Trans youth will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at NHS England gender identity clinics in a new “blow” to gender-affirming healthcare.
Puberty blockers are a type of medicine that prevent puberty from starting by blocking the hormones – like testosterone and oestrogen – that lead to puberty-related changes in the body. In the case of trans youth, this can delay unwanted physical changes like menstruation, breast growth, voice changes or facial hair growth.
On Tuesday (12 March), NHS England confirmed the medicine, which has been described as “life-saving” medical care for trans youth, will only be available to young people as part of clinical research trials.
The government described the move as a “landmark decision”, Sky News reported. It believed such a move is in the “best interests of the child”.
Time to start some really large clinical trials.
Which wouldn’t be a bad idea anyway, tracking long-term outcomes.
It’s been around since the 80s, we already know long term outcomes.
Um, excuse me, who said 40 years was long enough? If we don’t have trials that show how people receiving these drugs turned out all the way until they died then we don’t really have long term trials, do we?
/s
It’s such a fucking cop out. Nothing will ever be good enough for some people.
GnRH was discovered in 1971, and has been available since the '80s. We have a pretty good idea of their long term effects. There could be more about effects on transgender youth in particular, but everything done so far shows it’s safe.
I’m reading about migraines, joint pain, hot flashes/sweating, decreased libido (which I would expect to take place during treatment) persisting for months after discontinuing use of GnRH. I’m also reading that it can worsen diabetes and osteoporosis?
Idk, to say that it’s without risk is false I think.
Safe does not mean no side effects. Those first things would still absolutely qualify it as safe. Those last two you mention seem to be inconclusive by the way you worded it.
I word it this way because I’m not an expert, I was reading through a few studies I found on Google and am no way qualified to weigh in on this beyond a cursory glance.
That being said, I’ve heard migraines be described similarly to torture. We can agree to disagree as to whether or not that’s safe (the effects of chronic pain are well documented).
Also
Prolonged treatment with Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) agonists is known to induce bone loss among prostate cancer patients. However, evidence on the skeletal effects of GnRH antagonists is relatively less well-known. This review aims to examine the effects of GnRH antagonists on bone health. GnRH antagonists are an effective treatment for hormone-dependent conditions, such as advanced prostate cancer and endometriosis. They induce a competitive and reversible GnRH-receptor blockage, thereby suppressing the release of gonadotropins and sex hormones. The sex hormone ablation results in undesirable side effects, including accelerated bone loss. In animal studies, treatment with GnRH antagonists is reported to cause deterioration of bone microstructure. Human clinical trials revealed significant bone loss at the spine, hip and femur in patients treated with GnRH antagonists. Thus, osteoporosis and the resultant fragility fractures pose a significant impact on health and quality of life of GnRH antagonist users. Thus, early preventive measures of bone loss are critical in preventing fractures and its associated morbidity in these patients.
The abstract from this https://www.eurekaselect.com/article/112477
There are certainly other factors to consider, GnRH is used to treat prostate cancer if I’m not mistaken. I have no idea what would happen in an AFAB, and truth be told I’m not going that deep. I don’t think anyone should be telling anyone what they can or can’t put in/do with their bodies, but I’m not sure what to believe about the risk. Reading this would certainly make me second guess taking them considering my family history of arthritis.
🤷♂️ idk mane
Yeah, you don’t know… It’s really not what it seems though, and it’s not actually about starting with a conclusion (we shouldn’t be treating trans kids) and then only glomming onto whatever scraps you can find that might indicate that your worldview is correct, while simply ignoring that mountains of evidence to the contrary.
Definitely not that. You’re just asking questions! And it’s just a coincidence that every time someone tells you why you’re wrong, or asks you for more detail about your arguments, you resort to the whole, “I don’t know, I’m not an expert.” Yeah no shit.
So you just didn’t read the part where I said “we shouldn’t be telling people what they can or can’t put in their bodies”, huh?
My advice to you is to stop letting your emotions dictate your words.
Edit: oh yeah, after re-reading what I wrote you definitely rage typed this response. Do better.
Do yourself a favour and don’t read the possible side effects on the back of the box of paracetamol you bought from the supermarket.
