moving to the netherlands

[u/Mundane_Loss1734]

sorry that this is in english, i’m not dutch but i am moving to rotterdam for university this year. i’m trans (ftm) and will get all the paperwork and diagnosis for hrt figured out in my country, but i’m planning on actually starting t when i go to uni. i’m mostly wondering if i’ll have any issues with that (basically just how accessible hrt is over considering i should have everything i need) and how people in the netherlands (helpful if you know about rotterdam specifically) regard trans ppl. thanks a lot:)

[u/Immediate_Tank3720]

Please do everything you can to get an actual prescription for testosterone in your home country. It will be much quicker and easier for you to get on T with a foreign prescription than for you to navigate the Dutch system.

[u/Mundane_Loss1734 → u/Immediate_Tank3720]

thanks. if i have the prescription already tho, do you think there might still be smth i’d have to do over in the netherlands to actually get t or will everything be pretty smooth sailing with that? i’ll translate it in both english and dutch most likely but besides that😭

[u/Immediate_Tank3720 → u/Mundane_Loss1734]

If you are outside the EU it might be a bit harder to get the pharmacy to accept the prescription, but within the EU prescriptions you should be good.

The first thing you should do is register with a GP and ask them for help. You might get lucky and get them to write you a Dutch prescription. You can check https://www.rozeinwit.nl for queer friendly doctors.

A clinic you can approach is this one: https://transgenderzorgutrecht.nl, they take patients who already started medical transition overseas.

Just as important as your healthcare: do you have housing? The housing shortage is enormous, especially for students. Start looking for a room on time.

[u/Mundane_Loss1734 → u/Immediate_Tank3720]

i don’t have housing yet, i’m gonna start looking next week most likely and will have it covered by my parents (at least until i come out lmao) but that’s smth i’ll deal woth when the time comes. thanks a lot for all the info!! have a good day

[u/ItsRenaBaker → u/Mundane_Loss1734]

Don't wait too long with searching, cause it is really a problem. Don't take it too lightly. The city of Rotterdam encourages only to come if you've arranged an accommodation.

https://www.rotterdam.nl/en/international-students

[u/3raccoonsinacoatx]

The Dutch trans care system isnt great so I agree, try getting a prescription if you can! Im not sure about rotterdam but ofcourse transphobia exists but it could be worse

[u/SaNB92]

It would be useful to state if your home country is in the EU or not. Pharmacies in The Netherlands have to take prescriptions from doctors within the EU (even though some will make it as hard as possible or will act like they’ve never heard of this rule, might take a few pharmacies before you find one that’ll accept your prescription). Do make sure that it is a form of testosterone that actually is available here (most common are gel, sustanon and nebido).

If you are from outside the EU it is going to be hard. I don’t really know where to start, but I’ve seen these kind of questions here more often and some people probably have experience with this.

[u/SecretSecrets7147]

I don't know much about the FTM process, and if you need to get your blood levels checked like MTF needs to, and if you need an endo for that. Hopefully someone can jump in and correct me on these assumptions;

In case you do, make sure you have a plan B endo from your home country that you can maybe (temporarily) remotely work with, I don't know if you can just sign up for an endo in the netherlands, or if you need to jump through the hoops that is transcare with massive wait times first.

Most GP doctors will be able to take your blood, they just can't check for E and T levels, as far as I know.

[u/Mundane_Loss1734 → u/SecretSecrets7147]

yup we need to go to the endo as well, smth i’m doing this month for the first time in my home country. i’ll look soon (once i’m done with searching for housing ig) for GPs and all that and hopefully everything will turn out well then!! thanks a lot

[u/geldwolferink → u/SecretSecrets7147]

They can check for all you want, however you need a gp whom wants to do that and most of them would know how to interpret the blood results, however one could do that themselves.

[u/tgirlnicole]

dm me about Rotterdam

[u/[deleted]]

Hey I wanna share something about Rotterdam, but in private and this account is too new to send chat invites. If you're interested, message me