TransWhatevers of AVEN

[Guest]

Just now, butterflydreams said:

You have to take both. Estrogen alone will just get blown away by endogenous testosterone. The anti androgens pave the way for the estrogen to work. Anti androgens alone have a weak feminizing effect, but having no predominant sex hormone in your system isn't good in the long run.

OK, thanks. So, it would be a bit more for the cost of the estrogen along with anti-androgen pills?  

[butterflydreams]

1 minute ago, Serran said:

OK, thanks. So, it would be a bit more for the cost of the estrogen along with anti-androgen pills?  

Yes, but the bulk of the cost is going to be the estradiol, in whatever form you take.

[Mezzo Forte]

@Heart I love you with all my aromantic heart for sharing all that information with me! I'm looking at living in Ontario, and what's got me nervous is not having prescriptions covered because I need to be able to afford my testosterone, though I imagine that I would qualify as low-income living off just my graduate stipend. If I get accepted to do my PhD in Canada, I'm going to really start inquiring deeply into the system, as I can't say yes to the university unless I can guarantee that I'll be able to afford my hormones/health insurance. It'd really suck to turn down such a good school over something like insurance, especially in Canada of all places.

 

3 hours ago, Serran said:

Question: Does anyone know how much it costs (rough price range) for HRT if you do not have medical insurance that covers transgender services in the U.S? 

If your insurance covers the doctor's visits, then the testosterone itself can vary in price, but the 2,000mg vial of Testosterone Cypionate that I recently bought would have been either $30 or $40 USD without insurance, (it was $20 with insurance,) and with my current dosage, that lasts me ~20 weeks. Pretty sure 200mg vials tend to be $10 each, so even at the most expensive, it'd be $20~$30 a month. You'll have to say that you're self-injecting if you want the bigger vials though, because some pharmacies will only sell you the single-dose vials if they know you're going to a doctor's office to get the injections. Something about liability issues or something. I don't know how much that price can vary though. Needles/syringes are pretty cheap too, though my doctor's office handed me a metric shit-ton of them forever ago so I wouldn't need to go buy them. They also gave me my own needle disposal too and said they'd take care of it when it fills up.

[Heart]

On ‎1‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 9:47 PM, Mezzo Forte said:

I feel kind of bad. I've been so caught up keeping my head above water preparing my lectures that I just haven't been able to invest my time in my trans musicians project. I'm supposed to do a test run ~13 hours from now, and here I am still transcribing the last of my interviews. I'm still uncertain the best way to even organize all of this. Plus, I still need to cut up some audio clips from the interviews themselves, because I want to genuinely have these people's real voices heard. Pretty sure this upcoming test run is going to be a bit of a shitshow, and I'm not thrilled to do that with a topic as dear to me as this is. >>

Somehow, I missed this the first time I read through and by a miracle I'm on a different computer and started reading here again But yeah, I just wanted to poke my head in and assure you that this is how 99% of academia works. No one expects a polished version on the first try; that's what trial runs are for. I hope you just did it and asked for advice on how to organise

 

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 3:53 PM, Metamorphic WinterDragon said:

First time I'm in this forum....

I just saw a video and now look back at how I saw myself when I was younger, how uncomfortable being in  female clothing and open when I wore masculine clothing when I could. Now today I'm in my late 20s and I noticed I never liked wearing female clothing, perhaps I'm far more masculine than I thought. All my life I hated wearing female clothes, I felt exposed and very uncomfortable although I wear gender neutral clothing right now I do it because I don't know how the band I'm practicing with will react if I waltzed in dressed in completely male clothing. I HATE wear female clothing and now that I look at how I've been lately there is one friend who I'm going to ask her what her thoughts are, she knows I'm asexual and when I told her I'm getting a binder (I can thank @Heart ) I said I'm getting a binder to flatten my chest. I said "I'm getting a binder and a friend is helping me, I'm getting it because I hate how big my breast are"  Shae said "I'm sure that's not only why you're getting one" Maybe it's time to realize I maybe trans but still I do not know at this time.

