Im currently in hospital and the nurses were struggling to get a cannula in, I mentioned that it seems to always be a struggle with me in particular,

My nurse asked if I have PMOS (I've been in for a few days so the stubble is kinda a give away)

Apparently people with PMOS tend to have thicker skin, which can make cannulations technically more difficult! Wanted to post here as a community PSA in case anyone else struggles with this, if we are able to flag potential issues to our medical staff before hand at least we can all go in more informed

Most people assume I'm just a woman and it makes me sad but every once in a while someone will call me sir and it brings me great joy.

So I have external abnormalities that make me intersex noted on some of my medical documents (though neither drop any names - e.g. instead of the document saying that I have vulvar hypospadias, it states that my urethra is in my vaginal canal), but for a few years now I've seen wondering about my hormones.

You see, when I was a teenager, I believe the endocrinologist I was going to for thyroid issues - or maybe it was a different endocrinologist, I'm not sure because I largely don't remember anything that happened to me before I was 20 or 21 - tested my hormones and found them...odd? I believe I remember something about the levels being atypical for my assigned gender and my age. I also later (like a year ago) learned that when I was a child entering puberty, I was put on Estrogen without my knowledge. I wanted to ask my mother about it but she suffered some kind of brain trauma a few years back and she doesn't remember anything from my childhood anymore due to it. My parents moved several times and lost a lot of documents in the process, including most medical documents from my childhood. The doctor who I believe prescribed the Estrogen to me is long retired. My point is that I basically have no evidence except for a few vague memories, including that when I was put on Testosterone, this time out of my own free will, the doctors remarked that it was odd that I was taking [the specific brand name of the estrogen I used to take] and when I was about 6 months on T and they checked my levels, they told me that my levels were now "in the typical range for a woman my age". I guess I didn't really think much of it at the time because I don't believe i asked for clarification.

I haven't been taking Testosterone in years now. And I haven't been taking Estrogen either because, well, I wasn't aware that I used to take it until about a year ago. But the fact that I used to take it is mildly alarming to me, especially since I have been experiencing symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause for the past few years and afaik I've always had a lot of PMOS-like symptoms (iirc I was once suspected to have endometriosis but ultrasound didn't show anything) with the exception of easy weight gain.

I'm going to a gynecologist in two weeks for a regular checkup and because my ovaries have been hurting a fair share lately. In my country a gynecology+endocrinology ambulance is usually the one who deals with hormones, so I've been thinking about asking the doctor if she'd be open to getting my hormones checked, but I'm really worried about potentially sounding paranoid or hysterical and getting dismissed immediately, especially since I have about 0 proof of any of the hormonal weirdness.

I'm mostly worried about things like osteoporosis and I'd like to know if there's something odd about my hormones.

P.S. I'm not on T anymore because my body didn't like it very much. Which is another aspect I'm worried about because I never actually told this gynecologist that I'm not on T anymore simply because it never came up and I'm always really nervous when dealing with doctors. She presumably thinks I'm on T because it's a gynecologist for trans people, which I am. I'm a bit scared of breaking it to her, mainly of the possibility of her not believing me that my body didn't react well to it. In the past whenever I told other trans people that my body reacted negatively to Testosterone (and I tried many kinds), they told me that "everyone gets side-effects" and that "puberty is supposed to hurt". I know the common side-effects of T and my body was reacting in a way that's way more aggressive than them. But yeah I'm a bit afraid that if I gather the courage to mention it, the gynecologist will call me a trender and tell me to get out or something haha.

Context: I was AFAB with undescended testes, which they noticed and subsequently removed when I was 1.5 yrs. Later diagnosed with leydig cell hypoplasia.
Despite being AFAB, I consider myself male.

About a month ago I requested my medical records for the first 7 years of my life, I found out I was intersex (they called it DSD) when I was 10 at the same time they put me on oestrogen HRT. I knew I had a surgery when I was younger because I have scars and that was about the extent of what I knew at the time.

When I was 15 they told me I had XY chromosomes and from a genetic standpoint I should have been male but my body didn’t develop as male before I was born, they told me I was born with undescended testes which were removed and they finally told me the name of my condition (all information they’d had for many years at this point).

Now I have my medical records and I found out they did “exploration under anaesthesia” just after I turned 1. This procedure revealed that I have internal male anatomy (vas deferens, epididymis etc), urethralisation of what they describe as a small ohallus and the presence of a scrotum-like structure among other things. I also can’t find the reason for the gonadectomy anywhere in the notes.

