Hi, so I’m a 23 yr old AMAB gender questioning person and I’m really struggling with gender dysphoria at the moment. From what I can gather the only option is to go private with one to one counselling with an LGBTQ specialist counsellor. But I was wondering if going to my GP about these feelings is worth my while? Is there any kind of service I could avail of that way? I’m just unsure of how it all works. Any help is appreciated. Thank you

Hi guys, I'm 12 days on T with Imago now just in case anyone was considering them and hadn't seen or heard anything about them. Some of what I say will be repetitive, but I hope it's of use to ye.

So, cost wise, it was €250 to start with them and that covered my initial call with the doctor, and the prescription itself. It's €20 a month which covers sending me a wet ink prescription in the post with a tracking number.

Before I subscribed with them, I had a call with Zofia, the owner. I think that the call isn't really what you'd expect from how it's described on the website. It's booked as a 15 minute call on Google Meet to ask about the process and the company, and I was asked to think of my questions and forward them on ahead of time so that Zofia could be prepared for them. The call was more about Zofia explaining her goals for the company as a whole, and about the general state of trans healthcare in the world. She then encourage me to share my experiences as a trans man. I got a bit of time to ask my questions at the end, but I got the impression that she had not read any of my questions beforehand. The experience with the call made me a little bit unsure as to whether or not I wanted to continue, just because it wasn't what I had expected and I felt the call wasn't really for answering my questions.

I waited a while, and read up on them a bit more before deciding to go with them. I paid the €250, and then received an email with forms for me to fill out. These were pretty extensive medical history forms. After those were filled in, I was asked to send them a copy of my blood works, weight, height, and blood pressure. I was able to use the results from my full blood tests from about six weeks prior. Those were reviewed, and then I was sent a link to book my call with the doctor. One drawback with that, is that the calls are only available Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 15:00. Since I'm a student I had to leave school early to get the last appointment at 15:00. I imagine that can inconvenience a lot of people, but seeing as you don't need to call the doctor very often, it's not a huge inconvenience.

The call with the doctor was very good and it definitely settled my nerves. He was very nice and walked me through my blood test results, and talked about my general health and expectations and plans for testosterone. Then he explained everything testosterone could affect and what exactly I can expect. He himself said he knew I probably knew it all from reading about HRT myself, but he said that he needed to explain everything to every person regardless because they're using informed consent. He explained all of the negative effects of testosterone and how they can be dealt with, which was very good to know, like how if I experience hair loss, he will prescribe me a topical cream for preventing my hair follicles from being affected by the testosterone. He then talked about each form of T that I could take and the pros and cons of each type. He said I was free to choose which one I wanted to use because I'm in good health. I could choose then and there, or I could take time to think about it and let him know another time which form I wanted. I decided then and there that I would take testogel, so he wrote up the prescription a few days later and sent it off.

The prescription was quite slow to arrive, but that wasn't their fault. I got the tracking number and tracked it online, it just didn't move for a few days, and I didn't get told when it moved into the hands of An Post so any time it hadn't moved for a few days I'd go and check An Post tracking instead.

I was under the impression that I would be paying for the T myself without the help of the drugs payment scheme because it wasn't prescribed to me by my GP, but there was no charge for it, so it was covered by the DPS.

I'm 12 days on T this evening and I'm very very happy with the process. Like I really thought Imago was too good to be true, but like it all went smoothly, and other reviews I've seen on trust pilot and reddit all said the same.

I hope this helped some of you. If any of you have any questions please feel free to ask, I'm more than happy to help anyone I can with this (:

What’s up! I’m about a month on T (🎉) and have been experiencing itching down below since starting. Is this normal and related to bottom growth? It often gets worse if I start itching and better if it leave it alone if that makes sense

When I do my T shots in my leg (I alternate each leg weekly) the last two weeks some if it has dripped out of the injection site. I’m self medicating and very new to this with no guidance so I’m worried that I’m doing it totally wrong. Also, I’m worried that I’m not reaching the muscle as I’m pretty overweight. Would appreciate some advice sorry if I seem really ignorant

Solved! Thank You All So Much!

