#gendercare

[durfteleven]

The yeet the teet is done

[cyanocoraxx]

just had my top surgery referral appointment with one of the psychiatrists at Gendercare and got approved for surgery, so just wanted to share a general outline of what he asked me for reference for anyone who might be anxious about theirs and what they should research beforehand

some of his questions (not all & not verbatim exactly)

What are you looking for from top surgery, male chest reconstruction with or without nipples?

How is testosterone for you? How has it helped you?

Has being on testosterone affected any aspects of your dysphoria or heightened your chest dysphoria at all?

What triggers your chest dysphoria at the moment?

You wear a binder, what else do you do to reduce dysphoria?

Have you researched the surgeons you would like to go with?

What do you know about the risks of surgery? (I answered with general surgery risks, top surgery-specific risks, peri-specific risks because I might qualify, and then the corrections that might be needed after.)

What do you know about the recovery process?

How has your mood been in general since I last saw you?

Any new mental health diagnoses you want or need to pursue?

Are you still on your medication?

How is your support system at the moment?

Do you have someone who will help to look after you after the surgery?

Does your employer know you want to get surgery and will need time off?

Will they be okay with giving you light duties?

[ukftm]

My little brother has just turned 13 a month ago and has knows he’s trans for a long while and is fully certain he wants to go medical. While our parents are a little split on their opinions on him transitioning, I just want him to be happy - obviously.

Do you know if there’s owt he can do right now medical wise? Being a 17 year old cis guy leaves me with a lot of questions and Google’s a bitch, so I’m not sure what a 13 year old can do for his gender emotions.

Hi Anon,

Due to your brother being 13 he may be prescribed hormone blockers, but that would only been done after a referral from a Gender Identity Clinic. A GP would not prescribe these without the GIC giving the go ahead.

Waiting lists for GICs are multiple years long, so he will want to go to his GP and get a referral. While he will be referred to a clinic appropriate for his age at the time of his referral, depending on where he lives, he could be 18 before he sees the GIC as waiting lists are so long.

So unless he wants to seek the advice of a private clinician who he would have to pay for private advice and who MIGHT prescribe hormone blockers privately, all he can do is get his name on the NHS GIC waiting list and wait until he gets an appointment.

It’s worth noting however that due to the current climate and the negative focus on trans health, accessing trans healthcare both privately and on the NHS is getting more difficult and rules/procedures are getting tighter.

Due to waiting lists being many years long this will give him the time to be absolutely sure of his gender identity and what he wants in terms of surgery once that becomes an option for him.

In the mean time we have a lot of posts about transitioning on the NHS and privately and information on hormone blockers, so it may be a good idea if you have a read of these. Your brother may find our blog helpful for the emotional side of things also as there are plenty asks that may help him understand what he is feeling

[gnot-that-gender]

Cost of Transition

I've just watched a video by @jammi-dodger about the cost of his transition. It's fantastic information but as he says in the video, costs can vary HUGELY. And so I thought I'd give some information about my costs! (Jamie, you are welcome to use this information if you ever want to :) )

So, quick overview. I initially referred myself through my NHS GP to the NHS gender clinic in Exeter (The Laurels). After a 3 year wait I gave in and decided to go private through GenderCare (Dr Lenihan). Typically, the day I sent off the email to Dr Lenihan I got a letter inviting me to an appointment at The Laurels. Here is a quick break down of the costs of my transition thus far. I will update as I go along.

2016 - £0.00 - Deedpoll - I changed my name via deedpoll for free. I used Free Deed Poll UK (freedeedpoll (dot) org) which gives you a fancy deedpoll to print off for yourself.

2017 - £20.00(+£35.00) - Binder - My friend bought me a binder from gc2b as a gift. At the time gc2b did not have a European store and so my binder was shipped from the US. My friend spent around £35.00 on the binder and because of international shipping fees, I had to pay £20.00 to receive it from the post office.

2017 - £30.00 - Strap on harness - I'm including this one as I feel it is important to my transition. I got Love Honey's "Beginner's Unisex Strap On Harness". I also bought other penises to use with it but I wont add those expenses in.

2019 July - £25.00 - Petrol to travel to Laurels clinic in Exeter.

2019 July - £5.00 - Parking in Exeter.

2019 August - £300.00 - Private consultation fee with Dr Lenihan.

2019 August - £20.00 - Coach and tube travel expenses to London.

2019 September - £0.00 - Blood work taken at my local GP surgery prior to consultation with London Transgender Clinic.

2019 December - £300.00 - Initial consultation with Mary Burke at LTC (I fucking love Mary). She prescribed me Testogel on that very day.

2019 December - £42.00 - Private prescription of Testogel from local pharmacy.

2019 December - £0.00 - Meeting with NHS GP to discuss shared care and show evidence of my 'diagnosis' from Dr Lenihan and LTC.

2019 December - £9.00 - 2 month's supply of T on an NHS prescription.

2020 February - £9.00 - Another 2 month's supply of T.

2020 February - £54.00 - Packer - I bought the Fun Boy by Buck Angel from Ann Summers. I had a massive discount as it's usually around £70. I really liked the look of this one so I decided it would be worth the money and the discount made it so worth it.

2020 February - £2.50 - Craft supplies to extend the jock strap that comes with the Fun Boy as it is not made for bigger butts and the first one I had broke immediately.

Total So Far (rounded) = £817.00

Further costs expected...

6 month consultation at LTC £150-£300 plus travel fees

Continued prescriptions of Testogel (£54 per year)

Top surgery £5,000-£8,000 (or free if I am seen by the Laurels before I can afford it)

Loss of earnings from time off for surgery and additional living and childcare expenses during recovery - £2,000.

All questions welcome!

[trans-guy-positive-blog]

I started testosterone today!

I'm so happy and excited to say that I'm no longer pre - t!

It's been a long journey for me to get here, and so I want to thank my fellow mods and all of you guys for being supportive members of the community for me since August of 2017 when I joined the blog.

I wanna use my experiences with my transition to help you guys better if I can, so if there's any questions that you have, I'll do my best to answer them! For context I've chosen to go private for hormones whilst on the list for an NHS clinic in the UK.

(a very excited) -Alex

[rottendyke]

Yo would anyone who's gotten T through gendercare be willing to just like, talk with me about how it was and what exactly the process entails and stuff? I'm gonna be going through them hopefully within the next year so I wanna know exactly what to expect, exactly what to do and exactly what I may need

Edit: I'm from the UK and talking about the gendercare clinic!!

[cold-conversations]

Today marks 5 years on T. 5 years ago I was a 16 year old boy finding my way in life about to embark on the biggest journey of my life. Today, I stand here as a 21 year old young man. A confident, outgoing, ambitious young man. At the age of 14 when I first realised I could be trans I was so scared. So scared of everything I was going to face. That 14 year old would be so in awe of the man he has become. It wasn’t easy by no means, but by god it was worth it,

Puberty round 2 is now over

[dreamer-justlikeyou]

so I think I’m ready to start contacting gender clinics to begin hrt and my physical transistion (I’d like top surgery at some point but I know realistically for me it’s the furthest away atm)

I’d really appreciate any advice or someone to chat to about private clinics in the u.k, I have easy access to London but I’m willing to travel around if I need to. I’m looking for somewhere trustworthy and with not too long a waiting list (might be getting my hopes up there a bit, I’m expecting about six months before an appointment from what I’ve read). I think I’m most likely to go with Gendercare or London Transgender Clinic atm, anyone willing to share their experiences would be really helpful!