Where to start?
How do you know where to start? Is there a place to check both the wait times and costs of private providers? I feel like I should get sperm frozen before I start anything medical (whilst I don't know if I can imagine having children now, it seems like a bad idea to risk shutting the door forever) I checked transactual and got the impression that it depends upon your ICB whether or not you can get it covered by the NHS, which obviously would be ideal, I believe it costs £300 a year otherwise. I checked the ICB for home and uni, since I think I can move GPs to my Uni city and found no answer for home but I think it is offered for gender affirming care in the uni city based on what I read. Does anyone know what this means in practice? Can anyone just say they're going on HRT and get in? I assume not, so would it just be an appointment or prescription needed? Would either have to be on the NHS, or would private work?
​
I assume it's still worth getting on the waiting list for the NHS, although if the waiting lists last >3 years, I have doubts that there's any point in case of a government change making things even worse. My home GP is in a tiny town with barely any people, I checked mtransgp and saw no community ratings and considering where I live is a tory safe seat (last losing to liberal party >100 years ago), I don't have much faith they'll be great. I obviously don't know if the GPs are the same, but I still don't have the best feeling about it. Is it just worth moving GPs to my Uni city, which I've been told I can do over the past few years here. There aren't many with positive community reviews on mytransgp. Is it worth just applying to the only one that does? Are the community reviews likely to still be accurate? How do you find the waiting times for the NHS?
​
I assume going private would be best for me, which whilst I can't afford comfortably, might be possible, how do I best compare them? I see the list on transactual, but I don't know what I should be focused on comparing, I obviously understand waiting times and costs, but are there other things I need to consider? Also, is there a place that just lists all for each, or do I need to check each myself? Do you need to live locally to apply to any of them?
​
​
I feel like I'm doing things in the wrong order, I haven't made any changes to how I present myself even though I think I want to, but transitioning has been on my mind for 3 years every day. I want to get on a waiting list, but I still don't feel confident, I don't want to take the place of someone who is sure and knows what they're doing, and if I regret taking HRT I will feel like the dumbest person alive. Surely, the fact that I'm even considering spending so much on this means I'm doing the right thing? Are these the sorts of concerns best discussed with a therapist? Where do I find one to talk about trans issues that isn't Gender exploratory therapy (or whatever the one that just spends months trying to talk you out of being trans is called). I don't know why I'm too scared to present differently but less scared to take hormones, which will obviously have a bigger and less reversible change.
​
Sorry if my post isn't incredibly clear. If anyone who knows more can answer or point me to an answer to any of my many questions, that would be great