I'm just glad I can help  

 

21 hours ago, Jayce said:

$50 on make up?? Whoa! Sounds expensive 

I didn’t know crossdressing was so expensive  

 

Anyways, i’m a 100% sure i don’t want to transition, when i read all these stories about goatees and hair everywhere i don’t know if i’m cut to be a guy. But what is a requirement to be a guy anyway? I wonder

 

Ahh don’t mind me rambling

 

*Hides somewhere in a corner*

 

I wish so much that people could select the specific things from HRT that they wanted and just not experience the rest. Like, I'd be down for masculinizing fat distributions, narrower hips, angular-er face, easier retention and buildup of muscle, good bye shark week, heck even the facial hair (oh god, I'm so far in the masculine swing now.... it feels dysphoric and painful ).  Ok, so at the moment I want it all, I'd even take acne as a side effect. But I know I'd feel the opposite one day when my gender swung around again. I wish I could pick and choose... and then pick to have it all reversible.

 

What does it take to be "cut out" to be a guy? Well, at least that one's an easy question. One must be:

• swift as the coursing river
• with all the force of a great typhoon
• with all the strength of a raging fire
• mysterious as the dark side of the moon

*can't get the song out of my head now*

 

4 hours ago, Serran said:

Well, that makes it a lot easier for the person I know who has been looking into it but worried about the cost being a factor, if that's the case.  I keep looking up stuff online but the cost breakdowns are all just surgeries, no one talked about the HRT costs. Thank you !

Yeah, the cost of the surgeries tends to eclipse all the medications at least during the first stages of transition...

 

1 hour ago, Mezzo Forte said:

@Heart I love you with all my aromantic heart for sharing all that information with me! I'm looking at living in Ontario, and what's got me nervous is not having prescriptions covered because I need to be able to afford my testosterone, though I imagine that I would qualify as low-income living off just my graduate stipend. If I get accepted to do my PhD in Canada, I'm going to really start inquiring deeply into the system, as I can't say yes to the university unless I can guarantee that I'll be able to afford my hormones/health insurance. It'd really suck to turn down such a good school over something like insurance, especially in Canada of all places.

 

I'm pretty sure that all grad students in Canada have extended medical plans that cover some portion of prescription drugs. I have never had to pay more than like $10 for medication, even stuff that should have cost a lot. My extended medical costs me ~$450 a year, and I would be surprised if yours were much different in the event that you went to Ontario. Mine is also quite good, they didn't cheap out on us because we're students! So yes, you'll likely be low-income, but you'll also have extended medical that you'll have to pay for if you're not still covered under your parents' medical (which most grad students aren't, though I don't know American things).

 

And I platonically love you too  

[Mezzo Forte]

28 minutes ago, Heart said:

Somehow, I missed this the first time I read through and by a miracle I'm on a different computer and started reading here again But yeah, I just wanted to poke my head in and assure you that this is how 99% of academia works. No one expects a polished version on the first try; that's what trial runs are for. I hope you just did it and asked for advice on how to organise

Funny, I was actually writing a post in the Gender Positive thread about how the presentation went, but I can just mention here instead!

 

Although I have to make some big changes to meet Harvard's time restrictions (ie. literally cut it in half,) the presentation that I did give was actually very well-received and sparked some rather inspired conversation in the Q&A afterwards. In addition to a fair amount of graduate musicology students, I had six different faculty members present, one of whom showed up while on sabbatical, and they all had good commentary about ways to potentially make cuts.

 

Everyone seemed very engaged in the presentation, and this was one of the few times I didn't feel the need to roll my eyes at the "you're so brave" comments I got. (I was very nervous leading up to the presentation, especially because I was running on 30 minutes of sleep and was prepping the dang thing right until showtime.) One grad student even hugged me while thanking me for speaking on the topic, and I don't think I've ever seen that happen at these kinds of events.

 

This project is far bigger in scope than I can even begin to convey in a 20 minute presentation. Some of the faculty suggested I carve it up into several articles to publish across multiple journals actually. (Basically, use the same data, but with a different focal point per article.)