Yeah I actually do my utmost to avoid taking Acetaminophen.
How many of these side effects could just be the result of starting puberty after stopping the medication?
I genuinely don’t know, but is osteoporosis common as a result of puberty?
Edit:
later puberty was linked to lower bone mineral density, and that both are risk factors for osteoporosis
Also a risk when taking birth control, the question is how severe and can you recover after completing puberty.
Idk how I feel about kids taking birth control either, is that a normal thing??
Ah I was referring to it as a side effect of birth control in adults. But birth control for ones that have gone through puberty is definitely better than the possibly deadly side effects of child birth and pregnancy.
If you don’t want kids getting pregnant, yes.
Right wing conservatives can go pound sand. Talk about the government pushing itself between a doctor and patient care.
A landmark bullshit decision.
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“Cult of trans”
Who’s the leader? What’s the goal?
Also, citing the Torygraph rag instead of actual sources isn’t a good look.
Oh, great. Vulnerable children and desperate parents searching for prescription medication on the black market. What could go wrong?
Mission accomplished.
Just when I though the UK couldn’t disappoint any further.
Another Tory L as usual.
Can’t wait till the day comes when they’re out of the gov for good.
You confident that blue Labour will reverse this policy?
Prob not tbh but since how bad everything is atm, any change at this point is better than none at this rate.
I thought quackery was illegal, but apparently not when it’s *fundamentalists in politics.
*Fundamentalists as in fundamentally sociopaths.
All right wingers want for Christmas is increased suicidality of anyone unlike themselves
Or probably more accurately if you look at right wing scandals, people that think similarly to them but are brave enough to live their truth and not try to hide behind a bible and pay their reality away.
Conservatives are cowards. They mainline fear 24/7, they feel list without it.
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Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
We know so little about the actual process of gender dysphoria. Hormone blockers don’t solve or fix anything, but have been used simply because it’s the only thing that does something. Essentially bringing a blunt instrument to the problem.
Considering the harmful nature of hormone blockers, I’m for not prescribing puberty blockers to youth. However, only so long as more research is put into it.
Hormone blockers are generally used because it’s far easier for people to transition if they haven’t already been smacked around by puberty and it ends up giving a healthier result.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/24/texas-transgender-kids-transition-related-health-care/
(I KNOW, right? “Texas Tribune?”)
"Studies have found that transgender youth who take puberty blockers are significantly less likely to experience lifelong suicidal ideation than those who want the care and don’t get it. And studies show psychological trauma is reduced and life satisfaction increases when people who want transition-related hormone therapy get it.
Major medical associations support transition-related care. They include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, the World Medical Association and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health."
Can you point me to the harmful nature of them?
I wonder what the statistics are of “trans youth” figuring out they’re actually not trans as they get older.
Basically non-existant but of course when it does happen it gets repeated over and over again. The main reason why anybody detransitions is because of how they get treated during their transition.
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I take it you have a source you can link to?
This is not only wrong but directly the opposite of the truth
That is documented in studies.
Is that the “people who didn’t contact us back are obviously detransitioning” study?
It obvious you’re not trying to have serious conversation since you didn’t read the study and are conflating detransitioning with people who outgrow it. If you don’t understand a topic well enough to talk about it then don’t. I’m done
didn’t read the study
It’s behind a paywall…
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Not in that study. The link you provided only has the abstract but it’s not even about how common detransitioning is.
It has a sample size of 25 so it couldn’t even draw an average with that but according to the study it’s goal seems to be to document the motives for transitioning for people who go on to transition and the ones who don’t.
It’s also the worst type of wrong: the type that has the potential to seriously harm people. Hopefully they retract it instead of continuing to double down.
Extremely uncommon. But on the off chance it happens, they just stop taking the puberty blockers and everything proceeds as normal.
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I’m assuming you’re asking in good faith. I found this type of question to be especially controversial due to the legislation against gender-affirming care, especially puberty blockers. In researching further:
As others have stated, cases where permanent gender-affirming care was given, such as HRT (hormone therapy) and GRS (genital reconfiguration surgery), instances of regret are incredibly rare, and almost always predicated by lack of support for the individual. They are far outnumbered by instances of trans people undergoing puberty incompatible with their gender, which is itself damaging and irreversible.
