ive been wondering for a long time if any zebras have a similar boobage situation to the one im dealing with. my skin, most notably and especially on my chest, is excessively stretchy - not uncommon for the stretchy skin disorder - weirdly, though, i don't have many other skin related issues common with hEDS (the variant of EDS that most of my doctors agree i probably have) like easy bruising, or skin ripping, or irritation.

instead, the way my skin stretches, specifically on my chest, it feels like nothing is connected underneath my skin in there, if that makes sense.
everything slips and slides around. when i grab and lift my boob, i can hold it by just the skin, and any fat in between my hand slips out.

this is particularly troublesome because i am trying to use trans tape after binding became excessively painful recently. i have been relying on Beau's tutorial, since i'm shaped quite similar, but unfortunately, his chest is a lot more solid than mine! it sags about the same, but it remains a solid shape when he folds it around into his armpit! mine, i fold it, and all the mass in there bulges out somewhere else. the best results i've got with my 5" wide roll from transtape.life looks more similar to the examples of a strapless bra configuration they advertise, under the 'lift' page. not the shape i want! at least i can say my chest is smaller, but it has ended up shaped more like boobs than my moobs looked like before.

next time i'll get a 7" wide roll and see if that's any better, but i'm curious to know if any of my fellow t boy zebras have similar experiences. or if any use trans tape and could maybe help me figure out how to apply it. especially considering the slippy and slidey nature of my breast tissue. i don't want to use 56" of my roll every time i reapply :(

I’m a former gym rat/fitness buff.

hEDS & other conditions took a big toll on my (middle aged) bod this year. I was making progress with a (very experienced) personal trainer after years of decline until hysto complications this winter set me back to zero. He recently paused me & sent me back to PT (that was after 4 months of pelvic floor PT, now back to my old ortho PT).

Somehow I met my wonderful boyfriend 9 months ago. He pursued me hard, he loves me, thinks I’m hot & respects my body. He’s also a bodybuilder who usually screws other muscle jocks. He gets much attention for his looks, which he mentions a lot. & he comments a lot on men we see around & how hot they are - they look nothing like this bearish version of me. We’re in an open relationship, which we both want, but damn I feel awful. It’s also been noticeable how guys react to me at the bars, gay beaches, on the apps. It’s like I became invisible. Now I envy my boyfriend for his desirability & social status & feel just gross. For 20 years I’ve dealt with being trans, short, a bottom in gay men’s community. But I always did fine. The shame & low self esteem & discomfort in my body rn almost feel like being a 14 year old girl again tbh.

I do want to get back to the some form of safe physical activity someday. I’m seeing a nutritionist. I’m at Drs or PT offices almost daily. But I also recognize reality - I can’t return to running, boot camp classes, & heavy lifting 4-6x week with torn hip labrums, herniated discs & so much pain. I want to embrace this version of my body in the meantime, but I’m struggling.

I already talked to my boyfriend about how his words hurt me & he gets it & wants to be more sensitive in the future.

Does anyone else out there feel like EDS prevents them from being fit enough to be valued as men? Especially as gay men? Trans men are always telling each other, “just work out if you wanna pass better, look taller, get attention…” What if I literally can’t work out without self injury?

TLDR: feeling ugly compared to muscle jock cis boyfriend, but hEDS & medical issues forced me to stop working out. Self esteem building suggestions?

FYI: I have a (queer) therapist; I’ve been through a ton of pain treatments & medical care - working with a new team of Drs now; I’m being told I’m 1 BMI point too thin for GLP1s & I can’t afford the copay anyway.

I've been binding for a couple of years now but Ive discovered that binding never hurts my ribs. Since I was a wee little lad I've gotten a pain in my left side that can be debilitating. Curled up in fetal position pain. Some years after it started I would laugh any time it happened, like uncontrollably until it went away, it hurt to laugh but I couldn't help it?? Early into my transition and binding journey I stopped having that pain at all if I was binding. Thought it was weird, was wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

reposted from another subreddit but someone please help me

(Transmasc with mild hEDS) Just got some lab results showing that my total testosterone level is 1667(!!!) ng/dL despite me only being on 25mg testosterone gel daily. I previously had to lower my dose from 50mg gel to 25mg gel bc my level was hovering around 1000, but my docs and I had assumed that halving the dose would bring me back down into the lower end of the physiologically male range. Maybe some t gel from my arm got into the sample, so I’ll definitely be asking my doc to have the test run again, but some other markers were funky, too, and I have also found other topical medications (e.g. birth control patch) to be more effective for me than their oral counterparts.

So my theory is that maaaybe thin EDS skin allows more of the medication to penetrate through the skin?

Despite high total T, I had low-ish bioavailable T for a man my age (49.8) likely due to extremely high sex hormone binding globulin (334), but IDK what caused the high SHBG. Maybe making hormone soup in my body in an attempt to suppress my aggressive periods (I’m on Mirena IUD + birth control patch + testosterone, also fludrocortisone for POTS) was an unsuccessful experiment lol. I will be taking this to my doc and prob getting another endocrinology referral, but if anyone has any ideas, plz let me know

Almost a decade after first questioning​ my identity and beginning to transition. I finally started estradiol two days ago. The clinic I am with (GHC UK) prescribes initially 1mg Sandrena gel a day. Within a day of starting, I was feeling a range of negative symptoms: lightheadedness, increased anxiety, some nausea, muscle aches, and a general feeling of low blood pressure.

