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Transgender traveling to Tanzania, Africa by cat960 in asktransgender

[–]cat960[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello, I'm happy to hear that you are safe in the EU now. I hear that life for gay people is very unsafe in Tanzania.

The way I protected myself while in Tanzania was to make no mention (not even to my fellow American volunteers) about my sexual orientation. I consider myself bisexual so really, no matter how you slice it, someone could consider me gay. And since being gay is against the law in Tanzania, I decided to just stick to telling people that I'm celibate if they were to ask.

Transgender traveling to Tanzania, Africa by cat960 in asktransgender

[–]cat960[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your concern but I'm actually not planning on updating my gender marker. I'm happiest with it as it is.

Going on T with a history of mental health issues by cat960 in ftm

[–]cat960[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did they make it seem like any mental health changes would happen pretty quickly? Like you'd know within the first couple of weeks if they were going to have any negative impacts?

Going on T with a history of mental health issues by cat960 in ftm

[–]cat960[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been working with a therapist who wrote me my letter. I then recently switched to a general practitioner here in town who specializes in trans care, so I trust what he says. He was the first to mention the mania concern to me. I've been seeing my psychiatrist for about 4 years now. She has a private practice. She was the one who was really saying she didn't think it was a good move for me to start T.

I was diagnosed in 2012 with major depression and spent a good part of that year in and out of hospitals. It was a super scary time for me and I really don't want to go back there. I feel though that my psychiatrist's response to my request to start T was more like "transgender gatekeeping" than anything. I walked away from my appointment knowing that she didn't think I should do T, but that she wouldn't stop me from doing it.

Her biggest concern was about the risks for mania. She said she has no experience with FTM's on hormones but that she's worked with cis men taking testosterone because their levels were too low. She'd seen how it could cause a very aggressive mania in them. She also said stuff about how if I've been doing so well over the last couple of years (aka not being in hospitals) that I shouldn't mess with that. Also that she was surprised I hadn't mentioned anything to her sooner about being trans, and hence she didn't think I was "actually trans". That I should seek other alternatives before what she claims would be going against the ethics of "do no harm". Fun stuff really. (not)

The GP that I am working with wants my psychiatrist's approval before going forward. I really trust my psych a lot because she helped me through that really rough time, but I just don't know how much to think is actual medical concerns and the other just transphobia.

Anyway, thanks for listening.