Anon - referral date December 2021
Around 2 years ago I realised I wanted to start testosterone, so I called up my GP and asked to be referred. I remembered feeling really uncertain and confused after realising I wanted to start, because I didn’t know anyone on HRT, but since I knew the wait times were long, I figured I should get on the list asap and process this confusion while waiting! The fact of being on the waiting list made me want to meet more trans people who had medically transitioned in some way, so I started looking for ways to meet people.
8 months later, a friend of a friend told me they were using half their vial of testosterone so I could take the other half, and their next shot would be in 2 weeks. Suddenly faced with the possibility of starting HRT, I allowed myself to acknowledge how much I’d wanted it, and my feelings of not being ready were mainly because I didn’t know anyone else on HRT so I felt isolated in the process. In the 2 weeks of waiting, it felt like years of dysphoria suddenly hit me. I don’t cry much, but suddenly I was crying all the time. I burst into tears on public transport more than once.
My first shot was amazing, and actually many of my shots are amazing. I’ve become close with the person who I was sharing T with, and the friend who introduced us often does the shots for us. We are all mixed Asians as well, and getting to do my shots with people who share this racial experience of gender feels really special. The person I was sharing with recently upped their dose to a full vial, and I was also gifted some vials of testosterone by a cis weightlifter who uses steroids. One time when I was getting a blood test at 56 Dean Street, a cis nurse shamed me for not using GIC prescribed hormones, and warned me of ‘dangers’ of sharing. He seemed to think that my friend had halved their dose just so they could share with me. Overall, my experience on HRT has been really positive and I feel so lucky to have met the people I met, and proud of myself for going alone to trans spaces to meet people. 2 years on, I haven’t heard anything from the GIC.
