Transfem
A community for transfeminine people and experiences.
This is a supportive community for all transfeminine or questioning people. Anyone is welcome to participate in this community but disrupting the safety of this space for trans feminine people is unacceptable and will result in moderator action.
Debate surrounding transgender rights or acceptance will result in an immediate ban.
- Please follow the rules of the lemmy.blahaj.zone instance.
- Bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated.
- Gatekeeping will not be tolerated.
- Please be kind and respectful to all.
- Please tag NSFW topics.
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- Please provide content warnings where appropriate.
- Please do not repost bigoted content here.
This community is supportive of DIY HRT. Unsolicited medical advice or caution being given to people on DIY will result in moderator action.
Posters may express that they are looking for responses and support from groups with certain experiences (eg. trans people, trans people with supportive parents, trans parents.). Please respect those requests and be mindful that your experience may differ from others here.
Some helpful links:
- The Gender Dysphoria Bible // In depth explanation of the different types of gender dysphoria.
- Trans Voice Help // A community here on blahaj.zone for voice training.
- LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory // A directory of LGBTQ+ accepting Healthcare providers.
- Trans Resistance Network // A US-based mutual aid organization to help trans people facing state violence and legal discrimination.
- TLDEF's Trans Health Project // Advice about insurance claims for gender affirming healthcare and procedures.
- TransLifeLine's ID change Library // A comprehensive guide to changing your name on any US legal document.
Support Hotlines:
- The Trevor Project // Web chat, phone call, and text message LGBTQ+ support hotline.
- TransLifeLine // A US/Canada LGBTQ+ phone support hotline service. The US line has Spanish support.
- LGBT Youthline.ca // A Canadian LGBT hotline support service with phone call and web chat support. (4pm - 9:30pm EST)
- 988lifeline // A US only Crisis hotline with phone call, text and web chat support. Dedicated staff for LGBTQIA+ youth 24/7 on phone service, 3pm to 2am EST for text and web chat.
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Aaaand that's when you get a different doctor - the adverse effects would be from taking oral, which at least plausibly taxes the liver, while injections are practically risk-free by comparison. My current endo actually tries to get her patients off oral and suggests injections instead.
What's the reasoning here? There is no evidence injected bioidentical estrogen carries any heart risks, the closest thing would be that synthetic estrogen pills might increase risk because of those studies on Premarin, but that's a reason to do injections rather than oral (though the pills you take should be bioidentical now).
please, please do!
Even somewhere like Planned Parenthood that offers informed consent would be better. Your current doctor sounds transphobic and misinformed, they should let you be in control of your care especially with a decision like oral vs injections.
I recommend meeting and talking to the local trans community and finding out who other people see and which doctors the community recommends, that can be a good way to find a doctor who actually knows something about trans care or at least will allow you to have more autonomy in your care (though ... don't expect even the good ones to know enough, unfortunately we're still at a place where trans people really have to educate themselves and take their care into their own hands).
I like the patches personally but I wish insurance would cover the hrt implant pellets.
I haven't done them personally, but my endo offered. I am too much of a control freak about my levels to rely on a pellet, at least pre-op. I should re-consider them now that I'm post-orchi π€
I know someone post op on pellets. She is very pleased to only have to think about hrt once every six months. I'm a bit jealous
I'm on implants too. Love them precisely for that reason. Not having to think about HRT is nice
you are person I was thinking of :P
Oh. Well, in that case, FYI, I get 100mg pellets and they last about 12 months
what is recovery like after the implant?
I ask because I have a relative who got pellet implants but it took a while for them to be able to sit right and engage in aerobic exercise (can't remember if it was a week?), and they had to get the implant once every few months so it wasn't reasonable for them.
Honestly, it depends on the doctor. My original doctor had been doing trans healthcare for decades, and she had it down to an art. She'd put them implant in my abdomen, I'd get a single stitch, and had to avoid strenuous activity for a couple of days, but it was otherwise it was minimal impact.
I asked her to put one in my butt cheek once. She'd never done that before, and it showed. It was a more troubled implant, and took me longer to recover from, and made sitting uncomfortable for a few days.
And my current GP who doesn't have quite the same experience as the first, tends to leave a bruise when he does the implant, but it otherwise heals the same as always. A single stitch, and a couple of days without strenuous activity.
How much does it cost?
About $160 AUD for the pellet. Plus whatever a long appointment with the GP costs.
Gosh, yeah I would love to be on pellets
The risk aversion is deviation from their standard plan and from possible mortality as a side effect of bica. Yes, I 'm aware that it's an exceedingly low chance. They are still stuck in the early 2000's for treatment plans.
The risk of heart issues is actually the spiro, which appears to be happening but they still aren't responding to the request. I was over 190bpm during a distance run this weekend, and that's considered the red zone for ages 40 and up. I'm normally around 150 for a tempo run and 50 flat for resting. This is absolutely an anomaly for me.
My doctor happens to be a trans woman. Howewver, she transitioned more than a decade ago and is comparing everything to her experience. I'm not sure if she's bothered keeping up with things. I'm not here to judge, just to get myself in order.
Try as I have, this part has been exceedingly difficult. The only meetups are youth oriented or singles mingles at bars. I'm married, don't drink, and too old for that. There's pride, annually, but this area isn't fantastic for just finding folx at local establishments being themselves. I also happen to work a later shift. It's quite lonely out here.
Spiro also carries mortality risk, a greater but similar risk AFAIK as bica. My liver enzyme levels were elevated on bica, but my endo was not concerned about it, he said they often just stabilize and it's not a reason to stop. I only stopped bica because it didn't act on the CNS and help with my biochemical dysphoria - I was just as miserable from the T in my body with it vs without. (So I did monotherapy instead.)
Your doctors are not sufficiently educated and are putting your life at risk as a result. That's unfortunate, but at least it sounds like you know what to do.
tbh, I don't know that being trans makes a difference, Caitlyn Jenner is trans and that doesn't stop her from being an anti-trans menace on Fox News. You would hope being trans would help, but it sounds like it's actually hurting your care, since she is not educating herself.
I'm in a conservative southern city, but even we have a local pride organization that runs the annual pride event - they had a trans support group that I went to and that's how I got connected. Sometimes it's just a matter of finding the right person to let you in the door, so to speak. Maybe reaching out to the local pride org and asking around to see if any other events you don't know about are happening, or even suggesting hosting a trans event if you ever feel like it.
Either way, it's probably just a matter of persistence and continuing to network - there are trans people where you are, and someone is probably organizing something. If not, you could always try to get a directory going, make a group chat, etc. and start to get people connected. That's more effort, but it's quite valuable to have your local trans community's experiences available to you - it tells you a lot, what places to go to, what places to avoid. Which hair dresser is safe and good, which dentist is safe, etc. - there are so many reasons that network is so important.