GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

You could grow a pot belly and call them man-boobs; then, again, when you do begin living full-time, you will have an awful lot of backtracking to do.

What I am really getting at is that once on hormones, there will come a point where you may not be able to effectively pass as male (if all goes well! ) Needing a bra, or needing to bind your boobs, means that you are approaching that point.

Now is the time to lay the groundwork for full-time.

I'll bet your facial shape and your skin are changing, and I would be very surprised if you don't make the gossip list at work soon, if you haven't already.

I have been taking hormones for five months, and concealing my breast development became an issue fairly quickly (as well as dealing with the increased sensitivity that growth has brought on—I am moving differently, if only out of self-defense). There are clearly some basic strategies for concealment that have been touched on here that are fairly simple and effective. Obviously, breast development is not the only problem. Just this week I found myself in the hospital for two days, starting out in the ER, where I was asked by four different staff members what meds I was taking (they just seem to love asking the same questions over and over again!). Explaining the Finasteride was easy (BPH) but they all assumed I had hypertension when I mentioned the Spiro. The first time I let it go, but then the next time, I thought that might not be so smart (and that did come back at me later), so when asked again, I said I took Spiro to reduce my testosterone levels, which suprisingly, ended the questions. The last person to ask me was the anesthesiologist, right before I was going into the OR. He referred to my chart and said, "so you have hypertension?" I said, "no, that's a mistake" and so he queried why I took it and I repeated my now standard answer. But he pressed further, "so, do you have prostate cancer"?. I simply said, "no". There was a pregnant pause, and then he moved on.

I am trying to figure this out as I go. I guess this hospital experience is a little taste of what's to come, and my getting more comfortable with outing myself. I am far from stepping out and presenting full time as a female, but the emotional and physical well-being I have experienced since starting HRT has been pronounced. Were I to decide not to transition, I feel fairly certain that I would continue the HRT. I could not imagine taking all the the other necesssary transition steps, and only then starting hormones (it would be kind of like waking up, stepping out of bed, and immediately running a 5K race).

BTW, to spare you all the boring medical details but not to leave you hanging, my hospital stay turned out fine:).

Why would you NOT tell them your transsexual, I cannot imagine someone in a hospital would care and it would be better for a doctor to tell them exactly what is going on before getting any treatment...

I think if you're in a hospital, you're condition is serious enough that you need to disclose all your medications, but you only need to disclose that you are trans if you want to. If they are smart, they'll figure it out soon enough.

There are bigots in hospitals, and some of them are doctors. I was thrown out of an endo's office once for explaining that I was trans. I wasn't politely asked to find another doc, I wasn't given a referral to another provider, I was thrown out and all evidence that I was ever there was shredded.

It gets more and more difficult the longer you live full-time, it seems. Yes, it can be stupid not telling, but sometimes you feel you don't have to unless you must.

Past experiences do that to you, too, when you've had to tell and you could notice the change in the way people treat you.

But, most definitely, in anything related to liver, vascular health, anesthesia, surgeries and diabetes, disclosing is necessary to minimize the risks.

Although I suspect it can get to the point where you don't mind the extra risk, once you are a post-op of many years.

Back to the concealing question on breast development. I was fortunate enough to work in executive offices so I wore sports coats and loose shirts underneath (oxford button down). I also wore a tie which even most exec's in Florida shun. I had to be careful in my choice of bra's though because if they were adjustable with the slide on the back that would show through some coats depending on the thickness and the lining.