Just One Question

[Jasmine96]

just one quetion: should one go on hormones before or after living full time as their prefered gender?

[Brooke777]

Only You can answer this question for Yourself

Each person is different, and the route and degree of transition varies for each of us.

[HoneyBunny]

just one quetion: should one go on hormones before or after living full time as their prefered gender?

I have been on hormones for over three years and I am not full time yet. If you are under 25 I would say start hrt before going full time because you will run the risk of getting more manly the longer t is in your system.

just one quetion: should one go on hormones before or after living full time as their prefered gender?

I went a year on hrt before I went out side as a girl.

[Veronica M]

I agree with the others as it is a personal choice... While I have the go ahead from my therapist for HRT, I decided to lose some boy fat before starting so what fat I gain goes in the right places. Plus my living environment at the moment would be an issue as I need to take care of a few things before I completely come out. So as you can see, it is many factors that have to be assessed before one makes that personal choice.

[Ms Grace]

I decided to start HRT before going full time in both instances I tried transition. Problem was, first time I tried it I was "never ready" to go full time and always fabricated some excuse as to why I should wait longer. As the others say, it is a personal choice but beware of not recognising when you really are ready to go full time.

[Tammy M]

Everyone is different.  In some places, like England, living full time for a time is required in order to get prescription HRT.  Most people I know take hormones for quite a while before going full time, although that is not required here either.  For me it was 7 months, 1 week of HRT before I went full time.  I could have and would have liked to have done it sooner, but I was waiting to get the nerve to come out to my parents.  I will say at the time I started hormones I was maybe 50/50 in my presentation as far as time, and since I was growing my hair out and gradually changing my everyday wardrobe to female, I will say I was becoming androgynous before I took the first meds...

[TerriT]

That's one question but it's a big one. It's up to you and I've known people that have done both. For me, I probably won't go FT until I get FFS, but you know, it's not like it's set in stone or anything. I will admit, the people that I know that have gone FT before HRT or at the same time they started seem very happy. They are in this "I don't give a ->-bleeped-<- what you think" mentality that really makes them seem happy and gives them confidence.

The last time someone asked me when I went FT and I told her I hadn't, she gave me the what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you look.

[TerriT]

Everyone is different.  In some places, like England, living full time for a time is required in order to get prescription HRT.  Most people I know take hormones for quite a while before going full time, although that is not required here either.  For me it was 7 months, 1 week of HRT before I went full time.  I could have and would have liked to have done it sooner, but I was waiting to get the nerve to come out to my parents.  I will say at the time I started hormones I was maybe 50/50 in my presentation as far as time, and since I was growing my hair out and gradually changing my everyday wardrobe to female, I will say I was becoming androgynous before I took the first meds...

Oh, yeah, there's that. That is total BS.

[Izla]

There's no way I could do it before hormones and laser, but there are much braver people than I who could. I couldn't deal with sticking out like that when I feel bad enough for even feeling like this in the first place.

And yeah, public health system in England says you have to do 6months-year full time everything (legal name change, full time at work/school) before they'll consider hormones (after waiting like a year + just to get referred in the first place). The new guidelines say they're not supposed to act like this anymore but from some experiences I've heard it's just being ignored 

Really, really poor reviews everywhere for the NHS treatment of trans patients. Part of the reason I'm too scared to face any of this

[Veronica M]

That's one question but it's a big one. It's up to you and I've known people that have done both. For me, I probably won't go FT until I get FFS, but you know, it's not like it's set in stone or anything. I will admit, the people that I know that have gone FT before HRT or at the same time they started seem very happy. They are in this "I don't give a ->-bleeped-<- what you think" mentality that really makes them seem happy and gives them confidence.

The last time someone asked me when I went FT and I told her I hadn't, she gave me the what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you look.

While I know it is your choice and respect that it is your choice when to come out FT but judging from your picture you already have a wonderful looking face. Just thought you should know...

[Veronica M]

And now - lets twist that dagger a couple of times more, shall we?

I'm sorry, did I say something wrong? It was merely a complement...

[Ltl89]

There is no way in hell I would have gone full time without hormones.  Hell, I'm still not full time and I'm on hormones for quite some time.  I'm thinking I'll mark my year hrt anniversy by going all out, but I'm still on the fence about my appearance and my ability to pass.  Everyone is different.  What may seem amazing for one person may be anothers total nightmare.  In my case, trying to pass without hormones would have been a suicide mission for a social pariah like myself. 

[KelsieJ]

Oh, yeah, there's that. That is total BS.

This is commonly thought. by doctors, to be the case. However, it's not. The NHS subscribe to the WPATH standards of care

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Transhealth/Documents/gender-dysphoria-guide-for-gps-and-other-health-care-staff.pdf

The problem is that PATIENTS often see doctors with little or no experience in trans issues, and still "insist" on the older, outdated 2 yr as female or male approach. What you need to do is find a gender clinic in your area, or travel to the nearest one.

There IS a 2 yr requirement for SRS surgery - but it usually takes 2 yrs for HRT to deliver the physical affects we all look for anyway, and the point here with NHS is that it's completely free for anyone. No copay, no insurance needed.

