**Today is my chosen birthday** 💜 (1 year on HRT)

*Today marks exactly one year since I started HRT. I call it my chosen birthday because, in a lot of ways, it feels like the day I stopped only surviving and finally started living as myself.*

*The picture on the left was near the end of 2024, shortly after I found out I was intersex. At the time, I was already out as non-binary and trying to decide whether HRT was the right path for me.*

*The picture on the right is from last week. No edits, no filters — just me, one year later.* 💜

**Current HRT:**

* Estradiol (oral): 4mg/day (2mg → 3mg at 3 months → 4mg at 6 months)
* Spironolactone: 100mg/day
* Progesterone: 100mg/day (started March 15, 2026)

*My estrogen is taken partly sublingually and partly swallowed, which has been my routine since the beginning under the guidance of my HRT care team at Foria. (They’ve honestly been amazing, shoutout to* ***Andrew*** 💜)

**Most recent labs:**  
(Trough — tested 12 hours after my last estradiol dose)

* Estradiol: 239 pmol/L
* Testosterone: 0.9 nmol/L
* Free Testosterone: 15 pmol/L
* Prolactin: 11.3 ug/L
* Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT): 74 U/ L (Actively being monitored)

*My situation has been a little unusual because I’m intersex. Before starting HRT, my baseline hormones already weren’t what my providers expected. My testosterone was extremely low, my estrogen was already elevated, and my prolactin was significantly above the expected range.*

*Looking back, a lot of my life suddenly started making more sense.*

*Puberty was when everything felt like it went wrong. My emotions became extremely unstable and never really balanced out afterward. I spent years trying to understand why everything felt so difficult.*

*This was also when I first remember expressing that I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I went through puberty unusually early and was already experiencing final puberty-related changes around 8 years old as I reached 'maturity'.*

*Later in life, I spent about 4 years consistently working out 3–5 days a week, eating above my calorie goals, and doing everything I thought I was supposed to do. I worked with trainers, changed gyms, changed routines, and tried basically every exercise approach I could.*

*At one point, my trainer suggested increasing my already large calorie surplus even further by adding things like ice cream to my protein shakes while trying to bulk. I got leaner and more toned, but no matter what I tried, I never saw the muscle development or strength progression that matched the amount of effort I was putting in.*

*Then I started HRT.*

*Obviously, I expected physical changes eventually, but what shocked me the most was the mental change.*

*My emotional baseline changed dramatically. Things that had felt impossible to regulate for years suddenly became manageable. I felt calmer, more present, and more connected to myself.*

*My treatment-resistant depression faded, my anxiety became easier to manage, and even my internal narratives related to OSDD became significantly kinder and more cooperative.*

*A year later, that change hasn’t gone away.*

*Interestingly, some things I had already been diagnosed with, like ADHD and dissociative symptoms, have also continued shifting over time. Not disappearing, but changing as my overall mental health and sense of stability improved.*

*This past year has been a lot of learning, healing, and finally understanding myself.*

*The person on the left got me here, and I’m grateful for everything they survived so that I could live to see my first birthday.*

*Happy birthday, Harper* 💜 (We're so proud of you!!)

Today is my 1-year HRT Birthday! <3 (36yrs old)