Try to know what you are doing

Springfield, VA, USA. I was born with Harry Benjamin Syndrome (HBS), a birth condition where the body's sexual organs are misaligned with the sex of the brain. Until fifty or sixty years ago there was no treatment, no surgeons skilled enough to realign my outward physical characteristics with the inner physical sex of my brain.

 

Living in another age, I would have lost my mind or have been looked upon as the devil's child.

 

The standard treatment in the 1950s and 60s for a child who had HBS and admitted it out loud was confinement to a mental institution followed by electroshock treatment to drive the demons from my brain. Luckily I was born smart enough not to tell my parents or doctors until I had control of my own life and the words and science needed to explain HBS to the skeptical.

 

Even now, in a new millennium, I have failed to convince the Roman Catholic Church that I exist, that HBS exists, that Harry Benjamin was right. But Mother Church learns from science and the science and studies are coming that will eventually change her mind. However reluctantly, she will decide that I too and all the other HBS men and women are of God and created in his image. 

 

I have less hope for the fundamentalist evangelicals who worship a rather small minded, uncaring god who shows no knowledge of science, philosophy, or mercy and cannot possibly have created the Universe. His heaven is not mine and I would not bend my knee to worship his desert ignorance. I would rather deal with Allah who is all merciful than the untutored deity of the fundamental evangelicals.

 

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We are the targets of self-seeking politicians in their mercenary quest for votes. They appeal to religious ignorance and uneducated fear to fill their coffers and maintain their grasp on power. They drape their speeches in Jesus, giving him words he never spoke, while they publicly parade their faith as they grovel for votes and money.

 

These are not stupid men and women. These are politicians who will do anything to be re-elected, who will play upon their constituents' prejudice rather than their better angels.

 

We will win out when the older generation and their political lapdogs pass from this earth. In the meantime we need to vote the bastards out of office whenever we can and minimize their influence by making them an ever smaller minority in our governments.

 

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HBS men and women cannot afford to be one issue voters. In the long run, it is better for us and America if we elect a President who will make moderate choices for the Supreme Court than if we insist on a litmus test for our candidates.

 

To be against war is a good thing, but not at the expense of losing the election and having someone like George W. Bush president for another eight years.

 

Both gay rights and transgender rights are worthy goals, but not if we lose one because we insist on both. Politics in a democracy works by compromise and a thousand small steps. If you refuse to compromise, if you refuse to take the first step, you may never reach your intended goal. If insist that everyone support everything we may end up with nothing or another W, a Governor Huckabee, because the democratic candidate is insufficiently liberal, or not green enough, or too inexperienced, or part of the power structure, or does not sign enough open ended rainbow pledge cards to please us.

 

HBS men and women have specific needs apart from the protections sought by the transgender political machine. Most of what we need, we need during transition:

We need these changes to facilitate transition, after which HBS men and women are just women and men, nothing more or less. After transition, we are covered by the same laws that govern every other citizen of the United States (feel free to insert your country of choice).

 

But to get there from here, we need a President and politicians who are not beholden to extremist views or fringe political beliefs.

 

The great American center is fair and generous. They will support our needs if we just take the time to talk to them.

 

We must forego adolescent ultimatums and political litmus tests and work with the political middle until we achieve our goals.

 

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Endocrinologists and other doctor like to treat women born with HBS, and especially those of us post-op, as if we are post-menopausal. We are not, but they don't seem to notice. 

 

A lot of doctors seem to only read the package inserts (which never mention Male to Female HBS women – there aren't enough of us to be a profit center) and to fall back on the literature and dosage levels suggested for post-menopausal women. Even the best Endos find themselves reluctant to prescribe levels that aren't supported in the current post-menopausal literature.

 

Doctors love to measure hormone levels in Male to Female HBS. Blood tests for estradiol and testosterone levels are like a game doctors play in order to keep themselves busy and paid, patients impressed, and medical bureaucrats pleased with thick medical histories. Arbitrary evaluation of blood test results based on standards for post-menopausal women can result in ill advised dosage recommendations that are inappropriate for Male to Female HBS.

 

All assumptions what hormone levels should be in an HBS woman are arbitrary and groundless. Only by observing the changes to an HBS woman's body can the efficacy of the dosage level be determined. The most easily measurable is change of diameter in the denser (than the surrounding fat) glandular breast tissue, which at first appears as a dense knot/lump behind a nipple connected with nipple but easily movable relatively to other tissues.

 

In many cases, the best sources for proper treatment dosages of estradiol and progesterone are the post-ops themselves. There is good field evidence to suggest that post-op women, including some who are experienced medical doctors, know best. We have to take responsibility ourselves for our own well-being.

 

If you run any of this past your Endo or GYN, they probably will talk about the lack of HBS literature and probably not listen. But tell them TS-Si sent you.

 

For comparison, my current personal hormone dosage centers on 12 mg of Estradiol 17b and 200 mg of Prometrium per day with no red flags on the semiannual blood work (hormone levels, liver, etc.) my Endo requires.

 

As with any estrogen hormone, if cancer runs in your family, be sure to consult your doctor frequently and regularly. Be sure to self-test for breast cancer once a month and to schedule yearly mammograms.

 

If you do not know what you are doing, please do not self-medicate and NEVER buy black market meds or any drug off the street.

 

 

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