[bryony]

Hi Bryony,

I know this is a popular game among TSs, but my 4th finger is quite a bit shorter than my 2nd on my right hand, and on my left hand, it's the opposite. Did my hands develop at different times then?

As to the suppression of urges and inner voices, I think that's related to PM (and hops too) increasing dopamine. Dopamine triggers the immediate reward system. So you feel more at ease immediately after taking it. That's hours before the effect of increased estrogens are noticeable.

Hi Isabelle,

I'm not qualified to talk about how a foetus develops, so I don't know whether one could develop hands at differeing rates for reasons of, say, nutrition or maternal stresses (clutching at straws). For fun, why not take the mean value?

As for the dopamine idea, it's interesting, and there are documented effects of oestrogen being a mild antidepressant. However, according to at least one gender specialist, a classic test for a TS brain is to supply estrogen, which reduces anxiety in a TS and induces it in a non-TS, and we had at least one person who visited for a while called Karen who did experience severe anxiety taking PM. Whether or not this was due to not-having a TS brain, of course, is unknown.

It's also a lot more than just a reward system reducing anxiety though. On 3g per day, I have no desire to cross-dress, look longingly at attractive women thinking "it's not fair", seek out TG porn, to "exercise my libido" in a singular fashion - which was 2/3 times a day - in fact libido is completely under control.

See http://www.avitale.com/FAQ.htm#category%204 section 15.

This has been my situation for the best part of two months, so I think it is more than an anti-depressant effect.

Ibid section 16: "Whatever the level of OCD, medication (usually an SSRI antidepressant) has not been shown to have any appreciable effect on reducing TS feelings. "

Finally, I don't get immediate relief, either. After dropping my dose back, I get the obsession back, and it takes a day or two at 3g/day to suppress it, so that probably kills the dopamine theory.

TTFN

B.