 

One thing I'm sorry to say is that I forgot to have someone record this run, but if I remember, I'll have someone tape my second practice run (coming up on Tuesday) and then I'll see if I can record the actual Harvard conference.

 

28 minutes ago, Heart said:

I'm pretty sure that all grad students in Canada have extended medical plans that cover some portion of prescription drugs. I have never had to pay more than like $10 for medication, even stuff that should have cost a lot. My extended medical costs me ~$450 a year, and I would be surprised if yours were much different in the event that you went to Ontario. Mine is also quite good, they didn't cheap out on us because we're students! So yes, you'll likely be low-income, but you'll also have extended medical that you'll have to pay for if you're not still covered under your parents' medical (which most grad students aren't, though I don't know American things).

 

And I platonically love you too  

I really appreciate knowing all of this! I worry that being an international student rather than a citizen could complicate things, but a lot of the Americans I know who have actually spent a significant amount of time in Canada seem surprised when I mention my concerns. Hopefully, I'm just overthinking everything and getting worried over nothing, but I'd rather know what I'm getting into and sort through all of this ahead of time.

 

I still have my parents' insurance until I turn 26, but I don't know how that works with having US health insurance in Canada. I'll likely have to talk to my provider directly about some of that, but it'll only be a year until I have to be on my own anyways.

 

<3

[Mezzo Forte]

30 minutes ago, Heart said:

What does it take to be "cut out" to be a guy? Well, at least that one's an easy question. One must be:

• swift as the coursing river
• with all the force of a great typhoon
• with all the strength of a raging fire
• mysterious as the dark side of the moon

*can't get the song out of my head now*

Well, I know what I'm adding to my shot song playlist now.

[Emery.]

2 hours ago, Heart said:

I wish so much that people could select the specific things from HRT that they wanted and just not experience the rest. Like, I'd be down for masculinizing fat distributions, narrower hips, angular-er face, easier retention and buildup of muscle, good bye shark week, heck even the facial hair (oh god, I'm so far in the masculine swing now.... it feels dysphoric and painful ).  Ok, so at the moment I want it all, I'd even take acne as a side effect. But I know I'd feel the opposite one day when my gender swung around again. I wish I could pick and choose... and then pick to have it all reversible.

I wish there was something that made people more androgynous without neccesarily going the other way  I wish I could look in between. Have the cake and eat the cake. 

 

I hate periods (mine are quite rough) and getting birth control for it is tempting, but I'm not so positive about the feminising effects the hormones might have. Especially as for some strange reason, my period just shrinked to a really short one that doesn't hurt recently  I can even work out on the period. My doctor says some women experience heavy periods in their teens and later - not. 

[Guest]

@Heart @Mezzo Forte thanks you two, now my mind has gone lost somewhere over the rainbow  

 

Yes to selective HRT, if that was a thing i’d be making sure i’d get my first shot somewhere this year  

[SkyWorld]

@Heart @Jayce It would be nice if selective HRT was a thing. I didn’t really want facial hair, but I’ll be honest, I’m already really hairy for an AFAB. Not only with PCOS, but also genetics. The women in my family are pretty hairy. I’ve always had a lot of body hair, even more than some guys, if not just as hairy. I went along with it anyway because even some cisguys shave and I don’t mind shaving too. Tbh, I kind of already did that from time to time. It wasn’t so bad.

 

I’ve started T because my body (hips) and voice would always give me away when trying to pass. To me personally, I felt like the other effects I could get through to finally feel more comfortable with myself. Of course the bine structure can’t change, but the fat redistribution. I’d love to reach a point to joke about my feminine hips, just as some cisguys have feminine hips.

 

Almost 3 weeks on T! I’ve been recording my voice weekly so far. Not sure if there’s a slight difference yet, especially since I had a cold or flu or something the second week, so my voice was sounding different regardless. I also planned on taking pics every 2 weeks, even if I hate pictures of myself, I’m curious to compare myself then and now.

