Hi Laurette
If informed consent is a path you can take to give you rapid access to controlled HRT, it is an option, and people do have strongly divergent opinions here. But I would combine it as rapidly as possible with therapy. There are two issues at play here.
HRT is going to change your body and, to some extent, how you think and how you feel things. It's not a joke. Let me use a comparison: think about getting a full arm tattoo - it will take some time to do, but it's going to have permanent implications to your body, and to how people see you. And it is pretty much irreversible, at least after some 6-12 months. I see people who believe that HRT will immediately improve their lives. On a psychological level this may be true, but for many of us older girls, if properly controlled, HRT provides modest, albeit welcome changes. To some extent, once you're on HRT, you need to constantly ask yourself two questions: 1. Do I realise that this stuff is permanent? and 2. Am I ok that this is part of a process that is going to radically alter my life?
The therapy is, in my mind, more important, since it uncovers your reasons, intent and commitment, and it will pretty much define your ongoing journey far more than the chemicals will. It's also a lot harder than just popping on a patch or swallowing some pills - it requires you to face yourself and ask yourself some very hard questions. But if you do it correctly, so that you understand your motivations, the possible risks, outcomes, trouble and change it will cause, it will allow you to be very much in control of your entire process. And for me, this is such a big change that I REALLY want to be in control of all of it.
Hope this makes sense
Julia
