years into HRT and I had very little soreness. It has sometimes felt a little sore when I press my nipples but otherwise I don't get any real pain. Occasionally my nipples itch but not very often.

[Erikka]

 Mine started itching about the third month and by the sixth month even the slightest touch was excruciating but by 10 months most of that went away. I was on the patch system then, 5 months ago I developed a painful rash from the adhesive and got put on IM injections  twice a month. With the injections I have a cycle. The day after I am a weepy mess, three days after the injection the girls get tender and a bit sore, but after day five everything is back to my normal until the next injection.

[Tori M]

Off on a little bit of a tangent here...  For the 1st year that I had breasts I was constantly noticing how much they got in my way.  I was surprised how they were always in my lower field of view.  For a while I was actually self-conscious of them. I also had to get used to wearing a bra ALL of the time (except in bed, of course, I'm not that big).  Initially I was so happy to need one that I proudly proclaimed I would never bi*ch about them.  I was eventually proven wrong about that, haha.

I believe that a well-fitting bra is good for breast health.  Also, if you don't wear one they'll be hanging down to your belly when you get old and you'll hate 'em.  I went without for a few years; mistake.  I've read that sag accelerates as the fibers holding them up stretch and break leaving more stress on the remaining ones. Just a handful of years ago mine were perky.  Not as much now.  So now I'm in getting back in the habit.  It's a love/hate relationship.  A simple fruit-of-the-loom cotton sports bra is an easy starter.  Simple support, discrete, and it will hide those nipples, Denisenj. ?

Overall, I think the prospect of living with a female libido, dealing with breasts and wearing a bra full time can help in the eternal quandary of who we really want to be.

[Erikka]

I notice them like you do in your lower field of view, I  notice them while driving as they rub against my inner arms. The only time that breasts are a really in the way is while playing guitar. Still haven’t figured out that one.

[Tori M]

1 hour ago, Erikka said:

The only time that breasts are a really in the way is while playing guitar. Still haven’t figured out that one.

Haha, yea, that's a great example.  It's like your arms got shorter or something.

Back to the breast pain topic, I remember thinking once, "Well, if you thought those dangling gonads were a pain, now you've got 2 pairs of pain targets to watch out for, Tori!"

[Tori M]

3 hours ago, Dana Michelle said:

 It has sometimes felt a little sore when I press my nipples but otherwise I don't get any real pain. Occasionally my nipples itch but not very often.

I had forgotten about that tenderness when pressing on the nipples.  That went away after a while.  I still get occasional itches and they seem to attack me out of the blue.  I also just remembered the sudden sharp pains in the nipple area that Vickie mentioned above.  

[KathyLauren]

Oh, and if you end up on the small side, like me, struggling to fill an A-cup, you will end up loving those unexpected spells of itching and tenderness.  "Growth spurt!!"

[Dana Michelle]

9 hours ago, Tori M said:

I believe that a well-fitting bra is good for breast health.  Also, if you don't wear one they'll be hanging down to your belly when you get old and you'll hate 'em.  I went without for a few years; mistake.  I've read that sag accelerates as the fibers holding them up stretch and break leaving more stress on the remaining ones.

I heard it was the opposite: that when wearing a bra the fibres don't use as much strength so the body allows them to weaken (like the way the body strengthens muscles that are used a lot and weakens those that are not), and that wearing a bra causes sagging.

[Jackie C.]

27 minutes ago, Dana Michelle said:

I heard it was the opposite: that when wearing a bra the fibres don't use as much strength so the body allows them to weaken (like the way the body strengthens muscles that are used a lot and weakens those that are not), and that wearing a bra causes sagging.

 

This. The muscle tissue that holds them up and perky atrophies when you're wearing a bra. Also the wave motion that ensues when you're jiggling about helps to flush the lymph nodes. I still recommend a bra if you need the support though, like if you're doing bouncy exercises or jogging. I often wonder how busty prehistoric women ran away from anything.

 

Hugs!

[Tori M]

1 hour ago, Dana Michelle said:

I heard it was the opposite: that when wearing a bra the fibres don't use as much strength so the body allows them to weaken (like the way the body strengthens muscles that are used a lot and weakens those that are not), and that wearing a bra causes sagging.

 

Yes, I've heard that too.  One of those controversial things.  That's why I was careful to say "I believe..." because I don't really know but that's the side of the fence I came down on.

 

1 hour ago, Jackie C. said:

I often wonder how busty prehistoric women ran away from anything.

 

Haha, I've wondered the same thing.  I'm only a B+ cup, but that bouncing around while running hurts!  I recently got back into bicycling and quickly realized that I had to get a bra on.

[NB Adult]

I've had boobs for 25 years now, they were minnies for a long time and finally developed to the point that I wear a bra that will accomodate B to D sized breasts, Realistically I'm probably a C by now and I'm not typically a fat person. I still experience all the same  effects that others here are talking about, I'm on the same HRT that corresponds to the levels in a 20 year old female, so occasionally they feel hard and sometimes tender, the aureolas get puffy and big as half dollars when it's hot out. Wearing no bra under a loose shirt just stimulates them and they become pointy, so it's best for me to stick with the bra when I leave the house. I'm no spring chicken either, will turn 77 in August but the hormones seem to keep me younger looking than I otherwise would look..