Just came back from my doctor - she was VERY helpful and VERY supportive. She's going to ask around for a therapist in my area that i can talk to and get the proper notes from for the transition (if there are none, she knows of one about 45 minutes from me) and she's referring me to an endocrinologist!
She said if all goes well i COULD be on T by February, but WILL be on it by spring. ;D Depends on the endo i go to and what they require to start.
So, how long did it take everyone here to get on T? For notes to chance gender markers on legal papers? Name change?
((If you can't tell, i'm thrilled))
:D
Congrats man! Wow, February huh? You're so lucky. :D
Congratulations!
Congrats!
It took me technically a year but once I started therapy it has been about 4 months. I will be starting within a week or 2. (yay!) And I can't get a letter in PA to change my gender marker until I get surgery(bottom surgery unfortunately unless I have an amazing doctor who is willing to write an ambiguous letter.) And I am working on the name change but the attorney is super expensive.
Congrats! :)
Wow, gratz! Plenty of reason to be psyched. :laugh:
congrats bro
as for the name chance, i believe it different for different states, for my state i believe you have chest surgery in order to get the legal name change. they should have it on your state website.
Thanks!
I kind of expected her to give me like, a "i'll get back to you within the next couple of months" because its the holidays AND i didn't really expect her to know what needs to be done. But she said she should have appointments for the week after Christmas (or the following week) and she knew EXACTLY what i needed to do.
I think i'll keep her! Lol.
:D
Quote from: FolkFanatic on December 15, 2009, 05:37:28 PM
Thanks!
I kind of expected her to give me like, a "i'll get back to you within the next couple of months" because its the holidays AND i didn't really expect her to know what needs to be done. But she said she should have appointments for the week after Christmas (or the following week) and she knew EXACTLY what i needed to do.
I think i'll keep her! Lol.
:D
That's awesome, I actually had to switch primary care doctors to ones that actually knew anything about it.
CONGRATS MAN!!
every state and doctor is different...
i had to go to 3 months of therapy (which wasnt necessary, i had been seeing my therapist for years and when i told her i was transgender, she said bout damn time...so i got my letter that day)
and then i got my first appointment with my endocrinologist on august 17th 2009...and he gave me some homework to do like the proper procedure on getting my name changed, embryo freezing, signing a waiver and agreement with him and my HRT...
i did some bloodwork that day...and got the go ahead and my Rx for T that following week...and took my first shot of T september 13th....
TN doesnt offer gender marker changes....yet....so nothing going on with that...
but congrats and enjoy the journey!
Congrats! 8)
that's so awesome. glad to hear that you've got a doc on your side. keep us posted.
Congratulations! That is great.
no surgeries are required for a name change. you can change it cause its your stage name if you want to. or just cause that's what everyone calls you any way.
Congrats bro!
It makes it better when u have supportive docs who r willing to help and just dont brush u off if they dont know what to do. February is just around the corner so dont blame u for being thrilled! Its definitly a huge leap in the right direction ;)
Cheers,
Joshua
Quote from: JoshB on December 16, 2009, 03:26:48 AM
Congrats bro!
It makes it better when u have supportive docs who r willing to help and just dont brush u off if they dont know what to do. February is just around the corner so dont blame u for being thrilled! Its definitly a huge leap in the right direction ;)
Cheers,
Joshua
Yeah, i was nervous that my doc wouldn't know anything about it. Glad she did or i would have been bummed.
My parents noticed my good mood yesterday. Guess i was TOO enthusiastic..... Oops? I blamed it on the christmas cookies - our recipe makes about eight dozen of them :o That's a LOT of cookies.
Eey, awesome news! ;D
I went to see my doc last week, she didn't really know much about it, though she's had two MtF patients before (but not been involved in their transitions). She seemed very interested to learn more about it though, was very nice and supportive, and said she's going to find me a local therapist too. o/
it's so good to see and hear that the medical field is getting more and more receptive and open to helping us get through our live comfortably and easily...thats awesome and great news!!
In Oregon I could change my gender marker on my drivers license with a letter from my therapist. For Social Security it took a letter from my top surgeon. name change you can do whenever you want , I didn't need anything just the forms and money, also in Oregon.
Congrats
Andrew/Myles
how did you get your doctor to do that? is it just a doctor you go to for general checkups? did you just tell her about wanting to transition and that's it?
Quote from: mL on December 18, 2009, 08:48:19 PM
how did you get your doctor to do that? is it just a doctor you go to for general checkups? did you just tell her about wanting to transition and that's it?
Yup. I went in to my general practitioner (my usual doctor) for a pelvic exam (yuck yuck yuck). Before she started i pretty much did what was suggested in one of my other posts. I told her that i did some research and i identified as a transsexual.
She got this shocked look on her face for about a second, then shot off a few questions. Namely "how long have you known", "did you always feel this way", what are you hoping for", etc etc. She even asked if i would be attracted to males/females (pure curiosity i think on her part lol). She had done a bit of work with an endo in the area so she knew enough about it to be helpful.
She was VERY nice about it and once i got past the initial hurdle and saw she wasn't going to shun me or laugh.... it was VERY easy.
