This story is from the comments listed below, summarised by AI.
Authenticity Assessment: Not Suspicious
Based on the comments provided, the account appears authentic. There are no serious red flags suggesting it is a bot or an inauthentic actor.
The comments display a consistent, nuanced, and deeply personal narrative. The user shares specific medical details (15 months on HRT, specific side effects), psychological insights (internalized homophobia, ADHD), and a complex, evolving political perspective that is common among real detransitioners. The tone is passionate and critical, which aligns with the expected anger and frustration from someone who feels harmed by their experience. The story is coherent and shows internal reflection over time.
About me
I started transitioning because I thought becoming a woman would fix my pain from being a bullied, feminine gay man and my undiagnosed ADHD. The hormones made me incredibly sick with constant pain, fatigue, and worse depression, which forced me to realize I was trying to escape myself. I stopped after 15 months and immediately felt my health return, but I was left with permanent breast growth that I'll need surgery to remove. I now understand that my feminine qualities don't make me female; they just make me who I am, a gay man. I'm finally at peace, learning to accept myself and even starting to date, which feels more genuine than anything I experienced while transitioning.
My detransition story
My whole journey with transition and detransition was a long and difficult one, rooted in a lot of pain I didn't understand at the time. I am a gay man, and a lot of my struggle came from a place of deep internalized homophobia. I was bullied for my feminine voice and mannerisms for most of my life, and I grew up with a lot of self-hatred because of it. I also have ADHD, which went undiagnosed until I was 25, and that made me feel stupid and gave me incredibly low self-esteem. On top of that, I have a history of sexual trauma, PTSD, depression, and anxiety. All of these things combined made the idea of transitioning incredibly appealing. The thought of becoming a beautiful, confident, strong woman instead of what I saw as a "weak, stupid little feminine gay boy" felt like an escape.
I was on HRT, estrogen and spironolactone, for 15 months. Almost immediately, my health took a serious turn for the worse. I experienced severe back and joint pain, a total loss of energy, constant fatigue, brain fog, worse depression, frequent migraines, and I gained weight very rapidly. It was a miserable experience physically. Mentally, I started to realize things weren't right. The whole concept of a "deadname" never sat well with me; the idea of killing my old self was really painful because, deep down, I realized I actually liked who I had been and I missed him.
I came to understand that my transition was an act of trying to be someone I was not. The person I was before never actually went anywhere. I was just pretending. I finally accepted that I would never truly be a woman, and that the feminine parts of me didn't make me female—they just made me a feminine man. Letting go of that act and being myself again was detransition. Now, going by my birth name, my real name, I feel a little happy every time I hear it or say it.
Stopping hormones was the best decision I could have made. At just a little over a month off HRT, most of those awful health symptoms either dramatically decreased or disappeared entirely. My body is still recovering. The HRT gave me significant breast growth, a form of gynecomastia. I'm focusing on weight loss and exercise right now as my body's natural testosterone levels take over again, which will help with fat redistribution. But I will likely need surgery to remove the remaining breast tissue, as it won't go away on its own, and that's a financial burden I'll have to bear since it's not typically covered by insurance.
My thoughts on gender are that a lot of it is socially constructed. Gender roles and stereotypes are patterns that developed over human history. "Gender identity" feels newer and even more constructed to me. I believe if society were less rigid about gender norms—if feminine men and masculine women were just accepted as normal—far fewer people would feel the need to medically transition. Biological sex, on the other hand, is an inherent, unchangeable reality for over 99% of people.
I don't regret my transition because it led me to where I am now, which is a place of much greater self-acceptance and peace. But I do recognize that the path I went down was wrong for me and made all of my existing problems—the trauma, the internalized homophobia, the depression—exponentially worse. The most affirming thing for me now is living as my true self, a gay man. I recently met a man and we're taking things slow, but being with him felt like the most alive and genuine I’ve felt in years. That’s a feeling I never had while I was transitioning.
Here is a timeline of my journey:
| Age | Event |
|---|---|
| 25 | Finally received an official diagnosis for ADHD, which had been a source of low self-esteem my entire life. |
| ? | Began identifying as transgender and started HRT (estrogen and spironolactone). |
| ? | Experienced severe health complications from HRT including chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog, and rapid weight gain. |
| ? | Stopped HRT after 15 months due to deteriorating health and the realization that I could never truly become a woman. |
| ? | Most negative health symptoms subsided within a month of ending HRT. |
| ? | Began the process of social detransition, returning to my birth name and male identity. |
| Present | Living as a detransitioned gay man, managing gynecomastia caused by HRT and saving for corrective surgery. |
Top Comments by /u/Hot_Strawberry_166:
That puberty blockers are harmless (pausing puberty can actually be quite disastrous), that there are no adverse long term effects of putting cross sex hormones in one’s body, that there is no such thing as biological sex or that it doesn’t exist in the way we think it does, that being attracted to a trans person of your same biological sex does not make you same sex oriented on at least some level (guess what it does because at the end of the day they are still a man/woman underneath it all). The list goes on and on. All of it is nonsense.