I got my prescription from Gender GP. I immediately brought it to a pharmacist and was told eventually that my prescription needed to be provided by someone with an Irish address, which wasn't present on the form. Just a registration number and some contact details.

I've seen people saying elsewhere that "EU prescriptions should be valid in Ireland" but not only does that not seem to be true, but no address has been provided whatsover by my prescriber. Please help. I don't think I'm ever going to receive treatment.

So I wanna medical transition and I think I will have ti go private but I'm wondering if anyone knows if any of the private services take medical card, I tried looking it up but couldn't find any information on it.

The fact that they word it like this is just plain evil. And it's not like they don't know trans people exist, they just don't care because it's not "worth it" to try and get our votes. Horrid people

Edit: IDK why the image didnt attach but one of Fianna Fáil's budget actions is "Free Hormone Replacement Therapy for women (menopause treatement)"

Bit of a weird one but thought it would be worth an ask.

I will probably have to move in the coming months due to my housemates moving out, but as a newly single person, there’s very little that’s affordable. Then there’s the added stress of renting whilst trans, and the potential pressure of living with bigoted strangers etc.

I was thinking maybe if there was interest, I would be happy to arrange the rent, viewings etc, and we could make an all-trans household.

Makes the rent affordable, there would be space for a Blahaj or two, etc. We could meet up in Cork for a pint/coffee/boardgame before we start searching, to make sure we like each other.

I’m 37, transmasc, into D&D. 5e and Vampire: The Masquerade. I cook, and enjoy musical theatre and classical music, as a bit about me!

If this sounds interesting give me a DM :)

Anybody know of any trans-inclusive therapist preferably in the Limerick area? It feels a bit silly to ask but I'd like to be treated by someone who knows what I'm going through or at least understands, and I'm nervous that a regular therapist might be weird about it. I work full-time so travelling out of county isn't really an option.

Hi all,

Anyone know any barbers or hair salons in Limerick that would be welcoming to specifically trans people?

Before you say "nobody cares about that, just go to any one of them", many people haven't had great experiences around Limerick and not everywhere is as welcoming as you think.

I'm sure there's some great businesses that are trans friendly and I'd just like to know where?

Thanks so much!

"In Ireland, where the National Gender Service (NGS) has a virtual monopoly on how trans-specific healthcare is provided, the situation is dire as healthcare is inaccessible due to a waiting time of over 10 years."

https://tgeu.org/trans-health-map-2024-as-who-guidelines-approach-healthcare-for-trans-people-in-the-eu-still-hindered-by-stigma-and-long-delays/

I've been feeling really down about the waitlist since I've been waiting since 2021 despite having been assessed and prescribed t in Switzerland, and I was wondering what the wait times have been for others and if anyone from 2021 has seen them yet :( any input is appreciated, I'm having trouble finding any info from other trans people ab their experience with the waiting times

Hi!!! So I book my first appointment for gender plus for January and I know you have to do three appointments around a month apart. Well should I be booking my second appointment already since bookings are so far in advance? I’m not really sure how it works and they haven’t emailed me back yet.

Basically what it says in the title, if you have I'd appreciate being able to ask you a few questions via DMs or similar

Edit: if you haven't gone to Fedora but you have gone to someone else I'd also appreciate you letting me know!

Has anyone succeeded in getting male genital area laser hair removal, and from which salon or agent? I'm asking about full Hollywood (aka Pornstar) bikini area hair removal. It's available for cis females but not males, possibly because the laser techs are mainly female.

If the service was declined, maybe post below saying which salon declined and the reason given, as well as what they were prepared to offer. Some salons seem to discourage male clients completely.

I'm interested in laser treatment, as it's quicker and probably less ouch that electrolysis.

