I need help!

[A]

Tell her how much you're unable to live like that and you don't want to go to school as a girl anymore, that starting HRT might be the only thing that gives you the courage to continue and all... But I can't help that much with this, as I'm very stressed about convincing therapists and physicians.

[jacob.ayden.averi]

The most frustrating thing is, everyone knows I'm trans. They're all pretty respectful, too. But this is just something they don't seem to get. And it's insane to me. I don't understand how, if they "know" what a big deal this is to me, they could sit there and watch me suffer. It makes me so mad. I'm sorry for all this crap that I'm sure you don't want to hear. I think it's that time of the month soon, ughhh. I'm just gonna go find a nice hole to hide in.
I'll research it, for sure. I actually know kids who've started when they're underage, this kid Alex started hormone blockers at twelve and T at sixteen. I will forever be jealous of him.
Have you heard of Camp Ten Trees, by the way? That's where I met Alex, haha, so I just had to bring it up.
Oh, I've been living full time as a male for the last year or two. I started really transitioning a few months after I came out, which was four years ago, and then began going to school/everywhere as a male Junior year, but before that, everyone still called me Jake and whatnot besides my teachers.

[Sharky]

So your aunt and uncle are supportive, they just want you to wait until your 18? What if they are hoping you are just going though a phase. Saying you support someone and then doing it are very different. My mom says she isn't homophobic, but when she thought I liked women she sent me to therapy. She's ok with it, when its not her kid.  When you start changing what if they can't handle it?  What are you going to do if they kick you out? How much money do you have in the bank? Are you ready for worst case scenario?

[littlemonster]

I live in the Portland area, and I got my T prescription from a very transfriendly doctor at a low-cost clinic.  Feel free to contact me for any info, though I don't have much more than a name and phone number.  The doctor I saw, if you are interested, should be able to set you up with a few names of therapists that specialize in trans related issues.

[jacob.ayden.averi]

I'm moving out in January, I turn eighteen in April, and I'm a foster kid. So they couldn't actually kick me out if they wanted to, I'd just go to a different foster home. They're just worried that T will do "bad" things to my body, even though I literally haven't grown in two years. I know my brain is still developing, but ->-bleeped-<-, I do drugs just to forget my stupid life, so who really cares?

[Sharky]

Are you working? How do you plan on supporting yourself?

Life isn't fair, but try to hang in there. I don't understand how you can watch the people you are supposed to care about suffer either. I had severe medical problems and depression starting at 12, my mom refused to support me then. I didn't start seeing a doctor until I was 15. That was only because I was truant and the school wasn't going to keep pushing me to the next grade. I also did drugs to escape my problems. I thought about killing myself a lot, really what kept me from doing it was my dog. I didn't want to hurt my dog. After my dog died when I was 16 I tried to build a relationship with my mom, I tried family therapy. She decided it was a good time move out to live with her boyfriend. I gave her nothing to be proud of so she didn't care about my problems. Since my school was giving my mom a lot of trouble for my truancy, she sent me to a private school for fundamentalist Christians. I sat through assemblies on the LGBT agenda to ruin American and destroy Christianity. I thought about killing myself a lot. They tried to train me to be a soldier for the Lord. Instead they indirectly gave me the ability to wait. If I give up on my dreams and kill myself I will let everyone who held me back win. Even if you have to wait until you are at least 18. Don't give up hope. I've wanted to medically transition since I was 13. I'm 21 and I am still trying to get to a point where I can do it safely.  I never thought I could make it this long without transitioning. I wish I could have started T at your age, I wish I could start tomorrow. I don't mean to be a downer, life isn't fair, and sometimes I still feel really hopeless. I make minimum wage now, I certainly can't imagine doing crappy jobs like this the rest of my life. I need to tough it out and get a degree so I can get a good paying job. So I can afford the future surgeries I will have to endure. So I can afford to even change my name. Got to think of the long term. Even though waiting is very taxing, I think it will provide me with a more stable future, and a smoother transition.

[jacob.ayden.averi]

I don't have a job per se, but I babysit five days a week so that takes up pretty much all my free time. I don't really want to get a job until I change my name, which sounds silly. But it makes me EXTREMELY uncomfortable. I go by Jake all the time and at a job...it wouldn't really be possible. Even the teachers at my old school didn't know how to spell my legal name because it was used so rarely. A few of them probably didn't even know it.

[Sharky]

I totally understand not wanting to do anything under you female identity. Do you really make enough money a week though?

[xAndrewx]

Some employers will allow you to go by a different name on your name tag and refer to you as male. The only time your legal name would be involved would be for paychecks and such until you get it changed. It's hard to find a job like that but it is possible if you wanted a job before you change your name. Besides there are a few companies who aren't going to want people questioning an "obviously male employee" in their minds about a female name, if that makes sense?

