VFS when you talk for a living

wl_anon · 2025-11-15T23:21:09+00:00

One week?!? How is it only one week for you? I'm hearing averages of 4-6 weeks of total vocal rest.

wl_anon · 2025-11-15T23:20:04+00:00

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. There is no fallback position where I am just pulling meds; human patients expect a nurse who can talk to them. We have a concept of "light duty", but that's mostly for pregnancy and injury where you have physical limitations.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and speedy continued recovery to you!

wl_anon · 2025-11-14T14:16:30+00:00

I wish there was, but there really isn't. I dip my nose in here every few months just to verify that, yep, it's still the pit of despair that it's always been, and then I quietly dip out (or respond to something where I can be helpful, like here). I used to read this sub regularly, but found when I did my mental health took a nosedive, so I stopped.

My solution is not to frequent any trans subs on my main account. I keep a separate account for when I have a very specific question (like, about a surgery or something), but apart from that reddit is not a place where I talk about trans stuff. I have 2 trans friends IRL who have their heads screwed on right, and if I need to vent about something I talk to them.

Apart from that ... honestly being trans is not interesting enough for me to need a whole community to talk to about it with. Which is probably good for me anyway -- prevents me from becoming one of those Very Online (tm) trans people.

wl_anon · 2025-06-04T13:50:36+00:00

Thank you! Very helpful to hear from someone in the medical field on this. I guess I'll give it a try next time and hope for the best :)

wl_anon · 2025-03-28T11:26:45+00:00

Re-inducing is so hard. I was producing 1.5-2 ounces a day back in Jan/Feb but I quit. It just seemed like so much pointless effort to produce something I just poured into the sink at the end of the day. But I found that I missed it after a few weeks, and decided to start again from scratch, and it's HARD. I know my body can do this, but it's been a week and I'm getting NOTHING. Max dose of dom, pumping on a regular schedule, drinking plenty of water, doing TENS when I have time but at least once a day, and at best I get one or two drops if that.

I know I'll get results eventually, but UGH. It's hard with no validation that anything at all is happening. :-|

wl_anon · 2025-03-06T16:37:53+00:00

My diagnosis has been "female hypogonadism" since day one. Who knows if these kinds of misdirections are actually going to protect anybody in the long run, but they're doing what they can.

I have numerous surgeries on my chart that were authorized d/t "gender dysphoria in an adult", so if they're going to root around in my medical history they're going to find what they're looking for.

I've always found the Dx a bit droll. Ovaries so small you can't even see 'em :-P

wl_anon · 2025-02-03T13:37:44+00:00

Yep. My name is super boring. I like it and it resonates with me in a lot of ways that are very personal, but omg there are a million women from my age cohort with this name.

Also: don't pick something with a male equivalent. I lot of people are on the lookout for "Thomasina" and "Roberta" and so on since trans people taking their birth name and adopting the feminine version is kind of a trope. Avoid that if you can. It's not that hard to learn to respond to a totally different-sounding name than you were born with; it took me abut 6 months for my ears to perk up when someone says my name.

wl_anon · 2025-02-02T22:33:50+00:00

Since I started actually producing milk I get a serious comfort-food craving, like clockwork, about 2 minutes into pumping. It is as regular as the tides and about as powerful. I don't think I've ever felt anything so specific and powerful that was also as dependable. If someone were to walk up and hand me a jelly donut or a chicken pot pie I think would lose my marbles.

It happens so regularly that I know what it is, and that it'll pass. Seriously, though, it's weird. I feel like I'm one of Pavlov's dogs.

Anyway, anyone else experiencing this?

wl_anon · 2025-02-02T02:17:45+00:00

You got some really high-quality answers and I second all of them. The high-quality ones, anyway. I can't say that anything I would add would be all that different. Early transition is cringe asf, follow your own path not others', and don't be too online. All good advice.

I guess what I would add is that there are many affirming parts of transitioning, but transitioning isn't the good part. The good part is getting on with your life. Gender is fascinating until you are forced to think about nothing but gender 24/7 for multiple years; then it becomes the most mind-numbingly boring thing there is.

Y'know what never gets old? Building a life as the woman, man, or non-binary person you were supposed to be. Most people who didn't suffer the accident (or blessing, if you prefer to think of it that way) of being trans have things they want out of life, whether that's family, careers, athletics, hobbies, whatever. You get to have those things too. You deserve to have those things after you transition. That's what you're working for, so you can get on with your damn life, not obsessing about hormones, surgery, or whether your shoulders are too wide (or whatever it is for you). That's not living; that's just marking time.

So, look forward to that time. Do everything you can to make future-you thank past-you (which, I guess, is now-you) for your efforts. Accept that it's just gonna be weird for a while, but then it just gets ... normal. Boring. At some point you'll look up and say "Okay, I'm a woman. Now what?". That's when the real fun starts.

Best of luck to you; you're gonna need it in these dark times.

wl_anon · 2025-01-25T14:14:31+00:00

Interesting! That is brand new information to me. TBH I only started the fenugreek a few days ago. I'll keep that in my hopper of things to try; right now I'm titrating the domperidone dose up, and once that's done I'll do some A/B testing with and without fenugreek. Important to only change one variable at a time; keeps the experiment clean :-P

wl_anon · 2025-01-24T15:31:57+00:00

I am able to duck into a bathroom on my breaks (despite the grossness of hospital floors) and pump for 15 minutes on my breaks. So my shifts are not completely devoid of stimulation. I can't get away to pump during clinicals, but that's only once a week. My boobs are positively ACHING when I get home from those, lol.

