Woman Underwent Double Mastectomy And Hormone Therapy After 2 Hours Of Counseling: "I Now Know That I Am Not A Trans Man"

As more and more people step forward who regret transitioning, it's becoming clear that many individuals are encouraged to make life-altering decisions about their body and health in the name of gender affirming care. Unfortunately, many of these decisions are made after just a short period of counseling. A 26-year-old woman named Sam is opening up about her experience transitioning; sadly, she is facing a long list of health issues as a result of her therapy and surgery.

Woman Underwent Double Mastectomy and Hormone Therapy After 2 Hours of Counseling

Sam decided to pay out of pocket for therapy sessions when she began to question her gender identity at the age of 21. She called herself a trans man and after just two hours of counseling, she was encouraged to undergo hormone therapy and even surgery to affirm her identity as a trans man. She even opted in for a double mastectomy.

Within two years of the hormone treatment and mastectomy, she began suffering from multiple health complications and decided to not participate in anymore gender reassignment surgeries or treatments.

Sam is now in the process of detransitioning and educating others on the dangers of jumping into the decision of surgery and hormone therapy without giving it enough time and thought.

"I do believe that therapy should be involved at all stages of the transitioning process to help spot and explore red flags that may appear in someone's transitional journey," she told the Daily Mail. "I also think more information should be given to individuals to make sure that their informed consent is truly informed."

"I do still feel regret towards medical steps I took during my transition but I am working on loving and accepting my body for how it is rather than how used to be and how I wish it was," she continued. "It has been a really difficult journey for me, and I have lost a lot of friends in the process who felt that I am in some way anti-trans."

Sam says there is "huge pressure from the trans community to move things along quickly," which leaves a lot of people being rushed into treatments and surgeries that they may not ever opt in for if they took the time to make the decision for themselves.

She also revealed that she struggled with her gender identity when she was only a teenager, and when she turned 21 in 2016, she found a community of trans people online that she felt like she belonged to. However, thinking back on her journey, she can't believe that only two hours of counseling at a clinic resulted in her being prescribed cross-sex hormones.

Within two years, Sam began to suffer from vaginal atrophy, which is when the female sex organ tissue begins to die off due to a lack of hormones to keep it healthy. This left her in excruciating pain and NHS doctors told her the only solution was to have a hysterectomy. At this point she felt "distressed" and she was "experiencing imposter syndrome." She didn't feel like a man and she no longer even felt like a woman. She decided to stop taking the hormone medication.

"I now know that I am not a trans man, but I didn't have enough therapy to explore what was really going on with me and help me realize that I don't have to fit into a box of one of society's defined gender norms," Sam said. "I have also started to menstruate again, which took around a year to come back to after I stopped taking testosterone, although I have been left with excess body hair and a deeper voice."

Although Sam hasn't had that much support from friends and family when she decided to detransition, she noted that there was overwhelming support for her when she decided to transition and remove her breasts. But she says she's in "a much better place now" and she's "looking forward to the future."