#mrkh

[interactyouth]

As the current administrator of this blog, I'm a man with MRKH, and here's some of my experiences with it! I look forward to discussing more of them in the future! <3

[redwolf17]

when you said that you found out about having mkrh (sorry if i got that wrong) at 19 made rereading arya hit differently because i was personally under the impression that this was something your parents found out when you were very little so its something you've always known. unlike arya who didn't have any reason to think something was up. i hope you got a lot of support and love during this time.

thanks 💕

Even though I always wanted kids, I had refused to really think too hard about what my lack of period meant. The OB-Gyn I saw at 17 just did a cursory exam and said I was a late bloomer 🙄 When I saw a different OB-Gyn at 19 (one who was much better at his job and who had major Mr Rogers energy), he promptly, gently told me I didn't have a uterus.

My family were baffled/surprised but did their best to be supportive. It was still a really rough summer though, especially because I often babysat my three young nieces and nephews ☹️ I think I had to babysit the same day I found out, or very soon after, and I remember cuddling my 2 year old nephew while sobbing, much to his confusion.

But unlike me, Arya doesn't want kids, so she got a mixed blessing rather than a massive obstacle/inconvenience.

[halfd3af]

For those with MRKH who aren’t aware, there’s a movie that stars a character being diagnosed with it! In the United States, it comes to theaters on February 2nd, 2024.

“What starts out as a more traditional coming-of-age 'losing your virginity' (quotes because I abhor that phrase) movie gets turned on its head," McGlynn further explains in a press release. “I was diagnosed with the reproductive disorder MRKH Syndrome when I was sixteen [...] My single mother was recovering from breast cancer and dealing with losing her breast and changing femininity, and I was learning I lost things I never even knew I lost in the first place, specifically, a uterus and my vagina, most of it anyway. Crazy, right? I know! I had to make a film about it.”

[intersexbliss]

Like, I met a bunch of teenagers with MRKH a decade ago when I was 15, and none of them were like me.

I didn’t even fit in with people that were SUPPOSED to be like me!

I was the only one there whose parents and doctors had known since birth.

I was the only one with unilateral, profound deafness.

I was the only one with unilateral renal agenesis.

I’ve since learned of the existence of two people with MRKH who are deaf and missing a kidney, so that’s been amazing, but… for so, so long, I truly didn’t know anyone like me.

[nezoid]

"Fitting In" Q&A with Maddie Ziegler and Molly McGlynn at Laemmle NoHo 7 - 02/03/24

[digitalfishwish]

I was going to see a surgeon called Dr. Keith in NJ for a vaginoplasty (I am transmasc afab w mrkh), and he was insistent on me losing weight because “anesthesia wouldn’t clear me” and his robotic tools “weren’t long enough to go through my stomach”.

I suffered through weight loss drugs for half a year, mourning my lack of appetite. But apparently I wasn’t trying hard enough anyway because when I tried to schedule the surgery, they told me I had to be at the target weight before they would pick a date, which meant getting the surgery done this summer (the only time I could feasibly do it due to future plans) was going to be impossible, as he said he was already booked up for the summer.

I gave into despair. I was miserably depressed. And then my mom suggested I get in touch with this specialist, Dr. Pfeifer in NYC, who I originally saw when I was diagnosed with MRKH as a teen. My first meeting with her, she said not only do I not have to lose weight, but she could do the surgery this summer. (She also said the robotics were unnecessary)

Friends, I’m currently posting from my hospital bed at the end of a week’s stay from my vaginoplasty. Don’t let fatphobic doctors lie to your face about what they can or can’t do.

if you get top surgery do they leave the milk glands in?

also why do you have to lose weight to get phalloplasty?

hi anon,

top surgery removes the majority of breast tissue, including the mammary glands. after top surgery are not able to produce milk.

and fatphobia, mostly.

