Choosing a Physician

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Permalink Reply by Jessie Lynn Esme on April 10, 2012 at 11:34am

I know not whether a male or female Dr. is better but seeing a Dr. is better. I think also as some of us have not many choices that while seeing someone familiar with TG issues is ideal, if not available seeing someone open and willing to learn and do some research is vital over someone close minded that is only a yes person. My Dr. while only slightly knowledgeable regarding TG patients, as I am only his third, is willing to learn and do some research on his own with my prodding and knowledge and curiosity of making sure to ask questions not necessarily to learn as I may know some of it but to get him curious to learn himself and gain myself more knowledge when he gets back to me! He he! Sometimes you must play to their curiosities and get them to think that it was their idea in the first place and you would be amazed at how fast they can come around and get back with you! Best of luck! Oh and yes if I could have a doctor with a more vast knowledge of our issues I would but it is not in the cards where I live right now! Hugs

Jessie

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Permalink Reply by Dal Maxwell on April 12, 2012 at 8:18pm

Katherine - MY 2 cents on this is that it's better to have a doctor who is looking out for your best interests.  Coincidentally, the majority of my doctors; including a vascular surgeon, nephrologist, my first urologist, my PCP; have all been women.  For a long time I didn't want to be touched or even seen by males.  That changed when I had a urological issue (severe) and the woman treating me seemed to be more discriminatory that I assumed a male doctor would be.  So I took my PCP's referral and went to see a very nice man who fixed the problem.

I will also say that I came to them before the fact of transition.  I HAD a relationship with one of my nephrologists already as well as my PCP.  And when SHE went into a specialty, the two of them found my new PCP and I am still a very happy camper. 

I don't tell my doctors what to do; I ask them to work with me in an intelligent, non-lethal manner.  It works out very well for all of us and I have come to trust my Drs. very much.

So if this doctor is doing well for you, CARING for you and not just dispensing medication, then go with that.  If anything ever comes up medically, there's nothing like having your Primary in your corner.

p.s. I'm envious of the Daytona thing......I was married in the gardens behind the museum.  My ex in-laws lived in Ormand Beach.

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Permalink Reply by Joanna Joy (JJ) on April 16, 2012 at 8:07am

When I first started looking into transitioning I found a list of TG friendly Doctors and now I can't find it that I've pretty much made up my mind to start HRT before I do something drastic to myself. Gonna keep looking but if anyone knows where they are PM me Thanks :) ... and In response to your Question Kathy, I think at this point if someone was educated on the issues and nice about it I wouldn't care what Gender they were.  :) Best of luck -Jenn

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Permalink Reply by Joanna Joy (JJ) on April 16, 2012 at 8:25am

P.S.'s my own post cuz I'm one minute late to edit it. I think I found what I was looking for

http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/prof_search.php

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Selene Gonzalez on April 17, 2012 at 2:46pm

Thanks everyone for the input

@Jessie- I can relate, I'm my doctors second lol

@Daralyn- That's cool for the Daytona thing, if your ever in town let me know kk

@Jenn- I can def relate on the before doing something drastic, I too was in that same dark place not to long ago, I couldnt find any local unless they were in the orlando area, and that was too far just for preference. Sometimes you just have to jump in, worst that can happen is that you will have to go somewhere else. If your still in the sanford are and need a friend thats going through similar stuff, let me know Im only 5 min away in deltona =)

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Permalink Reply by HELEN BRADY on April 29, 2012 at 8:27pm

I have preferred a female doctor, but due to my doctor leaving the HMO, I wound up with a new male doctor. I thought, I'll give him a chance and see how he is. I was assigned to a female doctor on maternity leave, but couldn't wait till she came back.

Well he goes along with my thoughts on HRT, and has ordered a karyotype blood test at my request.  There was some confusion on my prescriptions and blood work, but I think it was not him but his assistant that screwed up. Think its been taken care of. I increased my Spiro to 100mg twice daily instead of the 100 as 50 twice daily. I have to wait till the end of this prescription period to get started on the new dose, due to insurance paying for it only once per month.

My first T reading was 400 in january. It was 140/180 in late March. And that was with my 100/day.  I decided to hold off on increasing on my E from 5mg to 10 mg until I see how the new Spiro goes for a month or two.

Katherine you can go online search transexual HRT and transexual estrogen dose, transexual spironolactone dose, as well as read the experiences of many others. Safe Haven on Crossdressers.com which is a section only for mtf's is one of my sources for experience. They also have a Transexual forum for mtf's and ftm's, but us mtf's frequently forget that ftm's are welcome there too.

"THEY" say you should have an endocrinologist, but my HMO turned it down and said my Primary Care Physician could do as well. So my RX has been from my primary care doctors. The first one found the original dosage herself after she found the GID diagnoses (I told her BTW); she thought I was a gg and asked why did I need HRT since I was 77? When I told her it was for feminization she said Oh I see, and looked up GID in her manual. I think she also indicated that an orchiectomy would be possible to get also, perhaps under my HMO.

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Permalink Reply by Natalia Vega on November 10, 2012 at 6:35pm

I would also prefer a female doctor but any understanding doctor would do. Does anyone know of any female doctors in the Palm Beach or Broward county area of Florida?

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