[Mezzo Forte]

2 hours ago, SkyWorld said:

Almost 3 weeks on T! I’ve been recording my voice weekly so far. Not sure if there’s a slight difference yet, especially since I had a cold or flu or something the second week, so my voice was sounding different regardless. I also planned on taking pics every 2 weeks, even if I hate pictures of myself, I’m curious to compare myself then and now.

Congrats! And honestly, you have no idea how many accounts of people having colds during the beginning of HRT that I've encountered over the years, so even that is kind of normal. The voice drop is going to be quite subtle at first, but it builds up even before the big drop. I neglected recording my voice during the first 4 months, and at 3 months in, (before the crack,) my dad played back a voicemail I left for him, and even that difference was pretty jarring. 

 

You know, I started a lot more selfies when I started transitioning because of exactly that. I have an embarrassing amount of selfies on my phone because of that now.  

[Andiamo]

11 hours ago, Heart said:

What does it take to be "cut out" to be a guy? Well, at least that one's an easy question. One must be:

• swift as the coursing river
• with all the force of a great typhoon
• with all the strength of a raging fire
• mysterious as the dark side of the moon

*can't get the song out of my head now*

This just made my day. Thank you.

[Starbogen]

12 hours ago, Heart said:

What does it take to be "cut out" to be a guy? Well, at least that one's an easy question. One must be:

• swift as the coursing river
• with all the force of a great typhoon
• with all the strength of a raging fire
• mysterious as the dark side of the moon

*can't get the song out of my head now*

So funny because I was just watching Mulan yesterday XD

[Calligraphette_Coe]

On 1/26/2018 at 5:50 PM, Heart said:

 

That bill must have cost more in admin costs and postage just to send out than it was even worth. What...why? *eye roll and sigh*

I know! I was taught business economics by being in biz for myself for a good part of my life and by some of the best teachers in efficiency training, and this is just plain crazy! I was taught that you can't buy a power resistor for 98 cents on credit without it _actually_ costing the company at least $50.00 once you figure in the wages and bennies for people in purchasing, accounts payable and someone to punch in the numbers into the database, not to mention the overall cost of the system hardware and software itself.

 

I've saved my company a fortune over the years by always having a well-stocked engineering junk box. Need a 2-56 x 1/2" machine screw to fasten a gizmo to a detector? We've got that! Yet I constantly have to hide my stash because some manager decided it was going to be a rule that any part not used within 30 days must die.

 

And you get this mentality in aces in the healthcare field. OMG, the stories I could tell you about botched tests, copays, deductibles, double  billing, misbilling, late billing, medical mistakes, equipment that costs a ton more than it's worth, maintenance contracts that are worthless because they'll usually tell you that 'cost of repair exceeds value of unit' because they don't have anyone there who can troubleshoot problems at a component level. "Just buy a new one."

 

Even as I'm writing this, I'm reminded of some fellow travellers in the HPLC world  i met with recently who told me that GE, one of the worst offenders in this regard EVER, is finally getting handed its just deserts. The healthcare industry providers finally got tired of getting raked over the coals and some rather brilliant people came together to provide alternatives. So now GE is hurting.

 

IDK, it's like what Gandhi said about Western civilization: "I think it would be a good idea." I'd love to see  the 'care' part of healthcare make a comeback. Where it's not ALL about making a buck, but about doing the good work of a Nightengale.

 

What you wrote about American healthcare? Ayup! Be afraid, be VERY afraid! I'm only sticking to a job I hate just because i can't afford to be without even crappy health insurance.

[Finn.]

Video resource! FTM clothing tips to help with dysphoria, mostly about top and hip dysphoria. Go follow Aaron btw, he's beautiful inside and out.

 

Other than that. I had my monthly phone call with my mom. It was nice, then she called me by the wrong name again. I sighed but didn't say anything, Afterwards I texted her to please not do that again, as it happens every time at least once. Yeah she didn't text back.

 

I started to refer to myself as Finn more. It's strange, I always avoided referring to myself by name before my name change. So it takes time getting used to it, but it feels like it helps with the name /identity thing I'm having currently. It's nice to call myself Finn.

