NEWS: Treatment for transgendered kids puts puberty on hold

[LG]

This kind of treatment is legal but not FDA-approved. Advocates of the treatment say the it saves kids the anguish of continuing to develop into a gender they don't identify with and can prevent future depression as well as reduce future costs for surgery. Others say that the method is "a modern form of child abuse".

For more information on the medication prescribed for the new treatment see: http://www.toosoon.com/luprondepot/ and http://www.lupron.com/

Article follows:

Girl/Boy Interrupted
A new treatment for transgender kids puts puberty on hold so that they won't develop into their biological sex
By LAUREN SMILEY
Published: July 11, 2007

The breast bud popped up about six months ago, and Marty knew something had to be done. It was the slightest of puckers, just on one side, so small you wouldn't even notice it through a T-shirt. Still, boys don't get breasts, and this had the unsettling potential to blow his cover big-time.

That's because Marty was born, by conventional measures of modern science, a girl. Marty has two X sex chromosomes, like most females, and the hardware concurs. Yet ever since Marty's parents flew back from China in 1998 with their 11-month-old adopted baby, their daughter seemed to be programmed male. She refused dresses by age two and half and mastered peeing while standing by three. She would identify herself as a girl only when grilled.

When Marty was about six, doctors said she was no tomboy. She seemed to fit the diagnosis of gender identity disorder (GID), and though dubbing it a disorder whips up a maelstrom of controversy, the basic sentiment is this: not only feeling an intense discomfort with one's biological gender, but also feeling profoundly, compellingly, like the other.

Enrolled in a new school last year as a boy where only the staff knew otherwise, the nine-year-old passed without a hitch in his wardrobe of Nike trainers and T-shirts, paired with a crew cut, boyish build, and aggressive basketball moves at recess. (To keep his secret, the names of the boy and his parents have been changed.) But the days when the only outward markers of gender lie in haircuts, clothes, and personality only last so long. Deep inside Marty's brain, a time bomb known as the hypothalamus waited to stage a hormone-armed mutiny. Breasts would sprout. Hips would widen. The uterus would shed blood on a monthly basis. Marty didn't want any of it.

So when the bud appeared, his Bay Area parents hustled him to an appointment with an endocrinologist at Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland, who said the bud might progress no further and puberty could still be a few years off, his parents recall. They were temporarily relieved. Marty treated the bump as a boy would — poking at it at the dinner table, feeling it through his button-down shirts. Waiting.

Then, in May, Marty came to his mom frantically: "Mommy, feel this lump! You have to do something!"

The other breast had budded.

His parents called Children's because now, due to the efforts of a small but growing number of doctors around the world, something actually could be done about emerging puberty. The endocrinologist agreed that Mother Nature was revving up, preparing to take Marty the way of trainer bras, Tampax, and, as his parents and doctors predicted, increasing distress as his body developed into a sex that to him seemed a cruel trick of birth. The changes would make living as a boy impossible in the present, and he'd potentially face scarring surgery to remove unwanted breasts down the road. What's more, the upsurge in estrogen would slow and stop his growth, making it harder for him to ever pass as a male. Of course, that's if Marty would end up living as a man. As boyish as Marty is, no one could know for sure.

But in the present, nature could be tricked. If they all agreed, Marty would never have to develop into a woman.

It was time to put puberty on hold...

For the full article (6 pages):
http://www.sfweekly.com/2007-07-11/n...y-interrupted/

[LG]

I think the article is worth a comment...

Whats the matter? You only respond to the dick threads?

[NINgirl25]

i really wish i could have had this before i hit puberty
back when i was a kid though, transgenders werent as accepted and i was scared to tell anybody how i felt. puberty made me suicidal, and i'd hate for any young trans kids to have to go through what i went through.
i think its a great idea to stop puberty for transgendered kids until they are old enough to make the decision.

[Vala_TS]

i really wish i could have had this before i hit puberty
back when i was a kid though, transgenders werent as accepted and i was scared to tell anybody how i felt. puberty made me suicidal, and i'd hate for any young trans kids to have to go through what i went through.
i think its a great idea to stop puberty for transgendered kids until they are old enough to make the decision.

Yeah, same with me.

