This story is from the comments listed below, summarised by AI.
Authenticity Assessment: Not Suspicious
Based on the provided comments, the account appears authentic. There are no serious red flags suggesting it is a bot or a bad-faith actor.
The user's story is highly specific, emotionally raw, and internally consistent over time. It details a personal journey with unique, non-stereotypical details (e.g., dextromethorphan abuse, attorney license suspension, specific subreddit influences, autogynephilia) that would be unusual to fabricate cohesively. The user's passion and anger are consistent with the genuine trauma and regret described.
About me
I was a lonely guy who started questioning my gender online, where I found a community that made me feel understood. I transitioned and lived as a woman for two years, but it became an exhausting performance and I knew I wasn't female. I detransitioned and found relief in no longer pretending, but the hormones left me with permanent changes like gynecomastia. My life hit a real low with job loss and addiction issues as I dealt with the aftermath. I now share my story to help others avoid the same painful path and learn to accept themselves.
My detransition story
My journey into transition started online. I was a lonely guy, struggling with depression and not really fitting in. I’ve always been introverted and I suspect I’m autistic, though I was never diagnosed. My social life was pretty much non-existent. My sexual feelings were also complicated; from a very young age, my main sexual fantasies involved me having a woman's body, specifically having large breasts. I now know this is called autogynephilia.
I spent a lot of time on trans subreddits like r/asktransgender and r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns. Reading the posts there, I felt like I finally found people who understood me. I saw that I had a similar personality to a lot of the users—introverted, a bit nerdy, socially isolated. I concluded that the reason we were all so similar was because we were trans. It didn't occur to me that maybe we were just a bunch of autistic, socially awkward people finding community with each other.
Those subreddits planted the idea in my head that I might be trans. Once that seed was there, I started re-examining my whole life through that lens. I cherry-picked memories, like not liking sports as a kid, and decided they were proof I was really a woman. It felt amazing to have an answer for why I never fit in and why my sexual urges felt so weird. This online community became like a family to me, which was something I desperately needed.
I decided to transition. I started taking estrogen and lived as a woman for a couple of years. At first, it was exciting. But after a while, the novelty wore off. Everything became a chore: the makeup, finding clothes that fit, constantly trying to make my voice sound feminine. The HRT completely killed my libido, so even the autogynephilic feelings that started this whole thing were gone. Most importantly, I was painfully aware that I wasn't a woman. I didn't act like one, move like one, or think like one. I was just a man pretending, and it was exhausting.
I realized life would be easier if I just stopped pretending. I detransitioned. Coming off the hormones, my libido came back with a vengeance. I lost about 25 pounds without even trying, and my skin got coarser again. Emotionally, I felt a sense of relief because I wasn't trying to trick anyone anymore, including myself. I was happier just being me.
But detransitioning has been really hard. The hormones gave me permanent gynecomastia—"man boobs"—and I’m extremely self-conscious about them. I’ve struggled with body image and the extra fat I gained. My life hit a real low point; I lost my job and my apartment due to a problem with drug abuse, and I had to stay in a rehab center. My license to practice law is being suspended because of it.
I don't regret transitioning because I think I needed to go through it to finally understand myself. But I do regret the permanent changes to my body. I strongly believe that my transition was a mistake based on confusion, and that online communities can sometimes encourage that confusion in vulnerable people. I now see it as my mission to talk to other questioning people and share my story, so they might avoid going down the same difficult path I did. I want to help them learn to accept the body they were born with.
| Age | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 2015 | First started frequently browsing trans subreddits, began to question my gender. |
| 21 | 2016 | Started hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and began living as a woman. |
| 23 | 2018 | Detransitioned after ~2 years of living as a woman. Stopped HRT. |
| 24 | 2019 | Underwent breast reduction surgery to address gynecomastia from HRT. |
| 25 | 2020 | Was in a rehab center for dextromethorphan abuse, dealing with the aftermath of job and apartment loss. |
Top Comments by /u/ResetEarthPlz:
I wish I could say everything is great, but honestly ... I'm going through a rough patch right now. I lost my job and my apartment due to dextromethorphan abuse. My attorney license is going to be suspended because of the drug use. I'm staying in a rehab center at the moment. On top of it all, I still can't seem to get rid of the extra fat that I gained while on HRT, and I'm extremely self-conscious of my man-boobs.