[butterflydreams]

I am so done with dysphoria 😢

[Mezzo Forte]

1 hour ago, butterflydreams said:

I am so done with dysphoria 😢

*hugs*  

[Janus the Fox]

On 27/01/2018 at 2:03 AM, daveb said:

Welcome to this forum!

 

Yeah, I don't know about the UK (or Europe in general), but there might be some event like the one @Kelly mentioned. Definitely worth looking into! Another option is to find a "dressing service" or someone who does "transformations". They can be pricey, but a good way to make some steps with some help and support. If you don't have those options or can't afford them another idea is to get yourself dressed and go out to a museum or something like that, where you're less likely to run into people who might make trouble. I know some people go to lgbt clubs/bars as their first forays out in public, if you're into nightclubs and bars. And another option is to go to a makeup counter/store and schedule a makeover - here in the US they usually don't charge you for it per se, but require you to spend $50 on makeup (not hard to do as their prices are usually higher than drugstore makeup). They are usually happy to help and you can get some good makeup tips in the process. Just a few thoughts/ideas.  (going out in public can feel very scary in the beginning, but so worth it!)

Yeah, one big difference is physical safety for me and the boyfriend.  I live in a depraved old backwards town where I never see anything LGBT, while the nearest city its quite almost everywhere and has it's own "gay street"  Not too much into clubs but I do attend a Men's Only gay bar for a monthly meetup between fur enthusiasts, furries and all that, it's like the vast majority are LGBT and/or socially differciented so it's the best and safest to go and do some cross-dressing transitioning. 

 

Possibly there's more drag dressing services in the city, but also my nearest city may still be behind in LGBT culture than the rest of the UK or US.

[Janus the Fox]

While on the previous topic, what has the health ramifications been being on HRT?

 

Kind of figured blood works become different eventually, but anyone have other other problems? since a lot of that hormone passes through major organs, often metabolized/managed in the liver.

 

Wondering as I don't have great liver function if such HRT was going to be tried.

[SkyWorld]

13 hours ago, Mezzo Forte said:

Congrats! And honestly, you have no idea how many accounts of people having colds during the beginning of HRT that I've encountered over the years, so even that is kind of normal. The voice drop is going to be quite subtle at first, but it builds up even before the big drop. I neglected recording my voice during the first 4 months, and at 3 months in, (before the crack,) my dad played back a voicemail I left for him, and even that difference was pretty jarring. 

 

You know, I started a lot more selfies when I started transitioning because of exactly that. I have an embarrassing amount of selfies on my phone because of that now.  

Maybe. Though when I was at work, one of my coworkers had a really bad cough and I assumed I had the same cough. She was sick for about 3 days, and so was I. Wasn’t fun. XD But I do feel better now.

[Mezzo Forte]

2 hours ago, Janus DarkFox said:

While on the previous topic, what has the health ramifications been being on HRT?

 

Kind of figured blood works become different eventually, but anyone have other other problems? since a lot of that hormone passes through major organs, often metabolized/managed in the liver.

 

Wondering as I don't have great liver function if such HRT was going to be tried.

I can speak far more about testosterone therapy than estrogen therapy, so I can't speak much in that regards. To my knowledge estrogen's easy enough on the system that you're good using a patch or pill for it, so it's not known for liver issues. I don't know much about spiro/T blockers beyond the fact that 1) they usually work as pills, and 2) I'm pretty sure a lot of doctors don't recommend being on the stuff forever and suggest eventually getting an orchiectomy, though I forget exactly why.

 

Testosterone is dangerous to process through the liver, so the options are basically injections or topical methods like patches or gels. It does impact stuff like hemoglobin levels, Red blood cell count, and cholesterol levels, some of which leave you at higher risk for blood clots and heart disease and whatnot, but they're the same level of risks a cis man would have. That's partially why doctors ask for frequent blood tests in the early stages of HRT. According to my hysto surgeon, the only part of the AFAB reproductive anatomy that's a concern at all long-term on T tends to be the uterus, because a thicker uterine lining (like you would have by not having periods) may be connected to cancer risks. Some say the ovaries can start resembling those of someone with PCOS after a while, but that doesn't always seem to be the case. In my biopsy, everything was pretty much normal except for a very minor abnormality in the endometrium, which was to be expected from testosterone anyways.

