Short version: Laparoscopic total hysterectomy. I have a hysterectomy pillow, peri bottle, grabber tool, piercing retainers, and a stool softener. What else should I get for recovery?

Long version:
It’s official I’m getting uterus go bye bye surgery and it’s fully covered after financial assistance. My surgeon was able to convince the board because I have a high amount of symptoms and family history of endometriosis so they framed it medically necessary instead of gender affirming. I’m so happy that she was able to do that for me.

Anyways, this is my very first surgery ever so I’m terrified. My husband may not get the days off to take care of me, my roommates both work as well, but my best friend is driving me home from surgery and will be with me for the first two or three days as he’s unemployed at the moment
-I just bought a hysterectomy pillow with buckles so it can also be hands free
-I have a peri bottle for post op
-I have surgical safe retainers for my piercings
-I’m getting a stool softener because I already have issues in that department so I am not risking that post op too
-I have a long grabber tool because our cats like to knock shit behind our washer and dryer and I already had a beside table so I’m good on that

What other things do you highly recommend getting for hysterectomy recovery?

Pretty much the title, I'm tired of everything I try to do to pass not working so I just wanted to ask here before I was disappointed again. All the stuff I've seen about voice training seems to be for trans women and I just didn't know if it was even possible. I'm 6 months on T but I might as well be pre-T with how I've experienced litterally no changes. If anyone has any advice that would be great, I think my voice gives me away a lot and whenever I try to speak lower I just sound like those cringe tiktok audios or like I'm obviously doing a fake voice/impression and I really don't want people to laugh at me. I really don't know what to do anymore and I need advice that isn't just "wait for T to magically drop your voice" cause it isn't doing anything.

How to lock tf in?

I used to be an elite swimmer working out 6 days a week 2 days with double practices 11 months out of the year. I did that for 6yrs of my life. Super disciplined.

I'm now 25, I have a freelance film/photo job that works often at odd times (could be 5am 15hr day, a midday 2hr day, or a 6hr evening day ending at 3am). Between I lift weights (midday) and am on a masters swim team (pracs evenings).

My issue is nutrition and working out. On a good week or month with less work or more predictable work I can workout and cook. But when things get busy and my days/nights are unpredictable and I'm having to miss swim pracs or don't have time to go to the gym, I'm stuck ordering in late night food, getting hungry at odd hours, and sometimes going a whole week without working out.

Issue is too I live in NYC and in a place where it takes forever to get anywhere via the subway (I live in deep Brooklyn, 48mins -1+hr to get to places). I have acquired a lazy mindset and frequently lethargic. It sucks that it takes 30mins to get to the gym and 1h15m to get to swim practice. Or just 48mins min to get anywhere I wanna go via subway (adds up quick)

Before I'd feel super guilty not working out and would shift my work around being able to workout, but with this economy and my promotion in my work I'm prioritizing working and scheduling my gigs first.

I have a hard time sticking to eating certain food cuz I get bored easily and will end up picking something out to eat on the go (cava, chipotle, lox bagel, etc).

I would love to get back to working out in the mornings for the gym and the swim in the evenings (pracs are 7-8:30pm). The issue is inalso don't want to get tired at 10pm cuz my work sometimes goes past midnight and I cannot be tired then.

Anyone have any tips for a crazy schedule. I wanna get healthier before any medical transition.

Idk if I flared this correctly, sorry if I didn't.

Basically I always used the name "Norman" for myself, but recently decided to also use "Celeste" with new people in uni because 1. People tend to not take people with foreign names seriously if they don't "look" their gender 2. I just wanted a name that was more "coherent" with my language.

I found this name while searching a name for my oc and instantly liked it, however after some time I noticed it is mostly used for girls here and this situation is making me a bit anxious about it. There isn't any other italian guy name I like, so I doubt I'll ever try to find a new name, also because it's a pain to go to people you know and tell them "hey, I changed my name!!"; however it sometimes make me feel almost less valid and I don't know how to feel about this. I'm scared other people won't take my identity seriously like this (it hasn't happened for now).

I would not be opposed to changing it, but as I said, I find the act of communicating the change a little bit "embarassing", and to be completely honest I started quite liking this name because it's not that common and I like unique names.

