08-Sep-2020, 12:57 AM
My 19 y/o daughter, who is on the autism spectrum (high-functioning) recently came out as trans-male. She wears either gender-neutral clothes or male clothes. She's yet to seek out prescriptions for testosterone, but I notice that she is taking a natural supplement that says it stops estrogen (she's hoping it will change her voice; it's not). She says she doesn't want top surgery at this time, but she changed her name (we aren't calling her that).
She's pretty much online most free hours of her waking schedule (which is mostly nocturnal); this has been going on for years. She has a history of cutting, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, depression, anxiety, dabbled with drinking alcohol and huffing, and for a year thought she was anorexic and even went into inpatient treatment when she refused to try having healthy eating habits. She has difficulty regulating herself when she is angry, but mostly she doesn't know how to navigate offline/in-person social situations, and misinterprets social situations/people. She is sexually promiscuous online yet she exhibits extreme paranoia when around males who might give even the smallest hint of attraction to her, and despite identifying as bisexual, she hasn't attempted to get out there in the offline world to try dating in a real way.
She is an adult now, so she can make her own choices. But my husband and I strongly feel that we need to somehow communicate to her the risks of testosterone and top surgery, if she tries to pursue this (we'll drop her from our insurance if she does). We also want to communicate to her what we are learning about Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) by what we are currently reading (going through a GREAT book by Abigail Shrier right now). But before we do that, we feel like we need to also hear from other families going through the same thing, learn from them, and also hopefully find support too. Thanks!
She's pretty much online most free hours of her waking schedule (which is mostly nocturnal); this has been going on for years. She has a history of cutting, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, depression, anxiety, dabbled with drinking alcohol and huffing, and for a year thought she was anorexic and even went into inpatient treatment when she refused to try having healthy eating habits. She has difficulty regulating herself when she is angry, but mostly she doesn't know how to navigate offline/in-person social situations, and misinterprets social situations/people. She is sexually promiscuous online yet she exhibits extreme paranoia when around males who might give even the smallest hint of attraction to her, and despite identifying as bisexual, she hasn't attempted to get out there in the offline world to try dating in a real way.
She is an adult now, so she can make her own choices. But my husband and I strongly feel that we need to somehow communicate to her the risks of testosterone and top surgery, if she tries to pursue this (we'll drop her from our insurance if she does). We also want to communicate to her what we are learning about Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) by what we are currently reading (going through a GREAT book by Abigail Shrier right now). But before we do that, we feel like we need to also hear from other families going through the same thing, learn from them, and also hopefully find support too. Thanks!