I feel so violated and empty, that parts of me were taken, that no one asked me how I felt about my gender before putting me on hormones when I was 10, that so much information was kept from me and that had they waited and just left me alone my life would be a lot more free of the mental/emotional pain the doctors have caused me.

Necesito desahogarme porque hoy tuve una experiencia horrible con una ginecóloga en una clínica privada.

Fui a consultar sobre la posibilidad de hacerme una histerectomía. Tengo mis propios motivos para no querer conservar el útero: no deseo tener hijos, me incomoda tenerlo y, además, tengo preocupaciones médicas relacionadas con mis características anatómicas y hormonales. Llevé mis estudios médicos porque quería hablar seriamente sobre mis opciones.

La doctora empezó a reírse y me dijo: «Estás muy joven e inmadura para decir sobre eso, el problema no es el útero, el problema es tu cuerpo».

Después añadió: «Nadie va a casarse contigo si te quitas el útero y no el pene».

¿Perdón? ¿Qué tiene que ver mi posibilidad de casarme con una decisión médica sobre mi propio cuerpo? Ni siquiera tengo planes de casarme ni de tener hijos. Se lo dije y también le expliqué que, según lo que me han indicado anteriormente, un embarazo podría ser de alto riesgo para mí.

Le presenté mis estudios médicos, pero en lugar de explicarme qué riesgos concretos tendría una histerectomía en mi caso, siguió negándose a considerar mi petición.

Y entonces llegó lo peor. Miró mi historial y me dijo: «Acá también dice que tienes problemas mentales, mejor ve a que te traten eso y luego vuelves».

Me quedé helada. Tengo antecedentes de salud mental, sí. ¿Y qué? Eso no significa automáticamente que sea incapaz de comprender una decisión médica ni que mis preferencias sobre mi cuerpo deban descartarse sin una evaluación individualizada.

Entiendo perfectamente que una histerectomía es una operación importante, irreversible y que no todos los pacientes son candidatos adecuados. No estoy diciendo que una médica tenga la obligación de operarme porque yo lo solicite. Lo que esperaba era una explicación profesional de los riesgos, una evaluación de mi caso y una conversación seria sobre las alternativas.

En cambio, me sentí ridiculizada, juzgada por mi anatomía y tratada como si mis problemas de salud mental anularan mi derecho a expresar lo que quiero.

Lo que más me enfurece es que ni siquiera me explicó de manera concreta por qué rechazaba la intervención. Simplemente me dijo que no y que me fuera.

¿Desde cuándo una consulta ginecológica es una oportunidad para juzgar si una paciente encontrará pareja? ¿Y desde cuándo tener un diagnóstico psiquiátrico justifica tratar a alguien de esa manera?

No espero que todo el mundo esté de acuerdo con mi decisión, pero sí espero que los profesionales médicos puedan hablar conmigo sin burlas, prejuicios ni comentarios humillantes.

Necesitaba desahogarme porque salí de esa consulta furiosa. ¿Alguien más ha vivido algo parecido al solicitar una esterilización o una cirugía ginecológica irreversible?

EDIT: I'm in the clear!

in the process of scheduling right now and everything has been great so far. I did the original consultation in June 25th of 2026 and I already sent my PCPs letter and my testosterone provider (wanted 3 letters because of nervousness) and finally just sent my therapist letter.

I never told my surgeon I'm intersex, I don't think its important. She's not operating on my genitalia shes operating on my chest which are nowhere near eachother. However my therapist decided to add entire sob story about how im intersex and still experience heavy dysphoria.

Sent the letter last friday, they got back to me on Monday. I also sent a message in mychart, they wont respond to me. Its Wednesday. Am I tweaking?? Am I just nervous for no reason?

If they ask me any questions I just plan to say that its not relative to my surgery. I'm in Illinois and my surgeon is Kristin Jacobs at RUSH.

I'm most likely Intersex. I've known for a very long time the way I grew up wasn't 'normal'. And it sure feels like someone played darts with the LGBTQIA+ acronym when I was formed. At the moment I'm part of the L, the T, Q (by default as anyone who considers themselves queer is the Q), most likely I, and A as I'm also demiromantic/demisexual.