She said i sounded sure of myself and very comfortable with it - and that a few others she helped hadn't. She said she would do research to find a therapist closer to home (the only one she knew off the top of her head was one i had found about 40 minutes away.) She would set me up with an appointment with the therapist AND with an endocrinologist.
Now it's a waiting game. I'm not expecting much until after holidays but that's okay. The balls rolling, so to speak!
wow so do you have to be 18 for the therapist and endocrinologist? and are you going to be paying for them or does insurance cover any?
18 for hormones usually and therapy at any age. hormone blockers can begin before 18
i told my doctor last week from advice my therapist gave me, and im not really sure my doctor knew what transgendered really meant, i told her i had GID, and she said generalized anxiexy disorder?, which i had to correct her(maybe she misunderstood what i said or assumed i said it wrong). She seemed completely shocked and asked me to explain more to her about it.
Congrats, man! For me, the only waiting part for T was deciding whether I really wanted to do it. Once I had decided, I went to the doctor, she wrote the scrip, I picked up the vial that day, then went back to the doc's office the next day so she could show me how to properly inject. I don't, however, have my name or gender marker changed yet. In California I was able to change both with just a letter from the doctor to the DMV, which is supposed to be the way they do it in Colorado, but my doctor here was a little less than intelligent, so my CO ID says F. It sucks. But good for you, dude... you're well on your way, it seems!
SD
The main thing keeping me from getting T at the moment is wondering about others reactions. I live in a VERY conservative area of the Bible belt (one day I will move but don't have the funds right now). Also, I'm not out to my family yet. I'm trying to break it slowly to my mom by dropping hints (I'm sure at this point she suspects something) but she's reacted badly to me wearing masculine clothes and cutting my hair.
Quote from: mL on December 19, 2009, 03:33:44 PM
wow so do you have to be 18 for the therapist and endocrinologist? and are you going to be paying for them or does insurance cover any?
Under 18 i think has to have parent permission to start anything like that (or there are other options depending on HOW young.) I'm 21 so the age issue never comes up. You would have to ask the doctor involved.
I'm pretty sure my insurance covers most of it - i KNOW it will cover the initial visits but not sure about continual visits or the T itself. I was in therapy before (my pediatrician at the time thought i had an eating disorder - which i did not) and insurance covered it THEN.
That is something i will have to talk about with the endo and therapist, though. Each insurance is different, after all. If my insurance doesn't cover it my parents will (part of our deal is i pay small rent and help out, they do my "needs" like food and medical coverage.)
Quote from: Markster on December 19, 2009, 04:54:36 PM
i told my doctor last week from advice my therapist gave me, and im not really sure my doctor knew what transgendered really meant, i told her i had GID, and she said generalized anxiexy disorder?, which i had to correct her(maybe she misunderstood what i said or assumed i said it wrong). She seemed completely shocked and asked me to explain more to her about it.
At least she asked for an explanation and didn't outright say anything "unprofessional."
Quote from: jmaxley on December 19, 2009, 07:30:29 PM
The main thing keeping me from getting T at the moment is wondering about others reactions. I live in a VERY conservative area of the Bible belt (one day I will move but don't have the funds right now). Also, I'm not out to my family yet. I'm trying to break it slowly to my mom by dropping hints (I'm sure at this point she suspects something) but she's reacted badly to me wearing masculine clothes and cutting my hair.
I hear you, i do. My parents are both pretty strict about that too. I have another thread about clothes on here - basically my parents think "mens clothes" are for men, "womens clothes" are for women... and should not be swapped around. I duke it out with them OFTEN (sometimes in the middle of the store) since they pay my way lmao. And my dad actually CRIED when i first cut my hair (used to be mid-back, cut it to shoulders... now it's "guy short".)
Quote from: Sebastien on December 19, 2009, 04:57:15 PM
Congrats, man! For me, the only waiting part for T was deciding whether I really wanted to do it. Once I had decided, I went to the doctor, she wrote the scrip, I picked up the vial that day, then went back to the doc's office the next day so she could show me how to properly inject. I don't, however, have my name or gender marker changed yet. In California I was able to change both with just a letter from the doctor to the DMV, which is supposed to be the way they do it in Colorado, but my doctor here was a little less than intelligent, so my CO ID says F. It sucks. But good for you, dude... you're well on your way, it seems!
SD
You're lucky you got it that fast! When i asked she said i had to talk to an endocrinologist and probably a therapist letter depending on who i go to. Which is fine by me - gives me time to tell my parents.
Yup, i'm getting there. ^_^
Well I am from Ohio and I just had to pay 165 dollars and go to court to have my name changed. Once my name was changed my therapist filled out a paper from the Ohio DMV and I am just waiting on a response and my gender marker on my license will be changed. Plus after court I went to the social security office to get a new card and the lady was like oh this is cool and asked if I wanted my gender marker there changed to male. I was real excited because of how smooth it worked. So when my paper comes back from the state DMV I will get my license with my new name and marker. However Ohio is picky about thier firth certificates. Not sure the rules yet but I was born in Colorado so I need to find thier laws on tha.