I have recently started seeing a therapist. How long did you girls have to see a therapist before they gave you the okay to start hormones?
Quote from: Diane on November 16, 2007, 11:22:33 AM
I have recently started seeing a therapist. How long did you girls have to see a therapist before they gave you the okay to start hormones?
The
Standards of Care require at *least* three months of therapy before allowing HRT. Not all therapists follow that guideline though.
It took me 11 months or so to get a letter, which is apparently highly unusual. I'm still incredibly bitter about that. But oh well, everything worked out in the end ;)
~Kate~
Quote from: Diane on November 16, 2007, 11:22:33 AM
I have recently started seeing a therapist. How long did you girls have to see a therapist before they gave you the okay to start hormones?
The minimum is three months. I think too many people run it like a horse race and run towards the three months. The answer should be "when you're ready".
13 months :P
*sigh*!
3 months, 3 1/2 to finally get the bloodwork and initial appointment, 4 for the mones themselves.
3 months for the letter, took another month and a half to get the appointment if I remember correctly
It took me 8 months to receive my letter (although I was only seeing my therapist once a month). After I had the letter it took a month to find the endo and then I started mones two weeks after that once the bloodtests were done.
Thanks for the replies everyone. Now i know i'm being realistic in my expectations.
Ooooo there is a gender specialist therapist in my town and also in Serra's town. *squee!* She will be SO pleased, as we've been looking for a therapist to get the ball rolling for some time. <3 for the list of therapists on the website!
I went crawling to my therapist for my first meeting in December, and got the letter in March, and started E on April 2.
Joyce
I was on therapy for 14 months before obtaining the Ok for HRT. Bulgarian clinicians are quite frightened to prescribe HRT to the wrong person so the more one's in therapy, the less likely peeps will regret mones.
My first therapist told me I could have HRT after 12 sessions.
It was 12 sessions instead of 3 months, because I could not afford to go every week, paying out of pocket, I went every other week.
As it was, I put off asking for hormones until I'd been in therapy for 14 months. I could have gotten authorized for HRT much sooner, but I thought I needed to complete another medical procedure first: treatment of hepatitis C. Which was very hard on me, but after it was done I got to enjoy HRT for dessert.
I talked to my normal therapist (who also treated me for general anxiety and depression) for 12-15 months about my gender issues, but she had no real experience with transsexual patients. Still, she had some contacts who found me another therapist who had much experience, who was aware of my past therapy, and so after 1-2 sessions was totally willing to rubber-stamp me for hormones.
(We were able to find a local endo who was sympathetic, but he didn't have any experience with beginning TS patients, he was only used to working with post-ops who didn't need as high doses. So he referred me to Johns Hopkins, where I am going on Friday, hopefully to get a gameplan for hormones.)
As far as being ready... there are a number of factors. Emotionally I am more than ready (I'm 39 and have been contemplating this a long time), but financially and logistically, I am trying to make sure the other parts in my life are smoothed out (job, family, etc.) before I commit to a tentative schedule, since going on hormones will definitely cause physical changes that will soon enough lead to a RLT. It's hard to balance them all.
If I had to advise someone, while every situation is unique, in general it is good to make sure you have a relational support system in place, and steady income/insurance, and other things you can depend on before going ahead. (But I understand that the emotional severity of things sometimes is enough to override those things.)
~ Jennifer
I got my letter for hormones in around 2 1/2 months. I went to see my therapist every other week. The sessions were an hour long. Then got the hormone prescriptions first time with my endo. But I guess everybody has a different experience.
Mine was at 6 sessions which was just a bit before the 3 month mark.