I am a female who feels like a male. I haven't transitioned...

It's alright, I hate you too

The whole of high school, I went as feminine as I could. Button up shirts with skirts, dresses, tank tops and shorts in summer. I wore makeup and styled my hair. I mostly did it because it was what my parents wanted from me, but there was also a part of me that was trying to convince myself I could be happy as a woman. I was playing a part, pretty much. It was hell. People treated me very well, and I had boys going after me, but I hated it. It was a nightmare.

I don't. But I worry about the consequences, monetarily and socially, of transitioning. They'd be huge and almost unbearable. I imagine going through that process would be its own hell.

>I worry about the consequences, monetarily and socially, of transitioning. They'd be huge and almost unbearable.
Depending on where you live and assuming you have insurance, top and bottom surgery/testosterone can be covered. As for socially, that's an understandable thing to be worried about.
>I imagine going through that process would be its own hell.
It might help to frequent FTM support groups to ask about transitioning, doesn't have to be in real life if you're not comfortable with that. Places like Reddit can help you (/lgbt/ here sucks lmao)

Stay the fuck away from trans subreddits, /LGBT/ is honest with questions and Reddit hons hate that. Seriously, stay away from Reddit, all you'll get is hugboxing and bad advice

Lady, you can be a woman and just not be a super feminine woman. You don't have to wear makeup and dresses if you don't want to. I think you should just try and deal with the body you have. I know you feel like you should be different, but all the medical procedures in the world won't *really* make you look like a man. You'll never look masculine enough to really satisfy you. You'll just have a body that will be fucked up if you ever change your mind and want to go back.

It's 100x easier for FtM to pass (and in a relatively short time-frame as well).

It really isn't, almost no FTMs pass. You can *always* tell

Thanks. I don't know if it'd be covered under insurance. I'll have to find out. Socially, it's a big worry. My family would probably never speak to me again. Maybe my dad would - that's a maybe. But everyone else would refuse to speak to me.

I'm sort of keeping away from Reddit in general. Reddit sucks dick. I don't know about /LGBT/. I'm willing to at least see the opinions of Reddit and of /LGBT/, but I don't know if I'll rely on any of them.

Yeah, I've thought about this. It's not just behaving feminine, it's being female. I wish it were just femininity.

Would I ever look masculine enough to satisfy me? I think it's possible. Anything would be an improvement from my current body anyway.

just learn to be a woman

>Would I ever look masculine enough to satisfy me? I think it's possible. Anything would be an improvement from my current body anyway.
I think you could satisfy yourself for a while, but you'd know you're not really a man. Your penis would never look quite right, the voice would never be quite right, your figure will never look quite right. I've seen plenty of videos from people who decided they were trans, had surgeries and took hormones, and then decided that they made a mistake and just wanted to go back to how they were before, but it's not totally reversible, so now they're even less happy with their bodies because they'll never really match either.

While I know I'll never be fully male, I'd rather be close to male than nowhere near. I'd rather have an ugly penis, and a deep but slightly off voice, than a vagina and a female voice.

I literally cannot imagine wanting to go back to being female. I don't even enjoy the good things about being female, because they're just reminders of me being female. I think I'd have to be hideously deformed - like, limbless - for me to want to go back to this.

Alright, just know that the suicide rate among transgender people doesn't drop significantly post-op. If you're counting on that one thing to fix you and make you happy, don't. Your issues are deeper than that, and surgery can't do anything about it. I hope you end up finding happiness. Just don't think that it'll automatically come from looking more manly.

Yeah, I know that. It's not going to fix everything. I feel like it'll make it better, but at the same time, then I'd have to deal with my family and friends rejecting me, and my life falling away from me, basically.

I don't know, man. I just don't.

Here's a secret, almost no one actually likes their bodies or place in society, you aren't special in that regard. Just go spend some more time in nature and focus on what your body *can* do. The trans cult has a shitton of cultural power right now and they want to drag anyone they can down into their pit of misery, trust me, I've had to climb back out of that pit myself. If you want to feel like a man, go train your body and learn skills, don't fuck with your hormones or cut your body parts off.

