My apologies........I'm just sensitive and get defensive. I just wanted to make conversation and it didn't work out well......

Quote from: Lex286 on September 10, 2014, 11:50:26 PM
My apologies........I'm just sensitive and get defensive. I just wanted to make conversation and it didn't work out well......

Don't apologize as we are family now and sometimes misunderstandings happen! 

Quote from: Jessica Merriman on September 10, 2014, 11:51:39 PM
Don't apologize as we are family now and sometimes misunderstandings happen! 

I am so happy for you, I so sincerely am. I am so sorry you had to endure so much pain, we are not so different........
I am starting my way and therapy was my first start, I have lost 50 pounds.....yay! I have and appointment to get rid of the last little belly and am doing facial hair removal next! Baby steps but HRT is what I want, hard to start but it's all I think about.........

I have no idea what the official diagnosis is that they came up with. I never asked. I got what I wanted and that was enough.

I hope you  get what you desire out of your therapist. Sometimes it is worth asking questions, sometimes you have to be sure you want to hear the answer.

Diagnosis? As best I'm aware, my psychiatrist concluded that I was "a good candidate for hormonal reassignment". And that's about it..

Quote from: Jessica Merriman on September 10, 2014, 11:07:26 PM
As said above  ->-bleeped-<- is not real popular with the trans community. 

It's honestly not all that popular with mainstream psychiatrists either..

As I recall (I don't have a copy of the letter, but it was read to me) it contained phrases like "pronounced gender dysphoria", "HRT strongly advised".

Jessica,  I am so glad to know a beautiful woman, rather than a rather grumpy looking old dude.  I hope you never see what I looked like before (Think engineer with a pencil up his ass).

My counselor, told me the doctor she recommended, and when I said "okay" in a timid voice.  She called her (Dr. Busch) up and told her that she was shipping another mess over for endocrine repair.  Not quite like that, but I don't remember those days very well.  The first official diagnosis I had documentation for was for state ID, SSN and Passport, and in a bunch of words it said. She's a chick.  It is pretty brief, I think that the referral from my shrink smoothed the way a lot.

Not very helpful for you I'm afraid, but it worked.  I'm officially a chick.

Julie

The letter from my doc reads:

RE: Medical Certification of Apropriate Clinical Treatment for Gender Transition.

To Whom it may Concern:

This letter is to certify that Julie Blair, DOB 12/26/1952 is undergoing appropriate medical treatment to transition medically from male to female.  We have an ongoing doctor-patient relationship.  Julie Blair has been compliant with medical therapy and should be considered female in gender.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the forgoing is true and correct.

Sincerely,

well i was in a once a week/2 week session schedule for around 8 months although i got my diagnosis and hrt at about 2 months
the diagnosis was rightfully -gid- and severe dysphoria for anything male related and my therapist stated on paper and sent it to my doctor inside the whole recommendation for hrt letter
"i do believe and came to the conclusion if she so desires she has every right from my point of view to live her life as a female from now on"
and for whoever is asking yea when i get back on hrt i will[always wanted] get srs sooner or later. cant realy stand the stuff down there it just doesnt fit me
he was right about the severe dysphoria part as well im very very dysphoric with anything related to being male [about 99% of it]

being right and honest upfront with your therapist is the way to go
i just came over at bad or good and i shared everything i was feeling and every obstacle/happyness i encountered and i was and still am happy with the gid diagnosis

Quote from: MaidofOrleans on September 10, 2014, 10:16:18 PM
I was never diagnosed, but I knew what I wanted and that's what I pushed for.

This what it was for me. Once I decided to publically accept myself and what I wanted it was just a matter of what I was willing to do to get there. I am a bit concerned/curious how diagnosis goes post starting hrt. I started at a free clinic that never questioned whether I was trans or not. But if I want to move my things over to kiasar I will basically need them to come to the same conclusion. But I'm already full time so I don't see what there is for them to decide.

An official diagnosis while used to direct the route of care really is just for medical coding and legal matters. I would not worry about anything Ellismira as you are living as a female and I do not see any medical institution just saying "stop it". They may have their own treatment protocols, but you should do just fine if you transfer. 

Quote from: Lex286 on September 10, 2014, 10:53:55 PM
No not NOTHING..........my therapist I believe is leaning toward  ->-bleeped-<- probably my basis for my post.

Please don't accept a diagnosis of  ->-bleeped-<-. I just checked and it was not included in the DSM and isn't valid.

Quote from: Dee Walker on September 11, 2014, 01:38:37 PM

Please don't accept a diagnosis of  ->-bleeped-<-. I just checked and it was not included in the DSM and isn't valid.

It's valid just not treatable.  Doctors have the responsibility to treat what is wrong with us as best as they can. You may think you know what is wrong with you and you may be very wrong. If you think your doctor is wrong then get a second opinion, but if you get the same diagnosis accept you may be the one who is wrong.

