Help, daughter HRT

[vee]

SSo many useful and helpful comments, it is hard to know where to start.

The post from Doctor Who is really interesting, however, I have already tried this argument with the GID clinic. Although my knowledge of medical ethics miight not be huge, I believed that the medical profession would be morally required to do what was in the best interests of the patient. Thinking through the arguments that Doctor Who so ably sets out, I had concluded that it would be in the best interests of a patient who is self medicating, and who is not prepared to stop, to ensure that it is properly supervised.

When I saw them at the GID clinic and used this argument to request HRT their response was simply that they will not prescribe HRT until they have formed a clear diagnosis. They said that they could not prescribe HRT before a diagnosis as if they ended up deciding that the patient was not transexual they would have to tell the GP to stop prescribing hormones and they did not want to be in that position.

However, I was coming from the angle of 'wouldn't it be better/safer for HRT to be properly prescribed' What I hadn't thought of was to just ask for the self medication to be monitored. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this but I hadn't so thank you very much to the several people who have made this suggestion. It is definitely something I shall try with both the GP and the GID clinic.

My daughter did have a few counselling sessions with a therapist recommended by Dr. Curtis but then we got a referral to the Nottingham GID clinic so my daughter went there instead.

Thank you for sharing what it felt like for you at the time of coming out and transitioning Anjaq. A lot of what you writes sounds so like how things are for my daughter. She finds it very hard to open up and talk about things so I find your insights very helpful and enlightening.

[vee]

Would you mind telling me what IC stands for Anjaq?

[Bardoux]

Informed consent is when you basically are presented with a document outlining all the changes that will and could occur on HRT and sign off on it. It's a model giving the patient access to medication and treatment as an informed consenting adult. (Sorry if you know all this)

If your getting no where with the GIC, i suggest you go back to Dr Curtis. I mean if you've already had a number of counselling sessions at the clinic, your daughter shouldn't be far away at all from starting HRT

[anjaq]

However, I was coming from the angle of 'wouldn't it be better/safer for HRT to be properly prescribed' What I hadn't thought of was to just ask for [....] to be monitored.

If medication is happening in any way, it would be very much advisable for health reasons that this should be properly monitored. This can be done by a GP or the gender clinic. A doctor can IMO not get into trouble for monitoring health and according to his ethic he probably actually should rather do that than not.
gender therapists can have several responses though. Probably all gender therapists would not be happy if medication happened outside their own timeline, as it would be the case if another GP or therapist is involved. Many might use some form of threat in order to stop it. He might be saying that this would endanger a proper diagnosis (implying that the procedure then takes even longer). I dont know if that is a real threat, so it might be a gamble to put a gender therapist under pressure. The flipside of this is that it also shows what gender therapists here call "level of suffering" as well as dedication. Paradoxically an immense "level of suffering" (or dysphoria?) in relation to gender is a major part of diagnosis. 

My daughter did have a few counselling sessions with a therapist recommended by Dr. Curtis but then we got a referral to the Nottingham GID clinic so my daughter went there instead.

It may be a good idea, preferrable to the other ideas that must be cruising your head, to first go back to visit Dr Curtis or the therapist you visited first and talk to them about the delays and the degree of dysphoria your daughter suffers from.

Thank you for sharing what it felt like for you at the time of coming out and transitioning Anjaq. A lot of what you writes sounds so like how things are for my daughter. She finds it very hard to open up and talk about things so I find your insights very helpful and enlightening.

Yes, I indeed identify with your daughters situation in many ways even though I did not have such a caring and supporting parent. Feel free to use PMs with me.

If your getting no where with the GIC, i suggest you go back to Dr Curtis. I mean if you've already had a number of counselling sessions at the clinic, your daughter shouldn't be far away at all from starting HRT

This reminds me - what is the current therapists explanation for his delays? Does he say anything that could help with fulfilling his requests or thwart his doubts? In my case back then, I realized at some point that they basically had some sort of mental chacklist of things they want to see before they make a diagnosis. Like a parent coming in and talking to them, the patient itself opening up to them, the patient expressing her gender in a way that the therapist feels natural and real (One could say the MtF patient should "irradiate a clearly female energy"), etc. Maybe he misses some of these points by now and one could try and ask him how to help along with the diagnosis.