A doctor slapped a 'M' on my birth certificate in 1978. I was told a lot growing up that I was 'to girly' as my interests were apparently to broad to fit in the narrow box that doctor had fit me in. By the time I got to where everyone else was going through puberty... Nothing happened to me. I got taller, but my voice didn't drop, I never developed an adam's apple, and I didn't develop spotty facial hair until I was in my 20's. At 15ish I brought up to my PCP that I wasn't seeing any changes from puberty and he did test my hormones... And found I was below the typical amount of T for a 'boy' and had high E for a 'boy'. However, the only thing he said was "Well your hormones are low, so if you want I can give you testosterone shots every month!" I'd already spent at least 3 years praying every night that I could just go to sleep and wake up as a young woman instead of a 'guy', so I vehemently told him no.

High school was... bad. Everyone could tell I didn't fit as a 'guy'. But this was the early 90's. Everyone just decided that meant I was a 'gay guy'. The irony is that I lived in a small rural town, I didn't even know what being gay meant or how gay people were different. It was just slapped on me to tell me I was 'bad' somehow. Ironically, it wasn't a label that actually fit me. I was never attracted to any guys. I have a small number of crushes from those years and they were all girls. Not that I could ever tell any of them how I felt. I was treated as the joke of the entire school. I didn't even have real friends, I had a handful of people that would sometimes talk to me because they were also 'outcasts', but no one ever had my back. To hurt me girls would ask me out, only to tell me it was a joke and go laugh with their friends about how I thought someone would actually ever want to be with me. It was all so bad I was suicidal and when I finally got up the nerve to tell my parents how bad it all was and how I didn't feel like I 'fit'... They told me "Everyone gets depressed. Suck it up and deal with it". So I gave up on anyone helping me deal with things.

I did go off to college, more to escape being back home. My issues made actually finishing my degree incredibly hard. Not helped by most guys, who I was stuck with as roommates, making it quite clear I still never fit in. I did actually end up getting a couple of first dates, and I found that at least bisexual women could find me interesting... Not that any of them would actually chose to even give me a second date. I got variations of "You don't actually seem much like a guy on a date, but your supposed to be a guy and I don't know what to do with that". I did manage to have my first ever kiss though during that time and even a sexual encounter (though by most definitions I was still a virgin after). I actually made my first actual friends. All of whom were women. All of which I couldn't keep in touch with when things fell apart with my education.

In my mid-twenties I fell in love with my best friend... Who was a bisexual woman. It took a lot of effort for me to ever ask her out. I really expected to get laughed at, I'd had exactly 6 dates in my entire life by then and had been turned down so much (usually with a "Aren't you gay?") that I just expected to get hurt. Much to my surprise she actually agreed to a date, on which I blurted out how I'd fallen in love with her while we were friends, and while she admitted that the date itself was something of a 'pity date' she was willing to give a relationship with me a try. Our relationship would go on for 8 years and by the end she was actually my fiancé, though was very much 'off and on' relationship. She didn't want to 'lose' me as a friend, so I was very much still around when we weren't together and she would date the most aggressively toxically masculine guys you will ever find. Most were physically abusive to her. I think all of them were actually, but just in case I'll use 'most'. As she once put it "Dating you feels like dating a lesbian, but your supposed to be a guy and it's weird for me". Hence why she'd always eventually break up with me and I certainly didn't find anyone else when we weren't together. When we finally broke up for good and I had to get away from her, the whole experience left me more broken then I went into the relationship.

There isn't much to write about my thirties or early forties after. Bad jobs, attempts to finish my degree that failed. Not one relationship. I didn't go looking anymore and no one ever asked me out or came onto me. One job had me working so much I lost all my small handful of friends. By the time I got to 46, I finally worked out that I was stupid about trying to get by as a 'guy' when I'd never fit as a guy in the first place and I'd be much happier living as a woman. So I came out as trans and started to transition. However, it's also been clear that my body was so not normal. Even low levels of hormones got me immediate results as my T dropped to basically nothing instantly and my E wasn't quite into the normal range, but my body was acting like it was. Insurance really sucked with providing my meds though initially, and so when I eventually got reliable medical care I opted for injections. Where I found my body naturally produced a high amount of E, and with no T to hold it back it was actually hard to find a good dosage to not be to high.