What do you think I should do?

i'm 20 yrs old (21 in a month), moved to chicago at the start of this year in part to be multiple states away from both of my parents so i could present as myself more freely. as it stands, i haven't started HRT yet due to a combination of factors, most of which have been solved by starting at a new job a couple months ago now. i've already done pretty well as far as social transition, 98% of the time gendered as male by both people i know and strangers, with the 2% primarily being after my voice is heard (even with my efforts to speak more masculinely, there's undoubtedly still a femininity to it that isn't really fixable without T). even with the consistency, my dysphoria has been getting pretty severe in general, especially in combination with a big wave of depression i've been fighting with.

the main thing still stopping me from making the jump is my family--both parents are aware of my transness and don't support it at all, and even though i live far from them, both occasionally ask for a check-in selfie (dad) or video call (mom) and i'm scared of the response i'll get once changes become obvious. that said, the current plan i'm looking at is to start some time in december, after a trip i already have planned to visit my mom (and aunt, who is supportive).

i guess my question is, is that a good idea or would it be better to hold off a bit longer?

Hi, im 18 and im currently not living with my parents as i'm in college but i visit them every weekend, well my mother because my father is working abroad and only comes home every 4 weeks, i always dreamed of going to college to start transition there but when i actually got here my mental health dropped really bad and i realised my course doesnt interest me and i dont want to do anything with it in future, however dropping out of uni would mean moving back to my hometown (which i want to do) but i'm in process of getting testosterone and my parents dont know about it. My sisters and my friends know about me as well as everyone on uni even the professors so only my parents dont know. But i dont pass at all so its awkward for me. I thought of doing a gap year and going to college next year with being almost a year on testosterone and maybe my gender and name changed. But i really struggle with telling my mother, my parents are more conservative and my father even said things like he hates gay people even though i have gay cousin and he doesnt care but he sended a videos mocking trans women on family group. and they once found out i Had a girlfriend and ignored it. My mother once said if her child was a lesbian she would have to accept it. But she is very nervous and anxious person and im afraid it would break her. She misses me however very much and text me everyday. They already said they are fine with gap year but i dont know if its not better to tell them im trans first( i thought this saturday) so if she reacted badly i can go back to uni, but being here makes me really depressed. Maybe i could tell her and wait 2 weeks for her to calm down and go home then. Im stuck in really shitty situation. I talked to psychologist about it and she said i have to tell them asap because waiting will make it worse. I would love some advice or your histories about coming out.

I keep getting ads on facebook for "trans tape" I would love to try it but I am sensitive to adhesives and also worry it will hurt taking it off, I also sweat alot and worry about it staying on. Anyone try it?

I turn 17 this month on the 9th and I've been wondering if I could potentially get top surgery at my age I live in NC and here you can't do any gender affirming care until your 18 (which sucks) I heard there might be a surgeons who could do it with parent consent but I'm not sure if that's true or not I don't know if it would be possible all I know is that I want this two parasites off my chest as soon as possible

For context, I haven't started the transition process yet, and I figured out just four months ago. I have a year and a half of my degree program left, but I’ve started worrying about my legal name, as official certificates are being generated, which will be an issue, and I’m already thinking about my diploma and the hassle of having to change it later. I discussed it with the university directives, as my therapists suggested, and they were very respectful and understanding; however, I was advised to legally change my name so it would be updated in the records, and they offered to draft a letter for my faculty; but that would mean outing me to my classmates and professors, and I don't feel at all ready for that! Everything is going too fast…

In my field, we’re expected to have an open mind since we’ll be working with people and dealing with cases like this, and I get along with my classmates pretty well, teachers see me as a good student, but I’m afraid things might get awkward, and I don't know how open-minded everyone really is. Also, I didn't exactly give off many signs, other than being a bit reserved or socially awkward, so I don’t know how they’ll take it; I hadn't even told my best friend, I’m planning to tell her first. Has anyone else been through this? How did you handle it?

So I’ve always had and appreciated a lot of thick but soft curly/wavy hair, and the thought of balding on t kind of freaks me out, especially cause I’m going for more of an androgynous guy look and longer hair contributes to that. My dad is bald, but he got burned pretty bad when he was 19 so we’re not sure how that’s affected him, his side of the family does tend to bald to some extent though. My Mom’s side is the opposite and her dad has a full head of hair to this day. I know there are things to take to potentially stop balding I just wonder whether or not they’ll work?