[dyivf01]

国内顶尖三代试管代孕机构V：JPSGBB

提供辅助生殖方面的项目，包括：三代试管，二代试管，代孕，供卵，洗精

HIV梅毒患者可以通过洗精技术后做试管拥有健康后代

三代试管可选性别，包生男孩生女孩

卵巢功能衰退、MRKH综合征人群可试管代孕获得宝宝

帮助有生育需求的人或家庭圆梦生子，如夫妻助孕、同性求子、单身带娃

[yardfile]

A female friend born with internal testes once told me, “I guess I’m technically intersex, but I don’t care or call myself that. I’m just a cisgender woman who has testes.” This just goes to show that ideas about who falls into “intersex” vary widely. Perhaps the real question is not “who counts as intersex” but: how can we all be free from harmful expectations on our bodies, and what kind of community do we need to build to achieve that world? - Maddie Rose

[redwolf17]

When you didn't realize they'd put your snarky comment into your official patient notes 😭

[halfd3af]

Dilation Experiences From a Trans Man with MRKH

content warning: anatomical terminology, non-sexually transmitted gynecological illnesses, self pleasure + sex

I’m going to get extremely honest with stuff in this post, so there’s your second warning.

In May 2022, I decided to try dilating. I didn’t have any assistance in setting this up because back in 2018, I had seen a specialist to learn how to dilate and remembered enough + googled tips on how to do it correctly.

Something that I did to make it more interesting was using a vibrator for clitoral stimulation while dilating. It vastly seems to ease the muscle tightness that you’re trying to improve with dilation in the first place, and I think it also made the process much quicker toward reaching a typical depth. I was able to dilate almost every day because of it.

But after two months, when I was starting to use sex toys instead of dilators because I didn’t feel like buying bigger ones, I had my first UTI.

Then I had my second, then my third, and when I finally went to Planned Parenthood last October for help with my fourth UTI in less than 3 months, as I had been seeing MinuteClinics or my PCP until that point, I apparently had a yeast infection and bacterial vaginosis too.

I remember before that appointment, worrying and worrying that I had messed up dilating, or that something else was horribly wrong, but when I met who would become My Favorite Medical Professional Ever, she assured me that I looked very average, despite the caveat of the trio of illnesses.

But after getting treatment, I still kept having those infections come back, especially when UTI antibiotics and BV pills can cause yeast infections and create a never ending circle, so we tried brainstorming different ideas with each visit.

Some trans men on testosterone use vaginal estrogen cream to maintain the necessary balances because HRT can disrupt it… but for someone with MRKH, who has a “schrodinger’s vagina” as I like to call it, the opening doesn’t stay open unless something is inside it, so any kind of topical medicine won’t stay in. It wouldn’t be effective as a preventative measure.

It wasn’t my underwear, it wasn’t my shower hygiene, I wasn’t having copious amounts of sex, my sex toys were being cleaned properly and the materials were safe, I wasn’t incorrectly wiping after I pee—we just couldn’t figure out what was wrong. The UTIs kept coming back and then the other two would usually follow after the antibiotics would wipe out the good bacteria. She only knew how to treat non-intersex trans men—she had never treated an intersex trans man before.

So, I finally went ahead and scheduled with the top MRKH specialist in the United States up in Boston, because I had seen this very same man back in 2018. He and his clinic are incredibly trans friendly, too, now and even back then.

When I got there, I got a very good grade in pussy, which is a very normal thing to want and achieve. I had indeed dilated correctly, but I finally figured out that my angle was slightly off and was causing friction against my urethra. That had been the mysterious cause of the UTIs.

I haven’t had a UTI since correcting for that, but since July 2022, I’ve had:

6 UTIs

7 yeast infections

4 instances of bacterial vaginosis

I was also told by this specialist that my vagina is trying to “create a biome” and that could explain the yeast infections being so recurrent. My vagina wasn’t even a year old, so it was trying to play catchup. With that in mind, I take a probiotic every day or at least every other day, and I haven’t had an infection in several months since starting that routine.

However, he never really told me any other good preventative measures beyond “kegels”, which would not solve the infection issues whatsoever. It was good to figure out the friction issue, and he suggested I see a urologist if the UTIs continued (they haven’t), but that was about it. I didn’t really get a confirmation if this hell would actually stop or not.

Maybe in time my vagina will become less sensitive to minute disruptions, and I think it already has since I first began dilating, but it still feels like I have to be hyper-vigilant of anything that would cause an infection again. BV pills are the nastiest, bitterest things I’ve ever taken, and they make me constantly nauseous during the length of the prescription, so I don’t exactly like getting sick all the time.

