Vas You Dere, Cholly?
Oh my God, is this Livejournal? Can I post to it?
On Wednesday I saw my trans doctor for the second time and had my testosterone levels checked. Alert readers may not be surprised to learn that they were a bit high. One of the most bizarre things about FTM transitioning (to me, anyway) is that if your T levels get too high, your body can convert it back into estrogen, which is exactly what you don't want. He switched me from my current daily gel to one that's slightly lower-dose and a LOT cheaper, which is good. I'm somewhat irritated that he and his staff openly refer to me as "she," "her," and even "ma'am," but I guess doctors tend to be biological essentialists, and otherwise they are doing exactly what I want. In my experience, it's so rare for doctors to give you what you want that I'm loath to correct them. Yet.
And yesterday I went to the gym and lifted weights for the first time in forever. I had really thought I might never feel strong enough to do this again, but I kept my gym membership just in case. I only lifted very lightly since I'm just getting started again, but it felt great -- a real rush, very different from exercising without testosterone. Now I understand why one of my Dutch friends, a cis male who has taken testosterone, advised me to exercise if I couldn't have sex. I won't say it's a substitute, but it's a pretty good stopgap. I'm sore today, but I probably would have been anyway.
[ETA from my friends list: Excellent article and comments about the hypocrisy of criticizing a conservative politician for being fat. I've said this same thing about Rush Limbaugh, and it inevitably seems to piss people off; they read it as "I have sympathy for Rush Limbaugh." I do not. I just think there are far more appropriate and relevant ways to criticize him.]
On Wednesday I saw my trans doctor for the second time and had my testosterone levels checked. Alert readers may not be surprised to learn that they were a bit high. One of the most bizarre things about FTM transitioning (to me, anyway) is that if your T levels get too high, your body can convert it back into estrogen, which is exactly what you don't want. He switched me from my current daily gel to one that's slightly lower-dose and a LOT cheaper, which is good. I'm somewhat irritated that he and his staff openly refer to me as "she," "her," and even "ma'am," but I guess doctors tend to be biological essentialists, and otherwise they are doing exactly what I want. In my experience, it's so rare for doctors to give you what you want that I'm loath to correct them. Yet.
And yesterday I went to the gym and lifted weights for the first time in forever. I had really thought I might never feel strong enough to do this again, but I kept my gym membership just in case. I only lifted very lightly since I'm just getting started again, but it felt great -- a real rush, very different from exercising without testosterone. Now I understand why one of my Dutch friends, a cis male who has taken testosterone, advised me to exercise if I couldn't have sex. I won't say it's a substitute, but it's a pretty good stopgap. I'm sore today, but I probably would have been anyway.
[ETA from my friends list: Excellent article and comments about the hypocrisy of criticizing a conservative politician for being fat. I've said this same thing about Rush Limbaugh, and it inevitably seems to piss people off; they read it as "I have sympathy for Rush Limbaugh." I do not. I just think there are far more appropriate and relevant ways to criticize him.]