Male to Female (MtF) Transsexual Discussion

Well, it has been six weeks since I made the appointment to see the endocrinologist... and the fateful day is November 1, this Thursday. I can't believe it's already this week (ZOMG!). But now that it's here, I have no idea what to ask. My mind is such the blank. And since I read up on so much on my own, I already know a great deal about medications and effects. I guess my only questions are (1) can you prescribe me hormones and get my insurance to cover it if possible and (2) what hormones should be prescribed? I did ask my wife to go with me, and after thinking about it for a bit and talking to her counselor, she decided it was a good idea -- if simply to have …

I was wondering if any of you guys and galls have any pictures that show your progress in transitioning. I figure this topic can give tentative transitioners some hope in seeing where others have come from and where they have arrived. Thanks :)

This is a question for real transexauls. I have had thoughts of being female since the age of six when I stared looking in clothing catalogs. And I would say that I have never identified as a typical male. As I have gotten older I have had somewhat constant feelings of femininity. I have done crossdressing but at times I doesnt seem to be enough. If I had a choice I would choose to be a female. But because of family and religion mixed with fear. I don't know what to do. I have taken some natural hormone stuff to develope breast but stopped, since I feared being caught. I feel stronger than ever the urge to be female. Oh yeah i dont want to be a draq queen.My question is…

I just recently got started on Hormones :-D, but I've only been on them for three days. Now I know they say you shouldn't notice any real physical changes till 6-8 weeks on hormones. Now I'm not particularly overweight but I have some fat on me, and it seems like a little fat has redistributed to what will soon be my breast area. Definately no tissue growth but it seems like my nipples are a little more sensitive and there's a little more fat there...is this possible or am I imagining things?

Hello, I'm not planning on transitioning but am still curious about the effects of hormones on emotional well being. One of the reasons I decided not to seek out hormones is I tend to be a worrier and almost never feel confident. My reasoning was, if I'm emotionally this way already, I'd really dislike it if hormones increased those more. For those who have dealt with alot of those feelings, how did hormones effect them in you? Thanks! MIWBJ

i didn't wanna highjack the thread that the following came from...but felt it was worth discussion, so i brought it here. GirlInside was talking about how she pretty much keeps under wraps her feminine side when around men, and related how she stopped herself from saying something recently that might not have gone over well in a group of men: "That's just one example of how I am with men (not FTMs, of course). With women, I'm myself--much more feminine than with men--and I just let them figure it out." i find it astounding (and sometimes irritating) how often women -both genetic and TS- seem to think that FTMs "get" woman, that we understand them, or can relate t…

This is a quote from Koreen from another thread. "So I am, as I knew when I began taking female hormones in April 2006, compromising my true gender aspirations for the sake of my marriage" Jojo wrote: "I have been craving and longing so desperately for all these years to be able to wear the clothes and make up and all the rest of the stuff it is just killing me". This bums me out. Jojo and Koreen I am very fond of, it is terrible to think that their entire lives will be spent in the suffering that this must bring. I was wondering if there comes a time, when resentment reigns. I am wondering if it is just a matter of time before the resentment of being forced (if…

Hi Jo Jo, wanted to tell you that I enjoy your posts, they are very honest and forthright. After reading in the topic "Pollaxed" that you were forced back into the closet, I am wondering, how is that possible for you. Did you come out to your wife, live it for a while, and then were forced back in the closet in order to keep your family intact? That sounds awful, during this time that you have been hiding, were you able to express your female side at all? Does your wife really think it is that easy to switch back into her husband, that the other side of you is forgotten? During the time you have gone back undercover, has your marriage thrived for it? Sorry for all t…

Does anyone know were I can find a guide so I can get those feminin and shapely looking nails. That are so populars.

It suddenly occured to me after living in limbo for......well, most of my life, that I am ready to srat working on transitioning (and alot of other things in my life.) I'm thinking about alot of things: who I'm gonna tell, what I'm gonna do about work, what will I have to change in my daily life, not to mention what I will have the chance to change in my daily life. Since I am systematic about most things, I plan on discussing this with as many people as I can (obviously including my therapist.) Any thoughts, annectdotes, or advice would be most appreciated.

Ok...back to the task at hand. I have a problem. Usually, when I need information, I use wiki, google, or if its newsrelated, the news paper. However, usually when it comes to exercise and 'body' issues, I google or use health sites. Back in May I began to become committed to the one thing I hated most in my younger life; running. I know, many think its crazy but I made it out in my mind to run daily, 4-5 days a week, at about 2-3 miles a day for 30 minutes. I didn't stick with it much and while the first two weeks I didn't miss a day, my defeatist mentality along with my excuses (well I only weigh around 155-160, why exercise?) I didn't keep with it too terribly lo…

When I was little, I wanted to be all kinds of things, but my wife wanted to be Aquaman when she grew up. So I started asking everyone what they wanted to be. Some of the bes responses I got were, "cashregister" and "dinosaur." The best answer I've heard so far is, "happy," but that's not what I was looking for; I'm looking for the fun and silly things then or now that you might like to be. My answer today would be, I wanna be a Pirate. So, what do you want to be? (I hope it's not too off-topic)

As most of you know, I'm just half a woman still living as a man. I have to watch myself very carefully not to expose myself. Most of the time I'm pretty good at it. but the other day I was changing clothes and my grandson came into the bathroom to ask me a question and I was totally caught off guard. He is 5 years old and the look on his face as he stared at my breasts completely caught me off guard. I immediately told him that I would be right out and closed the door. What do you I tell a 5 year old when he asks why does grandpa have boobs like grandma? Have any of you ever had to explain this to a child? Thank God he forgot all about it later. But what if he should c…

