View source for Me/transition/overview

It's amazing how long it can take to figure out crucial things about yourself.

The problem is this: I was born in a body which was biologically male.

Despite the fact of being very unhappy with this, I nonetheless believed &ndash; for decades! &ndash; that this meant that I was, in fact, male inside and out. I knew I had some kind of issue regarding gender that was making my existence miserable in a lot of ways, but I didn't know what it was. I came up with some theories, but none of them really fit the facts.

It turns out I had some key facts [[../misconceptions|wrong]], and it turns out that what I have is called '''gender dysphoria'''. To put it very briefly: my brain is wired to be compatible with a female body and a female social identity, not a male one. It's unhappy being in a male body and unhappy being seen as male.

I discovered this in January of 2000, but due to circumstances I could do very little about it. Finally, in July of 2016, I was able to start taking substantial corrective measures &ndash; mainly taking hormones and getting facial electrolysis, with the guidance of a therapist and a nurse practitioner who are both specialists in gender issues and transitioning.

The effects of the hormones have mostly been pretty subtle &ndash; although one dramatic effect has been that they seem to have cured my chronic headaches. They have not yet substantially hindered my ability to lift heavy objects, as far as I can tell, but as of this writing I am only six months into it, so that could still change.