Men aren't coddled, ever, so if you want to be one put up or shut up, and stop being such a bitch

Well, I can't tell you what to do, I can just tell you that I would never recommend to anyone that they go through with it. I think in the future it's very likely that no one will be doing these procedures anymore since they don't really seem to help anything. I think you should focus on some non-sexual hobbies and just try to enjoy life for a while. This won't fix the problem that you have of feeling like you're in the wrong body, but maybe you could just try to ignore it? Just for a little while at least, just to see. 23 years, a little more won't hurt. Just put it out of your head as best you can for as long as you can.

Fair enough. I do want to make it clear that I've been feeling this way since before I knew what "transgender" even meant, so it's not like I was a normal girl til the trans cult got ahold of me. I've wanted to be a male since I was in elementary school. But, as to the rest, fair enough.

Appreciate the advice. I'm doing my best to ignore it, but it's still in my head a lot. Thanks, bro.

I hope you can get some peace. Everyone's brain is busted in some way, and this is yours. I think you're just going to have to learn to cope. Hopefully you've got some good friends who you can talk to if you need. There's a lot of conflicting opinions and stuff, but I think as long as you've got people who love you as you are, you should be alright.

If you really think yiu hate being a lady, I suggest you transition. Repressing is hell (i say this from personal experience) and it'd be better for you to be comfortable in your own skin than living in a body you hate just to appease other people.

>Have any of you guys ever been in this situation?
Not really, but when I've had problems I just stop having them by changing what I desire.

Maybe you could try changing what you want too, though society seems to look down on that for some reason.
I suspect it's cause they don't understand it.

I'm definitely thinking about it. Appeasing other people isn't what my life is for, but losing my family and friends would really fuck me up. It's hard for me to decide, really. I'd be happier with myself, but unhappier with what happens outside of myself.

I wish I could change what I want. I've certainly tried. How do you do it?

My ex had similar ideas when she was in high school. She was a virgin everything when we met. After dating she became much more secure in being a woman.

I agree with that dude just be one of those tomboys that are super cheerful and friendly and calls everyone bro and dude

Transitioning is a very big project. How about just living an androgynous life?

Don't transition, you're valid and female being a tomboy. Get yourself a nice girl and accept yourself. All is okay don't fall for the Jewish trick thinking fucking up your natural hormones will solve your problems

this is common in women who don't feel they can live up to female standards of beauty.
they go to the other extreme and say if im not A then im B.
it doesn't mean you shouldn't be female
it means you need psychological help in terms of your self confidence and acceptance.

>I had boys going after me, but I hated it. It was a nightmare.
sounds like a problem of self acceptance. because in order to appreciate their advances it means you have to accept what they say as being true about yourself, which you obviously don't see in yourself as atm.

I've lost my virginity. It didn't change my feelings at all, for better or for worse. I hated it like I hated everything else. Wish it had helped.

It's difficult to live an androgynous life because you need to have pronouns and a prefix (Mr or Mrs), and just that alone is enough to make me uncomfortable (being referred to as "she" or "miss"). I do think about it though.

Ironic that you call it a Jewish trick considering my family is Orthodox Jewish and they would disown me if I were to transition. Transitioning into a man would be just about the least Jewish thing I could do.

For the record, I was raised Orthodox Jewish as well but am an agnostic atheist now.

Both of you may be right. I'm not insecure with most of my traits, really. It's only the ones that remind me of femininity. I'm quite proud of some traits, even. So I wouldn't say I'm an insecure person, as a whole. But as to femininity? Maybe.

there's no evidence that being trans is "valid" in the sense of a neurological intersex or cross sex disorder existing. intersex people are not a 3rd gender, they're either a man with a disorder or a woman with a disorder.

no matter how you feel or how bad things are, transsexualism is a farce. all it is is a bad coping mechanism or mental illness or a sexual fetish.

for FTMs, many report:
>breathing difficulties after chest binding or rib pain
>they end up with a 2.5 inch monster clit that looks deformed
>they cut their breasts off which can cause nerve damage and they are important even if you never become a mother considering you have lymph nodes in them, FTMs almost always have two large scars across their chests
>taking testosterone causes uterine atrophy, which is what happened to FTM pornstar Buck Angel. "his" pussy blew up and "he" nearly died of sepsis. FTMs also end up experiencing cramping pain after orgasm, which is the lead in to the whole uterus atrophy problem
>taking T makes your blood pressure skyrocket

you cannot change your sex, it is medical fiction. you'll just be a mutilated deformed imitation of a man.

