Sounds like you’ve already had the conversation I was encouraging if your PCP said that.

Hormones are pretty wild. The more I study them the more I understand that what I do know is barely a scratch on the tip of the iceberg, so I’d caution against making an assumption one way or another without bouncing it off a doc who specializes in that stuff.

I would guess you’re correct about the ranges, but my confidence in that guess is fairly low due to how insanely powerful hormones are.

I think people mostly just operate based on what they see

Oh 100%. I’ve been a surgical tech for about a decade, and have seen how people get tunnel-visioned. That’s actually one of the reasons I want to switch to nursing, since I’ve caught myself kind of flying on autopilot, and then when some case deviates from the norm, I still do things like open the all the usual supplies, some of which may not be needed this time, so it’s just waste. It’s time to step out of my comfort zone. Anyway, nurses and docs do the same shit after their duties become routinized for too long.

It creates an extreme chilling effect sometimes, people stop meeting your eyes, or even interacting (sometimes interacting through a third party instead, like a cis family member).

That is fucked up. I don’t know where you’re getting care, but your team absolutely knows better. Even if you’re that rare break from their routine… and in all fairness, you probably are - in that decade I’ve been a tech, I’ve only ever had like three patients I’ve known were trans. But like Ada mentioned, one of the best sources of info in those cases are the patients themselves. They should be treating you the same as any other patient, both medically and socially. Some curiosity is expected - your team should want to get to know you, but standoffish shit like you described is a red flag that merits correction. Don’t be afraid to call that shit out in things like patient surveys if you have the energy to fight in that battle - they need some better training at bare minimum.