Formal Requirements For HRT
The requirements for hormone replacement therapy vary immensely.
The Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People (SOC) require psychological counseling and for the patient to live a period of a time in the desired gender role, in order to assure that they can psychologically function in that gender role. This period is sometimes called the Real life experience (RLE). While this standard was widely followed in the 20th century, a growing number of physicians refuse to follow the Standards of Care, insisting that they are too restrictive and that inhibiting patient access to hormone therapy does more harm than good.
Some LGBT health organizations (notably Chicago's Howard Brown Health Center advocate for an informed consent model where the patient must only prove that they understand the risk and consent to the procedure in order to access hormone therapy.
Some individuals choose to self-administer their medication ("do-it-yourself") because they do not have access to adequate medical care (either the available doctors do not have the necessary experience or the patient cannot afford care since transition-related procedures are prohibitively expensive and rarely covered by health insurance). However, self-administration of hormones is potentially dangerous. Individuals seeking physicians who are knowledgeable and willing to treat transgender patients may wish to consult transgender support groups or a directory of LGBT-friendly doctors, in the USA for example the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association's referral service at GLMA.org.
Read more about this topic: Hormone Replacement Therapy (female-to-male)
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