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Menopausal cis women be like: “I know I could feel like I’m 30 again, but I think I’m gonna try feeling shit for a few years” 🤔

Trans women: “Why are you doing this to yourselves? Behold our lord and saviour, HRT!”

in reply to Sarah Brown

(in my case it will probably be me not being allowed it because of my embolim history ☹️)
in reply to Bethan M. Jenkins

@Bethan M. Jenkins this concept of “allowed” may be a key difference, as most of us in the trans camp long ago blew past the “fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” barrier.
in reply to Sarah Brown

true. Though I think it's a reasonable supposition that oestrogen is going to be a clot trigger for me, and I'm not sure risking a third episode is a particularly wise choice 😬
in reply to Sarah Brown

Do you think it's part of the whole licking the patriarchal boot of "You're not a Real Woman unless you're suffering"?
in reply to Sion [main]

@Sion [main] That and maybe lots of them haven’t had the last shreds of respect for/fear of doctors beaten out of them.
in reply to Sarah Brown

@Sarah Brown @Sion [tech/gaming] Learning that you could basically just buy the stuff was a big step for me. Yeah I preferred to get a diagnosis and a prescription etc etc but they couldn’t actually stop me.
in reply to Alexandra Lanes

@Alexandra Lanes That's the crucial step. They pretty much force us to take that leap, and suddenly a whole world of, "you mean I can just take whatever I want without asking permission?' opens up.

That and learning that 99.9% of doctors literally do not give two fucks about their patients' quality of life.

in reply to Sarah Brown

@ajlanes Shame that the meds I really need for quality of life are controlled substances :blobcatSad:
in reply to Sion [main]

@sparrowsion @ajlanes Climbing on the canoe… it may be because I’m a fifty-something academic, but a lot of the cis women I happen to know are in team HRT (and not part of the problem I won’t pretend doesn’t exist). Much happier (well, less unhappy) they are too. I may yet get the memo.
Unknown parent

Sarah Brown

@anubis2814 They have quite the habit of denying it to us as well.

We just learn to give no fucks.

Unknown parent

@anubis2814 @Sarah Brown Well, to be fair they usually try denying it to us as well but we seem to be more determined to get it anyway.
in reply to Sarah Brown

Cis women will take drugs that have miles worse side efects to avoid taking HRT it's wild.
Unknown parent

Sarah Brown

@anubis2814 @Alexandra Lanes No. Not really. We have been in a near century long war of attrition with the medical community and their habit of trying to utterly control every aspect of our lives.

It is entirely normal to go to a doctor and tell them you are taking HRT, and maybe they can take you on as a patient as harm reduction (and frequently they still say no), because otherwise they won't give us shit.

The fact that they give us anything at all is because if they don't, we end up presenting an even bigger problem for them down the line, and even that usually doesn't stop them. Most of them regard transition as the absolute worst outcome and try to prevent it at all costs.

Anyone who thinks they treat us with any kind of privilege isn't paying attention.

in reply to Sarah Brown

@Alexandra Lanes @anubis2814 And honestly, the best outcome we can hope for long term is to get a GP who doesn't know us, has never seen us, and just signs off on an HRT repeat every month without knowing why, because "tickybox".

And still, just buy several months' grey market pills as a backup because you never know when they're gonna resort to fuckery.

in reply to Sarah Brown

We have the same problems in the USA, but I found 100 grams of estradiol enthanate was only $380: from China. That's about 1,000 years worth. I'm pretty sure climate change will get me before I run out...
Unknown parent

@anubis2814 @Sarah Brown Medical sexism affects trans women too. And it doesn’t belittle cis women to point that out. It’s also pretty bloody offensive to claim trans women get less bad treatment due to being perceived as men. (Spoiler: we don’t)
Unknown parent

Sarah Brown

@anubis2814 @Alexandra Lanes you’re being cissexist here. Doctors do not treat trans women as men. They treat us as even less competent women.

Consider fucking off.

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

@ajlanes but then without prescription is illegal too? I personally was raised paranoid of Getting Caught or Getting In Trouble.
in reply to Heather 👻

@Heather As I understand it, without a prescription it’s legal to buy them from abroad but not from the UK. It’s legal to possess them and illegal to supply them.

There are uk sites where you can have an “online consultation” with a doctor who will rubber stamp your purchase.

Finally some HRT is now available over the counter without a prescription at Boots

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

@ajlanes Boots and superdrug have age restrictions.... Not really great if you're just perimenopausal.
in reply to Heather 👻

@Heather @Alexandra Lanes It’s absolutely legal to possess oestrogen for personal use without a prescription.

Trans women do it … a lot, because doctors are arseholes to us.