I'm gonna talk to my doctor very soon about taking T and I have no idea how to bring it up. How did you do it?

your doctor or your therapist? or are you asking how to bring it up after your therapist has written a t letter

Not all doctors will require a letter, some will. It all depends on the doctor. I saw a therapist for about 3 months but had already been living as male before I decided to pay for therapy. I figured as much of the "requirements" I could get out of the way before it cost me money the better haha.

After 4 meetings my therapist gave me a T letter and I began going to a brand new doctor with the intent to start Testosterone. If you already have a relationship with a doctor than bring it up to them and see what route they suggest. Some may not require a letter, but instead you must sign an "Informed Consent" form. Basically that form says you know what T will do and you won't sue them for giving it to you if anything negative would happen.

Your doctor won't just write you a prescription for T, you have to talk to your therapist first and get him/her to write you a letter for your doctor.  Your doctor may be able to direct you to a therapist, though?

Btw, I'm 20 and I looked up and began seeing a gender therapist this year.

Oh i had no idea you had to ask your therapist. I currently am seeing a therapist and i could ask her, or talk to her. Though i have no idea what she will say. AHHH I'm so nervous. I think everyone will think im joking or not serious. What was it like for you guys?!

My therapist is a gender specialist, so she kind of already knew why I was there...

If your therapist is just a regular one, s/he may be willing to work with you, but not all of them will/are able to.  You should bring it up and ask if they are willing to help in this respect, or if they have any prior experience with it.  If not, I'd recommend looking up a gender therapist.

In my opinion, the best course of action is to find a therapist who specializes in gender identity and understands it.  I went to a therapist who knew I wanted T to start with. Made things a lot easier.

Quote from: V on July 22, 2010, 11:29:47 PM
I went to a therapist who knew I wanted T to start with. Made things a lot easier.

Ditto.

Okay, the only problem is it is really hard for me to trust people and like be straight forward, it took me a little while to be straight with my therapist, but now i pretty much trust her. The only other person i trust is my girlfriend. But shes not a therapist... Can the note be from any therapist?

Before I started transitioning, I already had a therapist, who I was seeing for other reasons. I got to trust her, but when I brought myself to talk to her about trans stuff (when I was in very early stages of admitting to myself), her reaction was something like, do you need to put a gender on yourself?  Can you just be you? At the time I was still pretty confused so I didn't really stand up for myself much.  I tried to bury it for a while and put my homemade binder away, but then it was back within a couple of weeks. So I arranged to see a gender therapist.

I do think I could have explained myself better to my first therapist, but it was a big deal and I always go blank when it comes to stuff like that.  She helped me a lot, helped me get over abuse and I would like to go back to her just as a general therapist one day - but it would have to be as a man and I'd make it very clear.

Anyway, to answer your question I'm 26 and I just sort of blurted it out to my shrink a few months ago.

I had the same experience as Elvistears.  Had a regular therapist for other stuff for years, then came out to her, and after 3 sessions she basically told me to go back into the closet and stay there, because I'd lose everything.  Very helpful.  That after she said she could work with me, yet neglected to followup with some excellent resources I gave her.  So I asked a local FTM and ended up going to 2 different gender therapists.

The rest is history.


Jay

Quote from: Nick Aiden on July 22, 2010, 06:37:22 PM
I figured as much of the "requirements" I could get out of the way before it cost me money the better haha.

Erm...requirements? Like what?

I've heard that most therapists like for you to have been presenting as your target gender for a year, but I have no idea what other 'requirements' they like met.

I'm dead broke (had to stop seeing my therapist b/c of money...) so I would LOVE to be able to take a similar shortcut. The more I can accomplish before having to pay a therapist, the better!

~Byren

Quote from: quincymaureen on July 23, 2010, 12:10:53 AM
Okay, the only problem is it is really hard for me to trust people and like be straight forward, it took me a little while to be straight with my therapist, but now i pretty much trust her.

I have the same problem. I see a therapist for other reasons, and he basically told me that if I want to transition I'll need to see someone else who specializes in gender issues. So I'm thinking about it right now, because I'm really worried about changing to someone else, although it would be to my benefit. He also said he would be more than willing to refer me. So I guess it is a good thing I came out to him. He didn't tell me to repress it or anything.

There's a gender therapist here in town whose MO is confrontational. She apparently likes to challenge the client's belief that he or she is trans. Many of us are so fragile at that point that we just turtle up, stop going, and wind up being self-destructive in some way. Watch out for therapists like these.

The HRT letter can come from a general therapist, but WPATH recommends that the therapist have at least a master's degree in a relevant area of study, appropriate credentials, and some experience with sexual disorders and gender identity issues. If you don't have a gender specialist in your area, you might scope out the endocrinologist first and find out what he or she requires. I imagine that some doctors insist on a therapist who specializes in gender.

BTW, we have a great wiki on this site with lots of good info. I suggest that you go there and poke around a bit.

Oh, and you don't need to get hormones from an endo. Lots of doctors can accommodate you.

Unlike most of the guys in this thread i had a really good experience with my therapist who is not a gender therapist. I started seeing her before i had discovered that i was transgendered so the reason i originally went to see her was not to get a T letter. I am the first patient she has written a T letter for, and have successfully gotten my hands on testosterone.

You cannot ask your therapist to write you a t letter out of the blue. There is no way that will ever happen. You must first come out to your therapist explain your feelings and show these are true genuine feelings. Since she has been seeing your therapist for a while now, she will probably see how it relates to you. At least thats how it worked out for me.

Good luck

Well I got on T through informed consent. But it wasn't that easy.

I was referred to his doc from a friend who went through therapy for T but said that his doc did informed consent also. I called them and they required a letter stating that in the past or present you'd seen a therapist- not necessarily for gender related issues. I brought that in and the doc said great, let's get you started. And that was that. I had to sign a thing saying that I understood informed consent and the risks of T. He said that the letter saying I'd seen a therapist was required cause T is a steroid.

So my path to T was relatively easy, but I had no idea that some docs did informed consent other than in large cities until my friend referred me. So it might not hurt to call around.

Quote from: Mark on July 23, 2010, 03:00:41 PM
Unlike most of the guys in this thread i had a really good experience with my therapist who is not a gender therapist.

I'm glad that people get decent results from non-gender-therapists. I picked mine because gender is one of his specialties, and he's amazing. But a gender specialty is not a prereq for awesomeness.

Quincymaureen, you can work up to the subject gradually, drop a hint or two.

Or you might take a week or two to write everything down and say it just the way you want to say it. You can read the letter in your session, let the therapist read it, or just leave the letter at the end of a session. It's worth thinking about.