introduction

[maellenkleth]

Maellenkleth here, from coastal British Columbia (and occasionally other more entertaining places).

Found Bodies Like Ours quite by accident while looking for something else, and it looks potentially useful enough to be worth sticking around for a while.

Very short description of self: female, in my fifties, married, happily so, not looking for other entanglements or liaisons; earned doctorate, gainfully employed, have no use for Viagra or any other lifestyle meds.

I/s, but that is surely not all that rare here; got the external issues sorted out surgically almost thirty years ago and am still working on the internal consequences.

And cannot think of another single blessed thing to say at the moment; am not at all surprised that such fora should exist, just am rather surprised to have taken this long to find it.

[fraulein_Maria]

not that it matters overly much, but it gives us an idea of what you've had to cope with.

[Kailana]

welcome to Bodies Like Ours Maellenkleth.

I hope you find the forum usefull, or beneficial, or well you know supportive. its a fairly open forum for the most part, though some of the subjects can get a little heated now and then. hope to see you post again, and share some of your wisdom with us.

[maellenkleth]

Hello, Maria and Kailana:

Reply's a bit scattered: haven't had my coffee yet today //^_^\\

Dx in short form: 3β-HSD CAH, 46 XX karyotype, strongly virilised at birth, assigned male at birth.

Response in short form: figured out who I was at age 3, diagnosed in general terms age 11, restorative surgery in UK age 22 (in 1978). Being living as female ever since and am convinced this was only reasonable choice. Didn't know my karyotype until age 24, when my then-husband figured out how I could have it done discreetly in Canada (never wanted to make a big public fuss about this, post-restoration). Had more complete endo workup last year because menopause has been challenging, with hormonal instability; at that point had specific screening which nailed the 3β-HSD CAH. I rather doubt that was known at birth.

Mostly now trying to figure out what the heck happened to me back then, because it continues to bother me even though I am otherwise quite nicely settled in life. Father's already dead: he was the decider back then; mother had severe postpartum crash and wasn't all there for a couple of years.

Am about to have my 52nd birthday and think that, other than lingering aggravation about childhood, life's turned out okay.

Oh, occasionally have ugly issues with electrolyte balance (Na/K); never studied biology after high school and am only partially an auto-didact on matters such as cytochromes, enzymes and genetics. I should think that's fairly normal, having to figure it out as one goes along.

Glad to be here: thanks.

Maellenkleth

[Kailana]

I appreciate the information, thank you for sharing.

I did want to say, that honestly most doctors back then didnt know much about intersexed conditions. i should add there are even many doctors today that arent that well informed or understanding about them either. But, could be you were labelled male, as thats just what they saw you as most closely resembling.

I am happy to hear your confortable with your life, being happy is a good thing.

best wishes

[uriela]

Maellenkleth,

(Do you have a nickname? I can't even begin to pronounce
your name. I'm the wrong ethnicity.)

I know someone who I think is CAH. She went through the
same trans network I did but my therapist at least just treated
her as trans. My endo - I'm not sure.

She was raised as a boy and when I met her - she was in
her early 20's - she was transitioning to female as I was.
Her birth certificate read female and she went to court to
get her driver's license changed to female - her name as
well -they had omitted a letter on her first name - because
the DMV would not believe her birth certificate since her
voice was so deep and she had such a broad chest. She
must have identified as female - she regularly wore a
god-awful skirt and a t-top when I met her - because she
would not let well-enough alone.

Do you identify as male or female? Your post is not clear -
to me anyway. Did your diagnosis come through Money at
Johns Hopkins? The time frame is right, the country wrong,
but David Reimer was a canadian treated by him.

Welcome to Bodies.

Uriela

[uriela]

Maellenkleth,

(Do you have a nickname? I can't even begin to pronounce
your name. I'm the wrong ethnicity.)

I know someone who I think is CAH. She went through the
same trans network I did but my therapist at least just treated
her as trans. My endo - I'm not sure.

She was raised as a boy and when I met her - she was in
her early 20's - she was transitioning to female as I was.
Her birth certificate read female and she went to court to
get her driver's license changed to female - her name as
well -they had omitted a letter on her first name - because
the DMV would not believe her birth certificate since her
voice was so deep and she had such a broad chest. She
must have identified as female - she regularly wore a
god-awful skirt and a t-top when I met her - because she
would not let well-enough alone.

Do you identify as male or female? Your post is not clear -
to me anyway. Did your diagnosis come through Money at
Johns Hopkins? The time frame is right, the country wrong,
but David Reimer was a canadian treated by him.

Welcome to Bodies.

Uriela

[uriela]

I did not mean to double-post!

Monitor - if there is a monitor - could you please delete the extra post!

Aum nama shivaya!

(If Betsy were only here! And now I see that one of my questions has
already been answered. Sorry, Kae, for being so slow.)

[maellenkleth]

(Do you have a nickname? I can't even begin to pronounce
your name. I'm the wrong ethnicity.)

'Elane' will do for a nickname; pronounced rather like 'Elannah', with the stress in the middle.

I knew very little about CAH myself until recently: it sounds as if the biology of it is rapidly being developed -- started to learn more a few years ago during a hepatology workup, where the specialist and I ended up trading chalk-drawings on her office wall -- Canadian-style health-care has its moments of sheer drolerie.

"I know someone who I think is CAH. She went through the
same trans network I did but my therapist at least just treated
her as trans. My endo - I'm not sure. "

That would often be the case; I suppose I was fortunate in at least having a reasonable paper trail of health-care records going back to infancy, so the i/s Dx was always on the table (although nobody thought to tell **me** for quite a while). Birth gender *was* ambiguous; I'm not sure how much of Money's influence got how far, and I suspect that the delivering physicians were more concerned with how easy I'd be to raise. Well, **not** easy -- I fought back the whole way along, and got away when I finally could. Had my plastics at age 22 to settle that issue for once and for all,. I suppose to the world at large I am as described by my brother-in-law at dinner last night: a "tough-minded woman." Works for me. ^_^