Looking at suppressing puberty for transgender kids

NEW HOPE, Pa. (AP) - For transgender children and their families, knowing if and when to begin the transitioning process can be an agonizing decision fraught with physical, social and psychological concerns.

Until the past decade, transgender people had to wait until adulthood for surgery and/or hormone therapy to physically change their bodies to match their identifying gender. But today’s transgender youth have new medical options that can allow them to start the process at a much younger age.

Hoping to ease the emotional and psychological pain of kids who don’t believe their birth sex fits who they are, some doctors have begun offering hormone blockers to families who chose to interrupt puberty for their transgender children.

The drugs, called gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, freeze development before a child begins showing signs of secondary sex characteristics such as voice changes, genital enlargement and breasts. While the drugs have been used for years to treat premature puberty, using them for transgender children hasn’t been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration and remains an “off label” use of the medication.

Suspending puberty allows the child time to explore the gender identity he or she feels is the correct one, without the crisis that puberty can bring for transgender kids, explained Dr. Norman P. Spack, associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a founder of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Gender Management Service.

Typically, pediatric endocrinologists recommend a prepubescent child complete a year of psychological therapy before receiving such treatment. As with any medical treatment for someone under age 18, parental consent is required.

More: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/12/looking-at-suppressing-puberty-for-transgender-kid/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

Looking at suppressing puberty for transgender kids

Looking at suppressing puberty for transgender kids

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