Questions about gender identity...

[WomanPariah]

distilled to its essence

 

[ShyQuest]

Finding a therapist:

i just laid it on the line to my family doctor (they are sworn to secrecy doncha know?) .... he gave me a referral to a decent psychiatrist. I've found it helpful to have someone who knows my medical history to be on board from the get-go.

The psychiatrist eventually recommended a gender centre ... they were helpful too. So was cogiati. After i'd done the test three times and scored 160 or more each time, i was pretty sure what direction i should go (that wasn't the only deciding factor, but it helped).

Once i, finally, got started on a prescription from my endocrinologist (this doctor was also obtained from a referral by my family doctor), it was so much easier to discuss ALL of my issues with my family doctor any time i went to see him.

ie. interactions of pills with hormones, etc etc.

Anyway, get your hands on all the info you can. And as at least one person here has said, don't rush it. You are so young.

Don't let this sway you, please, but i wish i had known at your age what i know now: if you DO begin hormone therapy, it IS best to begin no later than aged 24: the bones are still growing, your hormones are still settling until age 26. In other words, you'll have a better chance of getting a more feminine figure, perhaps less hair removal trouble, etc, if you start at about 24 or so.
AGAIN: this is ONLY IF YOU KNOW YOU ARE TRULY FEMALE. I started late, didn't start hormones until 35. I'm ok, but it would have been nice to know about the age thing when i still had the window, ya know?

Also (long winded bitch here): Apparently, once you begin a signficant dosage of Estradiol, or whatever (dosage at say 2.5mg/day or more) for about 5 months: consider your male fertility gone FOREVER. That's something else i didn't know.

Bonne chance. Just get through school for now, get a shrink as soon as you can. Do lots of research, just like you're doing.

Oh boy, if the web resources were around when i was your age ... ah me!

Thanks for reading.

Thank you! Your post is very informative

I didn't know about the age thing... But it still leaves me with a couple of years to figure things out! And I did know about the infertility. I guess you just can't have everything!

I still haven’t told everything to my family doctor, but I would want to eventually... It’s just really hard for me to talk about this. Plus I recently changed doctors so I don’t know this one well yet.

Merci! Thanks for posting!

 

[Nimbikarana]

roses for you. good luck sorting it all out

& yeah listen to tymeless, she knows the deal

 

[ShyQuest]

roses for you. good luck sorting it all out

& yeah listen to tymeless, she knows the deal

Thanks!

People here are so nice, I'm glad I found this place!

 

[Nimbikarana]

PS Etoile is nice too

 

[ShyQuest]

PS Etoile is nice too

Thanks!
I'll keep an eye out for their posts