I don't know what happened to my mother during pregnancy. I do know I am very different from my brothers. I am small boned and feminine and my brothers are big and very guy like. My guess is I got an extra dose of estrogen or a small dose of T. I do know that my GID was not learned; it has always been there. My interest in my mothers clothes and makeup when I was very young was natural and nobody influenced me. I am not mentally ill and am quite normal except for having the wrong plumbing. The vast majority of us who undergo GRS are very happy and comfortable when natures mistake is corrected.

Pam

As far as I know, my mom had a normal pregnancy with me, except that some time during it, she got sick with a high fever and chose to take antibiotics.  Apparently, there was some risk associated with the antibiotics, but it was less than that associated with having a fever during pregnancy.  So that's probably insignificant.

What is more interesting is that I recently learned that years before I was born, my mother was diagnosed with lymphoma and told that she would live for no more than a few more years.  I don't think there was any attempt to treat it.  But over the years, my mom's health improved, and eventually, there were no longer any signs that she had lymphoma.  So maybe it was a misdiagnosis, or maybe she actually made a full recovery?  Maybe she actually had a non-cancerous immune system disorder?  I doubt that has anything to do with TG, but who knows.

My mother had to take sex hormones for a couple of years to even get pregnant, it was in the early 70ies. It was a new product, experimental stage, and she accepted to play the guinea pig. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tries, she cannot remember how that medicine was called.

This might be the reason why I am both trans and bi, maybe even for my weird natural sex hormone balance. But that's fine with me, a queerness side effect is much better than anything else.

@ Cindy

I apologise for not having come back to this one sooner...

Cindy.... that a very interesting post... I guess we're just not relevant enough in numbers only 1–10k births M-F's....and only 1–30k births with F-M's...

And religious bigotry is an issue that will always remain....

The (biological) truth is out there....I'm in no doubt of that ....no faith required...lol

@ pebbles...

I'm sorry if you find this post offensive....

@ Riven1

That's an amazing coincidence....my mother also had no further babies after me, though she tried...with many miscarriages and a hysterectomy... I've yet to ask whether she was on DES while carrying me.

@ Al James...

If you were born 50's-1960's and your mum had a history of miscarriage then DES could have been administered to help her.... carry you through to term....it was heavily promoted so at the time..

@ Muffin....

I believe that biologically many if not most things happen for a reason.... and if science can explain this.... then it has a part to play... for me.

I believe all sexual orientation and identity issues have a good base in brain chemistry....and what happened when the structures were being formed...

But in all else as people I'm sure we're all completely different..

@ all whom have posted so far...thank you for the replies very interesting...

You are VERY much onto something here, and I agree with you totally!

We are NOT pathological.  Ours is, in fact, a medical condition. 

Very briefly, my story:  Born in late 1955.  Adopted at age 8 months.  About 8 years ago, wrote to the agency which adopted me out, filled out their casework forms and got a synopsis of my birth history from the social worker assigned to my case.  My birth mother was under immense stress at both my conception and delivery.  I'm the survivor of an identical twin gestation and birth.  Lastly, I learned much about my genetic-lineage medical history.  It's good, fortunately.  Also learned personality characteristics of birth parents.  Interesting!  Many things FINALLY made sense.  Birth mom was petite, pretty, brilliant and about age 32 when my sorry butt was born.  I am the product of an extramarital affair betwixt people in an on-the-job liaison.  In the mid-1950s, this was a huge disgrace.  Hence, the adoption.  Get rid of the problem.  Don't ask.  Don't tell.  Good bye.

Absolutely agree with you that we should be taken out of the diagnostic statistical manual.  Also, I've worked in the medical records business for about 15 years now.  I don't handle medical records.  I create them.  People like me are the nameless, faceless nobodies you never see and never know about who transcribe doctors' dictations when you stay in the hospital.  I did hard time on the front lines of medical transcription for 11+ years.  As of late, I've done quality control for medical transcription --- the best of the best of the best.  We QCs are the LAST eyes to see your hospital report ... before it goes to the doctor for a signature.  It HAS to be right by then.

Here's the point:

Because I work on the frontlines of medicine (I operate behind the scenes.)(Your doctor, your nurses and us transcription people are THE most important people in your life whenever you are in the hospital.), my opinion is an informed one on this particular topic.  Over the years, I've done reports on many brain surgeries, neurological surgeries, research reports on the same matters.  Neuropharmacological researches are now definitely establishing that our condition is most assuredly both a structural and biochemical anomaly.  In plain English:  There's a damned good biological reason why we are the way we are.  We are NOT whackos.

The researchers' findings are still being vetted out in the peer review process.  That is why you haven't heard of them yet.  It may be years before you do.  In fact, it may be many years.  Why?  The Powers that Be don't like people like us. 

Footnote:  Researches find that sexual orientation is likewise biochemically determined.

   Astonishing!  We're NOT nuts!  Like, no kidding?!?   About time they figured that out!

Well such biochemical findings don't prove that we're not nuts. Many mental diseases are also at least partially due to chemical imbalances in the brain. But at least it proves we don't just make something up.

This from today's online Independent...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/delia-formerly-david-i-was-trapped-in-the-wrong-body-2047969.html

She's the right age group (born 1955) to be a DES affected child...

and guess what....she's dyslexic...

Such random coincidences eh.....?

I don't really believe in any straight forward simple answers to this question. I don't really believe that all trans people are the same and that everyones motives for transition are identical. And to be honest, I don't really care what the answers are, I think we'd all be better served by worrying about ourselves a little more, and a little less about applying all encompassing theories to explain everyone else.

I also think we're better served using our minds as evidence of what we are, and less specific items of behavior.

Mental disorder, not mental disorder, I care less and less over time. As long as people aren't trying to 'cure' me and tell me my condition is psychological because my dad didn't want me and I had no male role model or some such nonsense that you can use to explain absolutely any behavior. Then I don't care.

To answer your question, my mum got pregnant when my dad didn't want kids and she refused to have another abortion (same situation had happened previously but aborted), they were fighting a lot, supposedly I was almost miscarried or something. Ended up being born a couple weeks overdue. So, not a typical problem free pregnancy.

The way I see it, it all boils down to two simple practical questions. One is can our condition be corrected by changing our minds to have a congruent gender identity, the other is, if you could, would you?