[Tad]

Yo if you turn 18 in april.. you may not need to worry about getting permission from the aunt and uncle.. because it may take that long to get your prescription. Normally it takes a while to get in to see a therapist, then they are normally going to want 3 months of therapy before they will write you your letter. There's informed consent - but I do believe that's for adults only.

I know your desperate.. but 18 really isn't that far away. :/

[jacob.ayden.averi]

Yes, that makes sense. I make roughly fifty-ninety dollars a week. I've thought about asking to be called a different name and all but even filling out applications is difficult for me, because when I put my legal name, they always look at me like WTF, you know?
If I've been living as a guy for so long, couldn't they speed up the letter-writing process? Or my therapist could pull her head from her ass and write me one. >.<

[Sharky]

How are you going to live on $60 a week?

[jacob.ayden.averi]

When I move out? I'm going into a housing program that will give me six hundred a month, plus getting a roommate. Money won't be an issue, as far as I'm concerned?

[Sharky]

Wow, thats more than I make a month.

[A]

I don't have a job per se, but I babysit five days a week so that takes up pretty much all my free time. I don't really want to get a job until I change my name, which sounds silly. But it makes me EXTREMELY uncomfortable. I go by Jake all the time and at a job...it wouldn't really be possible. Even the teachers at my old school didn't know how to spell my legal name because it was used so rarely. A few of them probably didn't even know it.

My thoughts exactly... But maybe you, like me, should hope to get the necessary courage for getting a job as your birth gender with starting HRT... (because unless you stay at your parents' home for a long while AND they're very patient, you'll eventually need to. It's just how the world works. I think I know exactly how you feel.)

[Tyler90210]

Yes, they're my legal guardians. I've been begging to start T for a long time, but they're against it. If I can set up an appointment with a transgender/hormone specialist who can talk them out of their stupidity...that's what I need to do. I've seriously been considering just buying steroids online. It's been four ->-bleeped-<-ing years. I should not have had to wait that long, it isn't fair. Nobody should have to. If I could have started when I first came out...I would look and be perceived, all the time, as a bio guy. No problem. It makes me feel so desperate. Sorry for the rant. I just feel hopeless.

Hey Dude. First off, I'm very sorry for what you're going through, it's hard on everyone who's not on T.  So you're not alone; but I gotta REALLY caution against buying steroids online. 

It's really not the way to go. First off, I think there is a difference between steroids and T.  I think steroids are something that is man-made that is made to be like T.  But steroids are not T.  I've never done steroids myself or wanted to but out of curiosity, I have looked at some of those body building sites and none of the body builders mention injecting T.  They say they inject stuff with weird names that I can't remember, so I don't think it's really T.

Also, since it's not really T, I don't think the steroids will help you with ALL changes.  Sure you're gonna get jacked, lol, but that's about it.  Have you ever seen those female body builders who are on steroids? While they are masculinized, they don't really look like men.  Just manly women. Their voices might be lower, but they don't sound like guys. I think that has to do with the fact that it's not T that they are injecting, just something man made that is supposed to build muscle rather then make them men.

Anyway I could be wrong here. If I am I'd still caution against it, because
1) It's not safe.
2) You don't know what you're getting.
3) I think you might have a harder time getting on prescription T when the time is right.

OH! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! IF YOU DON'T HEED OUR ADVICE NEVER BUY MORE THEN ONE VIAL AT A TIME!!!!!!! I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!! THIS I LEARNED FROM A BODY BUILDING FORUM. IF YOU BUY MORE THEN ONE, YOU CAN GET ARRESTED FOR INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE. IT'S UNCOMMON, BUT HAPPENS. AND IF YOU BUY MORE THEN 3 OR 4 YOU CAN GET ARRESTED FOR INTENT TO SELL. <- FEDERAL OFFENSE = SWAT TEAMS RAIDS YOUR HOUSE!! 

[lilacwoman]

jacob you're in the same situation lots of other TS found themselves in including me and the only solution if the family won't accept is for you to move out and do your own thing.   In your case that will be your 18th birthday if you haven't managed to get any help from uncle and aunt.
The vast majority of TS who do go solo do eventually manage to get fully transitioned though things can be really bad at times.
But at least you have a vast store of info and suppost at your fingertips with Susan's.
Good luck with whatever.

[jacob.ayden.averi]

Okay, okay. I promise to be a good boy and not buy steroids. I feel better today, mostly cuz I've been talking to this girl who's like uber supportive which is really rare for me here, to have someone my own age support me. I think she's more excited than I am about T, haha. Anyways. I hope everyone gets what they want, not just me. We all deserve to be happy.

[Robert Scott]

http://www.sarabecker.com/t/index.html

This site has a youth section that gives you resources for you and your guardians

[jacob.ayden.averi]

I am so excited. I found my old counselor, the one who first helped me come out as trans and helped me do everything and I contacted her, emailed and called-sounding quite desperate, I'm sure-and hopefully she'll talk to me soon. I know for basically a fact that she'll write me a letter for T. Everything seems to be coming together. Finally.