It's definitely not a sexual fetish, but as for a mental illness, it might be. It's just a question of how can I cope with my feelings otherwise? Let's say transitioning isn't the answer - what is?

it's a fetish for the mtfs moreso than the ftms.

see that's the thing isn't it? even amongst trans circles if someone truly cannot transition (finances, health, etc) THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE GIVEN! only transition! there's no other treatment or way to cope!
which stinks, that is very convenient and suspicious.

the solution for you is to get healthy, maybe lift weights, find a nice girlfriend, spend time out in nature, get acquainted with your naked body and look into the lesbian subculture of the Butch/Fem(me) dynamic. today the word Femme is slapped onto all kinds of shit but where it's from is the Butch/Fem(me) circles dating back to the 1950s.
a lot of Butchs have had short hair, wear leather, shorten their names (like "Jo" for instance), even go by he/him pronouns at times. many Butches have sex dysphoria. a lot of FTMs would've been Butchs a few decades ago.

here's a long book that's an anthology of lesbians' thoughts on Butch/Fem(me):
archive DOT org/details/persistentdesire00nest

obv if you're not actually 100% lesbian, being a Butch in the sense lesbians consider it is not for you. it is a lesbian only subculture. however, being very androgynous of course would help you.

a decent therapist who doesn't just stuff pills down your throat is probably a really good idea too.

Appreciate the advice. Thanks, man.

you're very welcome.

I've been seeing a small tiny subculture get started on tumblr for "FebFems" which means
>Female
>Exclusionary
>Bisexual
who is female
Which means a woman who is bi but chooses to not ever get involved with a man. This allows them to have their own group without imposing upon the lesbians.

there's a lot of places among radical feminism for women like you - but personally I find a lot of flaws within radical feminism. YMMV. the "radfems" or "terfs" hang out on tumblr and also twitter.

I'm a woman who used to pray to be a boy as a child and I'm straight. I remember crying one day about the fact I would lose my flat chest. The older I become the less the dysphoria gets. Our brains don't fully mature sometime during our 25th year. When you're 26th maybe you'll feel a bit better.

Not OP but being male honestly sounds liberating to me at times. Less societal pressure to look good, takes less work to look good, and if you decide not to put in the work you have a better chance of being worth something for other reasons like your achievements or work ethic.

watching what my husband has gone through over many years wrt how males treat one another.... it's hell on earth. every work or social group except his current group has been intensely cruel, full of bullying, assaults, constant mind games. I was shocked, I've heard 10000 times women act that way, not men. men devour each other. I've not seen any sort of brotherhood until his current social/work climate he's in rn.

you have a valid point but you're only thinking of things like the mandated beauty standard imposed on women. being a woman can suck dick even in 1st world nations but holy crackers are men ever fucking awful to each other.

Have you ever thought how you would react if it took months or even years for a member of the opposite sex to express a sexual interest in you?

Wow I didn't realize that. I guess men also have their own societal expectations they have to deal with, like they're not expected to show emotions or be affectionate. I would have a hard time with that.

I mean, I knew men were rough and whatever but i had no idea they were just straight up would look for any excuse to fuck with another guy if he showed one iota of difference or weakness at all. and this was in environments that fostered male brotherhood and required deep teamwork. it's not like my husband went around picking fights either.

whatever benefits men reap from their stronger, faster bodies which never have to deal with pregnancy.... it kinda evens out when they ensure other men are constantly going through hell. they make hell for each other and maintain it. they make mock other men to the point of depression then feel perplexed when he blows his brains out later.

gotta say my relationships with girls/women who are around my age or younger have overall been really lovely. the only issues with women I've had have been
>my family members
>women 10+ years older than me, especially in some form of authority over me
>black or Jewish women

I am OP, and I gotta say I have not had an easy time with women. There's a chance men would be worse, but I've been bullied by enough females that I don't really care anymore. There's good and bad people in both sexes.

Do you remember the Bed Intruder meme guy from years ago, Antoine Dodson? "Hide your husbands cuz they raping everybody up in here".

Clearly gay right? He actually later identified as a trans woman and began to present that way full time. He had the resources from his fame to transition and announced his plans to, even making moves. I'd go find an interview or two with him because after talking with friends about it and doing some deep introspection, he decided to just live as a gay man. And then interesting enough, he ended up meeting a woman and now identifies as a straight male. I mean he's at best bisexual, but it's a fascinating story.