Vala,

[Felicia Katt]

I think the article is worth a comment...

Whats the matter? You only respond to the dick threads?

LG I agree.

http://www.hungangels.com/board/view...hlight=puberty

It deserved a comment when I posted it 2 weeks ago LOL Thanks for noticing

Unfortunately, many readers here appear more interested in prolonging puberty than delaying it LOL

meow

FK

[whatsupwithat]

It's a great article, LG. Thank you!

I always wonder...gender identity is not always such a solid personal issue for kids as rearing and wanting to please parents as well as peers can sometimes send a child down the wrong path. Middlesex is a great a book that shows exactly that scenario.

[tgirlzoe]

My biggest concern is that most kids diagnosed with GID of childhood and adolescence grow out of it. The vast majority end up gay or lesbian (gender and sexual orientation are fuzzy things) and only a handful grow up to be trans. Delaying is a good approach instead of just jumping to opposite-sex hormones which would cause a lot of opposite problems if the child decides to go with their original assigned gender (and *yes* a lot of people *do* detransition). Exciting to think about for trans people but should be used with caution.

[LG]

I think the article is worth a comment...

Whats the matter? You only respond to the dick threads?

LG I agree.

http://www.hungangels.com/board/view...hlight=puberty

It deserved a comment when I posted it 2 weeks ago LOL Thanks for noticing
FK

Sorry, it must have gotten buried under all the porn threads and I'm not online all the time (and, living in Europe, I'm actually online when most members are asleep, so I often miss a lot of interesting topics). I did do a search to see if anyone had posted it, but because you only included a link and titled the thread "Interesting Article", so I didn't see it.

It's an interesting piece.

To whatsupwithat: Thanks for the comment and I agree. I actually haven't read Middlesex, even though I've bought it for others as a gift (I have a short attention span when it comes to reading fiction). I will find a copy and read it, though.

To tgirlzoe: I agree that it's an interesting development but one that should be used with caution.

thanks for the responses, everyone...

[peggygee]

My biggest concern is that most kids diagnosed with GID of childhood and adolescence grow out of it. The vast majority end up gay or lesbian (gender and sexual orientation are fuzzy things) and only a handful grow up to be trans. Delaying is a good approach instead of just jumping to opposite-sex hormones which would cause a lot of opposite problems if the child decides to go with their original assigned gender (and *yes* a lot of people *do* detransition). Exciting to think about for trans people but should be used with caution.

I had seen the post when Felicia made it a few weeks back, but hadn't
commented because I wanted to read the article in it's entirety.

Having said that, I'm inclined to concur with Zoe.

My opinion on children beginning HRT is truly on a case by case basis.
And HRT or SRS is not something for anyone to enter into lightly
at any age.

I feel that the individual needs to give this decision a lot of
thought, and should be fully armed with as much information
as possible.

In the case of a parent making this decision for their child, the
same applies. One needs to enter into this decision with logic
and not have it be based purely on emotions. Ideally the person
should be under the care of a therapist who specializes in GID.

With that in mind, I don't feel that that the psychological community
should be playing 'God' with a gender choice. I am a believer in having
the patient being part of their treatment team, and having say so in the
course of their care.

Nothing would be worse that having a person live a lifetime of
misery in the wrong gender when there are surgical, and hormonal
interventions that could correct the situation.

Though perhaps far worse would be to make an irreversible surgical
decision. What is particularly noteworthy about this type of treatment is
that it is indeed reversible, though I read that it is very expensive, and
I hope that doesn't make it cost prohibitive.

And while it is a viable treatment option for gender dysphoria in the
young, I would stiill advocate caution and to throughly think this
course of action through

[Vala_TS]

My biggest concern is that most kids diagnosed with GID of childhood and adolescence grow out of it. The vast majority end up gay or lesbian (gender and sexual orientation are fuzzy things) and only a handful grow up to be trans. Delaying is a good approach instead of just jumping to opposite-sex hormones which would cause a lot of opposite problems if the child decides to go with their original assigned gender (and *yes* a lot of people *do* detransition). Exciting to think about for trans people but should be used with caution.

Exactly how many people is a lot? In terms of people who quit. Why would anyone start it then quit?

Vala,