Q: "Do I have autogynephilia?"No. No one does. It's not a real thing. You don't have it. Read more here:
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/autogynephilia.htmlQ: "What kinds of hormones are involved?"A:It depends on the person, but typically you're looking at some combination of the following.
Anti-androgens suppress the male hormone testosterone and cease masculinization of the body. Spironolactone specifically also has the effect of being a form of anti-acne medication (and is actually marketed as such for cis women). Estradiol is the main female love hormone, which is in all regiments of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for trans women. Progesterone has dubious advantages and disadvantages. As of this posting, the Sherbourne Health Centre's HRT Protocol does not include progesterone as a viable component of HRT.
The main reason why anti-androgens are used is because it allows estrogen to feminize the body more easily, without having to fight testosterone for the same amount of space and function. Without anti-androgens, high amounts of estrogens must be prescribed. High amounts of oral estrogens can cause blood clotting, cancers, and so on. While AA's aren't perfect, their side effects and potential damaging effects are far less than overloading on estrogens. And on the plus side, AA's also bring testosterone levels to normal female amounts.
Typically, the following dosages are used.
- Spironolactone 100-200mg (typically 50mg or 100mg twice daily) OR Androcur 50mg-100mg.
- Estradiol 2-4mg (once daily) or Premarin 4-5mg (once daily)
- Progesterone 100mg (once daily) (optional/not recommended)
Hormones such as this are typically taken in pill form, although estrogen can also be taken as an injection into the muscles of the butt or leg every seven to ten days.
If one has not undergone the "wrong" puberty, or wishes to shut down a currently-ongoing puberty, drugs such as Lupron can be taken (again, injection) to essentially shut off the hormone-regulating functions of the brain, therefore ceasing puberty before more damage can be done. “Puberty blockers” as they're known are generally not useful for any trans person over the age of 18 or 19, and instead anti-androgens should be used for trans women.
Q: "What can I expect out of hormones?"A: It depends on the person. Some of the most noticeable (and nigh-universal) effects of female love hormones and anti-androgens on male-bodied persons are:
- Much softer skin texture
- Decrease and eventual elimination of male love drive and the development of a female love drive
- Slower-growing (although not disappearing) body hair
- Reduction in acne
Depending on age, build, and genetics, the following may also happen:
- Breast growth (final size and shape dependent heavily on genetics, body fat index, body shape)
- Lactation (got milk)
- Puffier cheeks
- Redistribution of fat to chest, hips, thighs, face and arms
- Greatly reduced muscle mass/enhanced female-type muscle tone
- Reduced penile tissue (it's gonna get smaller)
- Reduced gonadal function (nothings gonna come out anymore, also sterility (although estrogen is NOT birth control - some girls never get completely sterile before an orchi or SRS; please have safe love))
What will
not happen is the following:
- Bone structure will not change unless started through puberty (hips, face, frame, etc. do not change)* (note below)
- Voice will not go higher (it will need to be trained)
- You will still have to shave (and undergo Laser or Electrolysis to epilate the hairs permanently)
- Your genetics will not convert from XY to XX
- Your testicles and snake will not fall off
- You will not grow ovaries and/or a vagina
* While bone structure may not change, fat and muscle redistribution over time may make the hips, chest, face, etc. take on a more feminine shape, especially if one has started in their late teens through to their mid-to-late 20's. Hips may appear more girly, you might start developing the right curves, and so on, over the course of a year or two. While these possible effects go down over time, you'll only start facing real problems if you begin over the age of 35-36.
Some of the bad effects:
- Spironolactone is a diuretic, which means you will pee a lot more than usual.
- Salt intake will also be a bit forgeted with Spiro, and will most likely require you to eat more salty things.
- Potassium may spike with Spiro.
- Occasional mood swings on Estrogen, although no where near as bad as if you were on Progesterone as well.
- Water retention levels will go up and down even while on Spiro because of E. Welcome to being a woman!
- Your breasts will hurt. A lot.
- Your testicles may or may not be in occasional pain. This is either hit or miss for most people: some get it, some don't.
Q: "What will happen to my love drive?"A: The female love drive is very different than the male love drive. As opposed to it being “always on,” it takes more time to work up to a full erection or to be aroused in general. love is often less “rushed” and the climax doesn't become the centre-piece of the loveual act. climax becomes something of a full-body experience, ranging from slightly more intense than a male climax to extremely intense and mind-blowing, depending on how well the body takes to it and how well the body was stimulated before hand.