Everyone is different. But I'd read about him.

my mother mentally destroyed me for 18 years so I get it. there is good and bad in every group but 95% of the time when it comes to violence/rape/spree shooting/serial killers it's men.

but yeah my mother... wew. she bent my mind like a pretzel. hurray for going no contact!

why don't u just live as a typical lesion with masculine traits? surgery seems way too expensive and extreme

Yeah, that's a good question. The reason I'm thinking about transition is because of how uncomfortable I am with my body. Having breasts and female genitalia really, really bothers me and will continue to, I imagine. I just don't feel like I can get to a point where I'm masculine enough, unless I get surgery or go on hormones. But I don't know for sure, I guess.

Don't take hormones. Your making his bullshit up in your head so you can have something to feel special about or to feel sad about (sadness can be addictive) or are confused and convinced of somethiv only partially true if it all.

Don't do hormones. Whether going from or mtf, it will make your life hell for a while and you will become dependent on them for such a silly reason as "I want to be a man because I feel like one". Makes no sense if you think about it.
If you feel like a man, which IMO you don't that's media bullshit, then just let yourself feel like a man.
Do not fuck with your body and definitely DO NOT get any kind of surgery (I'm not sure if ftm has surgeries currently, but thinking about what mtf trannies go through if they go all the way... Just don't do it).

Even if I weren't overall kind of against this whole "I feel like a gender" thing, I would still say don't take hormones just because of dysphoria. It doesn't make sense. If you want to be a man that's one hig, but you don't need to be aan and you have to recognize this cuz no one is going to help you understand that perspective offline (mainly out of fear if being called "transphobic" even though his isn't hatred against people who are trans and it really pisses me off no one is getting that), especially if you go any further.

I've felt this way (like I wanted to be a man) since I was maybe 7 or 8, and I was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household where women were women and men were men. Full stop. So this was definitely not put in place by media - this is just how I feel.

The treatment for it is debateable, whether or not I should transition is the question. But there's no question as to whether or not I feel the way I feel. I just do.

>My sissy is a lezbo

What the fuck kind of works are we living in that this sentence can just casually happen?

bruh don't do it the ftm I know sorta kinda online constantly has go piss, her ribs are in agony and she has weird stabbing pains in her uterus.

it is madness.

he's a cumbrain

>Having breasts and female genitalia really, really bothers me
Can you expand on this? Most people replying to you probably haven't experienced gender dysphoria. What do you mean it bothers you? How does it bother you, in what way? What specifically causes the issue?

Having breasts makes me feel partially ashamed, and partially just uncomfortable. The shame I feel comes mostly, I think, from the role of women, being mothers and protectors, submissive to men, and overly emotional - and that makes me ashamed to be female, and to be seen as female. The discomfort is a different feeling, and hard to describe. It's like every time I see them, I expect them not to be there. They just feel like they don't fit. Looking myself in the mirror just doesn't conform to what I expect to see. It's like they're not supposed to be there.

Sorry. Best I can do.

>ashamed of being seen as female with all the bullshit that comes with that
>raised in orthodox religious family
it checks out.

I wonder how much of these feelings are induced by abuse/society/trauma. if you were raised without religion or shame on a deserted island would you or anyone similar feel the same?

Alright fine.
I went further than I necessarily needed to.

It's just strange to me in that I have felt similar things about being a woman when I was young. Or no maybe it was more I wanted to have no gender.

Alright I guess I understand. You can feel that way and I guess there's nothing really wrong with it.
Just... I think you should be careful not to get too obsessed and understand the complexity of that feeling and what you may and may not understand about it. In other words, to keep an open mind and not fall for some socio-political trap. But I don't know.

Any way, I can't recommend doing transitionary stuff. I mean, I guess it's up to you and what you want to do, but but I can't see how it's healthy to take hormones. If you ever stop taking them, you'd revert to your biological body and have to readjust to a female hormonal composition.
I also here that for mtf, it can fuck up he dick.

But you know all that said you say that you feel bad honking about yourself being a woman. That's what really worries me, OP. Perhaps you can understand why I mention that sadness can be addictive?... I don't think all the trans people here necessarily started feeling that way in recent years. I think it could be a product of a number of factors.
Just be careful and know that you WILL have many more romantic options if you stay biologically female. You'd be surprised.

