Thanks again for your help.
Went through Dr C at transhealth last time around who put me onto Sharon Fillingham whom I saw for a number of sessions. Was about 70 squids an hour as I recall. Was looking for a Scottish equivalent. Might go along and see Dr Myskow initially and see if she has anyone she works with.

Thanks once more for your kindness.

X

hey all my name is laura, and i just came out 4-5 months ago being transgendered (MtoF), and the other day i made the first step i went to see my GP, i live on the isle of skye, i just thought to say a little about me, hope thats ok

thanks

laura 

Hi, Laura!  Welcome to Susan's!  It's always nice to meet more Scottish girls on here. 

It's only been 7 months since I first went to see my GP.  I hope it goes well for you!  The girls here were so helpful and supportive when I first appeared (<3), and we are all here for you if you feel like talking about anything or if you have any questions (not that I'm an expert -- I'm pretty early in the process myself and only have my own experience to draw on really). 

Anyway, nice to meet you. ^^

~Cat

x

thanks! am so happy to find someware to talk and learn, i am really happy to be here

thanks!

laura

Hi Laura!

How did you get on with your GP?
Some of the Hebridean GPs can be real bunker nuts

J

X

I tried to get a referral from my GP and that was a waste of time. I ended up moving to the US. That was in 2000. In 2011 I went directly to an end and that day I was given my prescriptions. I found too many therapists in my area who had no idea how to help a transgender patient so I cut them out all together. My name change was done via deed poll which, after some explaining, the social security office accepted.I got a new social security card in the mail. Getting my drivers license changed over however has been a pain in the butt. They want an updated birth certificate, so I am trying to get that done.

Hello Laura!

From the mainland perspective going through your GP can be real slow, I'm pretty much hitting my first year anniversary. I'll be seeing my therapist on the 13th, and that's only my 3rd appointment of the year. Did your GP know much about it? Mine was pretty honest in stating she had no training and no clue, just referring me to Chalmer's street clinic. Did you get any clue of what was happening as you move ahead?

Lovely to see another Scots girl on here too XXX

So I had my appointment with Dr Gerber again yesterday, a year after I contacted my GP and was referred initially. I'm being prescribed HRT! A letter has been sent to my local GP that I've been advised to chase up from about the 20^th onwards to make sure I can start the prescription as soon as possible - it apparently takes ten days to get there as the NHS must use some kind of pre-WW2 messaging system to send its letters (Even 2^nd class post takes 5 days tops)

So one stage of my journey is over and another has begun. For those who've been following my journey here and are not sure, I can recommend going the NHS route, no matter how long it may seem. This is a big journey and the year that it's taken to get to this point has been useful otherwise, although I certainly didn't feel that way initially. I'm glad I've had the time to truly get my head straight and I'm in a much better position to deal with the raging hormones than I would have been a year ago.

Yeah this is pretty much just a humblebrag post, but I need to tell EVERYONE!

PS, I hope the onslaught of questions didn't scare you off Laura, reading previous posts would inform you what a nosy bitch I can be :p

Yaaay, awesome news, Sandra!!  So glad to hear that you're getting the treatment you need at long last!

And thanks for posting this thread -- which I can say has been invaluable for me, and I'm pretty sure is invaluable for all the other Scottish girls too -- and for sharing your journey here.  Do keep us posted about how you get on with it! ^^

That's great news honey! What an awesome Christmas present.

And a merry Christmas to all

Jessica

X

Quote from: nikkit72 on December 09, 2013, 09:33:05 AM
Hi Sandra,

I'm not in Scotland, but in Wales, and this has, in the past been notorious for being pretty bad when providing support for trans people. Scotland may be better.

If you go down the NHS route, this is what you need to prepare yourself to do...

1, speak to your GP then another GP and possibly another GP to get a referral to the local mental health unit (MHU).
2, After a couple of months attend appointment with  local MHU so they can determine if you have gender dysphoria or you have some other underlying mental health issue, like, say, being clinically nuts... You will then be referred to a gender specialist in a gender clinic/MHU
3, In about 3 months time, attend appointment with your gender specialist who wil ask some difficult questions to try to 'weed out' those who are wasting the clinics time. If you do have GD, they will then expect you to start RLE by changing your name and all your documentation over to your new name and begin integrating with society with your new gender role.
4, In about another 3 months you get a follow up appointment (if they remember to send out the appointment letters  ). If you haven't been scared off by your RLE and have documented evidence such as receipts, name changes, driving license/passport changes etc that you can show the specialist as proof, then they may recommend hormones and send you to an endocrinologist for bloods etc.
5, Wait another 2-3 months for this appointment. Then wait for the prescription (This is where I'm at)
6, Attend follow up appointment with specialist sometime in the future..

It takes MONTHS and MONTHS, or at least it has for me. In fact it will be a year of RLE, after changing my name and all my documents BEFORE starting with the endocrinologist. Not fun  .

If it wasn't for another girl on here advising me to chase up my appointments, I doubt very much if I'd be seeing an endo in January.

I'm not saying you will be treated in the same way or have to wait as long, not everyone is treated the same. The big mistake I made was not taking documented evidence of my name change to show the specialist on my first appointment. This put me back 6 months because they messed up with appointment letters.

Point of all the above is that the NHS route isn't the quick fix that you want.

Depending on your financial situation, you could save a lot of heartache and go privately. It will halve the wait that you get with the NHS.

Hope that helps somewhat and I hope you get better results in Scotland. I have heard of this person http://www.medicalternative.com/gender-dysphoria from another girl and she said she was very good.

Nikki

That sounds horrible. This is why I think national healthcare is stupid. Does anyone else think that RLE is really just a barrier to access created to scare off trans people from starting HRT?