Quote from: Staci on September 13, 2014, 08:25:51 AM
It's valid just not treatable.  Doctors have the responsibility to treat what is wrong with us as best as they can. You may think you know what is wrong with you and you may be very wrong. If you think your doctor is wrong then get a second opinion, but if you get the same diagnosis accept you may be the one who is wrong.

Only a relatively few psychiatrists and psychologists ascribe to  ->-bleeped-<- as a valid diagnosis. Of those, none can point to a successful treatment. If the APAs, either one of them don't recognize it after all this time, it's just snake oil. I work in mental health and I've seen too many people hurt through a therapist's personal unsupported theories being treated as incontrovertible fact. Nothing except valid treatment will convince me it's a valid psychiatric diagnosis.

I was reading about Alan Turing today. They tried to treat his homosexuality with estrogen therapy. He committed suicide with cyanide shortly after. I've read about doctors trying to treat endangered pregnancies with DES. That leads to cancer, intersex condition, and, well, us, or some of us. We have to try things to come up with valid treatments, but often doctors don't let go of inappropriate treatments because they don't want to give up pet theories. This is not how science, or medicine, is meant to work.

I'm not sure what my "official" diagnosis is, but my therapist wrote that I'm a Mtf transexal with gender dysphoria on my hrt letter.  I thin gender dysphoria is what the official term is as my therapist doesn't like the term GID cause it implies its a disorder.  I think my old endo was treating me for transexualism as I looked up the ICD 302.5 which has been used for lab work.

Well, my doctor recorded my diagnosis as "Endocrine Disorder, unspecified" (259.9). At my clinic I go to, the doctors believe in treating you based on what your medical needs are and what you feel you need (dependent upon your physical, of course), because they believe nothing's technically "wrong" with you and they don't play games with you. And they have a specific team of providers who are experienced with treating trans patients. They're there to advise you of the proper medical decisions, and let you be the judge of who you are, because really you are the only person that knows truly who you are. I've had a visit with a therapist there as well, and it's pretty much the same. They want to help you with your needs, and help you sort through your emotions & any stress caused going through the process, and offer good advice on how to move forward and be yourself, as opposed to testing you on who you are.

They also will offer me what they call a "safe pass" letter at anytime I'm ready for it (in which this case I've informed my doctor of required Ohio BMV form to be signed, and he said to bring it in next apt).

They had me in and out with what I needed in 3 appointments, 5 days. And they're super affordable!

The folks at Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago have been wonderful thus far! (Which reminds me, I need to write a thread on my experience there.) If you're anywhere in the Midwest, I'd recommend checking them out.

My official diagnosis just says "Hormonal Imblance," which is funny cause my mom says the same thing and she hates what I'm doing. She wants me on T, not E. I am not producing sex hormones anymore and if I don't take something, I'll eventually get Osteoporosis and break in half, literally. So, hormonal imbalance is a correct term I guess.

I go to the Mazzoni Center in Philadelphia, where I live, and was on HRT within two weeks of my intake session. I self-medded before that, not recommended, and so they saw me real fast, within days of sending a letter about myself and life-long medical issues.

My HRT letter clearly spells out Gender Identity disorder and all my recent doctor's appointments have been coded for transsexualism along with the referral to the Endo being coded the same way.

Quote from: learningtolive on September 13, 2014, 11:55:13 AM
I'm not sure what my "official" diagnosis is, but my therapist wrote that I'm a Mtf transexal with gender dysphoria on my hrt letter.  I thin gender dysphoria is what the official term is as my therapist doesn't like the term GID cause it implies its a disorder.  I think my old endo was treating me for transexualism as I looked up the ICD 302.5 which has been used for lab work.

My therapist never diagnosed me with anything. Her letter only gave clearance to start hormones based on being psychologically stable and that I've decided this was for me. My doctor's office put the diagnosis of GID and transsexualism into my record. Does what my doctor did count as a diagnosis? Otherwise I've never been diagnosed

Is that a problem?

I did intake at Mazzoni, was recommended to a therapist ( I was a mess). After three months My therapist gave the OK for HRT, 1 month later I  was scheduled then I had to reschedule due to work . No letter was needed.

My therapist said she usually does not give a GID diagnosis for insurance purposes due to stigmatization. I said I need to be honest and she put GID. My second therapist never asked and Just put GID on the letter for insurance. My second therapist told me I suffer from long term depression but said there is no need to put that diagnosis number on the form.


To answer your question, is not being diagnosed a problem? I think it depends on your long term plan. If HRT is the destination and you are on HRT then no. If GRS is the destination then there is a process and documentation is important.

Quote from: Cynthia Michelle on September 14, 2014, 07:28:49 PM

To answer your question, is not being diagnosed a problem? I think it depends on your long term plan. If HRT is the destination and you are on HRT then no. If GRS is the destination then there is a process and documentation is important.

Ok suppose I do plan GRS (which I 100% do!). I was planning on starting the supposed year long process to get the two referral letters for GRS right after I went full time. I actually planned to use new therapists because mine was abysmal, despite her "experience" with trans people. Would the lack of psychologist diagnosis to start hormones be a problem getting referral letters later?