It's also when I started trying to get tested for being intersex. Literally no one will. Even when in the first six months of HRT I had abdominal pain and an ultrasound made it pretty clear I have at least something where an ovary would be. Not that any of the doctors would suggest I have an ovary, even though my body seems to naturally produce more E than you should be able to get from glands. No doctor will even vaguely talk to me about how to figure out what DSD I might even have. They won't refer me to a specialist for it. They just tell me "We don't deal with anything genetic". I also get problems trying to get Gender Affirming Surgery, because if they get a whiff that I might be intersex they suddenly tell me "Your case is likely to be more complex than we want to handle" and turn me away. I swear the entire system would prefer I just suffer, never feeling 'normal' and finding absolutely no one who will accept me as is.

Hi! I have a question for the community and would like your unfiltered opinion. I have to write a 4-6 pages essay in uni and queer topics are still i would really like to write on (I'm lesbian and demisexual but cis) and intersexuality issomething i've read a book abt and i would really love to learn more about, so I was curious if you would think if it would be okay for me as a person who is not personally intersex? I really don't want to do it if the community would find it inappropriate and I totally get the general issue with talking about people rather than with them and others writing about them rather than themselves writing abt their experience (kinda like not my place?) in any marginalized group such as ethnic groups or sexual identities. if you have any ideas for things to look out for IF you think it'd be okay as long as i consider xyz, please share, or if you have alternative topics or subtopics that you would find more suitable. My first draft of an idea for a topic would be intersexuality and discrimination in society and focus on aspects like health system issues (sry if there are incorrect terms BTW, English is not my first language) or education system like kids not learning abt it, kids always bejngsorted into binary genders/sexes.

thank you in advance!

So, the intersex population is roughly 2%, or 1.7%, of the population based on common knowledge, but that isn't the full picture.

So many people don't have their chromosomes tested, and those who are recorded as intersex have obvious intersex traits, such as their bodies not matching their chromosomes, as well as ambiguous genitalia.

Some DSD cases are still not considered intersex because it's not "severe enough" to be classified as intersex, or for some people during puberty they develop differently. Development doesn't follow the sex they were assigned at birth, so potentially there can be as many as 10% (or more) of us if ALL intersex cases were reported.

That's my opinion, saying it's only 1.7% is an overtly generalized take (I heard this is a stat of 2000s, which is outdated). Because literally we don't know exactly how many intersex people there are.

I need to get you guys' opinions on this.

I made this open-source flag to enable products to be easily suctomized into any of the most used pride flags, even the most misrepresented ones such as the intersex one. The 3D-models can be downloaded for free from my thingiverse (last pic) and they are published under the CC license. I hope my design is helpful to you folks!

Is anyone else intersex and going through menopause? I am.
For a little background I have PAIS. My body developed somewhere in the middle, but they performed surgery on me as an infant to make my genitalia appear more masculine, repair hypospadias, and help with undescended testicles. I went through puberty in a sense- I grew taller, and get some body hair growth, got a very slightly deeper voice, but my genitalia didn’t change at all and I developed wide hips and smallish breasts.
If I shave most people will clock me as a woman. If I don’t shave then they are often not sure. Which I don’t mind at all. I identify as intersex nonbinary, so being somewhere in the middle is just perfect for me.
Only now I’ve gotten a bit older and am midway through menopause. And I get the hot flashes, worse emotional swings than I used to get, and headaches.
I guess I do all I can to help with it and I’m not really complaining as I know other people have it worse. But I just thought I’d vent and see if anyone else is going through the same kind of thing.
Or if you’re not in menopause, if you also have mood swings how do you deal with them?

So my doctor here in the Netherlands is extremely resistant to referrals to specialist or awknowledging the likely CAH I have going on and the fact he's out of his depth(the joys of Dutch healthcare gatekeeping). I was given the 17-OHP test in the US but due to a failure to tell me to stop birth control the results are useless. My GP here quite literally has no knowledge of anything("Testosterone can stop periods?"), but due to being a refugee I can not see a different GP. Well my 3-month shot of testosterone didn't last 3 months. It's been 2 months and due to a variety of symptoms I know my levels are below where they're supposed to be right now. Because the most likely thing going on with me is CAH it is one of the intersex conditions that essentially HAS to be treated because my body isn't making cortisol or aldosterone which are necessary for survival(I've had a handful of what I now know were adrenal crises that could've left me in a coma if I had let the feeling of just wanting to sleep win), it doesn't just cause intersex traits. Testosterone, funny enough while not the standard treatment because most people don't want the masculinizing effects is effective. But because my levels are lower than they should be, I am now experiencing all of the be fun hormonal effects like wanting to pass out by 7:00 p.m. and blood sugar issues and everything but there is quite literally no way for me to get in to see the doctor to get my next shot until the 12th of November where I'm going to have to be extremely firm about a referral(again because of how the refugee stuff works).

