misternathan

Hi, guys. I'm Zan. I'm 39, and I started on April 8, 2008. Yay!

I'm on transdermal T cream compounded by Strohecker's, at a dose of 1 gram of 5%-strength cream per day, which gives an absorbed dose of about 5 mg per day. Because of miscommunications between the clinic and the pharmacy, I started out at 1 gram of 1%-strength cream. I knew that that original dosage was ridiculously low, because I had read this useful book online, as well as the entries for Androderm and Androgel on Medline and in the Physicians' Desk Reference. It took me about three weeks to get the mistake fixed. The clinic has not been very good about communicating with me, and I'm looking for a doctor closer to home.

I am very happy to be on T at long last. I would have done it years ago if I had known the sense of relief was going to run this deep.

You can put my numbers on the startingt community information page. Thanks.

Hey, I'm going to be doing a presentation in my GLBT History class about history of trans health care. I have done some research but I'm wondering if anyone knows of any good books,websites,articles, or other resources that would help me out. Anything with Harry Benjamin in it would be good. I also think that sharing these resources with each other is a good idea. I think some trans people don't really know trans history and in a way take it for vantage that it's so much easier to medically transition now than it was 30 or more years ago. Thanks.

Looked through some things, and there doesn't seem to be anything that answers my question - please point it out to me if there is.

My first shot I had them give to me in the muscle of the butt, this one I decided I wanted to watch and chose the thigh... they didn't aspirate. I've heard time and time again that it's best to aspirate just to make sure you haven't hit a blood vessel... and I asked kind of casually about it and she said that there's really no vessels large enough to receive the needle. And I don't want to be too forward in asking the next time that they just humor me and aspirate, but it's made me wonder... is it really that important? I know that when I start doing my own, I'll do it just for safety because I'm scared of everything, but is this bad practice on their part?

Also, has anyone noticed a dramatic change between the owie of taking a shot in the butt muscle vs. the owie of the thigh? The thigh hurt a good bit more than the butt, but that could just be because the butt (or mine at least) is rather fatty.

cnn on clothing choices for short dudes.

Hey Ya'll-Don't forget to check out my "yard sale"-esque lj buy_tommys_shit.
There are lots and lots of Like New Levi's and GAP jeans-PERFECTLY broken in and HELLA cheap.
Check it out!

Has anyone else found that their choice of employment has affected their ability to be correctly read?

I'm 2 years on T, over a year post top surgery, and still fairly regularly get incorrectly read. Frustrating, but I'm used to it. I'm a nanny for a 16-month old and am probably 50/50 getting asked if I'm her Dad versus Mom. It's funny because she often is called a boy. On the other hand, I also do painting/home repair/chore jobs and was surprised that I got sir'd all over the place in the paint store even though I had fuschia nailpolish on. Without nailpolish, dressed in just jeans and a t-shirt but with a baby and I'm called a girl much more often.

Not that I would ever not do this job because of it, but just wondering what other people's experiences are in terms of employment and how they are read.

And now for (in my opinion) a hilarious story about a clueless guy and getting read correctly:
( Hilarity. )

I took my 6th shot today. Six weeks. Yay.

I've noticed that since I started doing the shots myself that after the syringe has been pushed all the way to the top and the T is in me, there is still a little T left in the syringe by where the needle connects to the syringe. Is that normal? I have a picture to show you guys where I am talking about. I never paid any attention when I had my shots given to me at the dr's office as to if this was happening then too. Hopefully this is normal. I just don't want to waste the T. You know what I mean?
 

Is it possible to remove the vagina completely? Does anyone know what that procedure is called? I have heard that some surgeons are experimenting with it. I would like to know if it works. Has anyone had that surgery and would like to share? 

So for the past 4 months of shots (I was PRESCRIBED 200mg/bi weekly), I have been going to the doctor. The past 2 shots I've gone too, after watching self injection videos on youtube with similar dosages, I have noticed that the amount of T in MY syringe is way less than what I've seen on the videos. I tried to convince myself that maybe it was a different syringe or something but no, I asked my nurse yesterday doing my injections what dose my doc is giving me and she said 100mg.
Right away my heart kinda sunk for two reasons: I am paying 40$ per shot (BLAAAAH, stupid of me) and it makes me wonder what changes I could've had with that other 100mg. I've already had a fair amount of hair on my chin. My neck is hairy as hell and my stomach is getting there.
So at the same time I feel kind of cheated that since I am paying the office to shoot me in the butt but not getting my full dosage, but then again I am kind of relieved that I didnt start out at 200mg because I cant even put my head down to watch tv without my upper chest getting scraped by my neck. ... That makes me sound super fat lol But it kind of is weird to me and so yeah, gotta shave every day there.
Anyway my nurse called today and told me she talked to my doctor and he told her that he preferred to keep me at 100mg and they are sorry (I had requested to be moved up yesterday).

So here's my purpose in posting: By the 2nd or so month, on 100mg, I had a decent amount of chin hair that it would take maybe a 17 year old male to grow. My voice is deep, but I know it's not it's deepest, and there's some other changes I know are there but don't pay much attention to. ... How much more do you think I would've changed if I would have taken the entire 200mg? Do you think it should be up to me to be moved up to 200 if he prescribed me that in the first place?


Maybe I'm just looking for peace of mind, trying to see what I would be missing and how stupid I was to continue going to be injected by them. I'm not asking anyone to tell me "Oh yes, you were going to have more growth down there and have big bushy sideburns as well! Shame!" but maybe tell me, honestly, if I just missed 4 months of bigger changes.
Thanks.

From http://transgroupblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/looking-for-new-bloggers.html

I'm looking for new writers for this Trans Group Blog - either established authors or ones who are up & coming. I'd like especially to see people who already have kept their own blogs for some time.