Heya, I just wanted to ask for input from other transmasc folks about the starting dose for testosterone if that's okay!

I finally got my prescription for Tostran 2% gel last week, and I'm starting off with 10mg/day, then increasing it every two months, and I'll be having a check-in with my endocrinologist (Dr Bell) around the time I start 30mg/day.

I was looking into starting doses on T, and most people start on 40mg/day so my dose seems really low? I want to know if this is just an issue with Dr Bell specifically or if the NGS and other endocrinologists in the country also prescribe such low doses starting out. I'm definitely going to talk about upping my dose further in my next appointment but I think knowing what other practices prescribe would be helpful in making my case.

Any info at all would be handy, thanks a mill :)

I just applied for a name change and gender update on my Irish now I’ve had documents over two years

I sent them

-British passport (Name and updated gender)

-declaration from my GP

-NI NHS card and letter

-SRS confirmation letter (under 2 years) Thailand

-University student finance

-Blood tests

-NHS old hospital referral

These are all over two years with the exception of my srs letter. I am just wondering if sending all these even though I only need two will be enough as proof of name change?

I’m only sending so many as when applying for the first time they were really stupid with asking for more stuff and this will hopefully save me sending more just incase

They mentioned “Birth Certificate if applicable” which I don’t know what that would be for? Since my birth certificate is still male as it’s a nightmare to change in the UK

Any help whether these would be enough to change name and gender would be greatly appreciated

So im from Northern Ireland and I've always had a British passport (now expired) but i was thinking about getting an irish one since theyre a bit cheaper. Not really sure what the process is with it regarding name and gender marker. Ive changed my name by deed poll and have a letter from my gp to change my marker but i heard that irish passports will only change it if theres proof of you using it for 2 years?? But if im applying for my 1st passport will they ask me for that proof bc im not renewing anything or updating details on their system. Sorry that this is worded horribly i have no idea about this stuff

Hello, I'm with gendergp (I'm Irish!) and I was informed my testosterone levels are too high. (I'm on the standard two pumps testogel) but my GP thinks my testosterone levels are too high? (She knows I'm medically transitioning) I was told it should be somewhere like 950ng/dl but I keep exceeding 1500ng/dl Does anyone know if this is normal for trans men, or what this could be a sign of? Thanks I never had my hormone levels checked beforehand.

Hey there!

My husband is American and I am Irish. We’re moving back to Ireland early 2025. He’s been on testosterone for almost 2 years and obviously needs to continue it.

I’ve seen the national gender service offers HRT but I’m worried about the wait list. This is something I really don’t want my partner to have to compromise on.

Has anyone been in this boat before? I’m planning on emailing a ton of drs to get a referral, ideally before we land in Ireland. So we can get Testosterone asap when we land.

But I’m not really sure how this all works.

Any help/advice/info is hugely appreciated!

Can’t wait to be home! 🇮🇪 🏳️‍⚧️

Anyone have experience with her, positive or negative. Would greatly appreciate it as I’m in the process of booking my first appointment with GenderPlus. Thanks

Hey guys, right so I just can’t for the life of me get any blockers. I’m with genderGP and have no problem getting my gel but can’t for some reason get blockers. When they recommended spiro they wouldn’t give me a higher dose after me doing a blood test and I would like to go on something like Leuprorelin but can’t get it due to it being high tech so I’ve just been thinking of starting mono. Anyone doing that currently that could give me some insight on if it’s worth or not? Thanks guys <3

I was wondering if there were any trans support groups in Dublin that arent on in the evenings/nights because of my living situation I cannot attend these. All the bigger ones in Dublin seem to be on later in the day

I'm going to be getting my paper prescription from gender GP again soon but last time I picked up my prescription the pharmacy ( Roy's pharmacy parnell street) told me they aren't allowed to fullfil my prescription ( sustanon) anymore so I'm wondering if anyone knows where else is good in Dublin to go or even outside of Dublin I don't care I guess as long as I can get my testosterone 😭