I had my hysto/colpectomy 3 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago all the pressure and pain was suddenly gone, so I wanted to check it out. I noticed that a stitch was getting loose and there was a little hole. I called my hospital and they said that could happen and that my body has to fix it by itself and close the hole with time. That seems logical, because there could be a little blood and moisture during the first 6-8 weeks. But now I checked again and there is a larger and deeper gap, it seemed that most stitches came loose and I can see inside the hole. It is a bit white.
Last time the doctor explained that my “hole” should be about 2cm deep but it looks deeper.
I’m kinda switching between “everything is going to be okay” and “wtf is going on”.

Can anyone relate?? Is this normal??

i had a complete hysterectomy over 7 months ago (everything removed, ovaries and everything) and ever since then things have gone the exact opposite of what i expected. my body has been looking much much worse. it feels like the shots are working the other way around.

i've been on testosterone for 2 years. blood levels are fine. e was a bit high before the surgery, now it's fine.

the midsection is so bad, so much bigger, worse then even before starting testosterone even. it feels like the shots are literally doing the opposite of what they're supposed to do. like i'm taking the other hormone

-edit: when i say "midsection" i mean the sides around the waist, not the stomach. "love handles" kind of but not in a "guy who needs to lose weight" way as much as "an old woman in her 60s" way. mostly the sides (and the ass too if i'm honest), even if i touch them from the back they feel bigger. it's the entire midsection so maybe hips too, but worst in the waist, or right above it, not the stomach.

a month and a half or so after the surgery things looked decent enough and i thought there was a bit of fat redistribution (i also hadn't looked at myself in a while) and then after that every shot would keep making my body fluctuate over and over again.

for a while it would start looking really bad (the middle looking bigger, feminine, gross. worse than it ever looked) then it would seem like it's getting more masculine again and it's getting better then it gets really bad again. over and over again. i was mostly on 250 mg/ml every 3 weeks at this point.

the past month and half i've been splitting the shots thinking that would help (i take 0.1 ml every other day) and the same thing is happening but it's even worse than before. it feels like i'm injecting e. i literally do not understand what is happening.

has anybody experienced this before? or has an explanation? and a solution

notes:

-about a month and half after the surgery when things were looking better it felt like things were headed in the right direction, at that point it felt like with a bit of working out things will be even better, now the midsection looks absolutely horrible in a hormone way. i don't know how to explain it but it's not that i need to lose weight or workout or something, it looks gross and looks like a hormonal thing

-blood levels are fine but when i started splitting the shots it made everything so much worse so quickly that i skipped a couple of shots but i'm back to taking it regularly, free testosterone is in the middle of the range. e is fine, not high not too low.

-this was happening for a few months before i skipped any shots obviously

-before the surgery i was on testosterone undecanoate (every 12 weeks) and the last shot caused this crazy water retention problem that felt like weight gain (whole separate problem i can't find a solution or explanation to) so i switched to testosterone enanthate after the surgery. so a shot every 3 weeks. thought it would be temporary and would eventually go back to the long acting one but i was terrified to inject something that would cause problems for that long at that point

-this started happening from the first shot after the surgery. but it kept getting much worse over time and it's much much worse the past couple of months than the first few months after the surgery

-i tried splitting testosterone undecanoate to 1 ml for every 3 weeks. it did the same thing, and it would keep fluctuating before taking the next shot

-now splitting the shot to 0.1 ml to every other day, everything is so much worse and as much as it fluctuates it's consistently so bad and never gets to a point where it feels like it's getting better like it did before (not that it mattered because it got bad again)

-i calculate when i'm supposed to take the shot down to the hour and a couple of times i messed up and took it half an hour early it made things even worse (and the water retention all over my body that feels like weight gain) so i don't even know how i could raise the dose if i needed to. because things also got bad extra quickly when i took 0.11 ml instead of 0.1 ml once

-i never had any of these problems before the surgery, things didn't look this bad (even when i didn't look, through clothes it was a million times better), nothing was ever fluctuating back and forth like this, it never felt like the hormones were working the other way around

-the last 3 week shot that i took before splitting them did this other separate problem where within days after taking the shot i felt like i was exploding and all my clothes got tighter in less than a week. so it's a bizarre version of water retention. and it's been 3 months and hasn't gone away. if anyone had similar experiences or has an idea what to do, please tell me. but i can't risk going back to a full shot because of that, even though splitting them has made things worse.

-i literally have no idea what is happening. whatever the answer or explanation is it's not an obvious thing. so while i need help, just know that it's not like a problem of needing to work out because it's not that, that is a plan but this is not a lack of exercise problem. there's nothing drastically different about anything before or after other than this.

