More about puberty blockers.

Puberty blockers are drugs which — like the name says — completely block puberty from occurring.

They are prescribed to healthy children as young as 10 years old who present with a condition known as gender dysphoria, a feeling that they want to be the other gender.

The drug usually prescribed in the UK is called Lutrate or Prostap — a drug that was given FDA approval to treat prostate cancer in men, and endometriosis in women.

There have been no long-term clinical studies done on children. Puberty blockers are being used ‘off label’ to block kids’ healthy, natural development, with grave physical consequences. The few small studies we do have show that they don’t even provide any psychological benefit.

What we do know is that If children are free to go through puberty, at least 4 out of 5 kids will see their gender dysphoria just go away. While in the UK a period of therapy is required before giving puberty blockers there is still insufficient studies that explain to the parents and the children concerned of the potential damage caused by the use of these strong drugs.

On December 1st, 2020, the High Court in London ruled that children are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to undergo treatment with puberty-blocking drugs. All children under 16 years of age had to immediately come off of puberty blockers, and clinicians were instructed to seek court approval to treat children aged 16 and 17.

Keira Bell, 23, had been referred to the Tavistock — the UK’s only gender-identity development service (GIDS) — and was prescribed puberty blockers at age 16.

She argued that the Tavistock should have challenged her more as a teen — not just gone ahead with an affirmation-only approach. She went on to take cross-sex hormones (testosterone) — as almost all children do once they start puberty blockers — and got a double mastectomy.

In its ruling, the High Court laid out the following reasons why children cannot consent to puberty blockers:

The court held that in order for a child to be competent to give valid consent, the child would have to understand, retain and weigh the following information:

• (i) The immediate consequences of the treatment in physical and psychological terms;

• (ii) the fact that the vast majority of patients taking puberty blocking drugs proceed to taking cross-sex hormones and are, therefore, a pathway to much greater medical interventions;

• (iii) the relationship between taking cross-sex hormones and subsequent surgery, with the implications of such surgery;

• (iv) the fact that cross-sex hormones may well lead to a loss of fertility;

• (v) the impact of cross-sex hormones on sexual function;

• (vi) the impact that taking this step on this treatment pathway may have on future and life-long relationships;

• (vii) the unknown physical consequences of taking puberty blocking drugs, and

• (viii) the fact that the evidence base for this treatment is as yet highly uncertain.

The court considered that it was highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers. It was also doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blocking drugs.

In respect of young persons aged 16 and over, the legal position is that there is a statutory presumption that they have the ability to consent to medical treatment. Given the long-term consequences of the clinical interventions at issue in this case, and given that the treatment is as yet innovative and experimental, the court recognized that clinicians may well regard these as cases where the authorisation of the court should be sought before starting treatment with puberty blocking drugs.

Some of the possible physical effects of puberty blockers on the body.

Puberty blockers stop the release of follicle stimulating hormones (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary gland. This in turn blocks the production of testosterone in males, and oestrogen in females, stopping their secondary sex characteristics from developing.

We have no idea what the lack of these hormones is doing to children’s developing brains as to date there are no long-term studies. However, one study with sheep showed reduced cognitive function which was not improved after discontinuing treatment.

The period of adolescence is a critical window of time during which there is peak bone density accrual due to the increase in sex steroids (oestrogen and testosterone). The absence of sex steroids during a portion of this time frame therefore, may lead to a future risk of osteoporosis.

In terms of effect on body composition, studies show that after one year of therapy, there is a significant increase in body fat percentage and BMI and a decrease in lean body mass percentage.

There are also concerns using puberty blockers and cross hormone therapy due to limited studies on transgender individuals regarding the areas such as;

Psychosocial effects

Effects on body composition and height

Mood

Lipids/Cardiovascular risk

Polycythemia – a thickening of the blood. This can lead to strokes or tissue and organ damage.

Effects on liver

Malignancy - the presence of cancerous cells.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) – clotting of the blood.

Sourced from: https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8496167/