Quote from: JLT1 on February 09, 2013, 09:03:50 PM
Finding the cause and dealing with the cause is the other part of the answer. The unfortunate truth is often that the state of science or medicine is such that we don't always know the cause. But, in dealing with someone to whom the cause is important, the truth in figuring out why we are the way we are can sometimes be answered more completely than "here are some hormones and just deal with it". I would also assert that with a cause, someone with a personality type that needs to know a cause may find options not normally thought about.
Unfortunately, your preference for knowing causes is not necessarily relevant to how medicine works. They usually come up with a differential diagnosis (DDx) -- fit symptoms to a
probable and generally known condition, and treat from there. If they do the DDx poorly, you wind up with treatment that may be entirely wrong. It's very rare for MDs or other health care pros to be certain of what condition you have, much less to be certain of causes, as science is a work in progress, and the commonly held conjecture of today may be entirely discredited or very much revised in another 3-6 months.
But to address specifics, since that's what tends to count with getting a proper diagnosis... and keep in mind that I'm not a doctor, don't play one on TV, and my copy of Harrison's is several years out of date, so I won't even try to diagnose someone I've never (to my knowledge) seen.
QuoteI am trying to figure out what is going in in my mind and body for one reason: PAIN. Physical PAIN. In August, I cracked three ribs and ripped an 18" gouge down my side. I had no idea how serious the accident was it was until my wife screamed and pointed at a lot of blood running down my side. That pain didn't even compare to what I feel every month when my testicles swell and my pelvis feels like I've been shot. Pain didn't compare.
Because my gender identity is in question, medical doctors don't pay attention to me - even when their own test data shows something is wrong. I had a series of meetings early yesterday morning, followed by an ugly work day followed by my wife's grandchildren getting here for the weekend. I forgot to change my estrogen patch and Friday was day 4. My left testicle was the size of an orange late this morning and into the afternoon and by about 2:00, I almost couldn't move. Then I remembered and changed the patch. It's now seven hours later and the swelling is down and it doesn't hurt that bad anymore. But is identifying me as MTF and putting my testicles to sleep with estrogen so they don't swell and hurt a good thing? Is being MTF and swollen testicles related? If so, how? And now we are back to looking for a cause.
This is not something I've heard very often, and I'm not aware of it ever being specifically related to being MTF. It does sound like it could be associated, maybe, with some kind of intersex condition or some other form of infection, growth or probably a long list of other things.
I haven't gone back to read earlier posts... was the swelling something that was happening
before you were given estrogen? I ask because I'm wondering whether something else hormonal is going on... but it's also possible that they haven't pinned down what is causing the swelling... estrogen ought to reduce it, in any case, since it tends to counter much that is active there. Think of it as using a shotgun, or better yet, a spraycan... it hits all sorts of things that might be the cause, but since it coats everything, they may not have pinned down just why the swelling began.
Also, the doctors could be ignoring things for other reasons. Some are just incompetent, or too rushed, or don't hear clearly key things that are said... or you might not have brought up something they would have listened to more closely... Doctors are somewhat trained to conduct history and physical exams, but patients are almost never expert at saying what is relevant in the most efficient manner, and some doctors are less patient with patients than others.
If you have any doubts about their confidence or dedication to your care, you may want to seek a second opinion. A third one if you really have cause to suspect your being given inadequate time and attention.
QuoteIf I find out that I have a biological reason for my being a MTF, I'm using it. I don't know about anyone else but I know that I will. Using that as a reason really wouldn't be for me either, it would be for my wife who is really having a problem with this and I think it would help her.
There are some tentative bits of research that do suggest some physical roots related to certain brain structures. They're still controversial and are likely to remain so for a long time, but more and more studies have come out in the last decade or two that seem fairly suggestive, and perhaps reading some of those would be some comfort to her? The problem is, confirming most of them requires an autopsy, so it's not possible to confirm right now that any individual has these structures, and there are other questions about the finding too that I don't feel qualified to declare an opinion on, since I can only barely understand the medical jargon, and probably misread some significant chunks of it.
Anne Vitale provides a fairly
brief summary of her perspectives, which tend to focus on the recent research related to physiological factors.
Unlike the
Wikipedia article on causes, which has what amounts to a dumpbin of all the various theories that have been spun out over the years, Vitale's effort seems to look mainly at the physical, to the extent that such research has been done. I can't be sure it's unbiased. And it does seem to me that many of the older theories should be read very critically, if at all. Wikipedia does have the advantage of listing most of its source material on those theories, however, and you never know when you might run into someone who still subscribes to some of the older notions.
