Protolabia?

[hermione]

I have what appears to be a "wishbone" shaped fusion of skin approx. .5 mm high with a groove between the two descending lines .25" at the widest point and the entire structure is approx. 2.5" long. Add'ly this is SEPARATE from that fused ridge that bisects my scrotum which i think is normal but not sure.  There is no opening but i dont know what to make of the fact that my underwear often smells like well, not to be gross but like used panties. Can anyone relate to or shed light on this?
Post Merge: June 27, 2010, 12:29:28 AM
Oh I forgot to mention that this anomaly is visible and located on my perineum between my scrotum and anus. I only pose the question because im wondering if it is evidence of intersex being the origin of my gid.

[Zelane]

Does this "anomaly" cause you discomfort and/or distress about your gender/sex/body?

If the answer is no... then its NOT the reason for GID.


While an intersex person might have some wondering about gender and sex while growing up and mostly in cases where the intersex signal are obvious (genitalia and/or secondary characteristics)

[spacial]

hermoine

If you feel, within yourself, that there is a problem with your gender, then there is.

How you deal with it is a matter for you.

Your description of the antomical shape you describe, is intriguing. But what matters is what you feel and think.

Hopefuly, here, you can get enough information, to come to some decisions.

[Cindy]

Hermoine,

There is a very simple way to check this out. Go and see your Dr. If necessary ask for a referral to a urologist. Not worth worrying about stuff until you know what it all means

It may be a bit embarrassing but with what we go through  embarrassment is something we deal with. And who knows you may have won the lottery

Cindy

[Hermione01]

I have what appears to be a "wishbone" shaped fusion of skin approx. .5 mm high with a groove between the two descending lines .25" at the widest point and the entire structure is approx. 2.5" long. Add'ly this is SEPARATE from that fused ridge that bisects my scrotum which i think is normal but not sure.  There is no opening but i dont know what to make of the fact that my underwear often smells like well, not to be gross but like used panties. Can anyone relate to or shed light on this?
Post Merge: June 27, 2010, 12:29:28 AM
Oh I forgot to mention that this anomaly is visible and located on my perineum between my scrotum and anus. I only pose the question because im wondering if it is evidence of intersex being the origin of my gid.

Have you never noticed this before? As far as I am aware, being intersex is not related to having GID.

[hermione]

Um I noticed it many years ago by touch, but only recently with my acceptance of my transgendered feelings began wondering if it were evidence of intersex or not so I looked in a mirror. I do feel and identify hermaphroditically but I'm not sure if that is because I am bigender, meaning I am fairly fluid between expression of my femme and homme sides and identify as bi female as well so I feel caught in the middle. As far as the issue of "causality" my question is am I Transgender or is my brain condition related to the fact that I may be intersex. Intersex and Transgender while sometimes related on a continuum of conditions which can affect gender, intersex physical (between the legs) and transgender (between the ears), I am really struggling to find out "WHY?" I am the way I am. It would be comforting to know there was some evidence that this is not all in my head that I could point to for others who might not accept the widely accepted dictum that I was just born this way. And no I'm not on hormones though I probably should be. I am going to be starting counseling soon to hopefully help me with these questions and maybe get some doctors referrals going. Thanks for the answers
Post Merge: June 29, 2010, 04:18:09 PM
UPDATE: closer examination in better lighting revealed that this looks, to me at least, to be nothing less than a vestigial vagina, albeit a closed one, or one w/ a  full hymen. my wife supports me getting it checked and i will but i am concerned that a diagnosis of intersex will preclude me receiving the coveted gid diagnosis but my brain has been at odds w/ my body long before i found this evidence. what do i do?!

[pheonix]

and i will but i am concerned that a diagnosis of intersex will preclude me receiving the coveted gid diagnosis but my brain has been at odds w/ my body long before i found this evidence. what do i do?!

My personal experience is no one has stood in my way of transition despite a diagnosis of an intersex condition.  The only difference between my transition and a trans person without an intersex condition diagnosis has been lower levels of HRT were prescribed to me.  If you are diagnosed with an intersex condition, make sure your endo has some familiarity with intersex conditions so they do not over prescribe. 

[hermione]

  ty Phoenix.

[rejennyrated]

My personal experience is no one has stood in my way of transition despite a diagnosis of an intersex condition.  The only difference between my transition and a trans person without an intersex condition diagnosis has been lower levels of HRT were prescribed to me.  If you are diagnosed with an intersex condition, make sure your endo has some familiarity with intersex conditions so they do not over prescribe.

Yeah funnily enough I am now finding out all about that after 30 years on FAR FAR FAR too high a dose.

