The Trans Masc Testosterone Journey

The trans masc testosterone journey can look different for everyone, but here’s a clear overview of what to expect — physically, emotionally, and practically.

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🔹 What Testosterone Does (A General Timeline)

Everyone’s body responds differently, but here’s a typical pattern:

🗓 1–3 Months

• Voice starts to deepen (may crack like puberty)

• Increased oiliness/acne

• Libido often increases

• Mood shifts (can feel more intense or irritable at first)

• Period may become lighter or stop

🗓 3–6 Months

• Voice deepens more noticeably

• Facial/body hair starts coming in (slow process)

• Muscle mass increases more easily

• Fat begins redistributing (less hips/thighs, more abdomen)

• Clitoral growth (bottom growth)

🗓 6–12+ Months

• Facial hair thickens

• Continued body hair growth

• More angular facial appearance

• Period usually stops completely

• Emotional baseline often stabilizes

Full changes can take 2–5 years.

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💉 Ways to Take Testosterone

• Weekly or biweekly injections (most common)

• Gel (daily application)

• Patches (less common )

• I take it every five days

Injections often give faster or more noticeable changes, but gel is steady and needle-free. It’s about what fits your comfort and medical access.

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🧠 Emotional & Mental Changes

• Some people feel calmer and more grounded.

• Others feel more assertive or quicker to anger at first.

• Emotional processing can feel “different” (not less emotional, just different).

• Many report reduced gender dysphoria and increased confidence.

If you’ve struggled with anxiety or depression before, it’s good to keep a support system in place while your hormones adjust.

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🩺 Health Monitoring

You’ll typically need:

• Bloodwork every 3–6 months at first

• Monitoring of red blood cell count

• Liver levels

• Testosterone levels

This helps keep everything in a safe range.

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❤️ Fertility & Birth Control

Testosterone is not birth control.
You can still get pregnant unless you’ve had surgery. If that’s relevant to you, talk to your provider about options.

Fertility may return if T is stopped, but it’s not guaranteed.

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🌱 Things People Don’t Always Talk About

• Sweating increases.

• Body odor changes.

• Appetite can increase.

• Hairline may masculinize (genetics matter).

• Voice training can help control depth and tone.

• You might grieve aspects of your old self — that’s normal and doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice.

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If you want, tell me:

• Are you just starting? Pre-T? A few months in?

• Are you worried about anything specific (voice, hair loss, family reaction, mood)?

• Are you looking for physical info, emotional support, or practical tips?

I’m here for whatever part of this journey you’re on. I am on it too! 🖤

Dealing With Stress

 Dealing with Stress. That thought has been on my mind a lot lately. What can help in a world that feels helpless and frustrating? One idea that comes to mind is journaling. 

A few thoughts on what journaling can do:

• Enhance mental clarity

• Boost self esteem and mindfulness

• Encourage reflection

• Organize thoughts and ideas

• An outlet to be silly- doodling fun

• Can aid in personal growth

• Spark creativity

• Can be goal oriented

• Improve mental clarity - remove clutter

• Setting and achieving goals

• Manage anxiety

• Reduce stress

• Joy through capturing fun situations, events

• Gratitude journaling -focus on what you are grateful for

• Help you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns

• Provide an opportunity for positive self-talk

• Provide a place to relax and meditate

• Sometimes we just need to scribble!

So grab a few pieces of paper or a journal and begin. 

If you need prompts to begin here is a link to one of my favorites. 

Just Be You journal

"A journal for capturing your reflections on life, love, and the wonders of the world. Each page is topped by an affirmation or encouragement. Use the notebook for doodling, de-stressing, or brainstorming. It's a handy place to capture your thoughts, emotions, and to-do lists, a space where you can color across the lines and enter into the wonderful reality of just being uniquely YOU."

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Today's Thoughts

 

I'm dreaming of an adult picture book where the fairy god human waves it's magic wand and transgender women and trans men switch the body parts we need to be whole. Being Transgender means we have to go through a lot to get our outside to line up with who we are. Pretending to be a girl in public was uncomfortable but was in some ways easier because I was born with that costume on and I had to act the part for many years. I was also afraid of the public. It may cost a lot and it will not be easy but I have to take that costume off. It never fit and it hurt me.

I know many people who knew me as Diane don't understand. That is ok. Ask questions.

I Found My Name In The Bathtub

 Yes, it is true I found my name in the bathtub. 

"God is Transgender And So Am I"

 

Yes, I said it and fully believe it. "God is Transgender And So Am I" 

Created in Their image.

I believe in God or what I like to call Divine Love. My God is gender fluid and beyond any constraints we try to put on them. Beyond imagination in all ways including gender. They are the love I feel in the depths of my being. A being that is transgender. 

Transfigured

 

Little did my Beloved know four years ago that the book she had just finished would save me. It was as if God gave it to her as a gift for me. A key made of words to unlock my jail cell. 

If freedom was an audible sigh then it was the sound I made with every word read. If you listened closely you could hear my shell cracking. I could stop performing and be free. Diane was an actress. It was time to be me... Declan.

God seemed to love me but what if I hated the body They gave me? Would the Divine be angry or worse yet disappointed? What if I wanted to change their design. What would the Divine love think when I spoke out and said " God you made a mistake and I am pissed off about it." 

With everyday of this devotional my fears dissipated. 

After reading her manuscript I knew God loved and fully accepting me. I always knew my Beloved did. She knew I was transgender before I could ever talk about or admit it. 

Yes, friends the book Transfigured gave me courage, hope and strength to be me. 

Sometimes a book is not just a book. 

On Being A Walking Quandary

 "The only difference between a flower and a weed is judgement."

Lately I feel like I don't fit in. I'm increasingly public about being transmasculine, so it might look like I've found a place to slot in. But I haven't.

Before coming out, I figured out the female world because I had no choice. In school, organizations, and churches I was in leadership. I sat at the head table at meetings and the back of the bus with the "cool" kids. Today I feel as though I have no table or seat. 

It's like going through a second adolescence, where I have to find my way in life and my place with peers. I'm early into transitioning (only about eight months) and don't look very masculine. I sound feminine. To others I'm a walking quandary.

Discussion in transfeminine circles triggers issues from the past which I long to leave behind. I understand them but am uncomfortable in female conversations. The transgender men I know are well into "T" treatments and happily presenting as males. I'm jealous of them.  It all leaves me feeling as though I'm not guy enough to hang out with the big boys and I can no longer do what I always had to and just chill with the ladies. What I have in common with both groups is the desire to be seen and respected. But that commonality is not enough to help me fit in. I am not seen. 

I don't want to always have to strive to fit in. Always reaching for a mysterious, perhaps unattainable end-of-the-rainbow life. 

Judgement is a powerful force. The judgement of others in the past led me down destructive paths. My self-judgement is harsh. But I'm not a teenager anymore. I must sit in being me. 

I am the dandelion seed being blown in the wind. I will land. I will blossom.