difference between a transgender and a transsexual

[robertlouis]

Yes, of course. It still messes up your body in certain ways none the less. It's basically like putting petrol in a semi.

Over here a semi is a house!

That's not recommended either.....

[Prospero]

TG = The Umbrella
TS = The person standing under it.

Nicely put Krissy... succinct and to the point

[GroobyKrissy]

Nicely put Krissy... succinct and to the point

Oooh... I like pointy things

[natina]

the difference is $10.00 USA

[Jamie French]

About the HRT thing. I turned 34 a few days ago, started HRT about a week after I turned 32. Even this "late" in life it's been the best medical decision I ever made. If I had the finances and support group at 18 that I have now I would have started that much sooner, no question.

It's a good thing that there are so many stories on the internet about the ravages that hormones can wreak on your body. Helps keep kids from self medicating. But, unless you are actually going through HRT under the care of an endocrinologist you shouldn't feel like you can speak freely about what hormones will or won't do for/or to you. Every individual is different and only your doctor can help you choose a hormone regimen that's right for you.

Some of the claims about the detrimental effects of hormones are flat out incorrect. I live it, I don't want to hear it dictated to me or folks in my position by someone who doesn't.

HRT may very well fuck up your sex life, but two years in and I function so well that I actually make a decent living out of it, (as I have for years.) Mood swings have been mild at best and overall have made me much less prone to fits of anger and impulsive reactions. The physical effects of the medication have refined all the little quirks I didn't like about my body and have more or less 'primed' my body for surgeries that will yield much more fulfilling results.

All those things may not have been the case if certain circumstances were different but I took a chance in the interest of pursuing happiness, made some informed decisions and worked with professionals in a safe and measured manner. Things are good for me, so please, don't share horror stories unless they are your own. Come at the board with useful information, not unearned third hand spook stories.

[MacShreach]

Yes, of course. It still messes up your body in certain ways none the less. It's basically like putting petrol in a semi.

Not really, Lily. A proper hormones regime will use androgen-blcokers to suppress the effects of testosternone, and then replace the hormones with estrogen. So on a well-regulated programme, your body's hormone levels will be similar to a cis-woman's. So it's more like taking the diesel mill out and then putting in a petrol engine and then filling up with petrol (gas).

There are potentially two problems. One is that the anti-androgens are tough to metabolise and may, eventually, after protracted or excessive use, cause liver damage. But this is years in.

The other is that some girls, who are self-medicating, basically OD on estrogen. What they don't realise is that in excessive doses, estrogen actually has a masculinising effect, so there is a danger of developing a positive feedback loop: 'Oh this doesn't seem to be working, I'll take more.' Unfortunately, high levels of estrogen also can cause liver damage. So in many cases, it's a 'less is more' situation.

Hormone regimes are predicated on the underlying idea that the girl will eventually get full SRS. So using andro-blockers is fine, since when she has her testes removed as part of the procedure, they can be stopped, and there's no evidence they're harmful in the short to medium term (and the evidence for damage in the long term is sketchy.)

It's actually quite simple and safe for a girl to use hormones, proceed with SRS or at least an orchi, and use estrogen HRT therapy as maintenance thereafter. HRT is prescribed to millions of cis-women and is highly effective. (Without HRT, the woman will be at risk of osteoporosis, as happened to April Ashley.)

The problem arises when the girl wants to feminise but also to keep her testes and/or a 'functional' penis. As soon as andro-blockers are removed, she'll begin to masculinise, although, if she took hormones from the critical teens up to mid-twenties, this might be a long time showing. Long-term, maintenance doses of andro-blockers and estro are a shot in the dark. So this is a far more difficult call, and this is leaving aside any side-effect on erectile ability which may affect the girl's earning potential, shall we say.

The temptation, for girls like this, is to go for surgeries, implants or even worse, injected silicon, instead of hormones. This will not work in the long term, as the surgeries etc will have to continue, (and indeed, some girls become addicted to it.) Male pattern baldness, ageing male body forms etc etc, are certain to be an issue.

A cute young transgirl will only stay cute and young for so long, and in fact she has to think about the long-term consquences of testosterone on her feminine appearance before they occur. This is why enlightened doctors now offer blockers to young transgirls to delay puberty.

As a man, I have no right to prescribe to women what they should or should not do. But they should be informed of the real situation, and not fed BS about the 'harmful' effects of hormones, when there are none, in a properly controlled regimen anyway.

What I would personally say, is that while as far as I am concerned a girl is a girl, I would probably not--actually certainly not--be involved with a transwoman who was not on a feminising hormone regime. It's just the way it is. Having experiences of the same transwomen while on and off, I can assure anyone that the differences are remarkable.

I agree that girls should not self-med if possible, but that is of no help at all to somone living in say the Philippines and much of the rest of the world, where doctors prepared to prescribe are very very rare. We shouldn't be making ex-cathedra statements telling people they must not do things when they basically have no choice.

[Amy Gray]

Personally, I think anyone who references Italian is always right. So, you get a pass from me.

Oh wait...

Awww, I want an ass from krissy!

[Prospero]

I am deeply impressed by the depth of Mac's knowledge on this topic and his very useful postings

[Amy Gray]

means that a TS is a TG but a TG is not necessarily a TS? ok but that does not help me too thank you very much

A square is a type of rectangle but a rectangle is not necessarily a square. In short, transsexuals are a bunch of squares. I mean that in the fondest way possible.

[danthepoetman]

I am deeply impressed by the depth of Mac's knowledge on this topic and his very useful postings

Indeed, Mac's post and Jamie's are great! But tell me, guys, couldn't Lily take only androgen blockers, to avoid becoming more masculine, until she makes a definite choice on what to do after?