Hey all, hope you're having a good Thursday! I'm just hoping to get a second opinion about my experience with my GP. For context, I've talked to her in the past about potentially exploring a formal autism diagnosis as I'm fairly certain I'm autistic. Apologies if this is a bit too long and rambly, I've also come off a night shift so my brain is fried lol.
I came out to her at my appointment today, hoping I could work through the first steps towards a concrete plan to finally start testosterone (eg through the informed consent model as I'm over 30, being referred to an endocrinologist, or even being pointed in the direction of another GP who's more experienced in this area if she's not comfortable).
At first she was great, very supportive and lovely about it even though she admitted she hasn't had much to do with trans folk in the past.....and then she spent the rest of the consult telling me that so many trans men are just "women with autism" who can't live authentically due to masking as well as their neurodivergence making it difficult to connect with "other women" and making them feel out of place due to not wanting to conform to traditional gender roles. She also briefly spoke about some trans men detransitioning due to the above reasons as well.
She said she feels like she has a duty of care to ensure I have my autism diagnosis before exploring this further, however she did also say she'd look into other GPs at the clinic who have treated trans patients.
Basically I'm just frustrated and want to know if this is normal or not, because all that really sucked to hear. I've been dreaming about finally starting my transition for over ten years, but I've only recently entered a living situation where I can finally start after all this time. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep waiting, especially when the autism assessment she wants me to consider costs two thousand dollars, and my next appointment with her is six weeks away.
My girlfriend is trans as well, and recently got her first script for estrogen within three weeks of bringing it up to her GP (he immediately transferred her to a endocrinologist who specialises in transitioning) so I guess I was hoping I'd have a similar experience.
The thing is, my GP was so nice despite everything and was more than happy to ditch my dead name on my file and replace it with the one I want (she changed my pronouns to they/them instead of he/him, though). I'm seriously considering cutting my losses and finding a different doctor, but I'm also wondering I'm just overreacting, especially if this is coming from a place of genuine concern from her. She even thanked me for trusting her enough to come out.
All I know for certain is that I nearly broke down ugly crying in the Hungry Jacks drive through on the way home, which was very embarrassing lol