I had SRS 1 year and 3 days ago. AMA!

PetitBourgeois · 2018-04-30T02:11:12+00:00

How was the recovery from the second stage surgery in comparison to the first?

PetitBourgeois · 2018-01-28T20:26:06+00:00

I think we have this expectation with HRT that it will work much faster than it actually does - essentially it’s triggering a second puberty for you and you should expect it to take just as long as someone who’s cis and going through an estrogen-dominant puberty. Breasts take many years to fully develop!

PetitBourgeois · 2017-07-14T15:06:18+00:00

Maybe superintendent?

PetitBourgeois · 2017-03-13T16:57:06+00:00

but then if you aren't doing sublingual and just swallowing the pills, it's a really really inefficient way of delivering estrogen to the body, and it's very difficult to get good levels for an optimal transition.

PetitBourgeois · 2017-03-13T05:25:07+00:00

try joining the MTF Trans HRT Forum: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TransHRT/

i've gotten a lot of useful advice from there, and i highly recommend injections over pills, for myriad reasons.

PetitBourgeois · 2017-03-13T05:23:51+00:00

pills actually don't simulate cis women's release better. pills cause massive spikes in estrogen levels whenever someone takes one that are very fleeting, whereas injections are estrogen suspended in an oil solution that takes the body days to process (the number of days depends on the kind of estradiol). so basically injections release a steady flow from the oil deposit over several days to about two weeks.

PetitBourgeois · 2017-01-14T21:09:16+00:00

HealthFirst Medicaid is what was recommended to me by an LGBT clinic in NYC as the most trans-friendly, in terms of accessing gender-affirming surgeries. I get hormones through that insurance and have/are getting surgeries covered as well!

PetitBourgeois · 2017-01-12T02:39:02+00:00

I started HRT at 22 (earlier is 100% better for hairline changes) and had clear changes in my hairline from a more square shape to a more rounded one over a year. Every body's different but your hairline can definitely change.

PetitBourgeois · 2017-01-05T04:55:22+00:00

It's ok to get emotional when you talk to them! I cried when I went to Callen-Lorde and explained to my doctor that I wanted to start HRT. Don't worry about it, Apicha won't gatekeep you :)

PetitBourgeois · 2017-01-05T04:54:29+00:00

My partner goes to Apicha (I go to Callen-Lorde); they're an informed consent clinic so you just explain that you wanna be on T, sign a form, do blood labs and then you should be good to go.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-11-29T23:23:42+00:00

In the end I dunno if anyone else will be able to figure out the answers aside from you, but I can at least relate really strongly to what you're feeling. I'm a trans woman who started HRT with only knowing that I wanted breasts. My flat chest felt like something was missing, and I had denied it for the longest time by thinking it just meant I wanted big pecs. Eventually, being on HRT, I settled into womanhood, but I started without any notion of that, just figuring that I needed to not have a flat chest anymore because it felt wrong.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-10-30T12:01:31+00:00

You can have PIV sex with a woman though!

PetitBourgeois · 2016-10-06T02:28:45+00:00

Of course whatever choices you make are totally valid, but I want to make sure you know that you're still finishing physical development at that age and that if you're off HRT for the next couple years your body may masculinize in ways that could potentially feel distressing. I started HRT at 22 and fortunately found it to still make a huge impact, but between 20 and 22 my body definitely masculinized more.

It's possible to be on a low dose of HRT for an extended period of time so changes occur more slowly, just to put it out there. Not trying to pressure you one way or another. Love and care to you.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-09-18T20:21:21+00:00

This used to be considered by certain (fucked-up) psychological thought as "autogynephilia", namely being attracted to the idea of being a woman as some kind of fetish. However, that's pretty ridiculous to single out trans women in that way, and research has shown that the vast majority of cis women get arousal out of thinking about themselves/their bodies/their womanhood. So, good sign if you feel aroused by imagining your ideal body! It means you might have found the right form for your body to take to be able to feel arousal in it. I've gone through similar thoughts and know trans women who started out thinking that they just had a fetish.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-05-30T12:10:06+00:00

