It was a virtual visit with the Mass. General Hospital Transgender Center, and I think it went about as well as could be expected. The doctor was receptive and had no real issues with my wanting to do a test run of chemical castration as a possible prelude to surgery.

She has some concerns that she wants to run by my other doctors (including my current endocrinologist) but says she will get back to me within about a week.

Her initial thoughts given my desire for getting away from testosterone but not wanting more than the minimal amount of feminizing were to do an androgen antagonist, Luparin or something like that (it did not sound like Lupron) to shut down the testicles and an estrogen analog "Relaxofin"( SP?) that is supposed to do the same kinds of thing that estrogen does without as much feminizing. She said it was sort of like the estrogen and tamoxifen combo I've seen a few folks here mention.

Her biggest concern is that because of my paralysis, she is worried about the potential for the drugs to put me at increased risk of blood clots....

I mentioned the SOC 8, and she seemed quite aware of it, but said the two big things about that was that it hasn't been released yet, and that even when it is, there will probably be some lag between the release and insurance companies adjusting their coverage rules to match...

Subject to the chemical test working for me, she said that it wouldn't be any problem getting the surgery, although that will require at least some level of psych consultation.

So overall I'm totally happy with how the visit went, it sounds like I will be starting my test drive really soon.

WheelyCurious

This is all great news and I'm happy for you. I also live in the same state but hadn't tried the avenues you're using.

Well if my experience is at all typical, I'd encourage anyone wanting to get on the eunuch path to do the TG center route if it's an option where they are at...

I was really nervous about the idea of going to one of the 'official' options because I have really negative feelings about the mental health system and was afraid of getting sucked into it, but because of my more complex set of medical issues I didn't feel it would be at all safe to try any of the DIY / cutter methods w/o some medical monitoring by a doctor that knew what I was doing....

But it pretty much has been a non issue so far. It was pretty much a brief discussion of why I wanted to get fixed, what I wanted as an end state and what the effects of going on estrogen would be. My expectation at this point is that I will be getting the prescriptions for a chemical trial within a week or two, without a lot of further headache.

Based on this, I am inclined to say that there is no longer a real need to do any of the various DIY approaches that have been needed in the past, as it is now possible to do it within the system....

Now if one is doing it as part of a fetish / fantasy kink / similar, it still may not be possible to get one's 'kicks' going the official route, but I note a lot of warnings here that wanting to get fixed for that kind of reason is possibly a bad idea since it's a one way trip, but that's an entirely different situation.... (And note that I'm not putting anyone down for this, it's your life and I'm not trying to tell you how to live it...)

WheelyCurious