I’m about to begin HRT and since I am not able to get that through my country’s public healthcare, it’ll have to be either DIY, or something like GenderGP or Imago.
I’m uncomfortable with Imago being a US company, but if it otherwise makes much more sense than GenderGP, that might not be an unsurmountable issue.
There has been talk that neither of those give as much support, or as good quality support, as they once maybe did. For example somebody actually reading the laboratory results and possibly recommending changing a substance or dose if so required would be would be a nice thing. Being middle-aged and having had relatives die at around my age because of blood clots, I know that at least I should choose some other ways than injections for taking the estradiol. An ability to talk with a specialist about this kind of stuff would be appreciated.
So, what’s the practical difference between Imago and GenderGP? Also, is there also a third one?
The most important service would of course be the ability to get an EU prescription through them so that I can go to a local pharmacy and buy the hormones and blockers there.
I’m with imago. I could answer any questions you have about it. Feel free to DM or just write questions here. I can’t speak to GGP except that I know a lot of folks on imago went there after leaving GGP unsatisfied.
Imago have amazing staff, their community is really nice. I got a welcome call with a really nice person and then a doctor call for 45 mins with a really nice doctor who walked me through my options and we came up with a preferred intake method together. I have to provide my own blood tests at 0, 3, 6 and 12 months, and then I think it’s annual after that so that’s a cost you need to factor in. The doctor will monitor my blood results and adjust my treatment if I want it adjusted or my levels are not where I want them to be. I can also email support to get in touch with my doctor at any time. Overall I’m really happy I went with them but that’s not to say there aren’t some issues with the service sometimes.
I’m 38 and the doc put me on E gel and cypro. The dose was sensible and I hit cis woman levels for E and T at 6 weeks which I’m really happy with. The plan I discussed with my doctor was to see if my levels are stable after 6 months and then stop the cypro, up the E dose and maybe add in progesterone.
I receive from them an e-prescription for 3 months worth of meds and in the same email I get a link to an online pharmacy that dispensed the meds to me. You could also take this prescription to a high street pharmacy but be warned, some UK pharmacies have explicitly transphobic policies in place and will refuse to fill your script. It might involve asking a few places in person to find out of they would take the prescription. That’s if you really don’t want to use the online service for whatever reason (e.g. If you have no safe address to have the meds posted to).
[Edit: Re imago being a us company: we were all very upset when this happened. It was registered in Malta up until a few months ago when they reincorporated in delaware (for tax reasons it seems). This makes them technically a us company but they operate in the EEA therefore they are subject to GDPR and because it’s medical data that’s extra protected under GDPR. I would understand why you’d be sketched out by that that, from my position it hasn’t really altered my care in any way]
Do you know what those people have been unsatisfied with regarding ggp?
Cypro apparently means the same substance as androcur?
GGP was apparently using AI to analyse their blood tests and I think they said they couldn’t talk to humans at all. From what I hear GGP is basically an expensive AI driven prescription farm with no humans to talk to (this is second hand info though so I’m no authority).
Cyro = androcur yes
This seems to make it clear that GGP is not an option, then.
I don’t like the risk of my healthcare data leaking to a trans-hostile country such as USA, but since I wouldn’t dare to travel there anyway, it is extremely unlikely to really affect me in any way. Imago seems like the way to go, then.
What do you mean about not taking injections because of blood clots? The risk to your liver is much greater when you take pills over injections, I’ve heard injections are relatively safe. Patches or gel would be the other option, I suppose, but I’ve heard it’s easier to get T suppression with monotherapy on injections.
Unfortunately no one I know is rich enough to have gone private, but if you want any tips on DIY + how to get blood tests for free in the UK I’d be happy to help!
Also here is a list of different private options in the UK, there are a lot more than two: https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/private-care/
What do you mean about not taking injections because of blood clots?
I’ve heard it recommended that estradiol should not be taken as an injection if you’re over 40-year-old. And that should not be such a problem with blockers, for example.
I’ve never heard that from anywhere. Transdermal or injections are going to be safest for someone at risk.
Oh, well I’m sure you know more than me about that. I’d be interested to see your source, though
Transfemscience has an article on it. Seems oral especially but also high dosage play a factor, which is more likely with injections, or rather monotherapy.
What a good text!
Thanks! 🩷
My source is basically hearsay from other trans women, based on what the doctors in the public healthcare in my country have told them during their transitioning.
just want to chime in to point out that often doctors are major sources of misinformation about trans care, even so called trans care specialists. some of the things people have said doctors told them on here are ridiculous. this sounds like a remnant of advice based on estrogens harvested from pregnant horse urine, which did have clotting issues because of the presence of estrogens not normally present in the human body. modern bioidentical estrodiol doesnt have the same issue at all. you probably shouldnt trust anything you hear from a doctor at face value without some corroborating sources to back it up.
About the list of options: thosenwould require me to live in UK or at least physically travel there to use those services, right?
Ah, I think so for most of them yeah, I didn’t realise GenderGP was international so I thought yeah
But there might be private options in your country too, which is that?
There are, but I am not aware of one that would prescribe anything without a trans diagnosis from the public healthcare. And because I got diagnosed with psychosis for being transgender, it will take a couple of years for them to agree to give me a trans diagnosis. Now they see me as fake trans who just “has psychosis that will eventually pass and they’ll be male again”. Once the “psychosis” is “dealt with”, they’ll probably give me the diagnosis.
Those private ones are useful if you have plenty of money and want to skip the queues that can be 1½ years long, but first you need to get the public healthcare to cooperate. And in my case it won’t, for the time being.
both can give you a prescription to fill out in your local chemist in the eu, or can work with local GPs.
i was with genderGP and am moving to imago now, because it’s cheaper.
i also don’t like how genderGP seems to have gone all in on gen-ai. they’ve even created a gen-ai chatbot called “genni”, which i feel is something that should never be mixed with healthcare, considering the many many mental health problems gen-ai chatbots have been known to create and amplify. i know there’re so many trans people trying to access healthcare & not enough willing healthcare providers, but this isn’t the way to bridge the gap 😭