I was taking a "standard" postop dose but it now turns out that my blood estrogen levels were up at 2656 ng./dl. which is like 8.5 x the required level whilst my T level was at just 0.7 ng./dl.

I'm now down to just the smallest dose of estrogen that they can make and my blood levels are still over double what they should be. (and that is over 24 hours after taking any HRT pill). My doctor now wants me to try without taking anything but I am resistant on account of my age (close to menopause). I just know that if I stop I won't get it re-prescribed when I go menopausal.

But yes, my advice is the same. If you have any suspicions about being intersex get it checked out and if it comes back positive make sure that those who treat you are aware of it.

From my perspective it makes no difference to the way I feel about things, but judging by what has now been found out about my hormone balance it seems that my willfull ignorance over all the years when I refused to get levels properly tested could have put me in a dangerous maybe even fatal place.

[pheonix]

Yeah funnily enough I am now finding out all about that after 30 years on FAR FAR FAR too high a dose.

I was taking a "standard" postop dose but it now turns out that my blood estrogen levels were up at 2656 ng./dl. which is like 8.5 x the required level whilst my T level was at just 0.7 ng./dl.

I'm now down to just the smallest dose of estrogen that they can make and my blood levels are still over double what they should be. (and that is over 24 hours after taking any HRT pill). My doctor now wants me to try without taking anything but I am resistant on account of my age (close to menopause). I just know that if I stop I won't get it re-prescribed when I go menopausal.

But yes, my advice is the same. If you have any suspicions about being intersex get it checked out and if it comes back positive make sure that those who treat you are aware of it.

From my perspective it makes no difference to the way I feel about things, but judging by what has now been found out about my hormone balance it seems that my willfull ignorance over all the years when I refused to get levels properly tested could have put me in a dangerous maybe even fatal place.

Yep.  Pre-HRT I was lucky to run into someone with a similar situation to mine.  She hammered into me the need to get things checked out and to watch levels carefully for those reasons.

Jenny, I'm curious whether you think your high levels over the years may have caused your extreme development up top?  Or is that strictly a function of family genetics?  The reason I ask was I was originally on one level of dosage and my breast development plateaued, was fairly consistent and in-line with the family genetics.  But when my endo decided to increase me slightly, I ended up having another growth spurt -- which again looks to have plateaued.  Now I'm larger than my sister and mom.  I have zero urge to increase dosages again (big enough already thx :p) but I've wondered if the amount of estrogen in the system could actually play a role with those of us in unusual transitioning situations.

[rejennyrated]

Yep.  Pre-HRT I was lucky to run into someone with a similar situation to mine.  She hammered into me the need to get things checked out and to watch levels carefully for those reasons.

Jenny, I'm curious whether you think your high levels over the years may have caused your extreme development up top?  Or is that strictly a function of family genetics?  The reason I ask was I was originally on one level of dosage and my breast development plateaued, was fairly consistent and in-line with the family genetics.  But when my endo decided to increase me slightly, I ended up having another growth spurt -- which again looks to have plateaued.  Now I'm larger than my sister and mom.  I have zero urge to increase dosages again (big enough already thx :p) but I've wondered if the amount of estrogen in the system could actually play a role with those of us in unusual transitioning situations.

I did wonder yes! I can't say for certain because most of the women in my family were pretty ample and I seem to be broadly in line with them, but of more interest to me is the fact that I have meaurable evidence that although I did not start HRT until I was in my twenties my pelvic girdle did widen by a modest but noticable amount, which means that if I could only lose the miidle aged padding around the middle I could have, as indeed in my mid twenties I did have, for a short while, a modest version of that lovely hourglass shape.

Personally I think it was of more significance that my response to androgens was limited so even though I presumably had some testosterone as I had some facial fuzz, I had a partial insensitivity. Therefore presumably the virilising effect was slightly moderated, and of course thankfully because the medical evidence of my condition, which I have now at last more or less pieced together, was hidden by our private doctor, I was not given testosterone supplements at the time. Phew!

(My family were one of those with the means to afford a private GP who worked exclusively for us and a few other well to do families in Kensington. So I was never even properly registered on the UK NHS until I reached the age of 18... That allowed certain facts about my birth and indeed my in utero exposure to a certain powerful synthetic female hormone to be largely concealed from me. That is why I didn't find out certain things until after my mother died and I was able to look at her files. By then of course I was already ultra longterm postop, and so it really didn't seem very important. The net result was I only really started to work towards a proper diagnosis in my mid to late 40's, and then only due to some mysterious reccurent medical issues which had been plaguing me, by which time it was all twenty five years too late to make any difference.)