Going to make appt for HRT tomorrow. What to expect?

[EyesOpen]

I'm calling planned parenthood in the morning to schedule my first HRT appointment. What should I expect? Will they just do blood work on the first visit, and prescribe something later? Or will I have a script at a generic dosage on the first day? Do they start some treatments sooner than others?

I'm especially curious to hear from others who have used PP for HRT. Are the staff generally friendly? Is there a long wait time for appointments?

I'm also interested in hearing from others what their experience of starting HRT was like in terms of endo interactions, regardless of provider.

I'm getting excited and impatient! I wanted to start HRT a month ago, but was waiting to get approval from my therapist (voluntarily, this is an informed consent state). I just came out to my family and some friends, and I wanna keep this ball rolling

[Alora]

I'm really glad you started this thread. I was just about to make the same thread. I plan on calling Ceder River clinics in the morning. I'm curious to know what to expect too.

Loves 💋❤️💋

[Janes Groove]

I had my first PP appointment at the end of May. That was after being on the waiting list for 40 days.  They had me sign an informed consent form, which I always find them amusing, listing the benefits and risks.  Mine described HRT as "Feminizing hormone therapy is medicine to make your body look less like a man and more like a woman." I read that and thought, 'You know, that sounds right!'  All the patients and staff there that day were women and they were all really nice.  They talked to me about an hour after I signed the forms explaining things to me, then they took some blood for tests and made a follow up appointment for me for a month later.  A week later they called me back with the results and told me I could pick up my Spiro and Estrogen at my local Walmart pharmacy.   And the rest has just been a wonderful process of feeling more comfortable in my own skin.

[josie76]

I couldn't tell you what to expect. I'm waiting until my next psychiatrist appointment to see about getting a letter. Then I'm going to schedule an appointment with an endo that only takes transgender patients. I feel alot better having an endo that does university teaching managing hormones. I also want to find out about getting the pellet implants instead of the pills.

good luck, let us know how it goes 

[Alora]

I'm so excited and numbered at the same time. I made my appointment to start HRT treatment but I have to wait till June 2.

[sarah1972]

I called today for my first appointment. Doctor is mostly out of the office until January but I did get an appointment for Jan 3rd... it is a general OB/GYN (kind of love the thought of seeing an OB/GYN) and their new patient form even has a spot for "Preferred Name". Sounds pretty good to me :-)

[sarah1972]

I'm so excited and numbered at the same time. I made my appointment to start HRT treatment but I have to wait till June 2.

Uuhhh... so sorry that sounds like a very long wait. Do you have any alternatives? Maybe calling a different doctor could give you an earlier appointment...

[EyesOpen]

Oh wow, Alora, on the waiting list until June? That's terrible! *hugs*

Thanks everyone for your replies! These are giving me a good idea of what to expect.

I called PP this morning, asked about transgender hormone therapy, and set up an appointment. The receptionist was very kind and helpful. I feel lucky -- I barely have to wait, my appointment is early next week!

They said not to urinate for an hour prior to the appointment, so I assume there's a pee test in my future. I was just reading how serum tests can be difficult to differentiate free vs. bound hormones with and urine/saliva tests are more useful:

http://meridianvalleylab.com/serum-saliva-urine

I'm excited I guess they must not be very busy at this location (Troy, NY), so I could get right in.

[AshleyP]

I'm calling planned parenthood in the morning to schedule my first HRT appointment. What should I expect? Will they just do blood work on the first visit, and prescribe something later? Or will I have a script at a generic dosage on the first day? Do they start some treatments sooner than others?

I think most clinics will want to evaluate the blood work before writing the script. I can't say about PP, but the clinic I went to normally would have written the order for the lab work to be done at a lab of my choice. I ask for and got a list of the tests and had my MD write the lab order. When I went for the appointment, I had a therapist letter and the results of the tests. I left with a script.

fwiw, the series of test that I took required fasting. It the lipid tests, I think. If you get the same tests that I had, they'll probably tell you to come back to draw the blood after you've fasted.

All the best,
--AshleyP

[laurenb]

"fwiw, the series of test that I took required fasting. It the lipid tests, I think. If you get the same tests that I had, they'll probably tell you to come back to draw the blood after you've fasted."

This was a big deal for me. My Potassium was very high because I didn't thoroughly fast. A handful of nut's and coffee is chock full of K. It's a flag for Spironolactone - not to mention if it's real, you're in kidney failure and your heart's about to go off it's rails. I retested while really fasting and the number is well within the normal range.

I'm counting the days to my next and possibly last endo visit before I get my prescription

[EyesOpen]

Thanks for the replies!

It was pretty smooth in my case. I made the appointment last Monday, just got out of the office now. Urine test, blood test, some chitchat with my doctor, and I picked up my hormones on the way home. Well, the finasteride at least -- the estradiol will be in tomorrow, and there's no record of the spiro. I'll have to call the doc tomorrow and figure out what happened there.

Everyone was friendly and they made a real effort to check for pronouns and stuff. Overall I'm pretty impressed with my experience at planned parenthood.