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Dec 16

The high cost of gender transitioning and its impact on people’s mental health – Wales Online

Testosterone Comments Off on The high cost of gender transitioning and its impact on people’s mental health – Wales Online

Gender transitioning is a long and complicated process for a lot of people and many trans people are resorting to private treatment due to long NHS waiting times.

Brodie Tilston, 22, from Flintshire, has spent just under 2,000 to access the life-changing hormone testosterone.

Testosterone is used to suppress female sex characteristics and is commonly used to masculinise transgender men.

Coming out in 2019, Brodie told WalesOnline he knew he had to go private from the start, creating a GoFund Me page to help with the costs.

"Straight away I knew I had to go private because looking into the NHS waiting list, it was way too long to start testosterone," he said.

"I was eager to start. It got to the point that I went to the gender clinic in Edinburgh," said Brodie.

"Every three months I had to travel. I must've spent just under 2,000 in total."

The financial burden meant that Brodie had to take out loans through work to make sure he could continue to access the treatments.

"It wasn't big loans, but it was stuff to keep me going," he added.

"I was paying less rent every month to my mate and stuff like that.

"It did get me in a place where I was struggling a bit because I was paying so much for hormones".

Fearing a long wait from the NHS, Brodie claimed that doctors were not helpful.

"They said it could be up to a year to just be diagnosed," Brodie said.

"I know things have changed recently, but it would be a number of months before I'd be diagnosed by a psychiatrist.

"My doctors haven't helped at all. They'll do blood tests, but with any shared care agreements they said they just won't do it.

"I knew straight away that through the NHS it would have taken twice as long to start testosterone."

Left feeling like he had an "illness", Brodie found the verification process of his identity difficult to go through.

It made me feel like I had an illness in a way with the questions they asked," he said.

You had to explain to someone who you were. It made feel like people didnt believe me, and I had to go through assessments to identify as he/him.

The fact I had to have two people have an opinion on it, it was difficult."

For many transgender people, including Brodie, physical treatment is vital for removing feelings of gender dysphoria which is detrimental to mental health.

Although people have pointed out noticeable physical changes, Brodie finds he is comparing himself to other cisgender men in his work place.

"I work in retail and I work with mainly cisgender men, so I'm constantly comparing myself to other people which I shouldn't do.

"But because of the dysphoria I'm constantly worried I'm going to be misgendered.

In an effort to look and feel more masculine, Brodie is left with no other choice but to wear binders until he can have surgery.

Some days I wear two. Its not recommended because its painful and it could affect the surgery," he admitted.

"You've got to plan your day around binding because it's so painful.

"It's not like I can just throw a T-shirt on and go to the shop, I've got to put my binders on to do that.

"I'm a bigger guy. Some people can get away with putting a hoodie on and looking flat, I can't."

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In an effort to receive treatment for a cheaper price, transgender people are having to travel abroad for their surgeries in some cases.

"It's got to the point where quite a lot of trans people are looking to go over to Poland," Brodie said.

"Going over to Poland is an option now as I can't deal with the binding every day and the dysphoria."

Looking to the future of transgender support and care, Brodie thinks things need to be taken more seriously.

"I think being trans is seen as a trend," he added.

"A lot of the time I think doctors feel like it's something we can wait for because it's just something we want. It's not, it's something that we need.

"It puts off a lot of young trans people coming out. I think it needs to be taken more seriously to be honest."

Read the original post:
The high cost of gender transitioning and its impact on people's mental health - Wales Online

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