Seems there are lots of people who hesitate to go to their regular or family doctor to start the transition process.

Seems like a curious mix of shame and distrust holds them back.

But if want TSism to be accepted as the genuine medical condition it is then it is logical to go to the regular doctor to start the ball rolling as otherwise how can the word be spread and everyone educated?

By getting online therapies and hormones and going secretly for surgery merely feeds the bigots who claim that sex chnage is a perversion and the changers are homosexual/lesbian perverts as why do it in secret?

Other people can play representative. I'm not interested, I'm more interested in my best interests.


That's why.

As I am responsible for my health, I had no choice but to go to my GP to start the ball rolling.. Explained myself to my GP, who then gave me a referral to a psychiatrist who deals in Gender issues. Six visits over 3 months and he will refer me to an Endo who will then prescribe HRT after doing some initial blood work. The Endo will do regular blood work to monitor my hormone levels as well as other blood factors.. Continued visits to the psychiatrist over a 2 year period will gain me my referral for surgery.. Both my GP and psychiatrist have something in common - they are both looking after my best interests..

Every one of us the does it the right way makes it easier for the next.. DIY is not looking after anyone's best interests..

I went to my GP and asked for a referral to CAMH for assessment.  Reason:  Their letter confirming GID will set me up to get SRS paid for by the province.  No small matter, that.  Got the referral back in July, still waiting for an appointment, but in the meantime, I found a great gender therapist.  THAT is costing me money, but well worth it.  When I get the letter from CAMH after the assessment, I'll go back to the GP with therapist's letter in hand for a referral to an endo for HRT.  That will be a milestone.

So I really don't see why you feel the need to generalize and assume that massive numbers of people are acting irrationally and irresponsibly.  I do hope you are under a doctor's care...

I went to my GP to ask for hormones.  He prescribed them for me.  I went to a regular therapist for my gender issues.  She helped me with them.  It never occurred to me to go to specialists.  But my situation is not the same as others.  We each do this as we deem best for ourselves.

Yes, this is a normally-occurring condition that can be treated by normal GPs and therapists, but not everyone can go that route - either because of their own issues or because the regular doctors and therapists don't see it as normal.

- Kate

When I first came to terms with my gender problems, I went to my primary care doctor and was promptly handed my a__ and made to feel very foolish and 'dirty'. I hope that my experience was not the 'norm' and most of us do not have to suffer the indignity that I suffered at the hands of someone who was supposed to help me.
Randi

Quote from: K8 on October 21, 2010, 05:30:40 PM
I went to my GP to ask for hormones.  He prescribed them for me.  I went to a regular therapist for my gender issues.  She helped me with them.  It never occurred to me to go to specialists.  But my situation is not the same as others.  We each do this as we deem best for ourselves.

Yes, this is a normally-occurring condition that can be treated by normal GPs and therapists, but not everyone can go that route - either because of their own issues or because the regular doctors and therapists don't see it as normal.

- Kate

I'm personally skeptical of some of the "specialists" in my area, mainly because they see and tend to treat transsexuals in one of two lights: 1) As a steady stream of high income given the prolonged nature of transition; or 2) as people entirely defined by their gender issues, so they fail to treat other co-existing problems that the trans-people need to deal with.

For therapy, I went the route of a generalist rather than a specialist.  Ironically, now that she's seen me go through transition, she's trying to expand her penetration into the market... oh well LOL.

For hormones, I did go to an endocrinologist who specialized but that was in part due to known complications in my own biology which necessitated having someone with more experience in this areas.  So I think that's the caveat I add to Kate's suggestion -- if you're known to have existing complications then a specialist rather than your GP might be in order.

I'd also add another note to this conversation: some of the folks from the UK, might not realize just how different transcare is here in the US.  There's no overseeing body standardizing who gets treated and many medical professionals in the US are not trans-friendly at all, making it next to impossible in some areas to find someone who will treat you... for those people, DIY  or informed consent may be the only way.

I started DIY. I needed to know RIGHT NOW. I had no intention of going to my GP and saying 'I am trans' without finding out if indeed female hormones would help me. (stupid ego thing causeing me issues as ussual)
Personaly I am of the opinion that if I hadnt of started DIY when I did I might have choosen the 100gr lead cure.
Also I was of the opinion that I had played man well enough around my doctor that he would never give me HRT and I was almost right. My doctor only gave me HRT because I was DIY and my wife and my HIV care case worker pretty much cowed him into submission. If I had not been DIY for the first month I might very well not be here today.

While I understand the dangers of DIY and I do not recomend it, it is good that it is so easy to get hormones.
Some of us are kinda knuckle headed and do not admit they have a problem until it is critical. That was me. I literaly waited until it was transition or die, and when I say that I mean it was TRANSITION NOW OR KILL YOURSELF.

just my 2 centavos

Quote from: kelly_aus on October 21, 2010, 05:47:23 AM
As I am responsible for my health, I had no choice but to go to my GP to start the ball rolling.. Explained myself to my GP, who then gave me a referral to a psychiatrist who deals in Gender issues. Six visits over 3 months and he will refer me to an Endo who will then prescribe HRT after doing some initial blood work. The Endo will do regular blood work to monitor my hormone levels as well as other blood factors.. Continued visits to the psychiatrist over a 2 year period will gain me my referral for surgery.. Both my GP and psychiatrist have something in common - they are both looking after my best interests..

Every one of us the does it the right way makes it easier for the next.. DIY is not looking after anyone's best interests..

That's a very nice blanket statement, unfortunately like almost all blanket statements, the truth is somewhere in between.

I went to my GP, who gave me a referral to a psychiatrist who deals in gender issues. I was given no indication when I would be given access to HRT, and had it implied to me that as I was not a crossdresser, I would need to begin real life experience well before I was ready too or I wouldn't get them. I went back to my GP and asked for a referral to a different psychiatrist. That went even worse, she was condescending, told me inaccurate BS, and also insisted that HRT was not anywhere in my immediate future.

Went back to my GP, asked for help, she gave me a third referral to a psychiatrist plus one to a new GP who specialized in these issues, plus a warning that if I self medicated she (the original GP) would drop me as a patient. By this point I had gotten pretty frustrated with the system, and after many warnings that I would self medicate if I was given arbitrary rules involving crossdressing prior to HRT, I would self medicate, and I did.

By self medicating, I was quickly given a recommendation for HRT by my third psychiatrist under a harm reduction principle, and that was that.

I don't for a moment regret self medicating, and I absolutely would do it again in hindsight.

This is NOT saying I condone self medication, I think it's a complicated issue and one where it's certainly not a first choice option. But it is an option and it does have its place.

Quote from: Ashley4214 on October 22, 2010, 10:20:38 PM
That's a very nice blanket statement, unfortunately like almost all blanket statements, the truth is somewhere in between.

No blanket statement, it's simply the truth. My therapist and I have discussed it and this is the plan.. Because he operates as part of the SA Gender Unit, he is obliged to see me for the 3 months before he can refer me to the Endo..

It's become clear to me that, in general, here in Australia the medical profession seems to provide better and more straight forward treatment than others receive in places such as the US..

I saw my family doctor first and told him everything, he then sent a referral through to CAMH. In the mean time I have been seeing a therapist that is trying to get me in to see an endocrinologist in Hamilton, luckily my therapist is covered by OHIP.

I started DIY.  Between my therapist and my GP they got me on monitored HRT.  After I lost my insurance, I was forced to go back to DIY.  But when I got into a low cost clinic here, my Doctor prescribed HRT.  My therapist help me understand things about myself which are now in the past.

My therapist and my psychiatrist have now cleared my for SRS.   

That's great Janet.