[TerriT]

This is commonly thought. by doctors, to be the case. However, it's not. The NHS subscribe to the WPATH standards of care

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Transhealth/Documents/gender-dysphoria-guide-for-gps-and-other-health-care-staff.pdf

The problem is that PATIENTS often see doctors with little or no experience in trans issues, and still "insist" on the older, outdated 2 yr as female or male approach. What you need to do is find a gender clinic in your area, or travel to the nearest one.

There IS a 2 yr requirement for SRS surgery - but it usually takes 2 yrs for HRT to deliver the physical affects we all look for anyway, and the point here with NHS is that it's completely free for anyone. No copay, no insurance needed.

So it's the patients fault the doctors don't know what they're doing so you have to go through hell before you can get HRT, but hey it's free so don't complain? Well, you get what you pay for.

[Jessica Merriman]

I went full time before anything. I have never been happier, well, until I started HRT that is!

[Carrie Liz]

I never could have gone full-time without HRT. I never would have even left the house as a girl without HRT. I care too much about what other people think, and therefore I just couldn't mentally do it unless I looked and felt the part first. So I basically waited until I was getting close to being completely passable before I made the social switch.

With that said, most of the happiest trans people I know went full-time pre-HRT, whether they were passable or not. A lot can be said for not caring what other people think about you and learning to be yourself whether you fit in or not. It saves a lot of grief. My first 13 months of transition were all too often a self-doubting mental hell because I still had to put up with not being able to be myself, and being a slave to waiting until I was passable.

Either way early transition is going to be tough, but the big question I guess is just where you'd prefer your difficulties to come from... from other people occasionally giving you crap about your appearance if you go full-time before being passable, or from your own self-critical mind having dysphoric freakouts if you keep waiting for the magic HRT fairy to make you passable while denying your true self in the meantime. Pick your poison.

[judithlynn]

Hi;

Unfortunately it all differs from country to country. For the first 34 years I lived exclusively in the United Kingdom (well with some periods in Denmark & Germany) and I transitioned  when I was in my late 20's early 30's and lived full time as a woman for nearly 2 years. It was tough because back then the UK was not very TS friendly place. I was treated at the Charing Cross GIC and them they would not prescribe HRT with a Physciatrist letter and then only after living full time. So I bit the bullet and with some really close girlfriends and a poly couple (that I had an ongoing relationship with) I started the process without HRT. I changed my name, started working as a woman for the Abbey National Bank in Milton Keynes and subsequently for another company as a Secretary Receptionist (after doing a secretarial course at night school. I was lucky then to have a great circle of women friends supporting me. After 6 months I finally got approval for HRT. A couple of years later I had to de-transition, because of family and economic reasons.  For the last 25 years I have lived part time in Australia & part time in England. This time I was able to get started on HRT without being full time, although I present mostly as female. The reason is I know all the pitfalls now and really want to complete all the hair removal and to get all the right curves in place. Also of course the drug regimes now are much better.  Certainly having lived through Stilboestrol, Premarin and others and now Progynova, I reckon my degree of feminization has worked in my favour a lot. Mind you I have no Adams Apple and very small feet and hands and small but nicely rounded breasts (a small B Cup) from  the effects of the Oestrogen treatment. It helps that I have very low T levels ,1.1.

So Personally I would strongly recommend starting HRT as early as possible, but bear in mind that after 12-15 months you are going to increasingly find that only tailored women's cloths fit properly. In the last 2 months I have twice split male trousers (when having to present as male) because now my hips and bottom have a definite rounded female look and shape and I am bursting out of my male cloths on the hips, but on the waist  are very loose.
Interesting stuff (and of course it will only get worse....I mean better!!
Hugs

[Jacquelinecaren]

I transitioned when 21, about six months to a year after starting premarin.
i was studying for a degree and my transition consisted of taking a year out so that I would attend the second year classes with different students and changing my name. Clothes (generic student attire) remained unchanged but peoples reactions to me changed somewhat.
Prior to transition I was a fem young boy then a more curvy young woman.
As this all occurred in Sunderland (a rough shipbuilding mining town) I had the abuse prior to transition but after transition (once I leanrt to relax and "be myself") no problems whatsoever.
In my case, premarin was prescribed not only because I was diagnosed as trans but because of the physical effects of my late puberty. T has some rather horrible effects, from skin, migraines to genital and bladder pain. After a short period of hormones it became more and more obvious to faculty staff and my year out worked for both me and them.
In my case there was a lot of abuse prior to transition from those who assumed I was either a girl trying to be a boy or a gay male. Post transition all of this just went. FOr the first time in my life, I could sunbathe at the beach without abuse.
I have to admit that it took me a good while to realise the smiles were not precursors to abuse but admiring glances :-)
Once i stopped trying to "hide", things just got better and better.

I do think my childhood taught me some thing young girls also pick up - for instance when you are young and walk past a group of young males you judge them in terms of "threat" - I was taught the hard way how to do this. A couple of friends who transitioned later than I had to learn a judgement of where and when it is a safe space to enter or traverse. Some ended up with abuse because of this. Not because they looked out of place but because the social dynamic did not fit presentation.

Its also been fun watching friends learn how do the "obvious" stuff such as using a hair dryer :-)