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4th video blog entry
Dec. 26th, 2017 01:36 pmRecorded my 4th transition video blog entry today. I've been on HRT for almost 4 months, but decided to stop the spironolactone a week ago. The reason I'm stopping it is because for the second time in a row (first in late September, and again a couple weeks ago) my blood test came back showing I had zero testosterone in my body. This past week I have felt my hormones changing, so I think I do have some testosterone now. Just not sure whether I'm up to female levels yet or if I've gone beyond that.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnZKPbSg1zY-dNE8GEUKU4Q
I also mention in my latest update that I've hired a professional speech therapist to help me with my voice. I started in October and have gone to 6 sessions so far. I do feel like it is helping me make progress, although the progress is very gradual and my main problem now is that I have trouble maintaining a good female resonance & pitch without actively thinking about it. In other words, during conversations it's hard to focus on both that and what I'm talking about at the same time, so almost always my voice reverts to male or at least andro pretty quickly. In terms of my vocal muscles, I do think I've been stretching them for long enough that they now have the ability to produce a female voice--it's just a matter of convincing my brain to send the right signals to my vocal chords automatically as I'm speaking.
Several things I don't like about this most recent video: I probably should have put more effort into my hair, and recorded during the day when the lighting was better, and spoken more loudly (even with the volume turned all the way up, my voice is still a bit too soft). But I'm okay enough with it to post it, and will save these lessons for next time. Overall I think my 3rd video came out the best, although in some ways the 4th is the most authentic picture of what I look like and sound like from day-to-day. I spent less time preparing and making sure I looked good on camera. But I guess it's fine to have at least one like that, I don't have to look perfect every day :-)
Interesting that the length of these videos seems to be rapidly increasing. 1 minute for the first, 3 for the second, 6 for the third, and now 9 for the 4th. What's next, a 12-minute video? I should actually try to keep them under 5 minutes!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnZKPbSg1zY-dNE8GEUKU4Q
I also mention in my latest update that I've hired a professional speech therapist to help me with my voice. I started in October and have gone to 6 sessions so far. I do feel like it is helping me make progress, although the progress is very gradual and my main problem now is that I have trouble maintaining a good female resonance & pitch without actively thinking about it. In other words, during conversations it's hard to focus on both that and what I'm talking about at the same time, so almost always my voice reverts to male or at least andro pretty quickly. In terms of my vocal muscles, I do think I've been stretching them for long enough that they now have the ability to produce a female voice--it's just a matter of convincing my brain to send the right signals to my vocal chords automatically as I'm speaking.
Several things I don't like about this most recent video: I probably should have put more effort into my hair, and recorded during the day when the lighting was better, and spoken more loudly (even with the volume turned all the way up, my voice is still a bit too soft). But I'm okay enough with it to post it, and will save these lessons for next time. Overall I think my 3rd video came out the best, although in some ways the 4th is the most authentic picture of what I look like and sound like from day-to-day. I spent less time preparing and making sure I looked good on camera. But I guess it's fine to have at least one like that, I don't have to look perfect every day :-)
Interesting that the length of these videos seems to be rapidly increasing. 1 minute for the first, 3 for the second, 6 for the third, and now 9 for the 4th. What's next, a 12-minute video? I should actually try to keep them under 5 minutes!
