BBC too stupid to put 2+2 together about puberty blockers

[NotBadConsidering]

What might otherwise be a good and important article about endometriosis (and for anyone suffering), documents how awful it is for women so young to suffer menopausal symptoms as a result of Prostap and Zoladex. These are, of course, puberty blockers. I doubt very much anyone at the BBC will now consider the impact that these drugs must have on teenage girls at that most important stage of their lives or that they are placed in a menopausal state permanently. That would involve far too much of an intellectual leap for them I suspect 🤨.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cql835xw819o

My sister in law was put on 6 months of hormone blockers for endometriosis in her 30s and in her 50s her teeth started falling out due to osteoporosis.

This article points out the need for hormones for heart, bone and brain health in adult women, yet children on them for years for gender reasons apparently suffer no ill effects.

The medical profession's ability to believe both can be true melts my mind.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the journalists involved don’t know they’re talking about the same drugs. But there’s no excuse for doctors. We know that hormone levels that are too low or too high always cause problems. But the dissonance of deliberately causing menopausal symptoms in teenage girls and expecting good outcomes is quite astonishing really.

I remember reading a Sydney mother’s account of her daughter’s menopause symptoms that the daughter didn’t expect from puberty blockers, nor did the mother. It was harrowing because it was also so quick in onset.

It was particularly harrowing because the daughter suffered it like it was a badge of honour for being able to live an ‘authentic’ life in the future as a a ‘man’.

I expect you are right that the journalists don't know they are the same drugs. In a way it is unfortunate that they just use the term "puberty blockers" rather than the names of the drugs.

Also though, there are still many people who believe these kids have a medical problem that requires intervention. I know people here find that hard to believe, but I suspect it's the case for a lot of the true believers in the Labour Party, people like David Tennant, etc. They also believe that these drugs are actually preventing a kind of error where their bodies have gone wrong in a damaging way. So it may well be they think they won't have bad effects because they are correcting them having the "wrong" hormones.

unwashedanddazed · Yesterday 21:43

This article points out the need for hormones for heart, bone and brain health in adult women, yet children on them for years for gender reasons apparently suffer no ill effects.

It's baffling, isn't it? It can only be that they're happy to ignore the awful side effects and to minimise them, because they are believers and having their way is more important than considering the inevitable bad consequences.

If ordinary people like us can read up and research the effects, what excuse can doctors possibly have, when they minimise, or claim not to know of complications?

Every day, and in every way, I'm more and more grateful that my endometriosis was diagnosed and treated before these drugs were authorised for that purpose.

You may well be right, but surely doctors and therapists in the field of gender medicine have seriously misled these parents in that case. What these children (and their parents) need is to be told compassionately but clearly and firmly that there is nothing wrong with their bodies. They are fortunate to be healthy boys or girls and they are about to go through the process that all humans go through to turn into healthy men or women. It might be tough at times, but it's normal, natural and essential for their future health to get through this. If it causes them distress, they can ask for help and support with their feelings, but the answer isn't to destroy their physical health.

Apologies, I know nothing about endometriosis, out of interest how was it treated before these drugs?

One in ten women have endometriosis and I'm one of the unfortunate ones who was given 'puberty blocker' drugs (GnRH analogues) . It was absolutely the worst time of my life and I only stuck it out for 3 months - some women endure it for six.

Part of the reason I first got involved in the gender critical debate was when I heard people confidently describing these drugs as 'a harmless pause button'. It's obscene.

Even after taking them as an adult for just 12 weeks I have to be conscious every day of getting loads of calcium and doing other things to avoid osteoporosis. The doctors knew this 20 years ago - how can those same people now be pretending that these drugs are 'harmless'?

I had surgery and was treated with an earlier endometriosis drug - probably danazol which was the standard through the 1980s (it was in 1991 so the details are a bit blurry now). My GP warned me about the side effects and told me to contact her AT ONCE if certain ones appeared, but they didn't include early menopause or crumbling teeth. As I recall the major possible side effects that worried her were the growth of facial hair and a dropped voice - neither of which happened. So while it wasn't fun, it certainly wasn't debilitating!