Delayed growth plate closure, leading to slightly taller adult height. Less development of genital tissue, which may limit options for gender affirming surgery (bottom surgery) later in life. Other possible long-term side effects that are not yet known.
The side effects of using a pubertal blocker include hot flashes, fatigue, alterations in mood, reduced bone density, and a heavy flare bleed prior to cessation of menses for patients who have previously menstruated or were very near beginning to menstruate.
Taking puberty blockers alone should not affect your ability to have a baby in the future. But if you also take estrogen or testosterone, this can affect it. If your body has ovaries that produce eggs, taking testosterone can affect the ability to produce them.
Short-term side effects of puberty blockers include headaches, fatigue, insomnia, muscle aches and changes in breast tissue, mood, and weight. Adverse effects on bone mineralization and compromised fertility are potential risks of pubertal suppression in gender dysphoric youth treated with GnRH agonists.
Puberty blockers delay the start of puberty, including development of secondary sex characteristics. Surprisingly, even though puberty blockers are widely used to help transgender adolescents go through gender transition, their impact on brain function during this critical stage of brain development is largely unknown.
“It's also not known whether hormone blockers affect the development of the teenage brain or children's bones. Side effects may also include hot flushes, fatigue and mood alterations. “Little is known about the long-term side effects of hormone or puberty blockers in children with gender dysphoria.”
Many late maturing adolescents experience victimization or bullying – experiences that can contribute to depression and mental health problems in adulthood (18).
There are no known irreversible effects of puberty blockers. If you decide to stop taking them, your body will go through puberty just the way it would have if you had not taken puberty blockers at all.
While puberty blockers have been scrutinized by some due to their use in caring for transgender children, these drugs have been in use since the 1980s and are overwhelmingly safe if used appropriately. Side effects such as bone health risks typically only occur with prolonged use past the age of puberty.
Using puberty blockers can make your bones weaker while you are taking them. The medical term for this is “decreased bone density.” Your bones may get stronger when you stop taking puberty blockers or start taking hormone therapy.
The number of children who started on puberty-blockers or hormones totaled 17,683 over the five-year period, rising from 2,394 in 2017 to 5,063 in 2021, according to the analysis.
The exact cause of gender dysphoria is unclear. Gender development is complex and there are still things that are not known or fully understood. Gender dysphoria is not related to sexual orientation. People with gender dysphoria may identify as straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual.
Puberty blocker medications contain stable amounts of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs, which help suppress sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen. Once these hormones are “blocked,” the physical changes that would occur during puberty are paused.
They work by blocking the hormones — testosterone and estrogen — that lead to puberty-related changes in your body. This stops things like periods and breast growth, or voice-deepening and facial hair growth.
Avoid exposure to hormones.
Keep your children away from medications, creams, and lotions that contain reproductive hormones like estrogen and testosterone. This is the best way to avoid early puberty, as it cannot be prevented in most cases.
At what age does puberty stop? It can take up to 20 years of age for all the changes that happen during puberty to take place. Puberty doesn't happen all at once — it happens in stages.
You may need to wait until you are 16 to begin hormone treatment, but you may be able to take puberty blockers in the meantime.
Transgender women have a higher risk of venous thromboembolism, stroke and meningioma compared to cisgender men and cisgender women. Compared to cisgender men, transgender women have a higher risk of breast cancer and transgender women > 50 years old have a higher risk of fractures.
In the press release about the new rule, the attorney general's office says patients must be told that using puberty blocker drugs or hormones to treat gender identity disorder is “experimental” and not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
These changes can be difficult for children—especially when it happens at different rates than their peers. “There are studies linking earlier puberty to adverse psychological outcomes such as higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and criminal behavior.
The findings support a genetic association between later puberty timing in males and longer lifespan, corresponding to 9 months longer life per year later puberty (IVW P = 6.7 × 10−4) (Fig.
There's not usually any need to worry if puberty does not start around the average age, but it's a good idea to speak to your GP for advice if it starts before 8 or has not started by around 14. In some cases, early puberty or delayed puberty could be a sign of an underlying condition that may need to be treated.
Most cases of delayed puberty are not an actual health problem. Some kids just develop later than others - what we call a “late bloomer.” This has a medical name: “Constitutional Delay of Growth and Puberty.” In many of these cases, late puberty runs in the family.