AS - Trans MTF

Post Reply New Topic

Been to Kingstowne. It was just too far out for me.

No, they have a business patent unit that hires people with business degrees.

The business patent units hire people with business degrees because businesses will apply for complicated
business process patents. For example, "a method of doing taxes a particular way".

The tech people won't be any help for that.

However, they just are not hiring presently for business degree people.

They are constantly hiring though. I hear from my boss two to three times per year, "Do you know anyone looking
for work - we are hiring".

Thanks. If you hear anything like that, could you PM me?

Sure. I can contact you when they are hiring for your degree, and help you should you decide to apply.

I can help you get best "inside scoop" on getting hired if needed.

LoveNotHate,

Thanks.

Good news. My therapist is going to write the letter; he thinks that I'm sufficiently stable. He just needs me to bring by exactly what WPATH prescribes, which I'll bring by his office tomorrow.

I am not sure what is so good about therapy.

One psychologist I told, "I think about suicide a lot", and I am not kidding, she told me to "think happy thoughts".

Did you find a doctor that understood trans and autism combined? Do they train you to "act normal" with regards to your autism ?

I don't feel I "connect" with anyone, so I don't even try now. I like reading on this site and online, and feeling like I am a part of something and not alone. I like reading about other trans-ASD people because I never had a friend or any relationship with another person.

I also wonder if we are all the same.

I went as far as I could as a guy. Age 32 was my crisis point. I had lost most of my ability to speak because of the hormones and no personality development. I let myself become a sub-human creature. People at my job at the time recognized I am trans, and were saying I need to see a doctor because of my mental dysfunction and speech problems.

I would think an ASD-trans person transitioning much younger, and bypassing a life of mental destruction would be very different than me.

"Do you have a degree in technology ? You are implying you were in the U.S. military ? There is a cryptography area there. You look at crypto algorithms."

yes, something like that... which is unfortunate as all my records are in my "old" name. and as it is all i am -allowed- to tell prospective employers is that i "built and maintained databases"

which is such and understatement of the skill-set that was required for the job lol.

"I went as far as I could as a guy. Age 32 was my crisis point. I had lost most of my ability to speak because of the hormones and no personality development. I let myself become a sub-human creature. People at my job at the time recognized I am trans, and were saying I need to see a doctor because of my mental dysfunction and speech problems"

my first mental break-down came during my first college foree before joining the military... at age 16 (i was "gifted" apparently) and then again... to the point of being non-verbal and nearly catatonic during my military service (my CO ordered me to see a psychiatrist hence the outing) at age 23.

to be honest most trans individuals that i have spoken to about this topic follow either yours or my trajectory... or two others... that of the indidivual whom struggles with depression till age 50-60 before finally transitioning or the grave.

"Did you find a doctor that understood trans and autism combined? Do they train you to "act normal" with regards to your autism ?

I don't feel I "connect" with anyone, so I don't even try now. I like reading on this site and online, and feeling like I am a part of something and not alone. I like reading about other trans-ASD people because I never had a friend or any relationship with another person."

i've yet to find a therapist that understand both topics in conjunction very well... and those that i have found have seemed to want to focus on my gender variance more than my autism... which as a psych student i -totally- understand. unfortunately there really is no way to separate them... and the more i delve into it and look into the actual data (current obsession of mine btw) i find that it is in fact impossible to separate them... because of the fact that it appears that GID and ASD appear to be linked in a correlative fashion (possibly through the affect of endocrine disruptors on neuronal development).

i feel luck in respect to "connecting" to people as i found a fellow aspie while i was going to university... my husband is a electrical engineer... and gender variant virself (third gender 40%male 20%female 40%neutral if that makes any sense to you). but yes, this site and a few other places are great outlets for me... as my professional spaces and my family life are not exactly the places i go to feel connected... i never really knew what friends were until i was an "adult" and someone sat me down and explained to me in a truly explicit fashion that what i had were acquaintances and not friends... that individual being the first and only real friend that ive manage to make to this day.... though i think it may be cheating because he is also an aspie... though much more "functional" than i am.

anyways sorry for the multiple replies =p

I have not. My couselor that I was seeing and need to start seeing again specializes in Gender. For her workplace, she is the gender specialist and all gender problems get referred to her. She made my AS diagnosis but referred me to a specialist. For actual doctors, I have a GP that deals with the trans community, but he doesn't specialize in any particular thing on the side. I only see specialists when I need to like for my knee, I see a bone/joint specialist and have found out after an MRI that I have a torn meniscus. Finding someone in any part of the health care system that specializes in both Autism and Gender, is probably not going to happen. Both are such small portions of the population that together, it's so small that you could in theory be in high demand by those few, it wouldn't be enough to pay the bills and wouldn't be cost effective.