You most likely will still be able to get erections with a female love drive, and your interests generally won't change too dramatically. The #1 love organ is the brain. Estrogen might make you like certain things more than you thought possible (smelling the scent off of a boy will be very interesting the first time you do it, especially if you consider yourself to be lesbian).
Q: "What about tucking?"A: Tucking is essentially cramming your junk downwards and wearing two pairs of elasticated panties over them. It can be very difficult for those of us who are well-endowed, but it gets easier over time. There are hyper-advanced methods of tucking, but essentially the easiest way to do it is to simply get panties with elasticated crotch areas and just shove it all down and towards the back. You might have to adjust it through the day, but it beats the stuff out of wearing a gaff or taping/gluing your junk.
Q: "Do you have any tips for voice training?"-Sing! Start with falsetto until you are comfortable with higher ranges. This will help train your flexibility as well.
-Consider developing a pseudo-accent at first. It somehow helped me to overly affect a bit of my latent country-girl twang while I was training
-
This Stuff and some honey works really, really well to treat soreness.
Don't give up! After a few months it should start getting easier; after a year you probably wont even think about it.
There's also a FREE, EASY program to help with your voice. I haven't used it myself, but MageMage says that it's better than human advice. Try it for like 6 weeks and see if it helps:
Voicetutor.
Q: "What do I wear?!?"The problem with writing universal women's fashion tips for anyone is that it is 100% subjective. Some trans women like being butch, or butch-y, or androgynously butch, or straight-up androgynous, or androgynously femme, or femme-y, or femme, and so on and so on. To go for any “universal” look is nigh-impossible. There are, however, some basic guidelines.
Don't be afraid to show skin. Start shaving your body parts like your arms, and show them off. Don't hide your body shape even if it isn't particularly feminine – female clothing can and will accentuate the feminine aspects of your body shape, even if you're convinced you have none. Masculine and feminine body shapes aren't a binary dichotomy, so don't be extremely concerned with that – many cis women have narrow hips and broad shoulders and they get by just fine.
Don't hardline to an ultra-conservative matron. It's a common practice for trans women to want to wear tons of layers and long skirts or baggy pants to hide their bodies. A lot of this has to do with our innate body dysphoria. Try to ease off of that and show more skin, and more importantly, dress more like other girls around you. If you're a 20-something girl living in a big city, you'll typically see girls wearing t-shirts or blouses during the summer that show off their arms. Don't start loafing around in a giant loving turtleneck sweater during the middle of July. It looks silly and brings attention to yourself.
You're not ugly. Shut the forget up. While experimenting with stuff, you might find looks that kinda-sorta work, but not really. But go with it. Every trans girl has horrible wardrobe mistakes in their pasts that they look back on and proceed to place their hands over their faces for. Don't worry about it. You're practically growing up again so just have fun and learn from the mistakes.
At the end of the day, you'll get better advice posting a picture here and going under the gaze of other trans women than you will reading a guide.
Q: "I can't seem to find any gender specialists/therapists in my area, what do I do?"[/u]
A: You don't
have to find a gender specialist. A good therapist is many orders of magnitudes more helpful than a mediocre or poor gender specialist, and usually easier to find.
Q: "I think I might be trans but I’m not so sure about hormones/surgery/transition/etc. Does that mean anything?"[/u]
A: Medical transitioning is only a small part of transitioning. Transitioning is mostly a psychological endeavour to figure out who you are, what makes you happy, and to deal with any pain associated with what you perceive to be "lost" experiences. You don't necessarily need hormones to be trans. A lot of trans people don't feel they have the body dysphoria that would make them desire hormones. Many people who DO take hormones don't necessarily want to get something like love reassignment surgery.
It doesn't mean anything. Don't worry about medical transitioning or transitioning at all. Explore yourself until you find something that you think fits you well enough to go with. And don't worry about where you're going - the journey is the point of transitioning.
Q: "Are you ever SURE?"A: If you're ever 100% sure of anything, you're probably not thinking about it. The fact you are unsure is probably a good indicator that you are thinking about it long and hard. Keep experimenting unless you are at least certain that your experiences make enough sense to you to warrant modifying your body.
