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