The type of care discussed in this article, GnRH (puberty blockers), has been shown to not have long term consequences, and is only used to delay puberty and the potential long term effects, giving them enough time to make an informed decision about their transition. From the Mayo Clinic:
GnRH analogues don’t cause permanent physical changes. Instead, they pause puberty. That offers a chance to explore gender identity. It also gives youth and their families time to plan for the psychological, medical, developmental, social and legal issues that may lie ahead…
When a person stops taking GnRH analogues, puberty starts again.
So you don’t have to wonder anymore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexual#Regrets_and_detransitions
I was going to downvote and move on, but instead…
I have family and friends that are trans, so I have been able to kind of follow their outcomes over the years.
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Human gender identity and sexuality does seem to fluctuate somewhat, but it doesn’t seem to me to be random. Some people fully identify as one gender but like to perform as a different one. Other people don’t vary at all. In cases where people “change their mind”, it’s usually because they get discouraged about being able to successfully transition, or they experience severe harassment/workplace discrimination. Just in my anecdotal experience, it’s never because they just randomly decide they no longer want to be trans
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No one is getting permanent gender affirmation treatment until they are old enough to know and have been in discussions with doctors for years. I’m sure there are exceptions where some poor 5 year olds parent(s) treated them without medical oversight but it’s not common and no one wants this.
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Best interest of the child my ass. I knew and know so many trans kids that suffer(ed) so much from such awful transphobic laws.
That’s just purely disgusting and will have horrible consequences for so many people. I am so sorry for every trans kid in England that suffers from this. :(40 years of Hollyweird / Music Industry / Olympics trainer agents pumping their youngest stars full of this shit in order to squeeze an extra year or two of revenue out of them? Fine. Cool. Good. No problems detected.
Some trans youth have a legitimate medical need for deferring puberty, while they come to terms with their gender and sexuality? Fuck you. Prohibited. Go directly to jail.
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Honey. We know our shit and we often know it young. I had to go through puberty knowing as I was experiencing it every moment was taking me further and further into a body horror I knew I would never come to terms with. Other trans people my age are very much the same and you know what? A lot of us live with deep lifelong regrets knowing that we have less options to travel the world or exist comfortably in public because of that puberty we knew bone deep right from the get go we never wanted.
Being trans isn’t subtle. It screams at you, gnaws at your insides how wrong everything is. Particularly when pre-puberty you are able to perfectly pass… And then every minute puberty slowly takes that away from you by inches like a slow bleeding wound until you ache to have what you know you will never effortlessly experience again.
Ignorance fucking doomed me. Yours will do nothing but doom others.
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Yeah… Is pushing 40 considered young now or do I have to be fucking senile before I count? Take your paternalistic shit and cram it right back up your ass where it came from.
its almost like the weirdo hollywood guys are in league with the weirdo religious guys.
By way of the weirdo military guys, most commonly.
Whoever decided this can shove a cactus up somewhere.
Fuck you for hurting the most vulnerable;
disgusting decision by disgusting people.You might wanna rephrase your second sentence
As a non native speaker the honest question, why?
Fuck you for hurting the most vulnerable, disgusting decision by disgusting people.
Kann übersetzt werden zu:
Fickt euch dafür die verletzlichste, abscheulichste Entscheidung von abscheulischen Leuten zu verletzen. (weird weil wörtliche Übersetzung; kann auch Beschädigen o.ä. nutzen. Geht mehr um den Sinn als das Wort)
Ist vermutlich gemeint:
Fickt euch dafür die Verletzlichsten zu verletzen; Abscheulische Entscheidung abscheulicher Leute.
Ah danke, habs geändert.
Die meisten Menschen kriegen Semikolons eh nicht auf die Reihe, weder beim lesen noch schreiben.
That said I had to really try hard to deliberately missunderstand it.
But well, we seem to have the same native language and therefore maybe intuitively misstranslate it the same way? ^^
Just needs a semi-colon instead of a comma.
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I guess ill be the one to bite.
