HRT providers - Research Triangle (but am willing to travel.)

[Agent_J]

There's a long story here, but the short form is that I've scraped the bottom of the barrel of providers I know who will prescribe in the Research Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina) region. I'm aware of two, both endos: Holt in Raleigh (of whom I was a patient,) and Perkins in Durham (current.) Holt was refusing to prescribe effective levels of HRT for me while Perkins is now pushing to reduce my dose (which is currently well within the normal pre-op range) even though she says my blood labs are stellar and cites no health concerns, and has allowed me to run out (I am currently out, and have tried both having my pharmacy calling to get a refill and calling her office myself without success - next appointment is mid-Feb.)

So, does anyone know of providers in either the region I mentioned or in other regions of the state? I'm at the point that I'm willing to travel to have a proper provider.

[Skeptical_Me]

Make an appointment with your doctor, asking for a 'consultation'. - Don't tell the receptionist why. - Or she may not give you an appointment.
(A 'consultation' can be for a 'private' medical complaint.)

Get the pills at the appointment ...and look for another doctor.

[Agent_J]

The last part of that is what I'm asking here - names so I can find one who will prescribe.

[J R D]

I used Holt for a short time, and yeah, she is way too conservative with hrt, so I dropped her. I'm still looking for one down in my area of the coast too.  Aren't there a few t groups or something in the piedmont area?  You could try checking with them.

[Skeptical_Me]

The last part of that is what I'm asking here - names so I can find one who will prescribe.

Sorry. ...I missed the question.

Incl: ...I'm nowhere near North Carolina.

[JessicaH]

Just make an appointment with Dr. Marlowe in Charlotte. http://marlowesweightloss.com/   He is very trans friendly and he uses "informed consent" so you don't neet a shrink evaluation and you can leave with scripts. My BFF uses Dr. Marlow for HRT.

[Agent_J]

Jamie: I currently know of four support groups, two of which I've only just learned and neither seems to have much of an online presence (I'll try to get to their meetings - they're in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.) The other two...one is run by my therapist so Holt will be the only permitted suggestion there (I asked her to refer me to another in 2010, citing multiple issues with Holt, and she refused.) The last, Durham Gender Alliance, only had Perkins.

JessicaH: THANK YOU!

[J R D]

Is Kendall your therapist?  She was mine, but I haven't seen her or any therapist for about 6 years now.

[Agent_J]

Kimball, yes, though I've pretty much not seen her in over a year. I stopped seeing her as I was preparing to transition at work and she was pushing me to take an approach that I felt was the wrong way for me to go about it. She referred me to Holt and refused to refer me to anyone else when I asked, even as I noted that Holt was doing things like keeping me on exceptionally low doses and not checking LFT. I did luck-out on that; when I saw Perkins and she ran LFT I was fine.

I'll probably begin seeing her in a couple years when I need surgery letters (i.e. when I can afford surgery.) I don't trust her, but she's a means to an end for me.

[J R D]

Yeah, can't believe I mispelled her name, lol.  And same with me, all I'll worry about from her will be my surgery letters as well. I liked Kimball, but it seemed her office was run a bit haphazard and she was too gungho on Holt. She was a big help when my grandma died just before I went fulltime and my dad was very ill at the time as well.

[Agent_J]

I don't think she's gotten any better on that. FWIW, I think she's moving her office. As of last year she still had her Raleigh office, but she is doing some days at her home in Fuquay and her office staff is located there now, which makes it a pain to deal with payment for appointments in Raleigh. I expect that, in time, she'll close the Raleigh one; she's already renting out parts of it.

We did go to her for marriage counseling in late 2010 and I felt she did far better at that than she did as a counselor for transition.

[Agent_J]

Follow-up here: endo appointment didn't go well. It's a long story that's difficult to discuss w/o mentioning doses, best summarized as she's insisting I go back to a lower dose because my serum level was "too high" within an hour after taking the A.M. dose (357 pg/mL; she wants no higher than 200.)