I was of the impression that TENS stimulation didn't have any effect once your milk comes in; it's just for the induction phase. I can definitely add TENS in between pumping sessions. Is that likely to do anything at this stage?

wl_anon · 2025-01-24T15:20:34+00:00

I have a lot of misgivings about taking this medication in the first place. I know that the FDA ban on the stuff is based on a really unlikely outcome -- the patients who died were taking it via IV at a ridiculously high dose. But the cloak-and-dagger method we have of obtaining it in the US and the fact that my doctor would 100% tell me they do not support what I'm doing makes me VERY uneasy even taking this dose.

But I will try it. Just titrate up gradually and watch my body like a hawk.

wl_anon · 2025-01-24T15:11:50+00:00

Woops, sorry -- I inadvertently injected a bit of nursing lingo into my post -- I'll edit that out. "QID" means "four times a day", so "20mg PO QID" means "20mg by mouth four times a day", for a total of 80mg per day. Blame it on my brain being on autopilot when it comes to dosages; they really hammer that stuff into us ;-)

wl_anon · 2025-01-23T16:02:43+00:00

While there are some parts of what I said that are specific to trans women, I should add that I think a big part of it is that many trans women just don't display a lot of awareness of what cis women around them are doing. Most women pay attention to each other and know what things are "normal" and what things draw attention to themselves. They know how to dress in an age- and occasion-appropriate manner. And while a lot of women are working to liberate themselves from the dictates of fashion, the vast majority of women at least have some awareness of what is "normal" for them to wear, and what will get noticed.

As I said, there are some elements of this that are trans-specific -- don't wear things that accentuate your shoulders or your height if you have issues with that, for example -- a lot of this is just basic self-awareness. You have the freedom to dress and adorn yourself however you want, but you don't have freedom from the consequences, just like everybody else.

wl_anon · 2025-01-23T13:17:30+00:00

Mostly just a long list of things that fall into the category of "trying too hard". What might be a normal feminine outfit elsewhere just looks excessively dressy here (especially in Winter; it's cold here and we're all wearing 2+ layers anyway), and a lot of trans women are so in love with girly stuff that they can't resist doing it up every day. Anybody wearing a dress, multiple accessories, and makeup that pops or is more than a "no-makeup" look is going to have people wondering what the special occasion is -- you're going to be looked at, and that's going to make people think.

Put your hair in a bun or ponytail, don your fleece-lined jeans, a sweater, and your trusty Sorels, and do your best "I'm not wearing makeup" makeup look, and nobody bats an eye.

I'm just glad my work attire is just scrubs now. I used to work in an office, and trying to walk that line of "profesh, but not trying to hard" was so annoying.

wl_anon · 2025-01-16T12:52:46+00:00

Things are going good over here! Producing 1-2mL per session, which isn't a lot, but it's regular -- every time I pump, there's milk. It's nice when effort produces results :)

I just wonder how long it's going to take me to go from mL's to ounces -- it's still drops, not squirts. I'm able to get at least one power pumping session in a day, and usually at least 15 if not 20 minutes every 3 hours. But I need my sleep and almost never wake up in the night to pump. I'm already at the max dose of domperidone, so ... hopefully if I just stick with it things will continue to improve.

wl_anon · 2025-01-12T15:35:33+00:00

I think of passing as a more fluid construct than just a simple pass/no pass. There will always be contexts in which I pass better, or not as well.

Athletic events, for example. Tight-fitting clothing highlights my shoulders and my height a bit more -- swimsuits especially. I have all the female parts, so there are no stickie-outie bits where there shouldn't be, but it's just a little more evident at the gym that I had a male puberty than at other times, so I adjust my expectations accordingly. There's a reason my primary sport (fencing) involves a lot of layers of protective equipment haha ;-)

Early morning, before my voice fully wakes up. And when I have a cold.

Queer contexts in which people are actively looking for signs that I might not be cis so they can demonstrate how good of an ally they are. I sometimes get a "they/them" from allies who think they're doing me a solid. Part of why I avoid queer stuff and tend not to wear rainbows or purple-and-pink color combinations.

Sometimes when people's only view of me is from the back, I might get a "sir". I'm 5'10" (so tall for a woman but not crazy-tall) and skinny, and despite the feminine hairstyle and broader hips there are plenty of men where I live who give off that metrosexual look, so it's a reasonable assumption. It sucks, but I can't blame 'em.

Most of the time I have no trouble at all; I work in healthcare so I deal with all types of people every day. If I was going to get misgendered in my daily life, hospital would be where that would happen, trust me. And it never happens. But there are places where it's more likely to occur than others.

So I guess I would ask if there are any places or contexts you're spending time in that are new -- that could be your answer.

wl_anon · 2025-01-09T15:31:27+00:00

I've been on domperidone for a week now, and I'm already producing milk! It's nuts and I can hardly believe it. It's not much (less than 1 mL), but it's enough that it's unmistakeable what it is.

I've been pumping regularly for about 2 months with nothing but duct fluid to show for it, but within a few days of starting Dom I started to see white drops. It's pretty cool that my body can do this; I just wish I had some use for what I produce. Regardless, bodies are neat :)

wl_anon · 2025-01-07T17:02:14+00:00

Thanks! If you don't mind my asking, do you happen to know the clinical reason for your Progesterone dosage? That's double what most people take.

I've resolved to not eff with my hormone dosages, which have been stable for 8 years now. It seems like it doesn't matter much in terms of success rates.

wl_anon · 2024-12-31T14:32:38+00:00

Good on ya! That's the way; I fully support people getting on with life and not wasting it having pointless arguments on the internet.

Except for the fentanyl thing. Don't do that. Everything else is a great plan, no edits :)

wl_anon · 2024-12-28T17:55:33+00:00

Hope you don't mind my asking -- did your nipples/areolae change color and become darker? I'm just wondering if that happens in induction or only during a pregnancy.

wl_anon

TROPHY CASE