Dear Parents
Welcome to QMed! If you are reading this, I applaud your support of your teen! We provide puberty blockers and hormone therapy for teens after a thorough evaluation and with close monitoring.
If you are like most parents, learning about your child’s gender identity can be overwhelming. Deciding to start the transition process is even more anxiety-provoking for most caring and loving parents, who worry about causing irreversible changes. By far the most important thing you can do as a parent is support your child as you all work through this process together. (See this article for one of many studies that examines the association between family rejection and suicide.) It may help to tell your child that while you may not fully understand their gender identity yet, you love them and will love them no matter what.
If your child is at a point where they would like to start medical transition with hormone therapy, you probably have lots of questions about irreversible changes, risks, and side effects. Here are some helpful resources:
Feminizing therapy: Information about Estrogen Hormone Therapy
Masculinizing therapy: Information about Testosterone Hormone Therapy
At our first visit, we will go over your child’s gender identity, medical history, and review the risks and benefits of hormone therapy in detail. If our providers determine that it is safe to proceed, we will make sure that appropriate mental health support is in place, check baseline blood tests, and address any additional issues specific to your child’s care.
I am a parent. My son, Charlie, is almost 3 years old, and my daughter Amelia will be turning 1 this Fall. I haven’t (yet) been through the transition of a child, so I can’t fully comprehend how overwhelming and scary it might be. When I was 14, I came out to my mother as a lesbian. She told me she loved me and accepted me for who I am, but was afraid for me and the discrimination I would face. However, she got to see me grow up to become a happy, healthy, and well-adjusted person with a loving wife, and I only wish she had lived to meet our wonderful children. I am optimistic about the future. Given everything I have seen, I hope and believe that the trans and nonbinary youth of today will grow up to be the regular old adults of tomorrow, like me.
It is our goal at QMed to help your child become their true self and feel comfortable being who they are. We look forward to meeting you and your child!
Sincerely,
Dr. Izzy Lowell
Founder, QMed