With that out of the way, we'll begin. Why hormones? We ask why somebody would conclude to starting a hormone replacement therapy. This is an intricate matter. It all starts with dysphoria. Dysphoria is thus difficult to describe. Many transgender people would describe it as the worst thing they've ever felt.

The word combines dys, from the Greek for difficulty or pain, and phore, which means bearer of. It is the bearer of the pain and difficulty. No wonder it's described in such negative terms.

Furthermore, there's a large body of evidence that says that transgender people have the brain of their preferred gender.

What happens is that the brain realizes that it is not receiving the right hormones, and it recognizes that the shape of the body does not match with what it expects it to appear like and feel like. When combined, both of these things together cause such extreme unhappiness that we've called it "dysphoria".

“This is for my life partner Mikaela, whom I love dearly. Everything for surgery has been in place and ready, we have to pay entirely out of pocket, and haven't had the funds available; we've had to postpone it. She desperately needs gender surgery for herself, but we have 3 children and she feels like she’s taking money away from their basic needs. It’s a difficult place to be in, a life or death struggle, knowing that a Gender Reassignment Surgery (GRS) is needed for her well being, but feel guilty for wanting it. Our family is tired of seeing her struggle with dysphoria daily; having to delay it has not helped the matter. She doesn't feel comfortable in her own skin. All of Mikaela's life she has felt like she was in someone else's body. Without funding, I frankly worry that she will not be around much longer. It is extremely difficult seeing the person you love so unhappy; to see her look in the mirror and watch her break down sobbing. After all these years, I want her living life to the fullest, as herself. I want her to finally be in the body she should have been born into.”

Thus, we have to do something. And changing the brain structure is pretty much impossible on this level. Yes the brain goes through little changes throughout life, but on this level it's not something that can just be rearranged. And instead, we accommodate on a particular hormonal level with a process widely regarded as Hormone Replacement Therapy. This involves taking in of some medicine that are produced to deliver the correct hormones, together with also taking medicines that barricade the production of the mismatched or incorrect hormone.

Trans folk may decide to take hormones for a variety of reasons, but ultimately it almost always boils down to the two things above. First, making sure that the brain itself is receiving the right hormones, and second, changing the physical shape of the body to match what the brain expects. Although many steps may be taken to continue alleviating dysphoria, this is often one of the earliest and biggest.

Roxanne Hedman Hill

https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/mikaela-s-grs-fund/x/10573599