Puberty Blockers Can Help Transgender Youth. Is There a Cost?
Puberty blockers are typically prescribed to prevent puberty, and can sometimes be prescribed for transgender youth. However, there are many side effects associated with puberty blockers.
Puberty blockers are typically prescribed to transgender youth to prevent puberty. They have been used for centuries to prevent puberty, and for a variety of other reasons. The puberty blockers currently used by many medical providers are ethinyl estradiol and a related compound called a norethindrone. There are risks with puberty blockers and with all drug treatments – the risks may be too great for transgender youth to weigh or consider.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that puberty blockers be avoided altogether in transgender youth because they can have dangerous side effects. Many of those side effects have little to do with the therapy and instead are risks associated with the very drugs they are used to treat.
These drugs can have dangerous side effects. In addition to depression, some transgender youth have suicidal thoughts or even suicidal attempts. Many have other adverse side effects – some have reported weight gain, sexual dysfunction, and even psychosis and mood disorders.
What Are the Advantages of Prolonging Your Child’s Pubertal Period?
One of the most common treatments for transgender youth is the use of puberty blockers. Some transgender youth are prescribed puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria, or a condition marked by a persistent gender-based behavior. There is some dispute about what causes gender dysphoria, but when puberty blockers are used to treat it, they can be very effective.
Puberty blockers are typically prescribed when a transgender child is approaching puberty or “puberty onset.” There are two different types of blockers – estrogen and a derivative of the drug norethindrone. Typically, they are given in a combination to prevent the onset of the puberty hormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). The GnRH is secreted from the hypothalamus to stimulate the pituitary gland to release the puberty hormone, which then stimulates the testes to produce the testosterone needed to prepare the body to produce the hormones needed for physical growth and puberty.
When puberty blockers are prescribed, the person’s blood levels of testosterone are dramatically reduced. The results are profound – the person may stop or even reverse his or her gender dysphoria. These are powerful drugs that are very, very dangerous if transgender youth are not
