Transition and the VA

[Donna Joanne]

At the prompting of some friends, I finally went online and applied to see if I am eligible for VA medical treatment. And guess what, I am! My BC/BS HMO has a transgender exclusion, so this is a wonderful resource for therapy and HRT. Yes I do know that the VA will not do SRS at this time.

How many of you have went through the VA for your transition? Any advice or things you can tell me from your experiences that might save me some head/heartaches? Just waiting for my first appointment to see a doctor.

[BOBBI G.]

The only real problem I have had is my endo is not at my local VA center. I have to travel to another one. If your local VA center has one, it will just put another "egg" in the one basket. Every one is so helpful and more than willing to listen. My speech therapist is even at my local VA.

I have a GLBT liaison coordinator here, and she is a great help

Bobbi

[vetobob9]

I saw the psychologist at my local VA clinic in January and told her I wanted to transition. Be advised they have it classed under gender identity disorder, not gender dysphoria. That is because of how their computer system is set up. If you tell them gender dysphoria they might not be able to find it in the system.

They will ask some rather personal questions such as, "Do you get an erection while wearing women's clothing?" Apparently that is an important question in determining whether to give you a referral to the endocrinologist. For myself, I responded, "Yes I have, and I've also gotten erections while wearing men's clothing and no clothing. Particular when I happen to glance a female that my man parts find attractive." She also asked about if I had dreams of being female and if I had dreams of people trying to rip off my man parts and stuff like that. She ended up giving me a referral to the endocrinologist. I have my first endo appointment on the 28th early in the morning but it is at the main VA hospital in Long Beach. Stuff like this they usually don't leave to the small community clinics apparently.

[mbmeen12]

http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/apply/ is the link if anyone is interested. Good luck Donna/ everyone xoxo Kara

PS I am not that far behind in transition just would like/need to retire first.

[Angela Campbell]

they have it classed under gender identity disorder, not gender dysphoria. That is because of how their computer system is set up.

They will ask some rather personal questions such as, "Do you get an erection while wearing women's clothing?" .

I guess having the govt pay for the treatment makes it ok to deliver sub standard care. This is awful.

These are things that are years behind current treatment in this area.

[BOBBI G.]

Maybe I have been lucky. My psychiatrist never asked questions like that. We discussed me, my life, wants, desires, and what I was hoping to achieve from this process. At 71, I have no delusions of looking like a 25 or 30 year old female. She did ask if I found men attractive and the answer and the answer was some, yes, and some were even interesting. But I also explained to her my love of women and that were I to have a romantic or loving relationship it would be with a woman, as I consider myself a lesbian. I was referred and and am now getting blood work every 3 months and endo reports shortly after. All the staff are sensitive to our desires an, I feel ,care about us. Maybe I just lucked out and got doctors who care about the real me, not sure, but I'm grateful for that.

Bobbi