Today marks the start of what I’m calling “Phase II” of my transition. It wasn’t a perfect day, there were some hiccups along the way, but the most important result hoped for, for today, did occur.
Teresa took today off of work instead of Wednesday to be with me for everything. Today was going to be a “boy-mode” day for me. The laser appointment later in the day meant zero makeup, and we also figured the trip to the police would be easier this way.
We started out in the morning, heading to the main police station to get my fingerprints and criminal record check done. Both of which, are requirements for changing your name.
Things seemed to be going really well, no line up, and when asked what we were there for, the clerk just said no problem, and asked for 2 pieces of ID. About 30 seconds later, she’s informed by the other clerk, that the fingerprinting machine is down. We’ll have to try later.
So, of course we went to Starbucks for coffee/tea.
Next we headed towards my endocrinologist appointment. We got there about 50 minutes early. I had wanted to be half an hour early because I knew there’d be “new patient” forms to fill out. We went in really early anyway, as we both needed to use the facilities. 🙂
After filling out the forms, I think we waited maybe 8 minutes before the doctor came out calling for Jessica (yay!!!). So, we headed in to the appointment about half an hour early. I don’t think I’ve ever gone in to a doctor’s appointment any earlier than 10 minutes late. This was simply amazing!
He had an intern with him, and both were very personable. The appointment didn’t really go the way I had envisioned in my head. I was expecting all sorts of scary talk about the nasty side effects of hormones (stuff I already know quite well). Instead, he just looked up my assessment on his computer (the psychologist scared the hell out of me by waiting until the day of my appointment to send it in) and said it seems like you’re ready to start hormones. He mentioned to the intern how he isn’t involved enough with trans issues to be an ‘assessor’ but how some psychiatrists and clinical psychologists have the knowledge to diagnose gender dysphoria.
We talked a bit about how transgender health doesn’t have a lot of studies done on it, and how most of the studies are quite small in sample size. I mentioned the Boston University article I had just read about the relative safety of transgender hormone replacement therapy. It was really weird, having this kind of conversation with a doctor. I’ve never really felt this comfortable talking to one before. It was really apparent he was on my side, which I think was what was different.
He wrote the prescription out for me, talking about the 3 drugs I’d be taking. They are:
- Estradiol – for me, this is in the form of a patch. The patch allows the hormone to enter the bloodstream directly through the skin – similar to the way ovaries would work in someone born with them. This is also much easier on the liver and the gut. It also means the amount of hormone is much less, because there’s no waste in processing.
- Medroxyprogesterone – a pill. This is a progestin, and is mostly used to decrease testosterone, as well as help mimic the hormonal balance (imbalance?) of a female puberty.
- Spironolactone – a pill. This inhibits the testosterone receptors from accepting testosterone. I believe it also inhibits the creation of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is responsible for hair loss.
Just want to add something to this. Do not take medroxyprogesterone. It is the main reason I got blood clots one year in to HRT. Ask for bio-identical progesterone. You can get it compounded in a cream, or you can buy it in pill form (Prometrium is a good name brand for it).