I honestly don't know. I'm definitely not ruling out the possibility that this is because of my upbringing. It's difficult to make myself feel differently, though, because I observe the differences between men and women everywhere. They're undeniable, and they make me painfully aware of my femaleness. Who knows why it makes me so uncomfortable. Could easily be my family.

what differences? physical differences? emotional regulations strategies? taste in media?

I bet you'd feel better if you got some muscle and learned how to shoot a gun.

I'm a huge tomboy. I haven't had a female friend till college (and they're either lesbian or huge career gurl bosses). I dress like a man. I don't wear make up, I have mostly male dominated interests. I'm pretty dominant in sex.
I'm still a woman. I'm comfortable in my skin, I love my tits. I like dating guys and getting fucked.

There is a huge difference between being a tomboy and being trans. I don't like femininity but I don't feel uncomfortable being a girl.

Their emotional tendencies, their taste in media, their personalities, everything. I can't relate to them.

And yeah, I probably would.

I wish I felt like you. It'd make my life way easier. Unfortunately, I just can't feel comfortable with my body, or the way I'm percieved. I wish I were you, man.

wait are you saying you can't relate to men or women?

I don't think social pressure of any sort is comparable to your fucking worth as a human being becoming transient, based on what you produce and how you're connected.
You pop a bastard out as a woman and the world will take care of you.
>you have a better chance of being worth something for other reasons like your achievements or work ethic.
No one values you for work ethic. They'll tolerate your existence. They want their sons to succeed though, their daughters, and their friends. You're not worth anything as a male outcast. Your hard work is why you don't starve in a ditch somewhere.

I was mostly pointing that out for the anons who said you were "just a tomboy". Being one, I just wanted to say that I really don't feel like you do. I don't like being feminine, but I don't mind being a girl.
If you feel uncomfortable in your body, you probably have gender dysphoria and should see a psychiatrist.

Also shooting guns is fun, if you got a chance go do it. My boyfriend got me into it and we have a great time.

I can relate to men. Can't relate to women though. Sorry if I wasn't clear, I express myself pretty badly sometimes.

Yeah. Thanks, man. And I probably will shoot a gun at some point. It sounds fun to me too.

what kind of women are you around these days? religious ones? college students? middle aged? young?

lots of people feel like they can't relate to their peer group either. coming from a highly religious background is going to compound that.

Hey femanon, don’t transition. Not only is it gay, it’s also better to be you because most who transition wish they hadn’t a couple years later and then kill themselves, and we on Jow Forums need to keep our intellectuals so that we can forward the memescape.

Op your body is just a vessel. Nothing your gender is really matters. We are all living on a flying rock in dead space. Given all that, give yourself a really indepth look inside your own feelings and thoughts about gender and what concepts bother you. Then decide if it's worth to have those feelings or to do whatever you can do discard them. Finding happiness is a choice and it's very very hard to do so. It requires constant mental reminders and effort. I don't think we're being told that, but I find that's the case. Happiness never falls down from the sky and everything clicks, for many of us it requires a lot of work especially with our mental well being.
It's a very deeply personal question you've asked. All I can say is that I as a woman, feel similar of then, then trough rigorous hoops I decide not to care really. I've never felt like a "woman", I just decided to accept that that's what I am from what I was born with. I feel more neutral in gender as I don't really associate with anything assigned with my gender or the opposite. I just am. Doesn't really matter. But I understand if it means a lot for you. We all want a place to fall in society, I just accepted that I might never have one generally speaking, but I have one in my own social environment friends/family etc. I do have a boyfriend however, and my genes are very feminine so nobody asks me shit and just lets me be.

