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Hey, everyone. This is Tumblr Tranists. I'm Jonathan and the topic this week is Health
While Transitioning. I'm going to cover five main points. They are mental health, pap smears,
binding, testosterone, and surgeries. Mental health is probably in my opinion the most
important. Transitioning from one gender to another is a major change and it can be very
difficult mentally, as I'm sure many of you know or can imagine at least. It is very important
that you have someone you can speak to, preferably a therapist that has some experience with
transgender people. If that isn't an option for you or you can't find a therapist that
has had such experience, any therapist--mostly any therapist will be willing to learn about
transgender-ness if you're willing to teach them. If you can't afford a therapist, there
are some that have sliding scales and try to become affordable. If it's still not affordable
for you, you should just try to find a friend that you can really talk to about all of this
stuff--a friend or a family member. Or just go on anon--anonymous on tumblr and just message
someone that's willing to read your thoughts. If you have any underlying mental health issues,
testosterone can make them worse, especially depression. So it's very important that you
have any mental health issues under control before transitioning especially medically
transitioning if you choose to do so. My second point was pap smears. Any people with vaginas
that are sexually active and/or older than 20--I think; I'm not sure exactly how old,
but it's probably around there--should be having regular pap smears done. Especially
if you're taking testosterone because that can cause, or it is thought that it might
be a possible cause of cervical cancer. So, if you haven't had a hysterectomy, you need
to be having your pap smears done. If you don't have a doctor, find a free clinic or
Planned Parenthood. The doctors and nurses at Planned Parenthood are supposed to be trained
in helping trans people specifically. So, they should be willing to help you. Binding.
Everyone has talked about this. All binding is dangerous. Binding with ace bandages is
even worse, it's probably the worst. Actually, duct tape is probably the worst, but I don't
think most people do that, mostly anyone. So, binding do it as little as possible. Use
a proper binder. If you cannot afford one, find a program that will help you. I run a
program on tumblr called Binder Finder that matches people with binders. And we take donations
so that we can subsidize people's costs and there are other programs that have existed
far longer that already have enough money to just give everyone that needs one a free
binder. Testosterone. Take your proper dosage. Don't overdose. It's not going to help you
and it's quite possibly going to hurt you. Get your lab work done. It's important to
know all sorts of factors that other people have already talked about, especially cholesterol.
And if you have a history either you or someone in your family as having high cholesterol,
you definitely need to be watching that. And my last point is about surgeries. When the
surgeon and his or her staff are explaining aftercare, like post-surgical care, you need
to pay attention and listen to them. Take notes probably. And then when it comes time,
do it properly. Make sure you understand what you are supposed to look like, so that you
know if you need to go in to a doctor to get something checked out. That goes for testosterone
too. Make sure you understand what to expect so that if something that you're like "oh
I don't know, is this normal? does every trans guy experience this?" you should know what's
normal and what's not normal, so when something not normal happens you tell your doctor about
it. So those are my main points for health while transitioning specifically from female
to male. And that's it for this week on Tumblr Transits. Well, for Thursday. I'll see you
all next Thursday. Bye.