
My New Vagina Won't Make Me Happy - rm2889
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opinion/sunday/vaginoplasty-transgender-medicine.html
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evadne
“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the
disease.”

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awakeasleep
Does modern medicine really have gender transformation figured out?

When I think of medicine, i think of a scale.

Vaccinations work, we’re good at mending broken bones, appendix surgery saves
lives but is iffy, but teeth are beyond our ability to save.

Is transgender surgery and lifetime hormone replacement on the safer side of
that spectrum?

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prolikewh0a
As a transgender person I mostly agree with this article. Since starting
Hormone Replacement Therapy I did have major improvements in life. I started
dating, I started making friends, I felt emotions, I cried, my skin was soft
and my face was with cute pink cheeks, my body hair almost entirely stopped
growing; I felt like I was heading in the right direction, felt a sense of
some comfort, and it relieved a lot of symptoms for me. I was being called
'she', 'miss', 'ma'am' and it made me happy and greatly improved my quality of
life. I'm not sure how this couldn't be considered treatment, or even compared
to a therapist handing a suicidal patient a razor to just end it now. While it
may not work for everyone, it does work for some. We give anti-depressants to
people which have the side effect of possibly creating more suicidal thoughts
and not working on most people, but that's perfectly fine? Hormones are not a
death causing drug.

I'm now off of them due to not being able to afford my health insurance
deductible and I feel like an absolute mess of a human being again. I feel the
dysphoria. The only emotions I feel now are anger and crippling depression. I
criticize everything about me and feel like I'm falling down a hole again. I
feel like my life is over again.

Edit: Why the downvotes? D:

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rhn_mk1
You misunderstood the article - it was arguing that treatment makes people
_worse_ and despite that, it should be allowed.

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icebraining
I'd rephrase it to "it was arguing that treatment should be allowed _even_
when it makes people feel worse".