Don't make it about being “right” or “wrong,” simply try to improve your own quality of life, whatever path that may be. Never be ashamed of who you are.
These are resources a trans person can use to stay informed about their situation and options regarding legal maters or medical issues. If anyone has anything to add to this section, please post about it in the thread.
Toll Free Listening Lines - Talk to our trained volunteers about safer love, coming out, where to find gay-friendly establishments, HIV and AIDS, depression, Self Delete, and anti-gay/lesbian harassment and violence.
HRT For Trans People, With References - Forums user Helena P Blavatsky wrote up
an excellent post that I have
transcribed to Google Docs.The Sherbourne Transgender-HRT Protocols - by
The Sherbourne Health Centre. The "protocols" are a published medical document that is written to inform physicians or clinics outside of the Sherbourne Health Centre who have trans patients of their potential healthcare needs. It is designed to educate physicians about the need for autonomy in the trans minority, and how to care for them in the form of Hormone Replacement Therapy. It is one of the best tools a trans person has about bypassing potentially discriminatory treatment by the psychiatric industry. (Some form of therapy is still mandatory, however, but it doesn't have to be a psychologist and no diagnosis is required.)
The Standards of Care by WPATH - WPATH has established internationally accepted Standards of Care (SOC) for the treatment of gender identity disorders. These internationally accepted guidelines are designed to promote the health and welfare of persons with gender identity disorders. The Standards of Care are updated and revised as new scientific information becomes available.
RCPsych Gender Dysphoria guidelines - Standards of care which are essentially the UK equivalent of the WPATH.
Basic TG/TS/IS Information - By Lynn Conway. A scientifically sound site, backed with tons of research and updated regularly. There's even a feed on there for the latest trans-related medical and media information.
Transloveual Road Map - Some of the information on this site can be old and outdated but there's a mountain of useful information collected here.
Endocrine Treatment of Transloveual Persons - This evidence-based guideline was developed to formulate practice guidelines for endocrine treatment of transloveual persons.
Pill and Patch Identification Guide - Intended as a guide/reference for hormones for trans women if you find yourself going down the self-medding route. Even if you do so, it's recommended that you have regular checkups and blood work with a doctor, even if that doctor isn't prescribing your hormones.
TransLine - A set of resources dedicated to improving and educating healthcare providers about trans issues.
Also if your doctor doesn't know what to do with trans patients, UCSF and I believe the San Francisco Department of Health put together a nice little resource list, including primary care protocols, for healthcare providers that have trans clients. That is
here (From CK07)
John's Hopkins loveual Behaviors Consultation Unit – Go here at your own risk! Trans people that have gone here are studied like lab specimens, interviewed by people who specialize in loveual predators, and literally berated for things like having a Facebook in their chosen name. Maybe there are some good people at John's Hopkins, but many still hold fast to antiquated ways of thinking about trans people.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) – the guy who runs the CAMH GIC is a kind old man. If you take your small child, who has recently come out as trans, he will make them better and not trans anymore! And, if you are an older trans person over the age of 18 and no longer under the death grip of your parents, he will make you jump through hoops to even get a diagnosis of GID, let alone any form of HRT. Don't go to CAMH. Go to Sherbourne. If you are going to CAMH right now and you think they're helping you, trust me, they aren't, and any path they take you down is a cul-de-sac. Escape while you still can, even if they've started dangling the carrot of hormone blockers over your head.
Transloveual.org - at first this seems like a mundane website run by somebody with no design sense but ultimately trying to be helpful. Then you realize that she's got no clue what she's talking about, she lives vicariously through a webcomic, and the COGIATI test is little more than a way of testing how you conform to her notion of what an MTF is (ie, traditional femininity). Because clearly, if you like math you couldn't possibly be an MTF. (Also she ran HappyPuppy.com back in the 90's and took the massive fortune she got from that and pumped it into anime DVD's and wall scrolls so now she's poor again but :ssh: )
Anything related to Harry Benjamin Syndrome (HBS) HBSers believe that they have an interlove condition rather than transness. They believe that any kind of trans identity is fraudulent. If you don't blend perfectly, you're fraudulent. If you don't like men, you're fraudulent. If you didn't KNOW that you were (HBS)/trans from birth, you're fraudulent. If you don't conform to perfect 1950s woman's roles you're fraudulent. FTMs are not part of the HBS equation.
