Transitioning with Chronic Illness

[Jonathan L]

i guess i will take a long time to recover from surgery, its just scary cos ive never had anaesthetic either so i'm goin totally into the unknown in all ways! Unfortunately i've rarely met a doctor that can fully help or give advice.

I definitely know what you mean about going into the unknown and about how hard it is to find doctors who understand your medical condition. It took me 9 years to get a diagnosis even though this form of arthritis isn't rare. It's just no one seems to know anything about it. Anyway, I'm sorry you have to go through all this uncertainty too. But glad the lower dose of T is helping.

[Mitternacht]

Thank you for making this thread!
I have a few undiagnosed chronic illnesses myself, which has made it very hard to get the ball rolling in my transition. After awhile of people telling me it might get worse on T I just decided that, eh, well at least my mental state will be better. I'm glad to hear that there are people out there who have successfully transitioned while having chronic pain or illnesses. Gives me a bit of hope for the future.


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[Jonathan L]

After awhile of people telling me it might get worse on T I just decided that, eh, well at least my mental state will be better.

I'm starting to feel the same way myself, especially since I'm going to have these illnesses no matter what I do. Might as well try to improve my mental health. And I'm sure the anxiety and misery of struggling with dysphoria and hiding in the closet isn't helping my physical health. I certainly haven't been sleeping well.

[haeden]

I'm glad you made this post!  I have lupus so it's good to see that others with chronic illnesses have gotten a lot better. I'm also a science major so seeing this drastic change is very intriguing. A lot of autoimmune diseases affect women more so seeing a lot of you guys get better once on T is interesting. I know for things like lupus they don't know what causes it but maybe it's just low levels of T so once you introduce more into your system it functions normally. Or it could be a genetic mutation in the autoimmune system that misfires because it thinks that you should have male levels of T but have normal female levels of T. I'm really interested in this now!

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[Jonathan L]

I know what you mean, haeden. I wish there was more info and research about everything regarding HRT but it would be especially interesting for me to know how it affects those with chronic illnesses. It's ironic because the arthritis I have is more often diagnosed in cis men, but because I'm AFAB it took ten years to get a diagnosis. So that's sad, but also kind of validating. Like, see? Even my joints think that I'm a man, lol.

[haeden]

I know what you mean, haeden. I wish there was more info and research about everything regarding HRT but it would be especially interesting for me to know how it affects those with chronic illnesses. It's ironic because the arthritis I have is more often diagnosed in cis men, but because I'm AFAB it took ten years to get a diagnosis. So that's sad, but also kind of validating. Like, see? Even my joints think that I'm a man, lol.

Haha yeah it's like your body just confirming your manliness! I wish your body could prove it in a different way but hey it's just one more thing to keep ya going. I know I do that for things all the time like when my female friends say I'm a guy when it comes to relationships even though I haven't been in one lol

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