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Hello, everyone!
It's been a long time since I have posted here. I will have to do so more often. I am currently working on the second draft of my first novel and I have a question about hormone blockers. My protagonist, a first-year high school student, is on puberty blockers and she will need to make a decision as to when she comes out at school. Waiting a bit later to come out after starting the estrogen means that if the bullying should get worse after she begins coming to school as a girl, she will at least be that much closer to graduating. Her doctor gives her a few options, one being to start the hormones at sixteen years of age (beginning of sophomore year) and coming to school at the beginning of junior year. Another option the doctor offers - if the protagonist fears the worst, bullying-wise, is for her to wait until the end of junior year to start the hormones so that noticeable changes will not happen until graduation or afterwards. Naturally, the doctor cautions her about keeping her psychological well-being in mind when deciding how long to wait.
My question is, how long is it safe to take the puberty blockers? I'm not (yet) finding anything online to answer that question. She won't be waiting that long, as the story turns out, but I would like for my good doctor to know what she's talking about.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Upcoming stories:
I have a short story in the works, but I am also working on the second draft of my novel. It has proven a challenge to make sure the plot of the novel works, but I think I have the holes patched and the problems solved, so stay tuned!
Lisa
Comments
well it can vary
by person. if the person has no adverse reaction, i dont think there are any side effects, those who are preop still take them i assume, no matter how long they are. the main MtF blocker is spironolactone (sp?) was originally a blood pressure medication, its side effects made its alternate uses apparent, gynecomastia, erectile dysfunction, the not so good ones are head aches, thirst, dry mouth, stomach issues, etc.
if you have no "adverse" reaction, then it is like most medications. i dont know of any long term issues with it. now if they are JUST blocking, with no Estrogen, then their puberty/growth is "on hold" the body WILL grow some but not in either direction, just along the neutral path. i can cause shorter height in the long run, etc and it usually used only while the diagnosis is confirmed. at that age, it would stop the masculinizing of the body FURTHER, but without estrogen, it wont get more feminized really, as the body is producing very little Estrogen on its own at that age compared to cis females.
Teresa L.
Which blockers?
Are you talking about testosterone blockers or puberty blockers? Or both? Your scenario is not at all clear to me.
Puberty blockers are generally discontinued at age 16. If one is not taking puberty blockers, then testosterone blockers can be taken pretty much until not needed IF there are no bad side effects. If puberty has already started then puberty blockers are contraindicated.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Clarification
I'm talking about delaying the estrogen, but in order for that to be a possibility, it has to be safe to remain on the puberty blockers long enough (she has yet to begin puberty). I'll try to rephrase the scenario. The protagonist has to decide on the timing of when to start coming to school as a girl and when to start on estrogen (at her sixteenth birthday or later). She has the possibility of worsened bullying to consider, but she can minimize or at least decrease the length of time she must put up with that by waiting longer to come to school as a girl. At the same time, she doesn't want to delay puberty any longer than necessary. She has the option to start on estrogen up to a year before coming to school as a girl, in order to reduce the delay in her puberty, without the changes outing her too early. One option her doctor puts in front of her is to delay the estrogen late enough that she can avoid coming to high school as a girl altogether, if the bullying is expected to get that bad. The ideal is a balance between too soon and not soon enough, but to find that balance, I need to know how long it is safe to remain on the puberty blockers. Is it a realistic possibility to remain prepubescent, using puberty blockers, until seventeen years of age?
After puberty, Testosterone
After puberty, Testosterone blockers, under a doctor's guidance, can be taken forever . Just like the blockers given to prostate cancer patients.
I believe Luperon is a common one.
Karen
It depends on what is used.
It depends on what is used. Liver toxicity is one of the potential side effects. Also - it basically turns one into eunuch with all side effects of that. Also - as far as I remember, after some time effects can become permanent, but I may be wrong.
You don't need to be medically correct
Lisa, are you writing a fiction or non fiction story? Fiction doesn't need to be medically correct. As if you didn't already know from reading some of the stories here.
HOWEVER if you wish to get close to the truth and learn more than you ever didn't need to know. You first need to learn how to use the search engines to bring up the data you seek.
Put this in the Google search engine without any quotes .... transgender hormone blockers
To go down the Rabbit Hole in research learn the key words to the doorways.
again... transsexual hormone therapy
again ... hormones for transgender and where to buy them
Way back in the dark ages only a couple dozen pages would come up on any search about transgender. Now there are literally millions of pages, some so out of date and obsolete they belong in the dark ages along with me.
I wish you the best with your story.
always,
Barb
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
I have found a satisfactory answer!
It seems that cisgender children use puberty blockers to treat early puberty starting at ages as young as 8 or 9, and presumably remain on the blockers until, what, age twelve? So three or four years? That is enough to tell me that my good doctor's suggestion of waiting as late as the end of junior year to start the estrogen (at seventeen and a half) and remaining on puberty blockers until then is, at least, a realistic one, if not the protagonist's selected option. (The protagonist starts them at fourteen and a half, so that would be three years at the most, which seems to be done in cisgender children with precocious puberty.)
Thank you for your comments!
Lisa
"Puberty blockers" are not
"Puberty blockers" are not often mentioned in stories. Most folks go with antiandrogens like spironalactone. In Europe Androcur is preferred but it's not approved in the US.
They can be taken for a long time, but after (as I recall) six months, the effects are likely to be permanent. IE the testicles won't work right anymore. And doctors prefer to remove the testicles to avoid potential problems if you've beeen on anti-androgens for a long time.
True puberty blockers are things like Lupron. They affect something in the brain (hypothalmus?) and cause it to not start secreting a hormone that basically tells the body "ok, start puberty now".
To the best of my knowledge they could be used indefinitely, but your growth would be kinda stunted because you hadn't stated puberty yet.
So he'd have to deal with still looking like a 12-year-old the whole time he was on them.
Also, they are *hideously* expensive last time I checked. Thousands of dollars a month, and possibly not covered by insurance.
Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks
An Alternative—Another Testosterone Blocker
Consider bicalutamide, which is a testosterone blocker taken by cisgender women for hirsutism (50 mg/da), but would also act as a puberty blocker if taken early enough in life. The original use for this drug is for male prostate caner patients, but they complained of gynecomastia, which their doctors tried to prevent by giving an aromatase inhibitor on the side. The interesting possibility is that there is an aromatase inducer, forskolin, which would intensify the conversion of testosterone into estrogen if added to the drug at such point as the patient is ready for the changes estrogen would bring. Please post me at this Website if you want more information.
yours,
rg