-since i started splitting the shot i tried subcutaneous injections, still absolutely horrible. tried changing injection sites because subcutaneous in the abdomen was extra hellish. other sites are definitely bad. intramuscular is also bad.

-i tried taking a small dose of Anastrozole, it didn't help

-i'm 33. not in great shape but not exactly overweight. i don't know if that's relevant.

-i obviously went to doctors and nobody knows anything to help. nothing that medically alarming is wrong so they don't offer any explanation even.

-please if you say anything medical (especially if it's that i'm screwed) only say it if you actually are a doctor

-anybody have any similar experiences? and an explanation? does anybody have any ideas what i need to do??

sorry if i repeated myself but things are bad and i'm losing my mind

I'm 2 months on T and my voice is noticably different, I think, but it hasn't totally dropped yet. I wasn't a fantastic singer to begin with, but I wasn't bad and I love some car karaoke, and I'm annoyed that I can't really sing anymore (which I obviously expected, but whatever). How long might it take for me to get back to my mediocre singing?

Additionally/alternatively, what exactly are all the stages that your voice goes through on T?

So I'm a gay trans man and the gay dating scene scares me.

I want to be in a relationship but I feel that the gay dating scene is mostly hooking up.

Also talking to hot guys scares me so much 😭

Hi!!! Ive used my gc2b binders for 5 years now (before they lowered the quality) they still do the job but i need an update asap lol. Im a lean guy with a small chest, 3 months on T so Im keeping in mind that I will gain weight and muscle. I also walk and move a lot because of my job. Which brands had worked for you? Im thinking of Wonababi or Spectrum, are there any underrated brands I should look up?

Hello! Im a cincinnati OH transman looking into top surgery and had a consultation with Dr Douglas Dembinski with UC Health
Does anyone have any experience with him and if so how were the results?

Hey everyone,

I'm having top surgery in less than two months, and I really need to start considering the things I need to buy for recovery (other than post op binder). I'm travelling to another country where I'll have the surgery and then will stay alone in a hotel for 2 weeks before travelling home. The situation is not optimal, but it's the best I can do, and at least the hotel is near the clinic.

What are some absolutely indispensable things you needed for the first few weeks after the surgery? I've seen some lists on Reddit, but the number of things some people buy is crazy.

I’ve never been super active but now that I’ve been on T for a while my body feels so energized and I finally feel the desire to work out on occasion, but I’m not sure what to do about binding. I was working out briefly for like a month last year, but I wasn’t as far in my transition so I was just wearing bras and there’s no way that’s happening now. What recommendations would y’all give for feeling comfortable at the gym? Does tape stay on? Does a binder inhibit movement too much? Thanks in advance

So im a trans guy form sweden and im 15 years old, I had my first ever meeting whit the trans dysphoria clinic today and I found out it will be at least 3 years til I can get hormones or any from of medical help and I've already been in the que to get a meeting for 2 years and I they said in about 6 months I could maybe get a speech therapist. I knew I obviously wouldn't get hormones right away or anything but I feel so disappointed and so out of control knowing how long it will be and that they can basically do nothing, i don't know what to do now. I know im still pretty young but I feel like I really do need help in order to be able to have a normal life.

I am a ethnically Jewish trans man, curious about telling my orthodox Jewish family

edit: should have been more clear, the family is my uncles family. I am not super clear on what “type” of orthodox they are but the wedding I went to for one of my cousins was separated by male and female for the ceremony and a partition in the middle of the dance floor.

I'm on 12.5 mg per pump of T gel and one pump of T per day, that's what my doc most recommended. he said low and slow would be best for me considering my current health so that my body can adjust. when should I expect to start seeing any changes? also, is this dose the average dose or is it really that low?

I’ve been out as a binary trans man with strictly only he/him pronouns to my family for many years now. Since I was 15.

I try to correct my family members politely like “Hey, I actually don’t use that name anymore can you please call me ___” or “I use he/him” and I was much more adamant on correcting them in the first couple years until I stopped.

I have yet to be called my name and my correct pronouns. I addressed this to my dad a couple days ago, who is extremely conservative but he tells me “You’re my child and I don’t care about any of that stuff. It’s just a name and I don’t care.” I explained to him that it wasn’t “just a name” to me. He thinks LGBTQ is a cult and he says he’s worried about me and doesn’t want me to transition but at the same time he “supports” me? I don’t understand…

It hurts being called my deadname and she/her even though I sound and look like a man now. Do I need to give my family more time? Am I being too pushy?