Quote from: Brandon on March 25, 2014, 10:19:10 PM
Well no I'm still planning to get T I was telling frank that I don't see it as a med and I believe hat God can heal things like diabetes, cancer ect ect even headaces Ive done it before I wasn't talking about my transition I was talking about meds in general.
God cannot heal these things, or at least definitely not alone. Religious beliefs aside this is not just incorrect, it's a dangerous view. One can pray while receiving proper treatment but diabetes and cancer are fatal if left untreated. The only diabetes that can be cured is type 2 . This is the type that is normally presented as a result of obesity and controlled with diet and pills initially, only moving to injected insulin if it gets worse. Type 1 is the type people are born with and unless they're extremely lucky around puberty, they have it for life and have to inject insulin, A HORMONE for life. There's current hope in stem cell research but a cure is still a long way away.
Testosterone is medication in the same way you might take paracetamol medication for a fever or headache. There's just no way to justify as anything but.
In my opinion you're just looking at it the wrong way. God can't give you a male reproduction system, but medical science can replicate it. Medical science can make you male, but no amount of praying will make you start producing male levels of Testosterone, lose breast tissue or grow a penis and testicles. That kinda view is just setting yourself up for failure. Instead of always thinking or asking why, look forward and imagine the result. None of us can change the past. However, you live in a time where you can be treated. Hell, mere decades ago if you were born with diabetes, you were essentially just waiting to die!
How many folks do you hear complaining about thyroid problems? There's yet another treated hormone problem.
Without life long management type 1 diabetics will die from diabetes. They have to inject all the time, every day. And even then, things can still go horribly wrong and they could still die from it. I have a diabetic friend who is constantly in and out of hospital. I, myself, have reactive hypoglycaemia which is a bit like the opposite of diabetes that I have to manage all the time. I can't enjoy food the same way those without blood sugar problems can. I have to be sure to eat certain foods and watch every food label, etc. I'd love if my body had the correct functioning parts to handle that but it can't be cured right now, so instead I manage my blood sugar levels the same way I manage my T levels. With some treatments of T you can get a shot every month or so, slow releasing T pellets, or just inject every 1 or 2 weeks. Still nothing compared to a diabetic. They were born without correct parts themselves and that's why they need to inject. In comparison there's definitely commonality with trans individuals (especially transmen in terms of injecting) and diabetics, the difference is, medically speaking, the latter will die without treatment. Before any backlash, that is not to lessen trans individals needs, just that not all trans individuals feel the need for HRT, and, as mentioned in this thread, can medically survive without or when stopping treatment for a period of time. However for those that do require HRT I obviously do consider it a medical necessity as emotionally, without HRT, it can, in itself, be life threatening.
Also, as many have suggested, a lot of cis-men use T too. It's not a transman only drug. Right now I'm actually submitting medical letters and labs with another male friend of mine for international competition anti-doping purposes stating we both take Testosterone but are closely monitored to prove there's no abuse of the substance. He is not trans and doesn't know I am. My letters don't even state that, they merely say it is treatment for hypogonadism.
At the end of the day, it can help to remember that it could ALWAYS be worse. Personally when I get down I will often think of my issues as being first world problems. If i was in Africa I'd be more concerned about where my next meal or drink of water was coming from than getting my next T prescription, or letters from my endo so I can compete internationally. Sure, life will always be that little bit tougher, but I'm not dying of cancer, I'm not the father of a young child dying from cancer, I'm not starving, I don't have Aids,etc, etc. Instead, I may be an orphan, I may be a musician going deaf, I may have reactive hypoglycaemia, I may be likely to be in a wheelchair in the next decade or so, I may have to take 2 minutes to inject T every Sunday...but I'm alive and have food in my belly! And hell, if I dwell on the negatives, how will I enjoy the here and now?
I live by the 'someone always has it worse' principle. We can always bitch and moan, and that's always good; it's therapeutic, but coming round to the 'someone has it worse' idea can give you that proverbial slap in the face you need in order to move on.
Watching guys go through puberty at school is horrible, but with the 'Someone has it worse' principle, you live in a time and place where you're out at school and accepted. That's new. There's tons of us here where that couldn't happen. Many of us wore uniforms or went to all girls (or all boys for the transwomen) schools. In some areas even now, it just wouldn't be safe to be out!
I'm not by any means telling you your issues mean nothing. We all have our own issues no matter how petty some may view them, but you either manage it or let it consume you. I'll full on admit that I've cried over my failing hearing. That I'll get angry that others don't have to have multiple ear surgeries; that any ear infections they get don't carry the risk of life threatening complications. But what gets me through is knowing that without the medical treatment we have today, or living in a country where that treatment is available, I'd already be dead. I was also born with hearing so at the very least I've had the time to enjoy it unlike those born deaf. And who knows what the future holds? There's already positive stem cell research in areas that could well help me. Perhaps even in this area something could even be done for transmen. Who knows what's going to happen in the medical field, especially for the young who have more time. In the grand scheme of things, I would honestly rather have been born without my ear problems than be born male. Why? I can't ever escape my ear probems. I know every day my hearing sucks. But through time I've fine tuned a way to manage being trans. It still affects me, of course, but surgery and injecting T is a part "cure". All the things that affect me now are either in private matters (relationship concerns) or when I stop and think about it. I'm stealth, so asfar as I, or anyone else is concerned, I'm just a regular dude, every day. Emotionally something will always be there but I can escape or forget about it for a good while. There's precious few moments in my life where I can forget how bad my ears are when I live with tinnitus!
So yeah, the way to look at it: is injecting T every now and again really that bad in the grand scheme of things?