QuoteThat sounds horrible. This is why I think national healthcare is stupid. Does anyone else think that RLE is really just a barrier to access created to scare off trans people from starting HRT?

I've not had any where near that much trouble in Scotland, where RLE is not a necessity at all.

Personally I could not have afforded private healthcare and I would fight for National Healthcare - I just wish our other British sisters saw the advantages we Scots do, like self referring and not requiring odd sacrifices to 'prove' our issues. We should fight for everyone in Britain to get the treatment we do up here!

I have military healthcare, I just think the wait times are insane. If they could make government run healthcare as efficient as that in the private sector I wouldn't have an issue with it.

While I do object to the "approach as supplicant" approach the NHS demands for Transpeople I too believe in it as an institution. Also I would say that fast is not the same as efficient




Jessica

X

Quote from: Sandra_Dickinson on December 14, 2014, 02:45:04 PM
So I had my appointment with Dr Gerber again yesterday, a year after I contacted my GP and was referred initially. I'm being prescribed HRT! A letter has been sent to my local GP that I've been advised to chase up from about the 20^th onwards to make sure I can start the prescription as soon as possible - it apparently takes ten days to get there as the NHS must use some kind of pre-WW2 messaging system to send its letters (Even 2^nd class post takes 5 days tops)

So one stage of my journey is over and another has begun. For those who've been following my journey here and are not sure, I can recommend going the NHS route, no matter how long it may seem. This is a big journey and the year that it's taken to get to this point has been useful otherwise, although I certainly didn't feel that way initially. I'm glad I've had the time to truly get my head straight and I'm in a much better position to deal with the raging hormones than I would have been a year ago.

Yeah this is pretty much just a humblebrag post, but I need to tell EVERYONE!

PS, I hope the onslaught of questions didn't scare you off Laura, reading previous posts would inform you what a nosy bitch I can be :p

Aaaaah congrats Sandra! Sorry I've been absent for a while, life kinda got ahead of me for a bit there xD

I can't believe you got your HRT on the first appointment D: I had my first GID clinic appointment in November and was told that they would not even consider taking over my meds until my next appointment where they would "review" it...so I am back in January which will mark 17months since I initially referred to Sandyford and I have still not had a single bit of tangible aid from the NHS -.-;

That's the worst thing about the NHS...the bloody postcode lottery:(

But anyway, happy days! Welcome to the supper happy fun time HRT club

We should arrange another meet up one time soon, so we can all catch up in person ^^

QuoteI can't believe you got your HRT on the first appointment D:

Not quite Danniella, it was my third appointment. Took them 5 months to set up the first one. My advice for anyone waiting on replies is to bug them with phone calls and messages. I waited four months and started calling Sandyford and a letter dropped on my mat 2 days later with my first appointment. Every time it's been about 3 months with nothing before I call and then the letter plops through with an appontment. Either I am REALLY good at predicting when they have posted or they make me one every time I call in.

QuoteWelcome to the supper happy fun time HRT club

I'm waiting on my local GP recieving the letter though, phoned them Friday and still nothing... I'll call again when I'm off on Monday but I'm working right up to Christmas after that and I think it will be a pain to get it sorted until the New Year. Bugging them incessantly seems to have worked so far!

QuoteWe should arrange another meet up one time soon, so we can all catch up in person ^^

Definitely. You're the best at setting these up so I think you'll have something prepared before I do, just post when you see an event we can meet up at XXX

Congrats Sandra, that's awesome news!

I know its a tiny step but I shaved my legs, pits and body hair off for the first time today. Its the biggest change I've made so far. My left knee and right ankle are cut to shreds but it feels great.
No more tights with a Denier rating normally reserved for blast furnaces.

Again a small step but thanks for reading.

Love

Jessica

It's an important step! I bet you feel great Jess X I remember when I first did it myself, it's a feeling I love but the prickly regrowing hairs mean that you can never stop!

I also have about a one inch scar on my ankle from overzealous shaving....

Well Hi again,

So last time I posted here, I was just starting out and now... well I'm going full time at work from Monday.

OK brief update of what I've been up to;

Just started living as myself presenting female outside of work since then pretty much all the time, seeing friends, going food shopping, cinema and then went to the pub over Christmas where i had 2 weeks off from work at which point I promptly dyed my hair a dark red(dark red since my hair is already dark brown/close to black) with the idea that it would wash out/dye over it by the time I went back to work after the break.

Well being me for fulltime over that period, has quickly made me realize that it was going to be sooner, rather than later that I would be doing this at work as well.

So told my Boss first thing when we got back to the office to get things kicked off with him and HR, and he was fine with it and supportive, so good from that end.

Ended up making the decision to come out to the rest of the team of people I work with today, and they all seem fine with it.

So going to be working from home till the end of the week, my boss had suggested it (though he wasn't meaning it in any offensive way) to just help after telling folk, also the weather in Dundee isn't the greatest at the moment and I just live outside it, so the snow is kinda worse where I am and of course I have the most sensible car ever for the snow! (MX5 with "All-weather" tyres). So working form home wasn't the worse call to make.

So going to get name change documents set up to get this thing going.

I arranged a follow up visit with my GP to check on the referral for the Tayside thing since I'd hadn't heard anything yet, so he hasn't done anything. He knew there was a process, and I kind of assumed he was doing something since he gave the impression he knew what he was doing but I did take a note of someone to call about this when i phoned Sandyford, so waiting for a call back from that Doctor, though may need to try and contact again since haven't heard back yet after leaving a message to get a call back.

He did say he was going to write a letter confirming the transition, which according to the gov.uk website should be all I need to get passport gender marker changed along with name change document.

So while I know at the moment that I won't "pass", kinda feel time is right to just start.

Thanks

Erin