Much needed: FTM spectrum authors, partners, allies. You are free to cross-post anything trans related to your own blog at this one, since I've always intended this blog to be a little like the magazine Mother Jones - more of a compendium of what a lot of different kinds of trans people are writing.

I'd prefer writers who write more in the essayist tradition, about political & other issues concerning the trans community, and not so much of the "personal journey" type blogging that is more typical in trans land.

Put your recommendations here, or e-mail Helen privately at helenboyd@myhusbandbetty.com.

Does anyone here have experience seeking anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication from Callen-Lorde?

I'm not sure where else to go seeking such a prescription, but I also get my T from them.  I'm probably being paranoid, but part of me is very worried about having both my access to testosterone and anything relating to brain drugs handled by the same organization.

As further evidence of the rivalry between Geekery and Boyfriend in each of our hearts, ganimede and I have got a new shared domain for our websites. After much angsting and polling our friends and ignoring their opinions and advice in favour of more angst, we've settled on http://transboys.info/ . My side is at http://ftmichael.transboys.info/ - please update all bookmarks and links!

So much thanks and love to tashari for letting me have a subdomain under hers for more than six years. And continued thanks and love to xxv for hosting me on his server, then and now!

Hey guys, one rather easy yet complex question: Last Monday I ordered my first Underworks binders (that weren't hand-me-downs--YAY new ones!) and I ordered online with my Visa. I received an email saying once my card was verified that they'd be shipped and since then haven't received any form of confirmation email. I emailed them asking if they would, or if they had already shipped since I have horrible luck with neighbors stealing my items so I like to know when things are arriving. I just wanted to know if you guys knew their normal protocol for email correspondence before/during shipping.

Thanks-

Adam

Hey everyone here is some information about our group for those that haven't heard of us yet and information about things that are coming up for those that would like to be involved.

For those of you who don't know, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is starting development on the direction of the national health plan for 2020, "Health People 2020." Anyone can give a public comment on what they feel is important in terms of healthcare in the U.S. at their website under the "Public Comments" tab (which gives you instructions from there). There are also two regional meetings coming up in New York, New York, and Bethesda, MD with details under the "Regional Meetings" tab. My bosses went to the Chicago regional meeting and said that quite a number of people spoke on the importance of breast feeding, and contributed their own comments on acquiring accurate statistics on LGBTQ youth, multiple identities (POC and LGBTQ), and related topics. The main reason why I'm posting it here is that I would imagine everyone in this community living in the States has some serious concerns about healthcare, but there's certainly room for making a variety of suggestions.

I'm going to order a binder the end of this month (I'll have the money then) from FTM Underworks. I was chatting with someone who had top surgery like 6 years ago and he said that he wished he had his surgical vest before his surgery because in his words, it was the best binder ever. It looked a lot like the Power Compression Vest - Single Layer on underworks and it says on the website, "Formerly available exclusively through doctors and clinics for post surgical compression wear" so I'm assuming it's the same vest. I also heard a lot of good things about the Double Front Compression Shirt, plus it says on the site, "Two full powerful powernet panels throughout the front provide extra chest and mid-section compression for full binding effect. " that sounds like it would help even out my chest and stomach (like a post-op or bio male chest/stomach area). I like to know if any of you guys are using/used the Power Compression Vest or the Double Front Compression Shirt? What was/is your experience with them? Are they comfortable or not? How long can you use them before it gets too uncomfortable? How did they wash? Basically any input you can give would be helpful, even if you never used them but know/knew someone who did and they said something about positive or negative about these products would be helpful.

My average is 44 so technically I'm a large but I don't want to be too uncomfortable so I'm probably going to order a XL, if it's not that great I will exchange it for a large.

Thanks in advance

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We've finally done it! Michael and I have made the ultimate commitment.





We've got a domain together.

After all the umming and ahhing, we finally decided on www.transboys.info and have spent a little while getting everything transferred over. My side needs a major update because it's been unavailable since March but I'm going to be working on it bit by bit to get it back up to scratch.

But anyway! Yes! New domain! The direct link to my side is ganimede.transboys.info. Update your bookmarks and tell all your friends.

This, by far, has been the biggest headache in my transition: how to get the gender marker changed on my birth certificate.

I live in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin law says I need to have a letter from an SRS surgeon, stating that I have had sex reassignment surgery.

The guidelines for these letters are very vague and I'm hoping to use that to my advantage. Last March, I had a hysterectomy. For insurance, the purpose of the surgery was for endometriosis. Does anyone know whether or not my surgeon can word this differently for the purposes of changing my documentation?
I have seen some posts on here saying that surgeons have written "so-and-so has had *this* surgery for the purposes of sex reassignment."

My surgeon has never written this kind of letter before, although she does work with many trans patients. The office said that if I could write the letter and fax it in, they could sign it, but I need to figure out a way to word it that gets the point across but won't come back to bite me or the doctor.
Help?

Hi All,

I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to this community.  I'm brand new to this LiveJournal thing so I'm still in the process of figuring it all out, lol.  I basically got an account to participate in discussions and as a way to talk about my transition.  I am most recently idetified as trans and I am pre-everything so to speak.  I just told some of my friends who know whats going on that they can start calling me by my new name and whatnot but it's a little weird since I'm not passing that well.  I'm a little hungup on the name thing because I'm not too sure what to expect from people and having all these different personas in different aspects of my life is confusing me.  I have faith it will fall into place but for today it feels odd.  Anyways, I want to thank everyone for all the great posts on here, I have learned a lot in the last few months of watching the posts without being a member.   I look forward in sharing in this journey with all of you.

Namaste
~V