Testosterone
It’s amazing by how strongly hormones can influence one’s body. I am so grateful for what Testosterone has done for my overall life, and I wonder if I hadn’t been given my prescription for hormones would I still be around today.
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On November 15, 2009, I met my initial Doctor is Church of all places (Yes you read that right – Church). I was introduced to her after the service and she told me to come see her on Monday at the Welland Comprehensive Medical Clinic located in St. Catharines. The most hour long consult with Dr. Bennett led to me walking out being able to start my hormones as of November 18th, 2009 as long as I got my initial blood work done prior to the date. Trust me I did it that same day.
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November 17th, 2009, I started going around to pharmacies where I encountered discrimination from them when I attempted to fill my prescription. After being turned away from three different pharmacy’s I recalled a presentation I did for the Martindale IDA, and figured why not, they advertise has being a LGBTQ friendly business – so it just made sense. On November 18th, I picked up my compound prescription of Depo-Testosterone.
For a total of $47.00 I received a 10ml (which lasts usually about 10 weeks) and 10 needles/gauges needed for my weekly injections. My buddy who was a nursing student injected my first shot, as the thought of sticking a sharp piece of metal into my legs was something I didn’t feel I could do right away. After my first vial of testosterone, I decided to switch pharmacies, not because of anything they did, it was because I didn’t something more local than having to travel half way across town.
Some people will believe that once you hit your one year mark, your changes are done or that all the subsequent changes will not be noticeable. This is one of many misconception, I frequently come across. It’s simply not true. Although changes after the one year mark may be less drastic, there are still going to be changes.
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So anyone who is thinking of transitioning medical using hormones to know that this process is a slow one and you can’t compare your changes to another transguys. Knowing that the changes will happens slowly helped me out and I hope it will help you understand too. So, being wary of the slowness, made it easier for me to deal with any dysphoria that still happened.
Tips for guys doing their own T-Shots:
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How to Deal with Needle phobia (PDF Coming Soon)
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