FTM - Going Full Time...?

Hey, I am FtM as well but I keep doubting it. It seems really obvious but I get near to telling my friends and then sudenlly my brain says 'no your wrong' and I chicken out

To answer some of your questions
- You can buy binders off the interent. Different makes are sized differently, you should go to the website where it tells you how to measure for one. A few examples of different makes are Underworks and T Kingdom
- I am pretty sure some trans men cross dress as women sometimes but this is probably quite rare.
- I stop my periods using the pill. Its not ideal as it is basically female hormones. You are meant to take three weeks of pill then stop for a period but I just take them continuously and the only time I have a period is if I forget a pill or if I have a cold. There are other ways to stop periods but I am not sure what they are.
- I think you have to be living full time for 3 months to get hormones on the NHS. I think it is a year or somethimes longer for surgery like chest reconstruction or gender reassignment surgury. Don't take my worf on that though

 

Antoher place you can get a binder from is the morf binder scheme if you can't afford one. They have second hand binders to give out to those who need them and all you have to pay is the postage.

The pill is really small, it is very very easy to swallow. I can dry swallow it when I normally can't swallow most tablets even with a drink so you might be able to use it. If not I know there is an injection you can get that will stop periods, i read about it a while ago but I can't find what it is called anywhere. If you go talk to your doctor they should be able to help you find a way to stop periods. If you don't want to tell them you are trans just say you have really heavy/painful periods and they probably won't question it.

When I first started questioning my gender I kept saying I can't be right and I am just female but i have found that it started to happen less and less with time. There is nothing wrong with being a trans man but liking to dress female sometimes though

 

- Some sites will help you determine your measurements so you can find the perfect size binder for you. Loveboat is another site that sells binders. But word to the wise, the home company is in Taiwan so binders can be rather pricy. I got one frm there and I think it does its job nicely. My back and ribs don't hurt anymore and I can breath much better.

The cool thing about Loveboat (other sites I'll guess are this way too) is that it has a binder for almost any need you may have; like extra binding or padding, durability, ventilation and so on. If you have problems with determining what size to get, ask the company and they're more than happy to help.

If you aren't sure what binder to go for, explore sites and see reviews on blogs (tumblr is usually a neat place for that) or videos on Youtube. One thing I did hear about T-Kingdom is that their binders can run small. So if you're bigger chested, you'll have to make sure they carry something that will work for you. Don't get a size smaller than what you should have. I learned that the hard way.

There's also a binder program for those who need one. I forgot the name of the site, but if you do a search for "Binder donations" or something along those lines, you might find it.

- I'm aware of some guys who do, but not a whole lot.

- There's different methods. Yamato mentioned birth control, which I haven't tried yet. I was told about one thing but I highly doubt I'll be a canidate for it because of my age. Give what Yamato said a shot and see if it helps things out. I've been considering the injection myself since I'm so bad at remembering to take pills every day.

 

Good luck, my friend!

 

-Binders- well i have bought ones from Underworks and T-Kingdom. I recommend Underworks, there around 35 quid and yeah you measure around your chest same as you would with a bra.
-I don't personally cross dress, except when i'm forced to for family occasions and things. But it's not unheard of and i do know of a trans guy who does this so i'm sure there are a lot of people.
-Testosterone will stop your periods and start you on a male puberty like thing. You do have to live full time as male(with proof of a deed poll showing when you changed your name and relevant bank/school/college proof so show your living full time) for at least a year though.
If your under 18 though you can be referred by your GP to Travistock clinic, that does gender identity for U18s. They will give you puberty blockers while your in the process of figuring yourself out and living as male but not on T. Travistock is the only UK place that gives U18s T, proving they've lived full time for a year and there parent says its okay. Only problem is its has a long waiting list, and its in London so long journey for you. But if you ask your GP they may know another clinic where you'll be able to get puberty blockers but not T.
if your over 18 then you'll do the same only you wont have to get referred to Travistock. They have a gender clinic in Glasgow, don't know if there's any other in Scotland though. And you will wait less time to get an appointment, but it will prob still take a while.

Hope this helps and i haven't just rabbited on, anyways feel free to drop me a message/ wall comment if you wanna know anything. I'm just starting this process myself so my doctors have just told me all this information of what i need to do.

 

You can go to the GP whenever, you don't have to be living full time if you aren't ready for that and it shouldn't affect anything if you aren't. I'm not sure when they start the timing of the year of full time but if you have proof of when you started I think you can use that date as the start of the year

 

Well its up to you when you change your name. but to be reffered to a gender clinic to need to have a psychiatric assesment first to make sure its not an underlying mental health problem causing you to feel like this, and any minor stuff like depression they just offered me councellors allong with my transition. But it has to be your GP who sends you for this.
When are you 18 though, cause im 18 in december and i still have to go through travistock, i only got reffered 2 weeks ago and uave a app for june, but not everyone gets accepted. But you would prob jus get councelling until your old enough to Glasgow, of you cant make it to London. Or you may get travel funded but i wouldnt count on that, not sure how true that is.

 

Oh my god. Can we please be friends? I've been working in 16th century reenacting and costuming for five years and of all the things I'm afraid of missing in transition, that's it.

I used to think I would keep it up, just cross-dressing, because I'm honestly comfortable with how people treat me when I'm in character as female. If I could live my whole life that way, I wouldn't need to transition. Nowadays though (after going full time for 7ish months) I find I want to present as female less and less, even in that context. And men's clothes from that time period are fabulous so I am less worried about giving it up as a hobby, more likely just changing the way I present.

As for your other questions, there's an intramuscular injection called depo-provera that stops your periods within 3-6 months. It's technically a form of birth control-- the period stopping is just a side effect.
I ordered my binder from Underworks.com-- I don't know if they ship to the UK though. They also sell products on Amazon.

 

Yeah you might have to wait until then for a gender appointment referral, but you could still go to your GP now and get counselling. Being 17 you can go alone or with your parents and they will help you with trans related issues like coming out, anxiety issues, depression and that stuff. I go to one now until i go to London, in June and its really helpful.