It's been a long time, EC. My doctor asked me to set up a bloodwork appointment for my T two months after I got my prescription... which I did, pretty much to the letter, soon after I picked up the bottles. But seems like I got unlucky, because even though I planned the appointment ahead of time, the gel ran out shortly before my appointment. When I told my doctor what happened, trying to be as honest as possible, she said she'd already warned me about my scheduling issues and that she can't prescribe T for me anymore. I'm really mad at myself for not planning better, upset at these bottles for not having just a little more, upset that I missed one appointment in the summer cause I was preoccupied and bad at time management... Just isn't a good day for me, folks! I'm wondering what my options are, what I can do to make this right, and I know for sure that, after having been on T for a year, that it's very much right for me and giving it up now might just ruin me mentally in the long run. Notes for context: -My doctor is in San Fran, which is a good hour away from my house, so asking her stuff becomes a bit difficult. -My progress on the gel has been measured but my voice has gotten significantly deeper, so I'm happy enough with it so far. However, I've had struggles scheduling it--the pharmacy never delivers it on time, and this has messed up my progress a lot. -Honestly, if it means I can stay on T, I'll get the damn shot at this point even though I've never had to deal with the intramuscular kind before and I'm honestly not the biggest fan of needles. -AG.
Hi An Gentleman, If your doctor is saying she can’t prescribe T anymore, wouldn’t that mean you need a new doctor? When you searched for this doctor last year was that the closest one with an opening? Perhaps you can get on the waiting list of a doctor more convenient to you — or one who has an online portal/app for communication. I’m not trans, but I do know something about T shots. If you are talking about in-office shots, that sounds like a lousy option for you with your distance and weakness at keeping appointments. It is also very uneven (T-levels) if you get a big shot every two weeks or a month apart (might continue body and voice changes, but a roller coaster emotionally through the peaks and valleys of the medication, which has about an eight day half life). If you find a doctor who will teach you to do your own injections, weekly or more often, it might be a workable option. Many doctors have moved from intramuscular to subcutaneous injection with smaller needles, if that reduces your fear a little. Injected is cheaper than gels, and with a GoodRx coupon might be cheaper than co-pays by paying cash (I’m guessing you are a broke college student, so that’s why I mention that part).
I am indeed a broke college student, that's a good guess... She wasn't the closest one, exactly, but she was the one I knew how to find, and I'm upset cause I was genuinely trying to do what she told me--it was such a minor issue that fucked me over here and I hope I can get that resolved. I sent a more detailed email explaining what happened. I set this appointment up early on specifically so this *wouldn't* happen, but here I am anyway because my autistic ass took "two months" way too seriously. Subcutaneous should work nicely, I think. My family's insurance can cover the cost of the gels relatively well, but there's still some spillover cost so I'm sure they'd like it if it was cheaper too. The mood swings are a bigger concern for me than the actual needle part if the needle isn't huge like the intramuscular ones are, but weekly sounds like it would get rid of that issue entirely. She said she hasn't been able to monitor me very well, but... my dad works in San Fran, and he's taken me to these appointments himself. I have the feeling that if I could just arrange things so that I could get the bloodwork done there, it would get rid of this problem entirely... but that won't do much if she's already cutting me off. To be honest, I've never really had to handle doctor stuff before, and it shows. I was pretty sheltered as a kid because I was born with some learning disabilities, so now I find myself kind of lost when I try to do things on my own.
I've done IM shots once a week since I started on T. It helps with the mood swings and ups and downs that you get when you have a longer shot cycle. So, you could always ask your doctor if you could do something like this if you do have to go to taking shots. There are more doctors that are doing hormone therapies now, so it may be easier to find one closer to you with open spots now.
Yeah, San Fran was always kind of an inconvenient place to stop, especially since it messed with my school schedule. I do think I like the gel, but I wonder if some of the physical changes actually happened. I've had to deal with a lot of timing mess-ups with the prescriptions from this doctor, so that feels like part of it, but maybe some of that was my own inexperience. If it mostly gets rid of the mood swings then that could help, but the gels are pretty darn convenient, so I hope if I do have to change doctors I can at least get some there.
Update! I got a message back from the doctor, saying that it was my final chance. I'd like to prevent anything like this from happening again--this was pretty upsetting to deal with and I'm pretty sure it pissed off my doctor too. What kind of things do you guys do to plan ahead? What I've been doing definitely needs some work.
I tend to forget a lot of things, so I keep a calendar in my phone. I'll even set alarms to make sure that I remember things. Also, if you keep a calendar it makes it easier to schedule things because you are not likely to accidentally double schedule yourself.
