Susan's Place Transgender Resources

So I have some great news. I received my official letter recently and am cleared by the therapist to start HRT. She had a couple of doctors she recommended. The one she recommended most to me was the one who she said appears to get people through the process the fastest as the other one is often over-jammed with appointments, etc. So I already called that doctor and scheduled an appointment. Now here is what is odd. After I did a search, this doctor is basically an HIV doctor. The office is located in the heart of Phoenix's gay community and either is in the same building or near one that is constantly advertised in gay magazines for HIV care. The website makes it pretty clear that HIV and STDs are the main focus. The doctor is also a Nurse Practitioner who I believe can prescribe drugs but I don't know what the limits are if any. I could not find a thing on the site about HRT. They do cover general medicine though (i.e. you can come in if you have allergies, influenza, etc.) so this person I guess is a general internist. He is listed elsewhere as "transgender friendly." I'm just hoping I'm not wasting my time here. The therapist seems very sure about this person but I was expecting HRT to be provided by someone specialized in it. I hope there is not a conflict of interest because if the bulk of people are going there for HIV issues then they might not be interested in dealing with this. It would be like me going to a back doctor for allergies. Well, we'll see what happens.

Well, it's kind of like the whole question of why T gets thrown in with LGB.
HIV/AIDS is an overwhelming problem and there is lots of medical emphasis on it.
Usually transsexual endocrinology gets thrown on top of it.

I'd give it a try and see how they are.

In my experience, few people are as well-versed in transgender issues and studies as we are. Doctors may know a little something, but only as far as prescribing drugs, what the proper dosages are, etc. Many therapists seem to lump us in the category of "abnormal psychology" and don't know how to interact with us. It was really hard not to roll my eyes to my doctor when she told me stuff that was either a) a myth, or b) risks I had just explained in detail that I understood. Then she also threw in her opinion and told me if I developed D-cups that she'd make me come in regularly for mammograms. She then also did some impressions of extremely epicene gay males for laughs.

My advice is that even if you're lumped into the gay community, grin and bear it and be the sweetest gal you can. In doing so, everyone adores you and goes out of their way to make you feel warm and welcome, even if they don't understand what you're going through. It's worked for me so far.

In reality, any doctor can prescribe HRT meds.

My doctor is an ND but he does specialize in HRT, among other things. Heck you can even teach a doc to be an HRT doc if he/she is willing to learn along with you.

So I wouldn't worry about it just yet.....now if he seems like he doesnt know what the heck he's talking about when you go in, then I might wonder....

Quote from: Britney_413 on January 12, 2011, 01:10:59 AM...... The website makes it pretty clear that HIV and STDs are the main focus........

The place local to me that hosts a TS support group has pretty much the same on their website, they actually have no mention of them being a TG resource on there at all, even though they're the only resource we have.

The clinic I'm going to for HRT, which is about 4 hours away from me is very much the same, a lot of focus on STD and HIV testing, but they do have plenty of experience with the TS community.

It kinda seems like these places want to keep their work with the trans community on the down-low, I don't know if they feel like we should only be sent to them by a therapist and don't feel a need to advertise to us or they feel like our group is so small we're bound to be tight knit and will know about all of the resources automatically.

Who knows, just feels like more hurdles to me..... took me months to find someone willing to do hormones.

~Sara

It is so true that HIV/AIDS care gets mixed in with T-related things, even if they don't advertise it. I see my therapist at youth STD-prevention clinic that also happens to have a counseling arm (meaning only $10 a session for a therapist that otherwise charges $110).

I guess the point is, HIV/AIDS, LGB, and many other things get lumped in with T in ways you never expect, for better or for worse. Might just be something you have to get used to.

