A 24-year-old girl, who was a "tomboy" as a child until transitioning into a trans-male, says she is reclaiming her femininity after undergoing medical and surgical sex change interventions – including taking testosterone and removing her breasts – in Stockholm, Sweden.
Nikita Teran is a TikTok influencer, who currently identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community. She has taken to the platform to share her story about finding her true gender after previously identifying as transgender. She told Fox News Digital in an interview that she wishes her treating doctors would have asked more questions to uncover the comorbid psychological issues Teran experienced at the time.
At two points during the interview, Teran broke down. The first time, she discussed a point in her teenage years when her father left the family. She was devastated, and around that same time she began to experience gender dysphoric symptoms. During the second time, Teran described the challenging experience with complications from her breast removal surgery – a double mastectomy.
"Prior to that, I was struggling with the things that were happening at my home. I would probably call it something like depression," Teran said. She added that she was treated at a psychiatric clinic for issues.
"Before getting in touch with the gender clinic, I was at another unit for children with mental health issues. So I was there first and I thought I would get some type of help. I wasn't there for gender dysphoria, I was at that unit for mental health issues. They sort of didn't know what to do with me," she said.
"When I came to the trans unit. I was very open with my father and my family and I think I was crying every meeting I had with them when talking about my father. But still, they didn't see any red flags for that," she said. "I wish they would have stopped me. I wish they would have seen the red flags and realized that this might be gender dysphoria caused by trauma or things like that."
Gender dysphoria, formerly called Gender Identity Disorder, describes a condition in which a person has a persistent unease with one's biological sex, causing psychological disturbances and/or distress.
Teran began to experience dysphoria in her mid-teens, went to the clinic at 17, began testosterone at 18 and had her double mastectomy at 19.
"I was really scared. I was really nervous. I never had surgery before [but]… I just wanted to get this done and live my life," she said.
Teran said she had to get rushed in for emergency surgery mere hours after the initial surgery.
"After my initial surgery, I was feeling very sick, and they noticed that there was something wrong with me," she said. "I don't remember what the condition was. I think it was like bleeding inside. [My chest] was very, very large with blood. So that same night I had to be rushed into the emergency room for another surgery."
"Having to go through that second surgery was just very scary," she said.
Then, the recovery aspect was also tough. "I wasn't allowed to work. I was mostly laying at home."
After recovering from surgery, Teran described a time when she felt like "one of the boys," when she was living her "tomboy dreams." But then, around the age 20, she started to explore her sexuality, and that raised questions about what she thought was her gender identity.
"But as time went by and as more, I explored myself and my body with other people, I started feeling weird about it. It started feeling like why am I okay with this? And questions like that started running through my mind."
Teran also developed side effects from testosterone – vaginal atrophy – and was recommended by her doctor to stop it.
According to Drexel University College of Medicine, "Transmasculine people on testosterone may experience atrophic vaginitis. It is thought to be due to the suppressive effects of testosterone on estrogen, leading to an estrogen-deprived state that appears to be similar to the experience of many post-menopausal cis women."
"It was very surprising to me because once you start taking testosterone, they kind of go through with you what to expect. And I knew about the main things like voice and body hair, facial hair. And the hairline receding. I had no idea what [atrophic vaginitis] was. I was running around to different doctors who didn't know anything about trans patients. And it was a very, very just a very confusing and scary time for me because I didn't know what was happening with my body."
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Teran, now detransitioned, said that she has now dropped out of her master's program until she figures out next steps for her future.
"I was doing a master's in physics, but I was struggling because I was living as male in university. I wasn't comfortable living as female there. So it kind of resulted in me isolating myself. I had no friends and the courses were so difficult and it's so difficult navigating when you're by yourself," she said. "So I did drop out like a few weeks ago. I feel like I need to start over somewhere new."
