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So, there’s two parts to this; cramps, and skincare. Boldened questions. Thanks everyone in advance, whether cis, trans, or femby - this place feels welcoming <3
Cramps
Basically, my nonexistent uterus is giving me cramps rn :3
So far I’ve had about a few periods, since starting E, and it’s been both incredibly affirming and aching for me haha. They occur varyingly around once per 20 days to 35 for me.
Currently, i mostly just use a hot water bottle that i put onto my crotch, or I cope with eating quite a bit of chocolate. are there more methods?
I don’t bleed so there’s that. I also don’t think i experience bloating, so i’m curious what that is like?
I seem to usually get a bit of a nausea (but instead of at the stomach, it’s down there), rising and fading with the half hours, and I don’t know if I’m bad at math, but I feel like it can pop up again in a timespan of a few days. It’s also a bit like you press gently with the knuckles against that area. not much beside that, though. Oh, and a little bit grumpy, like when you’re past the ‘stomach is hungry’ phase and start being mildly annoyed. So, all that said…
What methods help well against period symptoms? And out of curiosity, how much does the experience vary between us?
Skincare
Bit of an age old and stereotypical question, but I’m only starting to go into this as a gal.
My skin has been smoother a lot since I started estrogen, and I tend to wash my face with just cold water, putting night cream, and estrogen’s also doing wonders. But I still notice I get pimples on my legs and feel my skin is a bit too ‘oily/fatty, rough’. I’m not sure if the following contributes, but gonna put it out there. I replace pillow covers once every few weeks, don’t eat a lot of greens or fruits, and often eat chocolate, but other than that I don’t eat that unhealthily. I never go to snackbars and eat one/two plates per meal, three meals a day. I take walks everyday and bicycle.
Sure, there’s foundation and concealer. But they hide it artificially and I’d rather think of a ‘natural feel of smooth’ due to lifestyle, rather than created through all sorts of creams and the like.
What would then help best, in getting the skin to feel more soft and look smoother?
Clothing
The northern spring is coming and (far away, but still) summer too. I seem to pass for a lot of people nowadays, though I don’t have this feel yet for myself.
I have long hair, a Roman nose, a sadly masculine though smooth jaw and chin (thanks laser!), getting gentle curves which makes me happy.
I like the idea of skirts, though I would probably tuck until I’ve had surgery. And tucking feels kind of like a reminder to me of the wrong part being there. I don’t mind neutral clothing.
So, what would be some ‘safe’ choices for clothing that could fit either gender for summer, but also maybe make me feel girly enough?
Just wanna make a minor correction, the ovaries are not the only place where prostaglandins are produced. They’re actually produced everywhere in the body, as the Wikipedia page you linked mentions. They’re also a critical part of cisgender men’s health, so saying trans women would be incapable of producing them is a little misleading. Now, of course, trans women don’t have a uterus, so there is no uterine lining to shed. However, I have never seen a study that looks at prostaglandin production in trans women, or really any article studying hormone cycles experienced in trans women. As such, I wouldn’t necessarily say they don’t contribute to the cyclical pain present in many trans women, especially given that high concentrations of prostaglandins in the body do have effects on the body in ways consistent with cisgender women’s periods (think period poops, intestinal cramping, and abdominal wall cramping for instance). I’ve also personally talked with multiple women who have had full hysterectomies who still experience what they describe to me as “period cramps”, so that indicates to me that the presence of a uterus is not a prerequisite for experiencing the hormonal side effects of the menstrual cycle.
So I’d like to say that what we know, scientifically, is that trans women are not experiencing pain caused by the shedding of the uterine lining. Beyond that, however, we do not have adequate research to indicate that trans women are incapable of experiencing the other factors that contribute to “period cramps”, as they are not only present in or caused by the uterus, and the hormones (and hormone-like compounds, such as prostaglandins) involved are not only produced in the ovaries. Now, I want to be cautious in suggesting that this is the case, as I’d be quite hypocritical to make that claim without evidence. I’d just like the discussion surrounding it not to be “this is completely ruled out”. The fact that women can have cyclical cramps after a full hysterectomy should be indication enough that there’s more to the story than merely the presence of a uterus. What exactly is happening can only currently be speculated on, as women’s health (and especially trans women’s health) is significantly lacking research.
Good correction, thank you - I edited my comment to clarify it’s not the ovaries but the uterine lining that produces the prostaglandins that cause period cramps.
As you mention, I’m not sure we have any evidence prostaglandins are implicated in the kinds of period cramps trans women report (seems possible, but since they are mostly produced by the uterine lining tissue to cause period cramps, I think it’s unlikely) - but I do think the female gut pain fits pretty well and correlates with hormonal shifts like periods do, so I point to that as the probable alternative.
Cis women obviously experience the female gut pain as well (the study I linked looks at cis women, after all), and it’s not surprising to me cis women without a uterus might conflate them too.
I’m mostly just trying to clarify that what is ruled out is that trans women can experience the typical “period cramps” cis women (uterine lining contractions and sloughing off). Obviously I think both cis and trans women are having gut symptoms hormone-cyclical cramps that cis women experience and
As such it’s probably best not to think of this as “menstrual” related in trans women, and the current evidence makes me think gut symptoms caused by estrogen are a good alternate explanation. (I think we shouldn’t ignore the way the “period cramps” take the form of gastro-intestinal symptoms in OP’s descriptions - the correlated hunger-like peristalsis and bloating / gas being both clues.)
And yeah, we don’t really know what’s going on with high certainty - completely agreed that women are tragically under-studied and left out of clinical trials, but we do know enough to rule out prostaglandins-induced uterine contractions 😆 That’s my main point, really (as well as trying to validate the cramps are real and probably not just psychosomatic by pointing to an alternative physiological explanation for them).