Well I think I figured it out. It has everything to do with the T being part of GLBT or more accurately Gay Male Inc. Anyway, the doctor there was extremely nice and professional and I'd say better than some other doctors I had a long time ago (I don't generally go to doctors at all unless it is serious). I think the main thing was "location, location, location." I told the therapist I didn't want to wait forever to get HRT. I was envisioning spending two months getting an apointment followed by weeks just waiting on lab results followed by another two months for a follow-up appointment before getting HRT. True, I could have gone to any doctor. It makes little sense for me to drive from Scottsdale to central Phoenix for something that can be provided close to home except for the fact that things might just get done faster. At least I don't have a four hour drive like someone here mentioned.

Anyway, anyone familiar with Phoenix, AZ knows that the Gay Male Inc. community is fairly clustered between McDowell and Camelback, 16th St to 19th Ave. So it was a location issue. I don't think there is a doctor's office or even dentist's office in that area that isn't "GLBT."

Anyway, they never pushed HIV stuff on me. I've already shared on this forum my views on that subject. Again, the doctor and staff were extremely nice. They ran some lab tests (I won't hear the results for a few days) and already gave me prescriptions for three hormonal medications. He is going to start me out on a lower dose to make sure I can tolerate the drugs. I don't generally take drugs and consider this a necessary evil to get my body where it needs to be.

Something I found odd was on the forms I had to fill out, there was a section where you could list your sexual orientation. I left that blank. Then there was a section titled "Sex" with a box for "Male," "Female," and "Transgender." I found this extremely odd. If it simply said "Gender" then I would have checked "female" and "transgender." Since it said "Sex" I checked "male" and "transgender." This is because gender refers to a person's identity whereas sex refers to their anatomy. So as much as I hate admitting it, in terms of sex I am male. It even confuses me because while my gender identity is female to some degree there will always be male parts to my biological makeup that will have to be explained to doctors even post-SRS. For instance, I believe they leave the prostate in tact after SRS and then the lack of testes or ovaries post-SRS/orchie will make me biologically "neuter." I'd rather they just have "male" or "female" and state "gender." Then I could simply state "female" (and this goes with any doctor's office) and then bring up the subject when it is relevant to medical care.

Something disturbing was as I was chatting with the Dr. he told me he sees tons of MTF TS clients and many of them are sex workers (again location, location, location). He specifically asked me what my goals were (i.e. SRS yes or no). He said that a number of MTF people coming in there who are sex workers don't want SRS, orchi, or any significant chemical castration because it would interfere with their "business." I know he is telling the truth because I've met dozens of them or more. He seemed surprised that I didn't demonstrate much knowledge about HRT and was interested in simply going with the flow as many people come into his office demanding certain dosages. I think the Dr. and me got along really well. It is sad to think this could be because I'm probably the first trans person who came into his office without an attitude or otherwise giving TG people a bad name. I won't assume such arrogance on my part but based on what he said, it sounds like a significant portion of TG people coming in his office aren't what I would consider (nor he likely) the best example of what humanity has to offer. He then even referenced that he was aware of a number of people coming into his office who have had illegal silicone injections and seemed glad that I was committed to doing things the right way.

That aside, I got my prescriptions so I'm pretty happy. I doubt I will even have time to fill them until this weekend. My insurance only covers mail-ordered drugs. I don't like waiting so I think I'm going to go to a regular pharamcy and just pay for them outright and then mail order the refills. I hate to sound arrogant but I'm sick of seeing examples of transgender people living bankrupt lives (i.e. hooking, illegal HRT, illegal silicone, etc.). I'm not responsible for their behavior nor am I required to be a part of the "community" but I personally like to see people who have trans in common with me succeed in life. I also hate to be stereotyped in with such a crowd. I know that being trans is a lot harder on many other people than it has been on me but the dozens or more of these TG people I've known who fit any or all of the categories above in parentheses for the most part have brought those troubles on themselves and chosen those issues and still have an option of turning things around yet fail to do so. Anyway, enough ranting. Thanks for everyone's support. Once I pop the first pill, I'll be sure to update my signature, blog, etc. with the next milestone.  :)

There is a whole world of transsexual street sex workers out there.
Our demographic here at Susan's is influenced by the fact that most of them don't spend a lot of time on the internet or here.