I think because there has always been a stigma not just with writing us off, but also how we define ourselves or get defined.

For me I agree Ive known Ive felt this way forever but how I was raised and brought up I eventually wrote it off, im now at a point at 30 where Im ready to be happy and who I was always suppose to be. I do wish it was easier to be real back when I was younger but at lease now society is more accepting (for the most part).

I got in contact with the gender clinic at 17, but have been gatekept until now stilll. Started self medicating hormones at 18 after a year had gone and nothing had happened with the official health care. About to turn 20 in the summer. Sweden is quite horrible compared to a lot of different places it seems...

I was fourteen when i began to transition, but I didn't start on hormones until the late 1980's.

53, now 56, wouldn't change anything.

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I started in 2013 when i was 26.  Never in a million years did I ever believe that I would change as much as I did, or that I would be able to blend in as much as I am able too. I went from being like a male model to how I look in my profile picture.

I started on the 18th, and I'm 35.

Quote from: barbiegirl436 on June 01, 2018, 08:37:14 AM
I got in contact with the gender clinic at 17, but have been gatekept until now stilll. Started self medicating hormones at 18 after a year had gone and nothing had happened with the official health care. About to turn 20 in the summer. Sweden is quite horrible compared to a lot of different places it seems...

I feel for you...I´ve also gotten help from everywhere else, four different countries and doctors from those countries, than from Finland, from where I am and system is as sucky as Swedish one.

I was 34 or 35 when I first started HRT, but that transition failed to many different things, one being the disrespectful way they treat you in the Finnish gender clinic.

Started transitioning again at 40 with the help of the rest of the world this time. Wasn´t going to step into our official system anymore...

I started in 1990 when I found out there was a term for what I was feeling, transsexualism.  Started medical transition in 1996 at 29.  Made it a ways before having to push it to a back burner.  Started socially transitioning in 2013 and restarted medical again in 2015.

I started when I was 35, but I didn't go full-time until I was 44. There were a few things that delayed my transition; There was a backlash from my family when I came out; I had employment issues when I started HRT the first time; I had gained a lot of muscle from 20 years of bodybuilding, so It took several years to lose enough muscle for me to even consider going out in public dressed femininely; I had a Klingon forehead that absolutely had to be reconstructed, so I had to save money for some FFS; and I went back to school so I could learn to do something that would allow me to earn more money, and be able to pay for everything I needed to transition.

Quote from: MissyMay2.0 on June 24, 2018, 12:41:50 AM
I started when I was 35, but I didn't go full-time until I was 44. There were a few things that delayed my transition; There was a backlash from my family when I came out; I had employment issues when I started HRT the first time; I had gained a lot of muscle from 20 years of bodybuilding, so It took several years to lose enough muscle for me to even consider going out in public dressed femininely; I had a Klingon forehead that absolutely had to be reconstructed, so I had to save money for some FFS; and I went back to school so I could learn to do something that would allow me to earn more money, and be able to pay for everything I needed to transition.

You look great!  That gives me hope also having just started at 35 (almost 36).

Quote from: GwenFTW on June 24, 2018, 12:13:32 PM
You look great!  That gives me hope also having just started at 35 (almost 36).

Thanks😊

Hi . Diagnosed GD 38 started hormones 10 months ago at 42 . always had GD just didnt know it was a thing . repressed and oppressed for a lifetime .

Yes Jamiekisses, that's what so many of us do - bury and rebury, suppress and repress and consequently we become oppressed and depressed. Then we take action as we can take GD no more.

Hugs

Pamela

35

40 the first time...45 the second time.

I'm 54 now. I guess I/ you could say I technically started my transition right at puberty. I'll explain. It was when my body finally did start to grow hair at around 16 or 17, I immediately shaved it all off. In my mind I didn't even think girls were supposed to grow hair at all back then. So I shaved my legs, pubic area, chest, underarms, and anywhere I saw hair growing except my head. I shaved so much of my body that I used to get called a sissy nearly everyday in school. In fact I was known as such a sissy boy that the other boys would never pick me to play in the sports activities with them. Funny thing is, all those other boys hated me because they couldn't understand how I ended up with such gorgeous girlfriends being such a sissy boy lol. I just always knew I was really a girl, but you didn't say anything in that redneck part of the south I grew up in. So to conform with the times I chose to live my life as a male and do what this society has approved as the manly things to do. The dysphoria never went away though. In fact, not only has it not gone away ever, but it has worsened in the last year. After several failed marriages and my current one struggling, I realized that my real problem is that I need to and must be a girl. I just can't perform as the man anymore and that has caused our sexual relationship to struggle immensely. Honestly, don't get me wrong, I do still love the female body and find it very sexy. I should say I think I'm still sexually attracted to women. That is to say, when I see a sexy woman that catches my eye, I start staring intensely, but I'll be honest sometimes I'm not sure if I'm checking them out for me, or if it's really the fact that I just want to look like her. I've noticed I find myself more and more fantasizing about having sexual encounters with men, as that sexy woman of course hehe. And to be honest, that's been really confusing for me because I haven't even started hrt yet. The past year or so I decided that I needed to start my formal transition, so I started buying women's clothes, panties, and lingerie. I have been wearing only the women's panties exclusively for over a year now, and recently I started wearing the women's jeans and shorts out in public, even in man mode lol. I started seeing a therapists at the beginning of this year at 54. I was scheduled to start HRT already but delays with my doctor have pushed that back yet again. Hoping to start this Thursday at my next appointment with my therapists. Sorry about the long useless story but it's kind of relevant to what I feel is my actual starting point. I started unofficially transitioning at around 16 or 17 in my mind, but physically transitioning at 53 with clothing, and I would say now officially transitioning at 54 with therapy and meds to start within the next few days hopefully. That's my story and I'm sticking to it lol...

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61. I've favored even years throughout my life and found it very unusual that I would begin such an important undertaking in an odd year. Life is full of surprises!
I just celebrated 3 months on HRT

Lindy

Quote from: Shawnna on March 20, 2018, 01:38:17 PM
Wow! Thanks for the great responses!

It seems like starting HRT at 54 isn't that unusual after all.  I've had a very difficult time finding a supportive community with others around my age.  I find groups for parents, kids and people near college ages but my generation never seemed to be represented. 

All of the communities are amazing but my life experiences just aren't the same as those just starting out in life. I'm retired with a wife and young child. Those things greatly affect how I approach being trans feminine.

Thank you all for being so kind an accepting to the new girl on the block!

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Absolutely correct Shawna. 54 is not old to start at all. There are many of us "seniors" here as you must have now noticed. I wish you every success for the future and I thank you for this thread.

As stated previously I started at 62.

Hugs

Pamela

Started at 20, stopped, and began my transition from 29 until now, this year marks the 6th year of my transition.


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I "officially" started on July 1, 2018 when I created my account here, I am 24, but I've been living with a very strong gender dysphoria since forever. I hope that I can begin HRT really soon, but first I need to find a therapist and psychologist. After which of course I will need to find a doctor to prescribe me my happy pills lol 

I'm also practicing my feminine voice and doing a lot of feminizing, I look forward to my future and how my body will finally be what my mind is.