Genuine question - can trans women experience cramps during their ‘time of the month’?

[Picklemeyellow]

This is a genuine question as I am baffled.

I looking on Tik Tok last night (don’t judge me, I’m addicted lol)and I notice on my For You section there is often a trans women doing live Q&A’s. I stopped and watched for a while, out of curiosity tbh as DH has a couple of transgender people in his family and I do try to remain as ‘on the fence’ as possible with this subject.

However, this person on TT said something which does not make much sense to me.

They were saying they take HRT and this gives them ‘a time of the month’ when they experience a very emotional dip and have crying spells and feel low etc. I suppose that may make some sense due to the hormones they take but then they went on to say they also experience cramping during this time and started rubbing their lower tummy in the area where a woman’s uterus is located.
It was difficult to establish why this happens because anyone actually questioning this gets blocked and only those agreeing with them get to stay to ask questions! I appreciate they probably receive some very negative replies but blocking doesn’t answer the questions to people who really would like to know.

I genuinely can not understand where the cramps would originate in a person without female anatomy?

As someone who has been under the gynae department for 20+ years, has had to live their live around horrendous periods, has had endless hysteroscopies and uterine polyp removals, ovulation so painful I couldn’t sit properly, a failed uterine ablation, going through an awful perimenopause and now, at 50 only just discovering this is probably all due to the fact I actually have endometriosis and adenomyosis and have been gas lit for all this time having being told that some women just have awful periods etc, I more than understand where my cramps and pain come from. From my shit malfunctioning uterus and hormones which have never been my friend.

But where would a trans woman’s ‘time of the month’ cramps come from? What part of their body cramps due to the addition of female hormones? I’ve tried googling this but there’s very little. Can the hormones cramp the muscles or bowel in this area or something similar?

starsparkle08 · Today 10:53

Maybe they were constipated or something as they don’t have a womb etc so impossible to have menstrual cramping . Bloody ridiculous.

Yes, you're right - they're just full of shit. Their time of the month is when they go to Boots to collect their oestrogen pills

It's not psychological, he is out and out making it up.

I tend to agree with PPs that they’re not likely to be experiencing them, but I have a follow up question (and want to cause no offence so I’m incredibly sorry if it is insensitive).

If you’ve had a hysterectomy do you still experience cramps? My father lost his arm a few years back and can still “feel” it, is it the same for a hysterectomy/cramps etc?

It's a load of bollocks.

But if it were true, I look forward to the immediate influx of cash going into researching menstrual issues, endometriosis and PMS now that it's a male medical issue. Medics might actually start to take it seriously. But oh well, what a shame, nevermind.

very emotional dip and have crying spells and feel low

I've only experienced the emotional bit in late 40 when likely peri menopausal - though I'm aware some women are badly affected.

However I've had decades of physical problems aches cramps really heavy periods bleeding though pads clothes, migraines and increasingly gut related issues be to utterly dismissed by many different GPs despite impacting every day life to extent I've worried about being able to work and get told it's normal.

I'm not sure I have the fight in me likely needed to get HRT. My Mother's experience being years after hysterotomy was pretty awful with GP being completely indifferent with no advice for her.

So I don't see how a stable dose of hormones is the same in any way shape of form the same. They may be experiencing other problems but suspect there's also a lot of downplaying about how bad many women menstrual cycles actually are mainly as they do get dismissed and expected to carry on.

CyberCritical · Today 11:15

Source please

Somebody wrote it in a blog, which means that it's truer than the truest thing that was ever truly true. It identifies as being true and trues better than any silly, boring old cis truth.

Or attention seeking

@usernother

It's called pretending and they do it for attention

Couldn't agree more.

“side effects of cross-sex hormones”

Nailed it. That is all they are experiencing, if anything. Plus many are taking testosterone suppressants anf reducing your own natural hormones can be just as damaging as introducing high levels of the wrong ones.

But, there is nothing cyclical or fluctuating going on and hence categorically no 'time of the month', it's just part of their womanface.

I speak as a completely binary mother of two young people who both identity as their birth gender. But if they didn’t I’d actually very much stand by them because its my job to encourage them simply to be themselves. And what they are is KIND

This makes no sense. If it’s your job to encourage your children to be themselves, why on earth would you cheer them on if they started declaring that they were in fact the opposite sex?

