How long did you have to wait?

[ravennevermore]

Hi all, I was just curious as to how long you had to wait before you were prescribed HRT? Was it a long wait because you had to find the right doctor? Or because there’s a period of time they require you to hold off? There is a clinic in my city that specifically deals in transgender, but I haven’t called them yet.

[ToniTone]

I had to call almost a half dozen places to find one that would see me in less than seven months. I finally got into one that only took a month. It wound up being one of the most reputable transgender clinics in my area (Twin Cities) and I really like it. I got right away with informed consent, my doctors monitor me well as they should. 

[Ellora]

My Primary Doctor asked me a bunch of questions after I told her what I wanted. They are the cookie cutter questions for trans people. Very non threatening, and it actually turned out to be a fulfilling moment for me. My Doctor ordered labs and told me to schedule another appointment to discuss what the next steps will be as long as my labs are ok. Your Doctor will want to make sure your body can handle any medication they may prescribe. We had the meeting the following week, then she gave me a date the following week for me to begin my HRT lady meds. I think the formality is to make sure everyone is on the same page at the end of about two weeks. If your clinic is transgender friendly, you should have a good experience with them.

Best of luck!

[ravennevermore]

What kind of questions can I expect? I just want this to start happening now... I’ve spent so long burying myself that I am just so eager to start my process. Even though I know it can take years and I will want to hide myself from the world for awhile.

[VickySGV]

Just now, ravennevermore said:

What kind of questions can I expect?

 

Primarily, the just want to know what you believe the medications can do for you, and what they cannot do for you.  Knowing what can go wrong, or what cannot happen is important.  They may ask some info about why you and possibly another medical team member think that you will benefit from them, or if someone is giving you some misleading information, or if you are trying to please someone else by doing this.  It will take 3 to 6 months for HRT to kick in and get things moving and it will be 3 to 6 years before you will see the mostly final results (at nine years on HRT, my boobs are growing a bit again which is why I said mostly final there). If you feel pressure from another person, that is a warning sign.  HRT will not magically change your life in a short time.  Being able to assure the doctor you are taking informed steps of your own desire is what they will be looking for, as well as actual medical issues that could badly interact with the hormone or their method of administration.

[Cautiousness]

 Personally, for me it was 3-4 months.  Once the depression was under control, I was proscribed an androgen blocker for a few weeks when estrogen was then added to the daily regimen.  My commencement of hormone therapy might have been a bit accelerated though, in that my care was administered through a specialty-clinic (i.e, one-stop shopping, so to speak).