I'm just taking it one day at a time, trying to keep my head up.
I've been in contact with many questioning people via comments, DMs, and YouTube (thankfully I've had many people reach out to me on YouTube and Reddit) discussing the bleak realities of transition. Honestly, I see it as my mission in life at this point to stop these people from jumping off the bridge.
I'm at a 90-day low-intensity treatment center where they encourage you to get a job. I'm interviewing for tons of jobs at the moment. Hopefully, I will have steady income and a little money saved up by the time the 90 days is up, so I can rent a room somewhere.
Bro, I'm going to get breast reduction surgery to relieve my gynecomastia. I don't know what you think will happen. They will make my titties go from OO to oo. And yeah I distrust the medical establishment, but I don't think they're going to like increase my cup size or something
The most noticeable change is that my libido has come back (It was basically nonexistent during HRT). Also, I've lost about 25 lbs without any effort. The texture of my skin has coarsened up a bit too. As for my mood/general disposition, nothing has really changed, so far as I can tell.
I would never have transitioned if it were not for trans subreddits like r/asktransgender, r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns, r/transpassing, and r/transpositive. I always had autogynephilia (my very first sexual fantasy was me having huge breasts), but it was those subreddits that made me connect my feelings with possibly being trans.
I noticed that I had a very similar personality type to other redditors on those subreddits, and I concluded that the reason was that we were trans. In reality, I think what really made us so relatable to one another was some combination of introversion, autogynephilia, autism, and social isolation.
Once someone plants the seed of an idea in your head, all it takes is a little water to make it grow. The trans subreddits planted the idea in my head that I might be trans. This only encouraged me to keep returning to those subreddits so I could try to figure out whether I really was trans.
I started going back through old memories of my childhood and adolescence, cherry-picking my behaviors and experiences as signs of my transness. I would think "I wasn't like the other boys. I didn't like sports or roughhousing." My conclusion was that it must be because I was trans. It didn't occur to me that maybe I was just a nerd, or autistic.
After a while, I found myself very invested in the idea of me being trans. I had myself all figured out--why I had never quite fit in; why my sexual urges were weird; why I was depressed, etc.. Also, I saw my fellow trans redditors as a family of sorts, which was huge for a guy like me with few to no close friends irl.
After living as a woman for a couple of years, the initial fun of it all wore away. Makeup was a hassle. Finding clothes that fit was a chore. Making my voice feminine was a bother. My sex drive was totally gone thanks to HRT, so the autogynephilic urge was no longer there. And I was painfully aware that I just wasn't a woman at heart. I didn't walk like a woman, talk like a woman, or share interests with women. I behaved like I always had--like a man.
I realized that life would be easier if I just started dressing like my natal sex again. I could go out in public without worrying about passing, and I could drop the dainty woman act. I wouldn't have to pretend anymore.
Yes, I would say I'm happier, because I don't feel anymore like I'm pretending to be something I'm not. I don't have to try to "trick" people into thinking I'm a woman anymore.
To men thinking about transitioning, my advice is pretty simple: just don't. Learn to accept yourself in the body God gave you.
I disagree. I think lawsuits are a fantastic way to bring this insanity to an end. Once there is precedent set that a medical provider can be held liable for erroneously prescribing hormones or performing surgery on someone who identifies as trans but is actually just confused, providers across the world will become more hesitant to prescribe hormones or perform surgeries. Even if no such precedent is set, the threat of litigation itself will be a deterrent. Lots of regretful transitioners=lots of lawsuits.
Your whole paradigm is wrong. You see it as me vs. trans people. I'm not trying to harm trans/questioning people--I'm trying to help them. I don't want other men to go through what I went through. Because it sucks to detransition. It sucks to have man boobs. I'm not your enemy, though you may not like what you hear.