Decidedly Obscure Human Complaints.

Time to whine and moan a little bit. About  100 degree summer heat combined with binding . It's so miserable. I have been wearing the Underwork's Double Front Compression Shirt (Model 997) as my primary summer binder. It's comfortable and it binds well enough without restricting my breathing too terribly. And I can wear it with my lightest, transparent white shirts. But, because it covers my stomach and my chest, the skin underneath doesn't get a lot of air - which is particularly important for bicycling. On occasion I'll wear the zip-up T-Kingdom 801 , which is a very loose binder. But because it doesn't bind as well, I have to wear a loose button-up or t-shirt over it. As the day progresses the T-Kingdom 801 gets looser and binds less and less effectively, so I generally end up switching between the two. The 801 to bicycle in and then the 997 when I get to my destination. The other ones I own are just, too miserable in the heat. The other night I atte...

Hormone therapy has really impacted my sleep cycle. My body has been working over-time getting all hairy and packing on bulk. I require more sleep. Prior to starting hormone therapy I averaged about 7-8 hours of sleep per night, no problem. Now? If I get 8 hours of sleep, the next day I'm all grumbly and lethargic. But if I sleep 9-10 hours, I'm great. And the closer it gets to my next injection day, that teeters closer to the 10-hour side of the scale as my hormone supply dwindles off into metabolized bye bye land. And, no matter how tired I am, I can't for the life of me fall asleep until ~midnight. Interestingly, adolescents are notorious for over-sleeping. And not too long ago researchers discovered an internal biological clock, a clock that sometimes acts against the sleep-wake cycle by keeping us alert when we should be feeling tired. A sleep researcher named Mary Carskadon and her colleague Bill Dement had seen this biological clock in action when they teste...

I hit a vein yesterday during my bi-weekly injection for the first time since starting hormone therapy in '08. Everything was going to honky dory until I removed the needle - and immediately a faucet of blood turned on and welled up from the injection site. Surprised, I immediately dabbed it with an alcohol wipe, which was instantly soaked. The blood flowed down my thigh and dripped on to the floor. Once I had all of the blood soaked up, I noticed what appeared to be a partially swollen vein. Not knowing what else to do, I covered it with a bandage. Ahhhh ha, so this is what it's like to hit a vein , I thought. I would have been more anxious about this situation, but I remember bringing this concern up with my doctor before injecting for the first time. She reassured me that I don't need to fret if it happens; that I wouldn't die and nothing horrible should happen. My leg didn't hurt and I took the bandage off last night to discover that the vein was no longer...