I also don’t see what relevance being KIND (in capitals no less) has to whether or not a person ‘identifies’ as someone else.

My DCs are also KIND but they do know that humans can’t change sex.

I truly hope not. I’ve had enough of those. When I have my hysterectomy the last thing I need are phantom cramps.

Trapped wind

It does nothing of the sort. It’s all supposition and non sequitur.

I suppose the side effects of taking wrong sex hormones may overlap with some symptoms associated with PMT and menstruation, but that does not mean that the person taking them is experiencing a menstrual cycle. That would be a bizarre leap.

Bullshit. Any medication can cause all kinds of side effects. Where is your medical source for these particular effects happening at a particular time of the month? Even if they did, which I seriously doubt, it's not remotely the same as a period. They are men. They don't have uteruses or ovaries.

No. They claim to, but they also claim it is around a set date eggs 1st to 4th of the month so the only time their 'cycle' is 28 days is February

How could they when they don't have a uterus? Cramps are caused by contractions in the uterus and they are male so they can't experience any kind of period or menstruatal cramps.

Why does it make either of you angry or upset? Don’t watch their videos or read their content if it’s upsetting to you, just move on with your life. Why does everyone have to be perpetually offended at everything? It’s weird to be upset by a complete stranger who doesn’t even know you exist.

It's just bull shit.

They might have some cramps as side effects of their medication but that doesn't make it period pains.

Its also attention seeking why else would it be on social media.

It's not harmless to fuel someones fetishes and it isn't kind to lie to people! Like many others I have very problematic periods and this absolute bullshit is insulting to me!

To be honest OP, I'd try your best flip to that thinking as it's really unhelpful - just because you suffer long waits / treatment on the NHS doesn't mean others should too. That's not to say it's shit / hard luck on you, but it's not wrong for them to get the help they want/need in a timely way. You should have better service, not them meet you at the level of yours. I also think they do have long waits etc.

The trans issue is such a tightrope - I think it is possible for some people to be trans. We're at a really uncomfortable stage where we know in relatively recent times gay people were considered mentally ill and perverse to be gay, but we know now in fact it's just a totally normal, non-medical thing. With trans people we're sort of half way treating it like a mental illness and half celebrating it like a 'normal' thing like being gay. It's really difficult to actually know what it is. The sweeping up of young people in what feels like a trend is where the biggest issue for me is.

In terms of the cramps thing, i have no idea how the hormones work for trans people but I can imagine they maybe try and cycle them to mimic our hormone cycle so they do get the emotional cycle. I think the physical cramps must mainly be psychosomatic, but my digestion changes around my period so maybe that does change for them too?

No.
Every month they are interpreting trapped wind as period pain, because they want to.

https://pelvicrehabilitation.com/is-pain-after-hysterectomy-common/#:~:text=At%20PRM%2C%20we%20see%20patients,spasms%20from%20the%20pelvic%20surgery

There are plenty of reasons why there could be pain even cramping pain after hysterectomies - which is major surgery - like pelvic floor muscle spasms.

Though this suggests Neuropathic uterine pain may be an issue that is not usually recognised in sector.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12856521/

But my mother and other women I knew who had hysterectomies never had these issues - it was just recovery after the major surgery which took a long time.

This is gas lighting of the highest degree - it is not a medical page and it doesn't explain it if you actually read it.

It describes symptoms that men who take cross sex hormones experience. They are therefore suffering side effects of taking cross sex hormones not PMS which you can only experience if you are menstruating - clue is in the name.

The most frustrating thing by far is that they have made a choice to suffer those symptoms - something that actual biological women don't have a choice about. Surely you can see how insulting and disrespectful that is?

As for using the sales pitch from the ModiBodi website as a 'source' of information - that is just lunacy - surely no-one is stupid enough to read a company's pathetic attempt to sell their product to a demographic that doesn't need it as a reputable source?

Transwomen are men, women do NOT have a penis! And they are a threat to women, to our spaces, rights, language and sports!

Men who have certain types of cancer sometimes take female hormones to combat it. From experience with the (2) men in my life who have had to take female hormones under these circumstances, they have experienced side effects. These include swollen, tender breasts and nipples, heightened emotions and mood swings (including crying fits), loss of libido and ED and frequent changes in bowel habits. It could be hormone-related bowel cramping. Definitely not "time of the month", though. May feel similar.