Community Conversation => Transsexual talk => Male to female transsexual talk (MTF) => Topic started by: grace88 on May 09, 2011, 04:06:21 PM Return to Full Version
Title: therapist and hormones - where to begin?
Post by: grace88 on May 09, 2011, 04:06:21 PM
Post by: grace88 on May 09, 2011, 04:06:21 PM
Hi, I am over 21 and I have been wondering about the same questions ever since early chidhood. So now I decided I would take the first step and obtain hrt legally (instead of self medicating). I am a foreign student studying in a University of California which includes insurance coverage. How am I supposed to go about finding a therapist and get the prescription process started?
Title: Re: therapist and hormones - where to begin?
Post by: Ann Onymous on May 09, 2011, 04:24:39 PM
Post by: Ann Onymous on May 09, 2011, 04:24:39 PM
Finding therapists and providers is somewhat of a personal choice...for those running through insurance, the choice becomes limited by what the plan pays for. If you are participating in any local TS support groups, feel free to ask for recommendations as well as names of shrinks to avoid. But do not think you have to limit yourself to the 'gender therapists.'
I figured out early on that the gender mills were NOT the source for me to find competent care. I ultimately had as my primary therapist a referral from a friend who had previously been in counseling with a lesbian loosely affiliated with a gay and lesbian healthcare initiative. She accepted the insurance plan I had at the time and the insurance company had no issues with the billing so all was good. More importantly was that she grasped the reality that a transsexual could also be a lesbian post-operatively...there were too many dinosaurs in the gender mills as recently as 25 years ago that would not work with a client who did not express a desire to leap off the operating table and be Suzy Heterosexual. That at least still has changed somewhat from what I gather, but I still would tend not to refer someone to a gender mill...
My endo was also sourced through the gay and lesbian community. I shotgunned a few letters out, having been burned by one provider in the mid-80's. No letter from the shrink was required, he provided pharmaceutical samples on many occasions and he was willing to bill the insurance with non-gender-treatment coding which meant all I had to cover was the $15 co-pay every few months for the blood work. Later on, I shifted a lot of my care to an OB/GYN closer to the house since, after all, I figured I ought to establish THAT relationship in case I needed some attention in that part of my body. The fact that she was a lesbian helped matters significantly...
I figured out early on that the gender mills were NOT the source for me to find competent care. I ultimately had as my primary therapist a referral from a friend who had previously been in counseling with a lesbian loosely affiliated with a gay and lesbian healthcare initiative. She accepted the insurance plan I had at the time and the insurance company had no issues with the billing so all was good. More importantly was that she grasped the reality that a transsexual could also be a lesbian post-operatively...there were too many dinosaurs in the gender mills as recently as 25 years ago that would not work with a client who did not express a desire to leap off the operating table and be Suzy Heterosexual. That at least still has changed somewhat from what I gather, but I still would tend not to refer someone to a gender mill...
My endo was also sourced through the gay and lesbian community. I shotgunned a few letters out, having been burned by one provider in the mid-80's. No letter from the shrink was required, he provided pharmaceutical samples on many occasions and he was willing to bill the insurance with non-gender-treatment coding which meant all I had to cover was the $15 co-pay every few months for the blood work. Later on, I shifted a lot of my care to an OB/GYN closer to the house since, after all, I figured I ought to establish THAT relationship in case I needed some attention in that part of my body. The fact that she was a lesbian helped matters significantly...
Title: Re: therapist and hormones - where to begin?
Post by: JennX on May 09, 2011, 11:22:19 PM
Post by: JennX on May 09, 2011, 11:22:19 PM
Quote from: grace88 on May 09, 2011, 04:06:21 PM
Hi, I am over 21 and I have been wondering about the same questions ever since early chidhood. So now I decided I would take the first step and obtain hrt legally (instead of self medicating). I am a foreign student studying in a University of California which includes insurance coverage. How am I supposed to go about finding a therapist and get the prescription process started?
http://www.psychologytoday.com/ (http://www.psychologytoday.com/)
Just plug in your zip code. You might want to look for someone with a PhD and previous experience dealing with MTF/FTM patients. After a period of counseling 3-6 months (depending on you and your therapist) you'll receive a HRT referral letter which you take to a medical doctor (endocrinologist, general internist, or sometimes an OB/GYN) who will first run some tests and get you the scripts for HRT.