Community Conversation => Transitioning => Topic started by: Ara on January 18, 2015, 01:22:37 PM Return to Full Version
Title: Transition plan so far
Post by: Ara on January 18, 2015, 01:22:37 PM
Post by: Ara on January 18, 2015, 01:22:37 PM
Hey everyone,
I have sort of come up with a plan for my MtF transition to occur, and I wanted feedback in case I've made assumptions that don't pan out in real life.
1. Do a few sessions of therapy. I've already had three therapy sessions, and though those were good I don't feel like I have talked much about my gender identity in them. We get 8 or so sessions per year covered in Australia so I am using those. Even with the rebate it is still quite expensive for me, considering that I'm a student and don't make much money.
2. Start laser hair removal. I've heard you can't start this soon enough. I'd like to start this once I've had three or four more sessions of therapy and feel confident in making that a lot less frequent. Then I can try to use the money I'd be spending on the therapy on a few laser sessions instead. I know it's not permanent, like electrolysis, but I've heard that doing it initially can help a lot.
Does anyone know if it's realistic to think it could reduce the appearance of a very strong shadow for a beard? My skin is white and the hair is black, so there's quite a good contrast (which is a problem for passing) so if I ever wanted to transition publicly I'd want to have that shadow reduced by quite a bit.
Can any Australians estimate a cost?
3. Start HRT. In Australia you can do that with your GP as long as you're an adult and can make your own choices. I think I'd be able to find a doctor who would do that for me without needing a gender specialist in particular to sign off on it, though perhaps my psychologist would be happy to help out with that. This would be after laser hair removal had been started on my face, though I'm unsure of how long I should wait. Does anyone have a suggestion? I was thinking a 2-3 months. The plan would be that by the time the HRT had changed me enough that going full time was a possibility that I wouldn't have my beard holding me back. (I know so many trans women go full time with their beards, before starting HRT, etc but not everyone is strong enough. I'm anxious in public with a new haircut, I literally fear the outside world's reaction to seeing the real me.)
So far HRT seems to be the cheapest part of transitioning. However, it is forever.
4. Eventually go full time, I'm hoping within 6 months of starting HRT. I'd like to hope it would be 3 months, but we'll see. A lot of fear is holding me back. My friends won't mind, I've told two of them already and I'm sure a lot more know. Family and work might take me a while.
It's awful that family and work do have the power to make me financially unstable and unable to transition (due to cost) so it's a delicate situation.
5. Start electrolysis. This would be expensive, painful, etc but after laser and a couple of months of HRT then I might have taken a lot of time off of it. I'm aware this would be costing hundreds of dollars, but this is a long time from now so... I'll think about that when I reach it.
6. Consider FFS after two years on HRT. My face is alright now it is in my opinion, but I won't rule out anything. I know it can really make a difference and it might be worth it. Hopefully HRT and beard removal will mean I won't need it though.
7. I might go though bottom surgery. I don't know what particular surgery I would want to go through, whether it's just removing my testes or whether I want to go through SRS I'm not sure. I'll know by then I'm sure. This would be a long time into the future I think, it's so expensive.
So if anyone has any answers to my questions or they have any advice/constructive criticisms/wisdom they'd like to share I'd love to know.
Thank you,
Ara
I have sort of come up with a plan for my MtF transition to occur, and I wanted feedback in case I've made assumptions that don't pan out in real life.
1. Do a few sessions of therapy. I've already had three therapy sessions, and though those were good I don't feel like I have talked much about my gender identity in them. We get 8 or so sessions per year covered in Australia so I am using those. Even with the rebate it is still quite expensive for me, considering that I'm a student and don't make much money.
2. Start laser hair removal. I've heard you can't start this soon enough. I'd like to start this once I've had three or four more sessions of therapy and feel confident in making that a lot less frequent. Then I can try to use the money I'd be spending on the therapy on a few laser sessions instead. I know it's not permanent, like electrolysis, but I've heard that doing it initially can help a lot.
Does anyone know if it's realistic to think it could reduce the appearance of a very strong shadow for a beard? My skin is white and the hair is black, so there's quite a good contrast (which is a problem for passing) so if I ever wanted to transition publicly I'd want to have that shadow reduced by quite a bit.
Can any Australians estimate a cost?
3. Start HRT. In Australia you can do that with your GP as long as you're an adult and can make your own choices. I think I'd be able to find a doctor who would do that for me without needing a gender specialist in particular to sign off on it, though perhaps my psychologist would be happy to help out with that. This would be after laser hair removal had been started on my face, though I'm unsure of how long I should wait. Does anyone have a suggestion? I was thinking a 2-3 months. The plan would be that by the time the HRT had changed me enough that going full time was a possibility that I wouldn't have my beard holding me back. (I know so many trans women go full time with their beards, before starting HRT, etc but not everyone is strong enough. I'm anxious in public with a new haircut, I literally fear the outside world's reaction to seeing the real me.)
So far HRT seems to be the cheapest part of transitioning. However, it is forever.
4. Eventually go full time, I'm hoping within 6 months of starting HRT. I'd like to hope it would be 3 months, but we'll see. A lot of fear is holding me back. My friends won't mind, I've told two of them already and I'm sure a lot more know. Family and work might take me a while.
It's awful that family and work do have the power to make me financially unstable and unable to transition (due to cost) so it's a delicate situation.
5. Start electrolysis. This would be expensive, painful, etc but after laser and a couple of months of HRT then I might have taken a lot of time off of it. I'm aware this would be costing hundreds of dollars, but this is a long time from now so... I'll think about that when I reach it.
6. Consider FFS after two years on HRT. My face is alright now it is in my opinion, but I won't rule out anything. I know it can really make a difference and it might be worth it. Hopefully HRT and beard removal will mean I won't need it though.
7. I might go though bottom surgery. I don't know what particular surgery I would want to go through, whether it's just removing my testes or whether I want to go through SRS I'm not sure. I'll know by then I'm sure. This would be a long time into the future I think, it's so expensive.
So if anyone has any answers to my questions or they have any advice/constructive criticisms/wisdom they'd like to share I'd love to know.
Thank you,
Ara