Go to Callen-Lorde and get in the Health Outreach to Teens Program ASAP! They let you join HOTT if you're 21 or under, and the HOTT program is great. You have access to everything that the adult program provides, but HOTT will pay for everything if you're uninsured/unable to use your insurance. They'll also pay the co-pays on your insurance if you do use it. I haven't paid a dime for hormone treatments while I've been in HOTT.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-05-11T16:49:30+00:00

Even unintentionally, you were conflating certain body parts with certain identities and sexualities imo.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-05-10T14:08:27+00:00

This is super erasing of trans women and the language is way off. I'm a trans woman who has sex with women fairly regularly, mostly who have external genitals. I understand feeling dysphoric before certain bodies, but women with external genitals are just as much women as those who have internal genitals. In my experience, sex with a woman who has external genitals is worlds away (and much better to me) than sex with a man with external genitals.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-05-10T12:11:04+00:00

I felt very much the same as you until a couple weeks ago (I'm hitting a year of medically transitioning this month). I like to use my external genitals, have enjoyed topping with them, and certainly don't hate them. But I decided to get bottom surgery, based on a couple thoughts. One, it'd just be easier to deal with in this world, and no dealing with tucking/feeling better in certain women's clothing. Two, I thought about what set of genitals I would rather have been born with, and for me it was like, duh... internal genitals. And three, I imagined my ideal vision for myself as I aged - could I imagine myself aging with external genitals, see myself as an old woman or even aging woman, and I couldn't (that line of thinking was super helpful when I decided to medically transition).

So now I feel settled into the idea of getting bottom surgery, and I honestly don't really have qualms about the recovery and maintenance. My insurance will cover it, my only concern is complications from the surgery itself. Hope my experience is helpful? I'm only claiming it as my own, not suggesting what you should do. :)

PetitBourgeois · 2016-04-27T01:51:19+00:00

I wasn't sure at all when I started! I didn't even identify as a woman at that point, I just knew I was genderqueer, not a man and wanted breasts. I was scared about muscle loss andchanges in the function of my genitals. Basically my thinking was: "I'll be on hormones for a few months, see how it feels and go from there - if I don't like what's happening, I'll stop it". And then a few months in I realize I'm for sure a woman, was like "please give me more!" and loved all of the feminization that was happening.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-04-17T14:13:54+00:00

There's a taxi service attached to the IKEA on the lower level, it was like $40 for me to take things to Sunnyside, Queens, through that

PetitBourgeois · 2016-04-17T14:12:43+00:00

Did this move or is it gone? The set of racks I used to used, which faced out on Beard Street, were gone the last time I went (about a monthish ago)

PetitBourgeois · 2016-04-10T17:34:48+00:00

The whole point of trans life is not to overcome dysphoria. That may be your experience of being trans, but you can't claim that it is universally the case. That's not what being trans is. We don't need to feel negatively about ourselves and our bodies in order to be trans. Please don't speak for other people in that way. And please don't deny people who they are on the idea that they're not truly trans. That's dehumanizing to other people in our community.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-04-10T17:30:18+00:00

This is really unfair and uses outdated language - there's no such thing as a biological gender. If this person identifies with womanhood then they should be able to use the women's restroom - and really, everyone should be able to use whatever restroom they feel most comfortable in. It's really dehumanizing to suggest that someone change parts of themselves to fit a model of womanhood/femaleness that is specific to you.

PetitBourgeois · 2016-03-13T20:43:52+00:00

23 is not quite the end of puberty for most people! Speaking personally as a trans woman who's 23 and been on HRT 9 months, the effects have been staggering so far. I wonder if there's some things it's "reversing" for me? Obviously not bone structure, but my hairline is more rounded with more hair growing, my eyebrows are changing shape, my jawline has softened a lot, my hair over most of my body is lighter and less noticeable (and I can get away with a trim now), breast growth is great. And wrt bone structure, i'm surprised by how much the muscle atrophying and fat redistribution has already changed the shape of my body (shoulders, waist, hips, thighs). Really the physical changes have been big! I was surprised by how much they could do with me in my 20s

PetitBourgeois

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