TGs as medically underserved population

[makin' it real]

Hi y'all. My school has been giving some attention recently to LGBTI issues, and finding that there's surprisingly little reliable information available to physicians working with TG populations.

Here's a decent, recent article in the school magazine I thought you might like to read. Titled "Transition point: The unmet medical needs of transgender people," (http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2012spring/article7.html) it provides a good description of physicians' limited awareness of TG/TS issues. It also includes references to some resources and articles you and your physician might find useful.

Not everything in the article matches our community's understandings, e.g., definition of terms, but those misunderstandings help to highlight the medical community's general ignorance of who we are and what we need. On the plus side, it is sensitively written and shows the desire of many in the field to be of greater service to us.

I enjoyed reading it and thought you might too.

~Rachel

[ReneeT]

Thanks for sharing. I will definitely read it and respond. In the mean time, check this out:

http://www.thetaskforce.org/reports_and_research/ntds

[Kathryn Martin]

Thank you both for those links

[ReneeT]

Hi y'all. My school has been giving some attention recently to LGBTI issues, and finding that there's surprisingly little reliable information available to physicians working with TG populations.

Here's a decent, recent article in the school magazine I thought you might like to read. Titled "Transition point: The unmet medical needs of transgender people," (http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2012spring/article7.html) it provides a good description of physicians' limited awareness of TG/TS issues. It also includes references to some resources and articles you and your physician might find useful.

Not everything in the article matches our community's understandings, e.g., definition of terms, but those misunderstandings help to highlight the medical community's general ignorance of who we are and what we need. On the plus side, it is sensitively written and shows the desire of many in the field to be of greater service to us.

I enjoyed reading it and thought you might too.

~Rachel

I read the story. Unfortunately, that is the rule, not the exception. Things are improving, though. TG healthbcare is NOT rocket science. It really just involves, for a physician, overcoming predjudices and a little education. For those that want to engage their doc, there are some relally good resources out their. I shared many of them, courtesy of Frances, with my doc, who was eager to learn

[makin' it real]

Yeah, I've got to give kudos to the doc's. They consistently show genuine concern about their patients and a desire to learn more about how to best work with them. At least that's what I've seen in the primary care doc's. Some of the other specialties, eh not so much.

Renee, that article you link to is powerful stuff. I've only read the executive summary and the methods section so far, but wow! It's a fairly damning indictment of our cultural blindness toward gender diversity, and gives support to what most of us know intuitively: "Be careful out there."

And while caution is called for, so too is courage and heartfulness. Even with all the possible negative social consequences, we still push forward to express who we are. I do, along with you. And still I use discernment in when and with whom to discuss these parts of myself. I'm not so far along I can't pass as just a regular guy in most (clothed) situations. And yet still I have the underlying awareness of potential problems should I disclose more of who I am.

I don't know. There's something compelling about all the people who choose to face the external difficulties in order to reduce the internal difficulties. You all (we all?) are a courageous lot.

~Rachel

[MC-lite]

I don't know. There's something compelling about all the people who choose to face the external difficulties in order to reduce the internal difficulties. You all (we all?) are a courageous lot.

I've been told how much courage I have by people who have watched me struggle through this. I usually say to them "It's amazing what you can do when you have no choice."

We do this because we have no choice. Well, we do have a choice, but the other choices are just not acceptable. As I see it, I had three choices:

A) Live miserable, with screaming monsters in my head for the rest of my life.

B) Kill myself.

C) Transition to female, and spend the rest of my life happy.

I chose C. I think it was a good choice. :)

[Jorja]

You could have started 30-40 years ago. Doctors could not even spell Transgender let alone treat us. While I admit the medical community has a long way to go, they have come a long way in thier efforts to treat trans patients.

[Anna Lorree]

Thank you ladies. I have bookmarked the article supplied by makin' it real, and also the study on discrimination. As I am coming to terms with the reality of this being with me for the rest of my life, and the very real prospects of eventual transition, I am educating myself and preparing to educate doctors. I find that if you can speak their language, they tend to listen better. I would rather gather the ammunition of information now than in the midst of the fray.

What I can say for trying to understand myself (because of the lack of professional help) is that it is driving me to become an educated expert in our mutual subject. I am back in college, studying psychology with the intent to go to at least the Masters level. My interests are transgender care, and PTSD. I live and struggle with both, and have decades of experience to offer those fields of study.

Anna