Gender Things (April Edition)

[tuesday_morning]

 

You know... it feels really good to exist now that I'm no longer trying to force myself to be someone that I'm not. I wish I had done this sooner; affirming who I am, that is. But everything happens in its own time, so I'm not punishing myself over it.

This week, I had an appointment with a medical professional through "Plume" in order to get my testosterone prescription. Normally I would have went through a regular endocrinologist, but unfortunately the referral process has been less than stellar with my insurance, so I decided I would simply use my insurance with Plume in order to obtain my hormones. I got my prescription the same day of my appointment, and now I'm just waiting for the pharmacy to fill the prescription. They're apparently out of stock at my regular pharmacy, so the prescriber needs to send the script to another pharmacy that has it in stock. Furthermore, my insurance is wanting prior authorization in order to cover any part of the script. It's really annoying, but thankfully the pharmacy has coupons I can use to make the price reasonable. GoodRx is another resource I can use to bump down the price, but in any case, getting the testosterone with the coupon(s) makes it affordable, so I might just have prior authorization for the next batch of vials, but for this one I'll just use the coupons.

In other news, I'm submerging myself into supportive spaces both online and in person. It's nice to be yourself and be accepted in different spaces like this. I'm happy and privileged to be living in a liberal area and state where expressing myself like this isn't something that I should be scared of. I wish hope and happiness to anyone else who is trans or gender non-conforming. We all deserve to live happy and free.

Comments

[talewisefellowship]

[Janusz]

Congrats on getting on T!

[tuesday_morning]

Thank you friend! This is so exciting! I can't wait for my voice to drop even more and to get other cool results from it. :')

[talewisefellowship]

[Janusz]

I love what T did to my voice, I sound fantastic and I'm a lot more comfortable hearing myself talk now. I bet you'll sound great

[tuesday_morning]

I think so too. This is going to be my second time going on T, and with my first round of T, I noticed vocal changes almost immediately. When I tell you that I love my voice more than I did before, I mean it. I think I'll love my voice even more as it deepens. I'm very excited, especially considering how quickly T worked for me last time. :)

[vesper_evensong]

Yes it's helpful to have your foundation of support created before venturing fully into the world no matter who you are! That's good.

I empathize with the medication on back order or out of stock thing. My diabetic medication is also taken by many for weight loss and I struggle to get ahold of it to treat my very real diabetes. it's tough.

[tuesday_morning]

I can empathize with the backordering of diabetic medication as well, unfortunately. My doctor at the time was trying to help get me out of the pre-diabetic range by prescribing me Ozempic and that was a nightmare to get. I don't need it anymore, thank goodness, but I'm still really upset and disgusted that people are abusing this medicine that other people actually really need.

[vesper_evensong]

Ahh Ozempic is one of those same meds. I'm on one called Mounjaro and it's all having the same struggles of not enough supply. It's a lot of hollywood sucking up the supply. It's frustrating. I'm glad to know you're out of the danger zone for pre-diabetes though - Good for you!

[tuesday_morning]

Thank you! :)

[a_natural_beauty]

It's nice to meet you! :-) I hope you enjoy Dreamwidth! I've been on here for almost a year now and it's a pretty nice community. Over time I've found it's been easier to find more people like myself to talk with.

I also use GoodRX for my medications for my thyroid issues & my medication for depression and anxiety. It saves me a few bucks and I'm grateful for that. Healthcare in the U.S. (I'm not sure where you are from) is sort of a joke at times with costs and coverage. So any help we can get is always nice!

I hope you have a fantastic day! ^__^

[tuesday_morning]

Thank you for the warm welcome! I think I've been on here for a year or so myself too; it's just taken me a long time to realize that I could reach out to more people and have more friends on here. Glad I figured it out, though, because I think we're a pretty neat bunch. :)

As for healthcare prices and whatnot, you are absolutely right. It's not pretty out here in the US when it comes to getting prescriptions sometimes, especially when your insurance is being annoying about "prior authorization". With GoodRx, I'd be able to bump down the price to $121, but then I checked with the pharmacy I'd be getting the prescription from and they have their own coupon I could use. With the pharmacy's in-house coupon, I could expect to pay $55, so that's much better.

And I wish you a fantastic day and week as well!

[a_natural_beauty]

Yes, I agree. It's nice meeting new people on here from all over the world and from all walks of life.

I'm glad you figured out a solution at least.

Thank you! So far it has been! :-)

[death]

as a fellow trans, i'm so glad that you're getting on T! i started in early 2018 and it was honestly the best decision i've ever made in my life.

how is plume? i'm curious about how that went. they have some various trans healthcare online, i think i used one before, but i didn't like it. right now i'm using a free service for texans which has been working really well for me.

trying to track down T can be a real pain in the ass. definitely use GoodRx, because T is super expensive. it's so annoying that it's a controlled substance though. i blame those dumbass dudebro bodybuilders.

next is top surgery, right? unless you're not planning on getting top surgery haha

[tuesday_morning]

That is so awesome! I'm glad to hear that T worked out so well for you. ^_^

As for Plume, I would definitely recommend it if you can't get a proper referral or if you don't have insurance, provided that you can pay for the membership to receive those services. Thankfully they take my insurance, so I was able to get a big discount on my membership price for Plume. They saw me pretty soon after I signed up with them and they were very professional when it comes to listening to me and helping to figure out the exact formulation of T and the dosage I should be on. My provider sent my prescription to the pharmacy, and when the pharmacy was giving me a little bit of a hard time with regards to having it in stock and needing prior authorization, Plume helped me a lot! They quickly transferred the prescription to a different pharmacy at my request and they also submitted a prior authorization request to my insurance. Pretty quickly, the authorization was approved and instead of having to pay an arm and a leg for the T, I only had to pay $5 for it where before I was looking at paying closer to $55 for it.

Again, would absolutely recommend Plume! But if you're going through a free program, maybe just stay with that since it's free. :)

EDIT: Also yes, I am pursuing top surgery. I'd have it done ASAP if I could, but I have to finish school first. By late 2024 at the earliest, I should be able to get it done. I just need to wait for open enrollment period to happen again for health insurance so I can switch to a plan that the only local top surgeon in my area will accept. Otherwise, I'm paying out of pocket which is not gonna happen.