It is hard to believe that there is no deleterious effect on neuro or brain function as a result of blockers. The effects of puberty are still not even fully understood - puberty is an essential part of human development. When the wheels really start coming off the bus, it is going to be very interesting to see. Tragic indeed.
Why only puberty blockers? I don't understand why just them.
The UK NICE evidence review found:
"The critical outcomes for decision making are the impact on gender dysphoria, mental health and quality of life. The quality of evidence for these outcomes was assessed as very low certainty using modified GRADE."
for *both* puberty blockers and hormones in the treatment of gender dysphoria. The evidence behind *both* of them is lacking. These treatments are not shown to have benefit outweigh the risk for any age, although there are anecdotes of both benefit and of harm.
"Some ask: Why are these experimental interventions, with inherent risks and scarce, low-quality evidence for benefits, being implemented outside HREC regulated clinical trial settings?"
Anyone who claims to want to help those with gender dysphoria--why are they not clamoring to get studies to show it? Apparently these drugs are so necessary, "medically necesary"--it should be easy to demonstrate?
Australia’s Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne launched a study on puberty blockers and the brain last year. In a newsletter to patients and parents, the clinic acknowledged that the effects of these drugs on the brain are unknown.
That same clinic’s website, under the heading of ‘Puberty Suppression’, currently states:
“Puberty blockers suppress the development of secondary sex characteristics and are used for adolescents in the early stages of pubertal development. As they are reversible in their effects, should an adolescent wish to stop taking them at any time, their biological puberty will resume”.
It is relevant to note that the RCH Gender service has been operating for some twenty years, having received a single referral in 2003. A twenty-some year lapse between commencing an ‘off-label’ therapy (i.e. one that is not approved by the TGA for that purpose) and then acknowledging that its “effects on the brain are unknown” is a worrying reality.
For the past twenty years the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne has been providing care and treatment to persons with gender dysphoria aged 3 to 17 years.
In 2003 the facility received their first such patient. In 2020 this number had skyrocketed to 473.
Now, near 20 years later, the facility has advised parents and patients that the effects of puberty blockers (one of the key components in the management of the condition) may have unknown effects on brain development and now, near 20 years later a study has been launched to investigate this possibility.
It is hard to believe that there is no deleterious effect on neuro or brain function as a result of blockers. The effects of puberty are still not even fully understood - puberty is an essential part of human development. When the wheels really start coming off the bus, it is going to be very interesting to see. Tragic indeed.
Why only puberty blockers? I don't understand why just them.
The UK NICE evidence review found:
"The critical outcomes for decision making are the impact on gender dysphoria, mental health and quality of life. The quality of evidence for these outcomes was assessed as very low certainty using modified GRADE."
for *both* puberty blockers and hormones in the treatment of gender dysphoria. The evidence behind *both* of them is lacking. These treatments are not shown to have benefit outweigh the risk for any age, although there are anecdotes of both benefit and of harm.
For both of them, for all of these treatments, as Clayton has said in https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02232-0
"Some ask: Why are these experimental interventions, with inherent risks and scarce, low-quality evidence for benefits, being implemented outside HREC regulated clinical trial settings?"
Anyone who claims to want to help those with gender dysphoria--why are they not clamoring to get studies to show it? Apparently these drugs are so necessary, "medically necesary"--it should be easy to demonstrate?
Australia’s Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne launched a study on puberty blockers and the brain last year. In a newsletter to patients and parents, the clinic acknowledged that the effects of these drugs on the brain are unknown.
That same clinic’s website, under the heading of ‘Puberty Suppression’, currently states:
“Puberty blockers suppress the development of secondary sex characteristics and are used for adolescents in the early stages of pubertal development. As they are reversible in their effects, should an adolescent wish to stop taking them at any time, their biological puberty will resume”.
It is relevant to note that the RCH Gender service has been operating for some twenty years, having received a single referral in 2003. A twenty-some year lapse between commencing an ‘off-label’ therapy (i.e. one that is not approved by the TGA for that purpose) and then acknowledging that its “effects on the brain are unknown” is a worrying reality.
For the past twenty years the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne has been providing care and treatment to persons with gender dysphoria aged 3 to 17 years.
In 2003 the facility received their first such patient. In 2020 this number had skyrocketed to 473.
Now, near 20 years later, the facility has advised parents and patients that the effects of puberty blockers (one of the key components in the management of the condition) may have unknown effects on brain development and now, near 20 years later a study has been launched to investigate this possibility.