Regardless, I did all of this just so I can have vaginal sex. Despite the dozens of antibiotic and antifungal and antibacterial pills I’ve had to take, it’s worth it in my opinion. This is where I’ll definitely get more honest, so third warning.

Even though a sexual partner wouldn’t be able to feel a difference, I’ve noticed that something might be different with the vaginas of people who have MRKH because, well, we (generally) don’t have cervixes or uteruses. The tissue feels a ton more malleable, in my experience (I’ve had larger partners with no pain issues beyond initial insertion), but it could also be that my muscles are incredibly relaxed. I could continue with further thoughts on the topic, but I’m unsure if those are unique experiences to me or if they’re actually common, so I might just save them for another post if I’m feeling up for it.

In conclusion, I hope that talking about my experiences helps anyone, and I’m also willing to discuss anything further in depth if needed! I don’t want anyone to feel as alone and nervous as I did for so many months because of how little information there is for dilating/gynecological health when you’re intersex.

[digitalfishwish]

(sorry for the double reblog, I posted to the wrong blog)

Just tacking this on, hope you don’t mind Spider: anon, even binarizing these surgeries is rough, esp. on intersex people. I’m afab nonbinary transmasc, but I was born with MRKH, which meant (for my case) that I was born without a uterus or vagina. I am currently seeing a doctor in the pursuit of getting a vaginoplasty, which boy is it hard to find people who can or even will do this surgery on afabs because it’s so ‘uncommon’.

The doctor who did my top surgery put me on a two year waitlist, then invited me to an info session where, when I asked, afab vaginoplasty would not be covered, and to message her afterward. Upon messaging, I was then informed that my old doctor didn’t even do vaginoplasties for afabs. Imagine if I had waited 2-3 years for that appointment only to find that out.

So yeah, when you binarize any medical procedure, you invariably leave people out. Vaginoplasty can be for any sex.

hi, we're a bit confused by

"The first vaginoplasty in Berlin was '31; the same patient had an oophorectomy in '26. That's what those dots are referring to. :)"

surely a vaginoplasty is a trans fem op and oophorectomy (ovaries yeet) is a trans masc op? or are we missing something here? did you maybe mean orchiectomy?

I meant orchiectomy and was extremely tired; I'd been awake for a long time bc I turned in deadline work this morning. Thank you for correcting me!

[weshallc]

BBC UK Race Across the World finale.

I liked all the couples this year and appreciate all their unique challenges and congratulations to whoever wins.

However, the brother and sister team of Betty and James won so many hearts.

[intersex-support]

Just out of curiosity's sake... I was diagnosed with vaginal agenesis in 2016, and up until 2018 (when I got a hysterectomy), I had a uterus. But I had/have heart defects and spinal malformations. Would MRKH be accurate?

Hi! I did a bit of research and it looks MRKH is one of the things that can cause vaginal agenesis, but is not the only cause of vaginal agenesis. MRKH is caused by the Mullerian ducts not developing typically, and can have different effects on the development of the uterus.

So basically, that's something you'd probably need to talk to a doctor about to get more clarification on what your diagnosis of vaginal agenesis means for you, but MRKH is very often associated with vaginal agenesis.

[thesnakeandthemoon]

Fitting in (2023)

dir. by Molly McGlean

[digitalfishwish]

cw: tmi?

Call me “bad trans rep” the way I’m a white afab bisexual transmasculine enby with short blue hair and pronouns, top surgery and all, only to now be getting vaginoplasty so I can finally have PiV sex lol

I’m out here experiencing shrimp genders previously unknown to man, get on my level gatekeepers lmaooo

[jonathanmoya1955]

Fitting In: All the Missing Female Pieces

MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: A coming-of-age “traumedy” that follows 16-year-old Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) who is unexpectedly diagnosed with a reproductive condition, MRKH syndrome. The diagnosis upends her plans to have sex, her presumptions about womanhood and sexuality, her relationship with her mother (Emily Hampshire), and most importantly, herself. REVIEW: Elevation Pictures Fitting In…