College students, so mostly liberal women in their early 20s. Stark contrast to the very religous women I was raised around, but equally unrelateable.

well no wonder you feel shame at your female body and can't relate to college students who didn't come from an oppressive religious background.

with respect user, this isn't rocket science. you were raised in an Abrahamic cult that looks at women as lesser and only brood mares then you moved onto the insanity that is post modern liberalism in colleges. both of those things are pants on head retarded. you say you desired a male form since you were like 7 but the religion predates that. not to mention we spend like 8-12 years flat chested then BAM! tits! it's fucking weird to have this body in mind for the first decade of your life then it changes. males always have their penises/balls, it's just they grow taller and get hairy. women grow taller, get hairy, get tits, get curves then start their periods.

there's somewhere out there, a club, a friend or a girlfriend who will like your androgyny. many people secretly feel like they don't fit in at all.

oh yeah and you're lesbian or heavily skewed to women as a bisexual, there's not a lot of those kinds of people running around and now it's all this queer~non-binary~trans bullshit which doesn't even mean anything anyway. they can't even say how a trans woman is a women for instance. it's all bullshit. they even say being exclusively attracted to only one kind of genitalia is "transphobic" LMAO

Yeah, you're probably right. I need a friend, or something, before I rush into anything. Frankly, I don't really have friends.

I appreciate you saying all this. Means a lot. Sometimes I just need to be talked to straight-up.

you should honestly find an activity you're actually a bit interested in, maybe indoor rock climbing group? bouldering? board game group night? stand up comedy? something to move your body around and feel some human interaction. get chummy with a classmate or two.
since you're at college I think they have therapists for students for cheap. just try to find one who isn't going to push for only transitioning and don't just start taking psych meds, they won't fix your problem.

happy to help, sometimes the best kind of pal is one that will be direct with you. it's a credit to your listening too though! you have to be willing to question the narrative to say maybe transitioning isn't for me.

Thanks. Yeah, I need a group. I like sports, mostly, for the record. Baseball and football. Maybe there's a club for that shit. I don't even know. I'm a fucking hermit as it is.

bruh you are in luck, that's exactly where you can find lesbians or bisexual women I shit you not. women's softball teams = it's very gay

good luck!!! :)))))

>because most who transition wish they hadn’t a couple years later and then kill themselves
>most
Is that true? What is the actual number of suicides amongst post-ops?

>not to mention we spend like 8-12 years flat chested then BAM! tits! it's fucking weird to have this body in mind for the first decade of your life then it changes. males always have their penises/balls, it's just they grow taller and get hairy. women grow taller, get hairy, get tits, get curves then start their periods.
Huh, male here, never thought of it that way. That's a pretty good point

yeah it was actually very odd. I kept accidentally hitting the side of my hips against stuff and banged my chest into stuff for a year or two afterwards.
>lmao whoops there's a hip there!

I was simplifying a little, men get stuff like wet dreams and the ability to jizz but it seems like women's bodies change more.

Yeah. I hated it. For me (OP) it was a living hell to go through puberty, and go from a body I felt at least sort of comfortable in to something completely alien.

I don't know if we change more, or less, than men. All I know is it was too much for me.

Maybe just move out and experience living outside of an extremely, and I hate to use this word, patriarchal society or male centric society (blegghh). Being Hasidic is gonna give you some fucked up ideas about gender, spend some time outside before you commit to make sure you aren't conflating dysphoria with something else, like internalized self hatred. Godspeed user

In addendum, I want to add that I too am from an extremely religious community, am the same age as you, and have dealt with gender dysphoria for years, just in the opposite direction. In all honesty, it does eventually pass if you wait it out, and the one advantage that FTMs have is that they aren't under as much pressure time wise as MTFs are. You can start later and still have acceptable results (at least to normies) going on testosterone because masculinization is a one way street. Give it a year or two, you really *do* have the time

I appreciate it. You're right, even though I feel like everything is collapsing in on me, I do have lots of time to make up my mind. It's just hard to live with myself sometimes, hating so much about myself (for whatever reason it is).

For the record, since you're my age and have a similar situation, I want to ask if you have discord?

Uh, yeah I have one, are you asking for a link?

Yeah, if it's not a big deal

J-Pizzle#2395

(I'm going to accept the request of the first person, so I hope that's you)

>Do I transition, cuz that’ll cost thousands of dollars and make my family hate me?
>Or do I just live like this for the rest of my life?
Sounds like you know the answer you truly want. The process can be nearly impossible to go back, and what if you meet the perfect so but they’re not into you’re new persona? All I’m saying is, changing your lifestyle if common daily practices are making you unhappy

>Alright, just know that the suicide rate among transgender people doesn't drop significantly post-op
So, this is actually a false statement. The swedish study people often use to support this claim actually supports the opposite (transgender people post-op after 1988 have a suicide rate just slightly above the general population). Just thought you should know.