You’re in the same boat as me. I was on HRT for 15 months and my chest looks very similar to yours right now. From what I understand they will naturally deflate and shrink somewhat but not go away entirely. There is likely some tissue that will not go away without surgery. However, with diet, exercise, and fat redistribution once T becomes dominant again they may not be noticeable to anyone but you. I’m personally focusing on weight loss and exercise in the meantime while my body sets itself right. I will have to save money for surgery as gynecomastia surgery isn’t typically covered by insurance (assuming you’re in the US). I imagine it will be a similar scenario for you.
It’s kind of jarring when I look at this list and realize how much of it applies to me; officially Dx with ADHD & PTSD, likely have BPD, I suffered sexual trauma multiple times throughout life, I have a deep self hatred rooted in internalized homophobia, I was bullied for being fem most of my life, and I have severe depression and anxiety. Yet my gender transition only made all those things exponentially worse.
It’s extremely difficult for me to listen to people like Matt Walsh being that I’m a gay man and internalized homophobia was a big reason why I elected to transition in the first place. However, even a broken clock is right twice a day. He makes good points but we should be weary of thinking American conservatives are our friends in any way. Even if we do agree on this one issue, many (most?) detrans people are not gender conforming or heterosexual. I personally will never be able to openly legitimize any narrative that comes from an American conservative public figure even if I privately agree on a particular issue. But like I said I can’t deny that the points made were excellent and the interviews were absolutely damning.
I’m very much a live and let live person when it comes down to it. I won’t presume to judge anyone else’s experiences but I also won’t be silenced, vilified, or insulted for speaking the truth. Some things can’t be reconciled and that’s ok. I don’t waste my energy hating people and I don’t wish people harm, but the trans community quite frankly is no longer my problem. That’s all.
Gay male here and I have to agree. This has been the best part about getting back to being truly me again. I met a man recently and we’re taking things slow as far as the relationship goes but he spent the night last weekend. Being with him that night was the most alive and genuine I’ve felt in years. Truly an amazing feeling.
That was actually one of the things that was a sign to me. The whole “dead name” thing and the thought of killing my old was really painful and in the end I realized it was because I actually liked who I had been and missed it. Just one of the many things that led me to realize I was going down the wrong road and needed to stop. Now going by my birth name, my real name and legal name, I feel a little happy every time I introduce myself or someone else says my name.
I guess it depends. In my opinion, there are many aspects to this. Gender roles and gender stereotypes are something which are socially constructed in the sense that they’ve developed as a result of patterns which have played out over very long stretches of time throughout human history. “Gender identity” is something relatively new and also socially constructed but with a lot less weight to it in my opinion because you can identify as something you aren’t all you want but that doesn’t make it true. I’m fine with people wanting to transition but we need to be clear about the realities of gender identity vs gender norms vs biological sex.
If most societies were less rigid in their understanding of gender norms then I suspect it would weaken the need that some gender non conforming people (who eventually transition) feel to live as the opposite sex. For example, I have always had what is stereotypically thought of as “gay voice” and it’s something I was bullied and shamed for pretty much all my life. Had people just accepted that my voice and speech are just one thing that makes me unique as a more feminine acting male it never would have been an issue. The same goes for feminine males, masculine females, and androgynous people all across the spectrum of self expression. So I guess what I’m getting at is that everything under the category of gender is socially constructed, which is really just a fancy way of saying that we as a species made it up. Biological sex on the other hand is inherent and unchangeable in over 99 percent of the human population, the exclusion of course being intersex people.
The person I was before is definitely the person I am now because deep down that person never went anywhere. At this point I recognize my transition very much as the act of trying to be someone else, someone I was not. So in that sense detransition was simply giving up the act and being myself again. My interests and perspectives haven’t actually changed much from before, and I suppose they never really did. I’m just more at peace now with those things about me that society deems feminine. I recognize that those things never would or could have made me female and I guess that’s the one big difference. I have a lot more acceptance for who I am as a whole person now than at any time before or during my transition.
During the 15 months I was on HRT (estrogen & spironolactone) the health issues I experienced were severe back and joint pain, total loss of energy, fatigue, brain fog, depression, frequent migraines, and rapid weight gain. Now at just a little over a month off HRT most of these symptoms have either dramatically decreased or disappeared entirely.