How do you consider this good news? All scientific literature indicates that prescribing puberty blockers to trans youth has a large benefit to the state of their current and future mental health, while also causing no harm as once they stop taking them, if they dont further transition, their regular puberty takes over with no decrease in how much they mentally and physically develop (dont forget, these are also regularly prescribed to cis kids too)
The second part of what you say (puberty takes over as soon as the blockers are stopped) is not, as far as I’m aware, established. There are huge questions over this. First off, if I decide to come off puberty blockers aged 30, will I then go through puberty? If so, how different will it be to a normal puberty? If not, how long do I take puberty blockers for until I’ve bypassed my puberty? Can we quantify or qualify the potential harms inherent in the treatment? There’re too many unknowns and not enough evidence to support this statement you’ve made. I’ve seen it made before which is why I looked into it.
I’m not trans myself, but some of the people I love are/were. I love them and I want them to thrive, which is why I’m concerned about the enthusiasm for a seemingly magic bullet which I think has the potential to do a lot of harm if applied without being properly understood.Nobody is prescribing blockers for decades.
What the other user said is correct. Generally puberty blocks are limited to use during adolescence, with use being discontinued in the very early 20’s at the latest. They are a measure to buy time for a person to meet an age of greater maturity so they can make the decision to further transition medically or hormonally. They are not intended to remove sex hormones from the body forever (much to my personal dismay)
Cheers. I’ll certainly look into that. I’ve not made up my mind (until the medical consensus does), and I’m coming at this from an angle of wanting trans people to have an equal quality of life (and average lifespan) with cis people. Believe it or not.
The medical consensus already exists. This isn’t some experimental drug; puberty blockers have been widely prescribed to children for decades. We know how they work, we know they are generally safe, and we know that blocking access to them will result in needless suffering and death.
Here are the “huge questions” you should really be asking:
If these drugs are so dangerous, why are people only bringing it up now and not sometime in the 40 years since they entered widespread usage?
Why are people suddenly claiming that a drug we’ve been using for decades has “too many unknowns” and “not enough evidence” for its safety?
If all of this controversy is really genuine, and not the result of a moral panic rooted in bigotry, then why is nobody proposing a ban on puberty blockers for cisgender children? How can they be “dangerous” and “untested” for one group of children but safe and effective for a different group of children when both groups are taking them for the same purpose (to delay puberty)?
If you really care about the welfare of trans people, then you should support giving us the healthcare that we and our doctors say we need.
If you really care about the welfare of trans people, then you should support giving us the healthcare that we and our doctors say we need.
I do. And with due respect, you’re just an anonymous poster on an internet forum. Your opinions necessarily carry zero weight. That’s nothing personal because I don’t know you, and I won’t believe your assertions, because that’s not how this works.
I believe the idea of a puberty blocker is to block puberty until 18 pretty much, or early 20s. Then as that person is an adult they can choose to transition, by going through hrt, which is more effective as they haven’t experienced any puberty yet Or they can choose to stop taking the blockers and go through puberty as they would have before
Thanks for that.
Annoyingly though I’m getting down votes for expressing a sincerely-held and reasonable concern, so that prevents me from discussing it any further. This topic is unnecessarily toxic online.I agree it’s a very charged topic. And tricky to talk about in a lot of circles without being hand waved as a bigot
It’s understandable though as there are genuinely some people that wouldn’t change their opinion regardless of the research, on both sides mind you
It’s been a while since I deep dived on this so I will have to go back and have a look at what’s new when I have time.
Please link to all relevant scientific literature. Otherwise I’m going to assume you’re just spouting talking points out of your ass because this stuff hasn’t been studied as extensively as you claim.
Please do all the research for me…
The person who makes the claim is responsible for backing it up. So yes, if you’re going to make a going you’re going to do all the research.
Asking for the relevant scientific backing is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask.
But they asked for all scientific research.
They’re a troll, I’ve seen their account in other threads. If you look at their account they have all down votes. Like they’re trying to collect as many downvotes as they can.
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It’s all part of the NHS War On Mental Health. The plan is remove treatments that conservatives don’t believe in because they can’t see them. They will take those savings and use them to extend the lives of terminally ill people in persistent vegetative states because life is sacred and needs to be protracted and painful.
Christo-fascists run too many gov’ts