Ok so again, I feel timid to post since my last time speaking I did more than just put my foot in my mouth. Even though my initial point came out wrong, I have since realized that I hold myself to some pretty rediculous standards in hope that it will keep me grounded in the reality that, well, passable or not, my life will often be met with adversity and skepticism from others. I found that not only did my views that not BEING a genetic woman somehow devalidated my womanhood, when applied here, offended many people (and rightly so) but that I also realized much of my shame and agony that I internalized was from *ascribing* to such generalizations. Before I begin this p…

Today's show included Angelika and Jake (I think I saw them before on an MSNBC transgender special once), plus Dr. Marci Bowers. In two weeks, the topic is "Fathers and Husbands Who Became Women." Woo-hoo!!!

I found this to be pretty interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoestrogens http://www.dietaryfiberfood.com/phytoestrogen.php Phytoestrogens are chemicals produced by plants that act like estrogens in animal/"+human" cells and bodies. They are often trace substances in food, and can also be found in cannabis. These chemicals mimic and supplement the action of the body's own hormones, estrogen (the British spelling is 'oestrogen'). They are a comparatively recent discovery, and researchers are still exploring the nutritional role of these substances in such diverse metabolic functions as the regulation of cholesterol, and the maintaining of proper bone densit…

I haven't really started looking into HRT "officially" yet but continuing my other post, I'm trying to see what I'm getting into here, if anyone has some advice. First one (I hope this is within the forum rules, my apologies if not) -- why does the standard HRT regimen call for spironolactone instead of something like androcur? I guess they both have different side effects, but is there something that makes spiro safer overall? Second one.. what the heck do you eat?! I understand spiro causes potassium retention, which means you can't have a lot of high potassium foods.. but looking down a few lists of recommended "high potassium" foods for people with normal diets…

I need to get to bed and I will, shortly, but quite unexpectedly I found myself crying very hard, earlier tonight. But it doesn't really correlate with the environment, for transition is going well, I pass with little effort, much has been accomplished hormonally ans surgically and I am doing nominally well emotionally - FINALLY. Life is now actually good, but I apparently hit an 'emotional air pocket' tonight quite unexpectedly. [shaking her tired head] I haven't cried that hard in quite some time and it was pretty rough; but at the same time, it is now somewhat rare for me to do so. That is definite progress and most welcome, after a very stormy initial p…

Err, I guess I was spelling that wrong! (whoops) I found this video (they're not shy with showing the surgery, so, if that makes you queasy, avoid it) on Yahoo about the subject. I was sort of amused looking at the video of the guy who was going in for surgery. I was just like.. wait.. is that the "before"? *Looking down* I thought it was funny too that they mentioned "blood pressure medication". I was just like.. hmm.. yep.. I know what that probably is.. :)

It's easy to find info about all the good things HRT can give you. GirlInside's site (the 'warning' page) got me thinking though... what are all the bad things that can happen? What are the worst case scenarios, and how common are they? I know it's probably dependent on the exact medications, e.g. spironolactone causing problems with potassium and thus you can't drink much orange juice or eat too much banana, and you sometimes get light headed standing up. I've heard things about bone structure damage but I'm not sure what that's caused by either. (Too long on a T-blocker without estrogen?) And while we're here I might as well add FFS and SRS to that. All the guys i…

Hi girls! I'm a 15 year old transgender from the United States, and I have some questions about the dangers of estrogen. I've been taking spiro for about 8-9 months on and off (I turned 15 a couple of months ago). Like, I'll stop for a week or two because I run out and order more. I'm going to start estrogen in about a week. I don't know how to get medical help. Would a doctor just help me for free? And is 1mg safe?

This was a hard weekend. On Friday, my wife and I had a wonderful time while the kids were away -- but the prior nights had included two-hour fights and that night we finally got to the stage where I openly was very clear about moving ahead with everything, unless something drastically changed. It killed me to say it out loud and be 100% committed to it, but there it was. The rest of the weekend has been her asking questions on and off; attending a family event Sunday where she was internally very sad and upset but had to put on a happy face for all the relatives (not very good for her ), and today some crying spells. I feel like we have turned a corner and I ha…

That's right friends, my name is now legally Carla Michelle B*******. Yay! The hearing for my name change was yesterday at 9am. I was up at 5am. lol Nervous much? More excited, really. The hearing lasted all of 10 minutes. All of my paper-work was in the Jude's hands. I swore to tell the truth. He asked how long I'd been a resident (near 6 years) and if I'd ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor (nope). There was lots of shuffling of papers and scribbling. I stood there quietly, still as a statue wearing 1 inch heels, nice fitted jeans, a light blue blouse with diagonal stripes of white and (very thin) silver, a water bra (leave *no* doubt), an hour's …

While trying to find some before and after pictures for another thread, I came accross this animation.. quite interesting for those of us trying to walk differently... I'm pretty sure I don't walk like the 'very male' even now! http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html

I've been thinking about something a lot lately with regards to transitioning. I think I'm pretty safe to say that most people want to do it because they feel like they've been living a life of lies and can't stand it anymore, and want to finally be themselves. Whether those lies are physical (my body is all wrong) or psychological (pretending to be someone you're not), whether they're lies to yourself or others, whether they're explicit or lies of omission, there's a lot of lying involved in pre-transitioned TS people. That sounds sort of accusatory.. sorry, I don't meant it that way.. just restating what I've heard many people say. That it's such a relief for them to…