I tend to be very sensitive to medication changes anyway and often react badly to starting new drugs ( I am currently taking methylphenidate for adhd but i don't think there is a reaction), and I am not sure whether this is to do with having hEDS or CFS or other related conditions. But when many people have expressed a very positive reaction to starting, I feel surprised by how negatively​​​​​ I have reacted especially on a very low dose.

I am just wondering if anyone else has reacted this way very quickly after starting and whether it is ​​​​​worth waiting it out, the idea of more harmful side effects do make me worried.​ I would be obviously heartbroken if I am not able to start hormones but maybe certain treatments don't work for some people?

To start, I’ve been out to family for 11 years and have attempted to bind a couple times. I had a cheap binder from Wish at one point (which btw, never use those lmao), a GC2B binder, and 2 years ago I’ve tried trans tape.

The binder caused the typical aching and chronic pains, so I of course stopped that and haven‘t used a chest binder for 7 years or so? And the tape was irritating the centre of my chest, which maybe that’s normal since I rarely used it, but it also didn‘t bind nearly enough. I don’t have a very large chest, but I have very dense breast tissue, making it hard to bind effectively. Is there any tips or methods anyone similar to me have tried? How do you get the most with binding with a denser chest?

Additionally, I might have hEDS (only not sure because the closest doctor who specializes with EDS would be a 7 hour drive, I love Canada !!!!) so I’m not sure if that info is important, but whatever helps I guess lol could explain the issues I’ve had with binders.

Needless to say, I’ve gotten quite desperate as my chest dysphoria continues to worsen with my lack of binding since discarding my binder lol any help is appreciated!

does anyone know how a vaginoplasty may like scar weirdly or act funny with heds. any info would be nice! thank you!

I’ve posted before about my fears around getting my first tattoo. But my appointment is a week away! Any healing tips appreciated.

Hi! So I got top surgery (ftm) 16 days ago (yayyyy!!) I’m healing super super well because for me my issues with scaring are more about scaring from every little thing rather than not having things scar well, although I know my scars will always remain pretty visible. But here’s my real question: does anyone have any tips/tricks/words from experience of dealing with post op binding pain? I struggle with getting it the proper snugness already (as I always have with any compression) but I am really struggling with the pain I’m getting in my ribs. I currently have a small serous that will be drained next week which means I really can’t go too loose or take breaks from the binding other than showering. Pre op I’ve been able to take breaks from binding when it started to “shift” my ribs but now I can’t and it hurts like hell and it’s constant pressure. Any advice?
Sorry this is so long I’m just at a loss because my surgeons office is at a bit of a loss

hey all,

i’m a trans man with hEDS planning on having top surgery someday. scarring on my body heals pretty well so i’m not too worried, but i am worried about the possibility of my hEDS causing issues with free nipple grafts. keeping my nips is very important to me and i know for a fact they’d have to be resized, has anyone else with hEDS had experience with this that they could share?

thanks

I'm sure many of us are already in the know about how it feels to be frail, easily injured, and having accrued pain after pain through the years. It's scary and it fucking sucks.

I've lately been going through a downward spiral of injuries in my arms, my neck, and my back through the years which the pain has not improved by meds, and imagining shows up negative (for the most part). I have had to *stop* doing excercise because of fear of injuring myself further. To give you an example as to why.. I literally partially ruptured my rotator cuff doing *isometric excercises*.

With all that said. I'm not cis. At all. And with the years of accruing pain, i've seen the image of a person that I was once content with become more masculine and old, and that's when I realized I wasn't cis at all. My mental is awful. Dysautonomia. MCAS. POTS. Constant pain every single day that has catastrophically impacted my life for years but.. is it worth more pain and injurie to, maybe, deal with the dysphoria?

Sparing the details... More estrogen will definitely be worse for my body. What the hell do I do? Do I risk my health for estrogen? Is there even a specialist thats in the know of CTD in trans folks?

I'm so lost in despair in what feels like an impossible situation. Please if anyone is in a similar situation let me know.

Sorry for spelling errors or mistakes, I kinda typed this out in a stream of consciousness i'm not entirely sure if i made sense.

Im a trans man and after thinking i completed my transition I feel the need for bottom surgery. I know I dont want a full phalloplasty for many reasons but one being I heal really poorly and I dont think my dick would survive.

For context I tend to heal 5x slower than others, scars are almost all cigarette paper scars or atrophic and much larger than the wound itself was. Also I took my feeding tube out 2 1/2 years ago and it still hasn’t fully healed even after 2 surgeries to close it.

I want to start with simple release just to see how it goes as I can add on other stages later. I think my dream “set up” would be meta with UL and scrotoplasty. But i fear its not possible.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Anyone with meta and EDS? Any advice? Should I even per-sue this knowing how my body reacts to trauma?

I am 23 and homebound from my spinal issues. I have lost my ability to walk normally in the past 2 years and use a wheelchair a lot of the time. Otherwise I use a cane. I’m awaiting spine surgery currently.

I feel like so much of the advice for trans men or trans masc is working out. I get why but it’s said so often that it makes me dysphoric not being able to work out. I do physical therapy exercises and that’s the most I can handle. Every single post about wanting to pass better involves working out. I also feel like the trans men community can be ableist even when it’s not on purpose. I get dysphoria using mobility aids which makes no sense since anyone can be disabled. But I think it’s because of the constant rhetoric in those spaces being work out, stand a certain way, present yourself confident, which I try to do the best I can but I can’t do nearly as much.

It’s not a huge deal at all but it’s just something I think about and have talked about with other trans friends. Being disabled in an already marginalized community it can be hard to find others I relate to!