Ok so I talked to my doctor (general practitioner) today, and she said I need to be careful about hormones because I have a history of carcinoid tumors. Geez, I had one in my appendix when it was removed 3 years ago. Now she tells me if I go on T they could come back and spread. They aren't cancerous tumors exactly, but they can cause problems. Ugh what do I do if the Endocrinologist doc says I can't go on T??

Thank you Linus for setting up this forum. In this day of media/political misinformation and media exaggeration this kind of setting becomes all the more important.

Good questions, thank you for asking.

Since many have already answered I'll try not to repeat and keep succinct. (No, seriously, lol!)

1 - I remembering starting to feel different by 1st/2nd grade, asking God why i hadn't been born like my sisters. Of course, not having any vocabulary to explain what I was feeling, the very thought that I should be asking such a question (circa late '60's/early '70's) scared me badly.

2 - Yes...and no. Again, I felt (with underlying knowledge) that I should have been more like my sisters, although i didn't know to what extent until later. (Actually, this seems to be asking 2 distinct questions, when did I know I was trans, and when did I know I was different. Should these always been assumed to be inclusive? Hmmm...)

3 - I came out just before my 40th birthday. it was a milestone filled with much emotion, agnst and hope. I came out in small, incremental steps at first, telling close friends, seeking out a therapist, a family member or two. I did tell my ex, which turned out to be the right - yet painful - decision.

Thank you for sharing this, Mr. Bent. For me your story sums up how transition - however it is defined - becomes such a personal tool empowerment for the one going through it. (How I wish the critics would think about that.)

If that is the case, then maybe I could go on T for a limited period of time, just until I get the masculinizing effects, then go off. I was thinking of that anyway, to be honest. Since I have no ovaries or uterus, I won't go back to producing estrogen afterwards, so that won't effect the changes that T will make. I gotta talk to my doctor about this.

Oh, and the word Carcinoid can be broken down to mean not cancer, but acts like a cancer: Carc= cancer, noid= acts like, or like but not the same.

Oh, and one more thing: when I had my appendix out, they did a CT scan and found nothing more in my gut. That was 3 years ago.

Hiya Braedon!

When I had my total hysterectomy, I had two tumors that were growing from my bladder down my leg. One was 5 pounds, and the second was 2.5 pounds. The doctor never saw them until she opened me up, then stopped surgery to get an oncologist. My surgery went from an hour and a half to 8 hours long. All of my internal organs moved around from the tumors that were growing. Then came the Oxycotyn. It triggered a heart attack. I went from one thing to another.

I still believe that my tumors were long growing and causing me pain, but the doctors I saw ignored my complaints. In fact, when I saw the last doctor she never wrote down any of my concerns about the pain I was experiencing walking or getting up from a sitting position to a standing position. All she said was I was fat and to loose weight. Sheesh. Now, it all makes sense.

If something isn't right, get it checked out. Doctors are a dime a dozen. If something isn't right, find a doctor who is going to listen and find out what is wrong.

:argue:

Thanks Julie, this info helps me a lot. :gimmehug:

Waving hello to my fellow Trans brothers and sisters

I like the term "standard issue"... and my guy's a custom job :)
Kris sometimes uses the term "natal male". That kinda makes sense to me too. I think "bio-male" is useful in the sense that its meaning is more intuitively interpretable, when you're speaking in the context of "transness".

Urs, thank you for this!. "Standard issue" is a new term for me! :)

This post, and a couple of others, have made me think of language and lexicon regarding the trans-community. My experience has been if you get ten individuals who are trans you will come up with twenty different self-identifying terms. Sometimes this leads to further information; sometimes this leads to quarrels. ("I am not a tranny!" "Well, I am!")

My experience has been that this is not something new. I have heard this discussion blossom up in the middle of many different groups, whether socially, politically or even ethnically identified. For instance, which is more proper, dyke or lesbian? Queer or gay? Homosexual or same-sex?

Here is my question: Should there be any one standard of words/phrases used to identify people of transgender experiences and their lives?

My initial reaction is, oh hell, no! We are individuals and to some extent so are our experiences, and our language should reflect that. But then the activist in me says, well, yes, that's very p.c. but does having such a varied vocabulary help or hinder the community and its message on a more macro (local/state/federal) level? let me be the first to say, to that question I have no clear response.

I am just dropping by to say hello. I hope everyone is ok.

Steph, I am with you on your answer to your question, but however I am still unclear as how as members of the community, that we can get other members to actually call us what we prefer.