u/ChampionshipRough508

Please note: by "fully transitioned" I mean like anatomically as well as all the other things that come with transitioning. I believe people can be fully transitioned without any anatomical changes. My younger brother has only had top surgery and hormone therapy and has no plans to do more and I consider him fully transitioned.

I (born and identify as a female) was talking to someone about how females are normally treated like their issues aren't serious and are actually caused by weight or menstruation or menopause or anxiety or blah blah blah. It made me wonder if transgender females also get this treatment. I know everything is recorded and doctors *should* know medical history but I've often gone to doctors that don't bother doing research before seeing me and dismiss stuff that is directly connected to something they would have known about had they read my chart.

And then I realized I didn't even know if they see a gynecologist because they're anatomically female now. Do they get pap smears and stuff?

edit: corrected wording

tl;dr: my husband made a joke (not joke) about moving to a less hot/sunny place to manage my symptoms and I don't think I can cope if we actually have to. Questions at the end of the post.

So, I live in the California central valley, where it gets so hot and the UV index is pretty high all year. I'm a baby in the heat. Always have been, always will be. This is my first summer since being diagnosed and now I have to be covered head to toe in clothing *cries in heat exhaustion* or smothered in sunscreen that my hella ADHD ass has to try to remember to reapply every hour (give or take because I sweat a lot).

I expressed this to my husband who jokingly said we might need to move "north" (specifically the PNW). As the conversation continued, I realized he wasn't totally joking after I made a joke about Washington being really nice and he said "we'll see" pretty seriously. Almost all our family is in California and most are within two hours of us. It would be so sad to leave and not have the support they provide us and our two kids (my 3 year old always asks if we're going to my in-laws' every time we leave the house to go anywhere).

Sometimes I feel like this is stealing away my quality of life beyond just physically. It sucks that my kids would have to be subjected to the heart break of being separated from the family that they love so much because my body is stupid and hates happiness. I would live my life feeling horrible if we could stay here for the sake of my kids. My husband is understandably worried about it all though.

Has anyone had to relocate for similar reasons? How did you cope, whether you had to or not? Any tips on how to manage this?

I'm doing the 6 day methylprednisolone pack for pain and it hasn't helped at all. In fact, I feel like I'm still getting worse. I just started hcq about 2 weeks ago so I'm not even close to getting any help from that. I had to take ibuprofen tonight because I felt so bad and have barely felt anything, if at all. I *never* take pain meds of any kind. What now?

My rheumatologist ordered methylprednisolone for me to take because my flare is getting worse and I've only been on the hydroxychloroquine for a week. The steroid is only 6 days though and she said the symptoms might just come back when I'm done with the treatment so I'm kinda hesitant to try it. Is that enough to actually help make my symptoms chill tf out?

I (28f) have been experiencing what seems like a flare the last couple of weeks that is progressively getting worse and harder to manage. My symptoms are:

- a malar rash that hasn't gone away and sometimes gets hot and hurts

- finger, wrist, hip, and knee joints are very painful and swell all day, and get stiff in the morning and when I'm resting for too long

- very fatigued and have serious brain fog

- the sun gives me rashes and makes my symptoms worse

- lightheaded/dizziness

- constant headaches

- bruising very easily

- sores in my mouth and nose

- swelling in my lower calves/ankles

I have a history of an "episode" of temporary paralysis on the entire left side of my body in 2025 and the weakness has stayed with me since. The did all the tests and scans looking for things like MS and stroke, including MRIs of my brain and spine and a spinal tap, which were all negative. During that time my sed rate and crp levels were high but they never said anything about it. She doesn't even consider this as a possible symptom of whatever I'm dealing with.

In March, my ANA was positive 1:40 homogeneous and my dsDNA was indeterminate. Everything else was normal. I had the labs repeated last week and my ANA was 1:160 homogeneous and my dsDNA was negative (literally went down one point from the last test in March), but she tested for APS and my cardiolipin igm was high (I am aware that I have to wait for a second test in 12 weeks to confirm if this is really a positive result). Again, everything else was normal.

She diagnosed me with UCTD and prescribed me hydroxychloroquine and a steroid to take for 6 days and basically told me to act like I have lupus but didn't tell me how to do that aside from staying out of the sun. She says as long as my labs are normal, she won't diagnose me with lupus officially. She also has blamed almost everything on my Celiac Disease, which has been deemed by my gastroenterologist to be in remission (confirmed by labs and an endoscopy done this month). My gastroenterologist says that the weird labs and symptoms do not fit Celiac at all but she disagrees.

Can anyone explain to me what she's thinking? Or am I right to feel like I'm being dismissed?