 

[SkyWorld]

2 hours ago, Mezzo Forte said:

Testosterone is dangerous to process through the liver, so the options are basically injections or topical methods like patches or gels. It does impact stuff like hemoglobin levels, Red blood cell count, and cholesterol levels, some of which leave you at higher risk for blood clots and heart disease and whatnot, but they're the same level of risks a cis man would have. That's partially why doctors ask for frequent blood tests in the early stages of HRT. According to my hysto surgeon, the only part of the AFAB reproductive anatomy that's a concern at all long-term on T tends to be the uterus, because a thicker uterine lining (like you would have by not having periods) may be connected to cancer risks. Some say the ovaries can start resembling those of someone with PCOS after a while, but that doesn't always seem to be the case. In my biopsy, everything was pretty much normal except for a very minor abnormality in the endometrium, which was to be expected from testosterone anyways.

I'm interested in knowing more about someone with PCOS going on HRT. It's not uncommon for trans or cis AFABs. I knew it was important and I told my doctor and she confirmed that that is an important thing to know. 

[Mezzo Forte]

4 minutes ago, SkyWorld said:

I'm interested in knowing more about someone with PCOS going on HRT. It's not uncommon for trans or cis AFABs. I knew it was important and I told my doctor and she confirmed that that is an important thing to know. 

I can't say I know much about it beyond the fact that I've noticed a lot of guys with PCOS develop their facial hair a bit faster, often because they already had some pre-T. It's quite normal to experience period-like cramps early in HRT, but on rare occasion, some people's sharp pains don't go away without the hysto. I don't know if PCOS would impact that or not though tbh

[SkyWorld]

19 minutes ago, Mezzo Forte said:

I can't say I know much about it beyond the fact that I've noticed a lot of guys with PCOS develop their facial hair a bit faster, often because they already had some pre-T. It's quite normal to experience period-like cramps early in HRT, but on rare occasion, some people's sharp pains don't go away without the hysto. I don't know if PCOS would impact that or not though tbh

It may vary on the person. Some people have a "better" or "worse" case of PCOS than others. I have PCOS myself, and that's pretty much an important reason (not the only reason) why I wanted to go on low dose testosterone because my levels of androgens are already slightly higher than average. When it came to periods, they were extremely irregular, but it started regulating after I've been eating healthier and exercising (which I need to get back to, but I've just been so tired lately).

 

Kind of going on a rant here. From my own experience, I'm kind of embarrassed being diagnosed with PCOS, but also kind of happy because I feel like it's validating my body. Embarrassed because of how what society think of people. Growing up, I have been made fun of my body hair, sideburns, and I'd shave my face because of some noticeable dark hairs. It wasn't what a "female" body should look like and I didn't want people to make fun of me. I still don't want people making fun of me, that's why I'm pretty much still in the closet. But I wish myself and others could just be themselves without being judged and not "feel" like we have to do something about our appearance for the sake of others rather than ourselves.

 

For ciswomen, it's like their body is betraying them. But for me, it's like my body was validating me. Nobody likes being made fun of, but when a ciswoman would do things to their body to combat PCOS effects, they'd feel better about themselves. While I just felt worse about myself because I liked my body, but at least less people would make fun of me for being AFAB looking masculine? Before me coming to terms with gender, a guy had told me that I'd make a good looking guy. I kind of took offense because usually whenever someone says that, it's not meant to be a compliment and they're trying to insult you. Though he insisted that it was a compliment and I just thought, "oh cool". 

[Emery.]

There was one kind of T blocker that was very unhealthy. I can’t remember its name now. It wasn’t spironolactone. It wasn’t finasteride either. Something used to treat prostate cancer. My experience with trying treat acne and fur, lol. I gave up because of mood issues. I should go to endo, btw. I’m no expert on hormones, and it is likely something is up with my adrenals. I don’t want to suddenly end up in ER. 