I had a high school friend explain to me the difference between an acquaintance and a friend was. He considered me a friend, but many in our circle acquaintances and had problems understanding why I wasn't doing the same with others. Once he enlightened me, It made a lot of sense. I can easily fall into the trap of elevating someones status in my life above what they really are and then get burned out when things don't happy like they should. I'm actually pretty thankful for his help with this. He was a cool guy, and now that I think about it, he may have also been HFA/AS.

OK, y'all, I've got a conundrum. Last year, I called the insurance company and asked about the exclusions on my employer's self-funded group plan (which I'm a part of) and they said all transition-related care from therapy through hormones to surgery was excluded. Now, I found out from my endocrinologist that all this time I've been doing hormones, he's been billing my insurance company for both office visits and lab work (to include checking the T and the E) using the ICD-9 CM code 302.85, which is "Gender identity disorder in adolescents or adults." According to my Explanations of Benefits, those office visits and lab work have all been covered except for the specialist co-pay. In addition, my estradiol prescriptions and (previously) my spironolactone prescriptions have all been covered by our prescription drug plan, except for the co-pay for generics.

Does anyone have an explanation for this discrepancy? It's not like my endocrinologist hasn't been open about what these hormones are being used for, LOL.

Should I move forward, like HR originally recommended, and try to get preauthorization for SRS or would that come back to bite me?

When I started HRT with my previous doc, He said that he would bill my insurance a different way than how he would normally do so in order for them to not immediately refuse it. I didn't understand the explanation so I don't have details. Needless to say, they've been covering everything so far with checkup visits and the prescriptions except for one drug which they only cover under 1 specific circumstance and I don't fit that.

My local LGBT community center recommended to a support group I occasionally attend there, that we should bill our insurance anyway for everything. If they refuse, appeal it. If they refuse again, appeal again, and keep on and eventually they would cave. They mentioned two others mtf trans who were known to several in the room at the time had experienced this and upon several appeals finally had their insurance cover SRS among other things. This isn't to say it will always work out like that, but it can happen.

For myself, I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row. I'm literally typing this right now as I'm doing an allergy test. I get surgery on my knee in a week. I just did hair transplant surgery a month ago. I'm trying to get everything taken care of both for transitioning and otherwise. I'm having a hard time saving up anything because I spend it on my few hobbies to stay sane and paying off my hair transplant. I don't expect Aetna to cover anything, and will at some point save up what I can and finance the rest. Ideally, Aetna will cover it and I can spend what I saved up on either the copay, and/or additional surgeries like FFS.

stardraigh,

Please give me some time to process your response. Thank you!

I just met with HR. They're going to look into the bathroom issue. I also brought up the insurance coverage issue, and he says he's going to get someone to talk to about that. I didn't bring up the fact that my hormones were being covered.

It might be worth it to call the endocrinologist again for clarification.

Well, I called again and they said 302.85, which is "Gender identity disorder in adolescents or adults," so it seems then that's what they've been billing. They seemed annoyed by my questioning, as well.

I've got a career transition meeting tomorrow at 6:30 AM that I should go to. I get off from work tonight at 11 PM. I've apparently got a phone call coming up (maybe next week or so cuz of Thanksgiving?) I've gotta try to do my best on. I'm over here trying to do all this stuff and, frankly, I'm afraid I'm just going to get overloaded again. My thinking will turn funny, and negative, and my emotions will become dysregulated again. I may end up in the hospital again, again placed with the men, again internalizing everything, and end up with another dozen or so medical bills that I will have difficulty keeping track of.

Of course, when I reveal the source of my distress, my need for SRS, it would just be mocked, treated like the vain desire for a luxury item. And I will feel the hurt of invalidation, choosing between a trans community that doesn't fully understand me or loneliness.

It would have been nice to live in a country that provides for all this. I could have transitioned in confidence 10 years ago, instead of entering into a long period of negativity, self-hate, and utter fear. I could have just done my thing, gone to work/school, just pay the few bills I have, and let the system do its thing. Alas. That was not meant to be.

I wonder if there is anyway to break out of this cycle?