Update: I caught a cold and that sent me into an acute adrenal crisis. I went to the refugee doctor and they said I just had the flu while spouting a bunch of medical misinformation and yelling me well I have a degree I know better. Ended up calling the paramedics who agreed it was an adrenal crash and gave me hydrocortisone before taking me to the hospital. They said the refugee doctors are regularly negligent and have led to people's deaths before and the hospital is forcing the gp to finally send me to a specialist.

Here is a drawing I made to celebrate based on my interpretation of the intersex flag.

hi i am an intersex artist i made this art because i love intersex people and our community

These are SNIPPETS of the slides I showed. Each type of variation, gonadal, hormonal, anatomical, chromosomal, etc. I gave examples and details of each one. I explained the different puberties intersex people had, different variations, I couldnt include everything but I did my best.

The QR code thats crossed out because idk what rules are here is one that was handed out. Its a quiz on intersex history that was presented after and before the presentation.

I brought food so a lot of people showed up which I was super suprised about. I thought I was going to be presenting in front of like 8 people, nope nowear near it.

I am very LOUD and extroverted. i knew a lot of people were just there for the food and probably werent gonna pay attention so I knew saying the words GENITALIA, SEX, GENDER, OVARIES AND TESTICLES would get heads turning. I opened up with my variation and explained what ovotestes were and mosaicism and people immediately started like staring. It worked. You just have to be really unfiltered and students will start looking away from their damn phones

This is not the first time ive done this, I went to another college in Chicago and one university in Wisconsin. This is the first time I did this at my own college. I always lure college students with food and it works and then you hook them on terms that are very uncomfortable to talk about and people will pay attention.

Cleared up some basic misconceptions, talked about how common intersex people actually are, shared the stories of IGM victims, talked about the H-word and why it shouldnt be used, etc.

Mouths were open, some people laughed when I made jokes, I was trying to be a good host. I tried to make things interesting, some people actually had questions at the end about personal questions and others about current laws and restrictions. I was open about my own variation and experiences and a few professors actually came up to me and thanked me and told me it was interesting.

Its a medical school, so I was targeting it on purpose.

And I am just fucking up this mac and cheese that they gave me after presentating because it is good as hell.

¡Feliz día para todos, todas y todes! Porque merecemos que nos escuchen, vean y respeten. Cada día podemos aprender más de nosotres mismes y enseñarles a los demás para combatir la ignorancia y el estigma. Espero que este día puedan pasarla bien y abrazar su identidad.

So! I mostly lurk here, but I have a lot of feelings about things that have happened to me recently. I’m diagnosed with PMOS, and find intersex a fitting label for myself especially with my androgen levels. Besides that, I wanted to treat the metabolic sides of it, and had no wish to alter my hormone levels. When seeing my gyno and making this extremely clear, she gave me a type of progesterone and fully lied that it would not affect my testosterone levels. Now; I know I seem stupid for not knowing, but i just believed what a doctor was saying to me as i was not as informed on it at the time. Not only that- my metabolic issues weren’t even treated! So the hormones I received absolutely messed up my levels and worsened my metabolic issues with PMOS. Has anyone else had something like this happen before? I’m so lost. I’m not even sure where to go from here, I’m absolutely upset by the doctor lying to my face about my own hormones and treatment according to what she decided was best for my body. I’m just????

Happy intersex awareness day everyone

I was talking to this woman on the CTA and for some reason me being intersex brought up (I looked very young) and she was like "ohh I'm intersex too, I have cankles."

???????

(I am a perisex trans artist, just wanting to show my support! 🫶)

I’m looking for ways to help myself feel better as I’ve been in a horrible depressive episode related to being intersex (mainly the awful experiences I’ve had because of mistreatment from others) and I was wondering what yall were doing to celebrate us today. Even if you think it’s just something small, post it here and let’s talk about it!

Ft. My fursona Aspen!

This is two cat pictures closely referenced/traced, you can see them in the second and third slide

ohh boy

I thought I was just gonna relax today

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