By Lil Kalish

Emily Bray was supposed to be celebrating on Tuesday morning. After years of trying to change her name and gender marker, the 27-year-old YouTuber received an official court order from a Texas judge that she was at last, in the eyes of the state, the woman she had long known herself to be.

But that elation was short-lived.

An hour later, she logged onto the private Facebook group where she and other trans Texans discussed the bureaucracy of changing one’s name and gender in a state that is becoming increasingly hostile to trans people. One person shared that they had gone into the Department of Public Safety to update their driver’s license that day and learned that the agency had issued a new policy, barring the use of court orders or birth certificates to change one’s listed sex.

“There’s no other way to describe it than a gut punch,” Bray told HuffPost.

I have an upcoming appointment for an FFS consultation and was wondering if there are any questions y'all recommend asking 🙂

This is mainly for the women here who've had GRS/orchi, but if you experience these then be sure to see your doctor either way ~

symptoms of menopause

Please don't judge my story too harshly I have terrible mental health lol.

I got an orchi some time ago and when my hormones were tested shortly after, my estrogen was about double what it should be so my endocrinologist reduced my estradiol dosage by half. Shortly after I started experiencing some of what I would later learn are menopause symptoms. I thought they were my body getting used to the changes from the operation and just soldiered through them. By the time I saw my endocrinologist six months later they had become much worse and were pretty severely impacting my quality of life.

I'm on a higher dose now and I'm sad to say for me it is not an instant fix. A week later and I'm still experiencing issues so if anyone knows generally how long it takes symptoms to resolve I'd love to know lol. I'm mad/disappointed in myself for letting things get as bad as they have and worried that they won't get better. I appreciate y'all reading <3