 

Oh I was looking into period stopping some time ago, because my periods are (were?)(because they stopped hurting without a reason recently) a Real Pain, and yes, supposedly not having periods is increased risk of infections and cancer. Rings true to me. It makes sense. 

 

Oh irregular periods... Mine are not this irregular, so supposedly it’s not an issue, but they’re not like... every 28 days every month. Every missed or postponed period is a blessing. 

 

Lol, I had some people tell me I’m handsome. Mom included. I never cared either way. But not to say I didn’t have my tough moments with gender along the way. Being one of the few girls into science was one of such tough moments. Coming to realise that I don’t fit into the cis-hetero-normative dating world was also tough. My overgrown peach fuzz was a bummer too, when it began to come in too large amounts to pluck it. And hair loss on the forehead. I just realised yesterday that my dad doesn’t have much body hair, but a solid beard (and hairy legs and arms), and I realised this explains my hair patterns. I mean... that’s all my natural hormone setup. No HRT. The less body hair, the better imo. It’s a pain in the butt. I was also made fun of in eary high school for hair on my face... oh man. Before I started to pluck it all the time. 

 

Btw. The hair growth products for scalp really work. I can recommend. Just buy the ones made by real pharmaceutical companies. Or by cosmetic firms that sell their products in pharmacies. 

[SkyWorld]

Yeah, I've had bad experience with acne, but it's getting better.

 

I feel like whatever happens to my body on T is kind of a guessing game. I'm not close with barely any of my family. I only talk to 3 people and very rarely see 2 others. 2/3 are my mom and grandma, and the third is my granddad. However, my granddad and I aren't biologically related. The other 2 is my bio-granddad and my uncle, but I barely ever see them and don't really talk to them... it's kind of sad because it's so rare, I sometimes forget I have an uncle or anything about my bio-granddad. I'm also an only child. So any genetic comparisons with the men in my family, I have no idea what I'd be like well along the journey that is HRT.

[Emery.]

I managed to get rid of acne with a mixture of retinoids, antibiotics, better hygene, better cosmetics of everyday use (I buy most of them in the pharmacy now) and diet. To be honest, I suspect the scars (they look like tiny holes in the skin) have something to do with lessening acne, because the pore openings widen this way. Unfortunately, the grease is still there. But let’s look at the positives: oily skin ages slower  

 

My dermatoogist says I have male acne :S Because it’s deep. Supposedly my skin is male too, because it’s thick. I can’t complain, though. Delicate skin is the last thing I need, really, as someone who’s into sport. 

[butterflydreams]

10 hours ago, Janus DarkFox said:

While on the previous topic, what has the health ramifications been being on HRT?

 

Kind of figured blood works become different eventually, but anyone have other other problems? since a lot of that hormone passes through major organs, often metabolized/managed in the liver.

 

Wondering as I don't have great liver function if such HRT was going to be tried.

Estradiol in pill form will be processed by the liver, which can be hard on it. This can be mitigated somewhat by letting the pill dissolve under the tongue. I believe transdermal patches largely eliminate this risk or substantially reduce it. There are also estradiol injections, but I don’t have any experience with those. 

 

The anti androgen always comes in pill form and will probably be a little hard on the liver. I believe it’s always advisable to have an orchiectomy eventually, but maybe moreso in your case. So, something to consider.

[ChillaKilla]

I made a design that you can get on a shirt or mug or whatever!

https://www.redbubble.com/people/kkdirge/works/30126810-you-mess-with-the-trans-you-catch-these-hands?asc=u

[Janus the Fox]

Quite interesting, if my unrelated liver function abnormality is less than normal, HRT may not be an option, certainly something to ask with psych at the very least.

[butterflydreams]

56 minutes ago, Janus DarkFox said:

Quite interesting, if my unrelated liver function abnormality is less than normal, HRT may not be an option, certainly something to ask with psych at the very least.

Couldn't hurt to talk about it and find out exactly where you stand. Good luck!