So, 7 months today I started HRT. It has easily been the best 7 months of my life mentally. The constant depression I had with my body is slowly going, when I look down and see my chest I think, wow, it’s really happening.
Now I am not going to do my usual thing, where I go through what’s different from one month to the next, as there is no point. The only real change there has been is my chest is slightly bigger and I am slightly weaker.
What I want to go through is Trans Healthcare, especially since the current Health Secretary, Wes Streeting and made the ban on Puberty Blockers for Trans Kids indefinite. I am also going to to write this from real life experience, not scientific as I am not a scientist, or a gender specialist. I am a trans woman who has lived through the experience of not having puberty blockers when I was a kid.
If I had a choice when I was a kid, and I know what I know now, I would go with puberty blockers. for me having to go through male puberty was a nightmare. It has also done some irreversible damage to my body like my voice breaking, wide shoulders, the shape of my face etc. While there are medical procedures that can get rid of some of the stuff male puberty does like laser treatment for beards and body hair, there are also voice coaches to feminise your voice, I would not have to go through any of that if I didn’t go through male puberty. That’s not to mention the cost of all the treatments and the pain.
As I’m sure any doctor will tell you, not having to have surgery is a lot better of an outcome than having to have it.
Also you can not dismiss the fact that puberty blockers are fully reversible and have been given to kids as young as 8 for a condition called Prococious Puberty, or early puberty, since the 1970s.
A transgender woman won the Model of the year this year, she went on puberty blockers as a kid, and started HRT when she turned into an adult. The fact that she won Model of the Year is amazing in itself, but she would not have if she was did not get puberty blockers.
Also its not just the physical changes, mentally it is very depressing your body going through the wrong puberty. Try to picture yourself, dear reader, going through the wrong puberty. Imagine what that would do to your mental health.
I have always said that since coming out as a transgender woman almost 5 years ago, I started living almost 5 years ago. At the age of 44. My past experiences, 8 years in the Army, 2 times being married, 15ish years in the IT industry, means nothing when compared to the last 5 years.
The only thing the previous life has given me is PTSD, and my cat.
I hope now you understand why the suicide rate amongst transgender people, especially transgender youth, is higher than normal.
The indefinite ban on puberty blockers is not only cruel, its inhumane.
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