Hi Everyone,

Yesterday, at the age of 50, I came out to my Mum, not face to face, but via email as she lives on the other side of the world from me. She was freaked out at first, as you would be, but then started to realise that all the things that I did or had happened when I was growing up were related to this. The penny dropped.

She is being totally supportive but still concerned. She said she is afraid to meet a female me, which I can understand.

After a long night of emails back and forward she told me that there were problems during and after her pregnancy with me and that she was producing way to much oestrogen. OMG!

Does anyone know if this can be the cause of gender issues? It makes sense to me but I'm definitely no doctor. Has any one heard of this?

I have finally comes to terms with this side of me and am starting to transition in ernest, I hope to start HRT in a few months, so I don't really need to know "why" any more just how to make it right for myself, but I still found this to be a major revelation.

Nicki

I have read that it is theorized that trans* people are exposed to atypical hormone levels during pregnancy.

I have no idea what study I was reading or how old/accurate it was (that's what I get for doing 200 hours of research in 2 months...). Hopefully someone else will remember for me eventually.

There has been a link between the use of Diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic estrogen used in pregnant women from about 1940-70.

It was used to prevent miscarriage but has been associated with birth defects and an increase in GI people born from women using it at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diethylstilbestrol

Hmmm, interesting. Thanks girls. I might have to do some research on this. It's peaked my curiosity now.

Nicki