Puberty 2.0
Observations on E
A few findings from my first fortnight…
It feels like a lifetime dearest readers since we’ve had a chance to connect. I was working a Gem and Mineral show in Tucson, Arizona for the last 12 days. And while it was nice to avoid Winter Storm Landon, it feels good to be back in sunny Denver. As many of you will recall, I finally was prescribed estradiol one fortnight ago. I wrote a wildly psychosomatic initial account at the start of my trip, but I haven’t been able to put ones and zeroes to silicon since. You can read my placebo meanderings below, but at this point, you really should be all caught up on my Puberty 2.0 journey.
So I have been on 2 mg estradiol pills daily with no anti-androgen or testosterone blocker. Why no AA you ask? Great question! My doctor seems to be following a very textbook WPATH guidance and wanted to put me on spironolactone. I objected for a few reasons which I will reiterate now.
- I am super sensitive to diuretics. Consuming caffeine or alcohol causes me to spend more time in the bathroom than a bathroom attendant. Spiro is a diuretic.
- Brain fog. There is a ton of anecdotal evidence of patients experiencing mental confusion when taking spiro. I’m trying to get my brain working properly, not induce a haziness.
- Delayed or impaired breast growth. This one is also anecdotal but at this point, I’ll trust my sisters’ intimate accounts over most medical doctors who are woefully behind the times in regards to transgender healthcare. While mountainous mammaries are not my main concern they did make my top three. But you already knew that because you’re all caught up, right?
Instead of spiro, I would like to be prescribed bicalutamide. Bica has none of the negative side effects of spiro and even encourages gynecomastia; boobs. WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) does not mention bicalutamide at all. I know because I just checked again for the third time. I’ve so thoroughly read The Standards of Care Version 7 that I was just one page shy of going directly to the anti-androgen section just now; page 48 (54 in the PDF).
Yes, Version 8 is slated for Spring of this year, but nearly a decade in between the guidance being updated in such an ever-evolving field as transgender medicine is woefully inadequate, life-threatening and frankly, all too frequently life-ending. Hormone replacement therapy is a proven and highly effective life-saving medical treatment.
Hormone replacement therapy is a proven and highly effective life-saving medical treatment.
My doctor had never heard of bicalutamide. It is truly a sad state of affairs when this college dropout has more transgender medical knowledge than her doctor. That being said, to my doctor’s credit, she’s willing to do the research, so hopefully, she will be better prepared for her next transgender patient seeking the best care possible. My problem isn’t with my doctor, whom I like quite a bit despite me taking her to task here; my problem is with a system that simply disregards a segment of the population deemed insignificant or unworthy of help and human compassion.
Well, this is usually about the time when I apologize for writing something depressing and beg forgiveness for bringing you down. Not today, I’m done dealing in ignorance and idly ambling through life; the stakes are too high for the people I care about to not address these issues when they arise and write the wrongs of our world. Our new publication, Transpiring, is a community effort that aims to uplift, inspire and educate. While not always light-hearted or rousing, we will strive to always see the silver lining and find that gold at the end of the rainbow. I’ll leave you with some random musings during my first two weeks on HRT.
The universe has a certain sense of humor, unrecognizable unless you’re paying proper attention to its audacious ambiguity. My gender expression in public is still very much masculine or at the very least, androgynous, not feminine at all and I was not out to anyone in the city. In spite of this, the universe chuckled.
One woman unprovoked offered unsolicited advice:
Never buy a purse with too many pockets, you’ll never find anything.
A family friend, while winking at me, said:
Women can get away with breaking the rules.
When my name (deadname) was misspelled on my show badge my uncle suggested I go back and get it fixed. I thought to myself with an internal giggle:
No reason to, it’ll still be wrong.
But I think my favorite moment was when my uncle and I were joking, making up fake metaphysical properties of a pendant. We exchanged a few jests and then laughing he said:
It’ll make your boobs grow!
I almost came out right then and there to purchase that promising pendant. And the universe grinned.
Transpiring is dedicated to shining a positive, uplifting light on the Transgender community. We’re here to consciously convey our stories and traditions, tutorials and testaments. We celebrate growth through our adventures and shared experiences! There is life beyond transition.
Jubilant regards,
💜 Victoria Quinn 💜
P.S. Publication puns are persistently purposeful.
