Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Anyone on here live in or near West TN?

I happen to live in Middle Tennessee just about an hour south of Nashville.

Nice to meet you by the way :)

Quote from: EmilyRyan on February 19, 2016, 11:28:10 PM
I happen to live in Middle Tennessee just about an hour south of Nashville.

Nice to meet you by the way :)

Hi Emily, nice to meet you.

I'm just outside Memphis. I'm having trouble finding anyone in this area who is TG. Any luck in Nashville?

I haven't had a chance to meet anyone or any groups in Nashville but I am aware of a transgender group up in Nashville known as the Tennessee Vals. 

Here's their website: http://www.tvals.org/

i just moved away from memphis XD sorry

Well I'm in Memphis, though I rarely venture into the Outernet for anything other than school or work. I know other transpeople do exist in the area, I just don't know any personally. Generally too busy lurking or waiting for the next interesting game to release.

Quote from: Phek on February 22, 2016, 03:11:57 PM
i just moved away from memphis XD sorry

I hate that, but I do understand. Memphis is one of those places that you move away from, not to.

Quote from: Joanna Rei on February 22, 2016, 03:51:09 PM
Well I'm in Memphis, though I rarely venture into the Outernet for anything other than school or work. I know other transpeople do exist in the area, I just don't know any personally. Generally too busy lurking or waiting for the next interesting game to release.

Hi Joanna. Are you on hrt?

Yup, It's been about 7 months now I think.  :o

Quote from: Joanna Rei on February 22, 2016, 06:54:27 PM
Yup, It's been about 7 months now I think.  :o

Do you go to the choices clinic in midtown for your hormones?

Also yup. Do you go there too or are you looking for me to recommend them?

Quote from: Joanna Rei on February 22, 2016, 08:11:51 PM
Also yup. Do you go there too or are you looking for me to recommend them?

Yeah, I'm looking for a place that is very discreet, has informed consent, & doesn't ask a ton of questions. I'm planning to go low dose with estrogen, so I can continue presenting as a man

Well I'm not really sure what you mean by doesn't ask a ton of questions, but it wasn't gatekeeper-y at all if that's what you're worried about. They do work on informed consent, which is one reason why I went there. Your first appointment would just be filling out all the paperwork, talking to Dr. Gettings and probably getting poked for blood work. Once the labs come back you can get another appointment to determine what medications you want/can get depending on health factors. I was immediately put on a full transition dose because that's what I wanted, and my labs were completely healthy, so I doubt getting low dose would be problematic. Payment depends on your insurance. Mine only covers the lab costs and most of the pill costs, so I have to pay the appointment fee out of pocket.

Quote from: Joanna Rei on February 22, 2016, 09:27:41 PM
Well I'm not really sure what you mean by doesn't ask a ton of questions, but it wasn't gatekeeper-y at all if that's what you're worried about. They do work on informed consent, which is one reason why I went there. Your first appointment would just be filling out all the paperwork, talking to Dr. Gettings and probably getting poked for blood work. Once the labs come back you can get another appointment to determine what medications you want/can get depending on health factors. I was immediately put on a full transition dose because that's what I wanted, and my labs were completely healthy, so I doubt getting low dose would be problematic. Payment depends on your insurance. Mine only covers the lab costs and most of the pill costs, so I have to pay the appointment fee out of pocket.

I guess I was just more worried about the Dr. asking tons of personal questions about my desire to transition. It's difficult to explain to someone who isn't TG why it makes sense to transition, or at least that's how I feel.

I want to go there because they use informed consent as well. I have no desire to see a psychiatrist, or go through some long drawn out process.

It appears that my insurance isn't accepted there, so I will have to pay for the office visit out of pocket. How much is the office visit?

I'm just looking to do this as discreetly as possible, so I'm trying to find a place that is as low key as possible.

How is your transition going? Get good results so far? I'm worried that even on low dose, the changes will be more dramatic in a shorter period of time than I'm really looking for.

Dana

Oh whoops, I totally forgot to reply yesterday. You shouldn't need to worry about explaining why you need to transition; this is what she does, so she already knows all about it. Honestly, it always felt like she was on my side whenever I talked to her. The entire staff was quite friendly as well.

I paid $105 for my checkup last month, though there should be an additional $20 or so for a new patient. I don't know exactly because the prices have changed since I paid mine.

I think there are something like 30 trans people that use them for hormone management, but that is only a small part of what they do, like it isn't even advertised anywhere. Are you worried about people following you or what, because then it might be suspicious looking to anyone that knows you because it's mainly a women's reproductive health center. I think I remember there being an option about them referring to themselves as Choices or something generic in all correspondence so you might ask about stuff like that.

I'm not a good yardstick if you're trying to continue presenting as male, as I've dressed entirely female full time even before I realized I was actually transgender. As for what changes I've seen, there's been slow breast development for several months, my face has softened and thinned, my waist to hip ratio has changed to even more hourglass than it was (I'm only 5'4", 115lbs or so), and I cry at random stuff a lot more often. I haven't really seen any change in skin quality, and I still don't have nearly as much boobage as I want; like I can roll my shoulders back and they basically disappear. I also haven't seen much if any change to body hair growth, which is disappointing, and I can't afford to do anything else for that either.

But the best part is the calming effect, which I'm not sure is just a placebo or truly relieving the dysphoria, or both. Now most of my stress comes from all the other junk in my life instead. So I hope some of that helps and you are able to get it worked out.

Quote from: Joanna Rei on February 24, 2016, 10:43:56 AM
Oh whoops, I totally forgot to reply yesterday. You shouldn't need to worry about explaining why you need to transition; this is what she does, so she already knows all about it. Honestly, it always felt like she was on my side whenever I talked to her. The entire staff was quite friendly as well.

I paid $105 for my checkup last month, though there should be an additional $20 or so for a new patient. I don't know exactly because the prices have changed since I paid mine.

I think there are something like 30 trans people that use them for hormone management, but that is only a small part of what they do, like it isn't even advertised anywhere. Are you worried about people following you or what, because then it might be suspicious looking to anyone that knows you because it's mainly a women's reproductive health center. I think I remember there being an option about them referring to themselves as Choices or something generic in all correspondence so you might ask about stuff like that.

I'm not a good yardstick if you're trying to continue presenting as male, as I've dressed entirely female full time even before I realized I was actually transgender. As for what changes I've seen, there's been slow breast development for several months, my face has softened and thinned, my waist to hip ratio has changed to even more hourglass than it was (I'm only 5'4", 115lbs or so), and I cry at random stuff a lot more often. I haven't really seen any change in skin quality, and I still don't have nearly as much boobage as I want; like I can roll my shoulders back and they basically disappear. I also haven't seen much if any change to body hair growth, which is disappointing, and I can't afford to do anything else for that either.

But the best part is the calming effect, which I'm not sure is just a placebo or truly relieving the dysphoria, or both. Now most of my stress comes from all the other junk in my life instead. So I hope some of that helps and you are able to get it worked out.

I don't really know that many people in mid town, so I'm not too worried about someone seeing me there. My main concern was more job related & how it might show up to future employers if they see that I have been going to a woman's health clinic.

I already have a pretty shapely body, so I'm almost certain female hormones are going to have a pretty dramatic effect on my body. I'm just worried that even on a half dose of E, I'll change so fast that it begins to look suspicious. Gradual changes over time are more easily explained away. C cup boobs in 6 months isn't so easily explained away.

I never got your age Joanna. I'm 34.

Dana