Health Secretary updates MPs on Government and NHS England’s work to improve gender identity services & implement recommendations of Dr Hilary Cass’s independent review. Includes extension of puberty blocker ban to Nov 26th & review of adult svcs

[TorghunKhan]

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-09-04/hcws70

Stonewall Awards - Wikipedia
Alli is there three times.

How can we be reassured that his strong influence over Labour is not used to bring Stonewall closer to government?

The influence is of the level some Labour MP own him £1.2m
Lord Alli loaned Labour MP £1.2m to buy a house with her dying sister (msn.com)

He won "politcian of the year' in 2015...though he's not a politician.

Interesting to read some of the other winners of the various awards.

though he's not a politician.

That's exactly the point! He might be perceived as one by Stonewall if he opens access to policy makers

Politician of the decade?!

Fucking hell. I do feel naive sometimes, thinking our politicians are democratically elected.

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/lord-waheed-alli-who-is-the-labour-peer-behind-sir-keir-starmers-donation-row-13221243

As.a.peer he campaigned to lower the age of consent for gay men.

Thanks v much for the links. I can see that there are more (and more serious) possible direct negative effects of blockers than I had listed above, and above all that the evidence for their long-term safety is weak or lacking.
Thankfully Lupron, for which there seems to be positive evidence of significant direct harm, does not appear to be used for young people in the UK, but I can see that the possibilities of harm from other similar blockers are still significant, and that informed consent to that level of potential harm could only be sought if there was a very clear and significant risk of greater harm arising from not taking them.
It is hard to imagine how the possible risks of not medicating could be conceptualised in a manner that made it possible to assess them against the risks of taking the drugs, particularly since the possible risks of not medicating have been so overstated and weaponised by ideologists.
Ideologists have conceptualised the risks of not prescribing blockers in a bizarre way - "This child is in the wrong body" - or in unforgivably emotive ways - "This child will commit suicide if not medicated." They need to be reconceptualised in ordinary mental health terminology before a meaningful assessment of relative risks can even be begun.
In other mental health contexts we do habitually prescribe drugs that have horrible, severe and debilitating side-effects which need to be weighed against the possible benefits: many anti-psychotics come into this category. But in the gender dysphoria context we also have to deal with the complication that so many young people are hungering after the drugs in a possibly pathological way (comparable to, say, an anorexic or bulimic person's abuse of laxatives).
It is difficult. I started off by thinking that clearly the trial should go ahead because the rejection of puberty blockers as a potential therapy needs to be evidence-based, just as any decision in favour of using them has to be evidence based. But I guess I am now on the fence!

You've nailed it in the sense that we've allowed children to be targeted by activist adults and groups who care nothing about their health and wellbeing.
We've allowed professionals to be deskilled by the bullying tactics used by trans extremist groups to the extent that medics have failed to speak out about medical treatment lacking in any evidence & brutal experimental surgery. Psychologists, counsellors, teachers and social workers instructed they must immediately affirm mentally unwell children's belief their bodies are wrong - in stark contrast to how we treat all other mental health problems (eating disorders, self harm, suicidal ideation etc).

While adults have obeyed these instructions and stood by, hundreds of thousands of children and young people have bought into the need to change sex to fix their pubertal angst.

It's a tragedy of epic proportions and we're only at the beginning of the painful journey to put this right.

And this is sickening that this is supported and enabled by our elected (and donated to) politicians

A friend with late stage prostate cancer refused to take the drugs that are cheerfully called 'puberty blockers' because he found the side effects so awful. These are not the side-effect free 'pause' button that they've been marketed as.

'These medicines consist of or contain buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin .... GnRH analogues'

From Mermaids info on PBs.

Points to consider- setting up a clinical trial (even a pretty simple, low risk one) is very, very slow and a logistical nightmare. If someone told me a trial was starting 'soon' I would be entirely unsurprised if it hadn't started recruiting 2 years later.

They will need to advertise to get participants so there will be info in the public domain if/when it gets off the ground.

Has anyone said which centre would be running this and who the Chief Investigator and Sponsor will be? They are likely to be required to register on a public trials register and it would be good practice to publish their protocol in a peer reviewed journal.

All the side effects listed by NICE for drugs used off label as 'puberty blockers'.

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/buserelin/

Common or very common

Depression; mood altered

Rare or very rare

Auditory disorder; hypotension; leucopenia; pituitary tumour benign; thrombocytopenia; tinnitus

Frequency not known

Alopecia; anxiety; appetite change; breast abnormalities; broken nails; concentration impaired; constipation; diarrhoea; dizziness; drowsiness; dry eye; dysuria; embolism and thrombosis; fatigue; feeling of pressure behind the eyes; follicle recruitment increased; galactorrhoea; gastrointestinal discomfort; gynaecomastia; hair changes; headache; hot flush; hydronephrosis; hyperhidrosis; increased risk of fracture; lymphostasis; memory loss; menopausal symptoms; menstrual cycle irregularities; muscle weakness in legs; musculoskeletal discomfort; nausea; oedema; osteoporosis; ovarian and fallopian tube disorders; pain; painful sexual intercourse; palpitations; paraesthesia; QT interval prolongation; sexual dysfunction; shock; skin reactions; sleep disorder; testicular atrophy; thirst; tumour activation temporary; uterine leiomyoma degeneration; vision disorders; vomiting; vulvovaginal disorders; weight changes

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/gonadorelin/

Uncommon

Pain; skin reactions; swelling

Rare or very rare

Abdominal discomfort; bronchospasm; dizziness; eye erythema; flushing; headache; nausea; tachycardia

Frequency not known

Menorrhagia; sepsis; thrombophlebitis

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/goserelin/

Common or very common

Alopecia; arthralgia; bone pain; breast abnormalities; depression; glucose tolerance impaired; gynaecomastia; headache; heart failure; hot flush; hyperhidrosis; mood altered; myocardial infarction; neoplasm complications; paraesthesia; sexual dysfunction; skin reactions; spinal cord compression; vulvovaginal disorders; weight increased

Uncommon

Hypercalcaemia (in women); ureteral obstruction

Rare or very rare

Ovarian and fallopian tube disorders; pituitary haemorrhage; pituitary tumour; psychotic disorder

Frequency not known

Abdominal cramps; body hair change; constipation; diarrhoea; fatigue; hepatic function abnormal; interstitial pneumonia; muscle complaints; nausea; nervousness; peripheral oedema (when used for gynaecological conditions); premature menopause; pulmonary embolism; QT interval prolongation; sleep disorder; uterine leiomyoma degeneration; voice alteration; vomiting; vulvovaginal infection; withdrawal bleed

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/leuprorelin-acetate/

Common or very common

With parenteral use

Appetite decreased; arthralgia; bone pain; breast abnormalities; depression; dizziness; fatigue; gynaecomastia; headache; hepatic disorders; hot flush; hyperhidrosis; insomnia; mood altered; muscle weakness; nausea; paraesthesia; peripheral oedema; sexual dysfunction; testicular atrophy; vulvovaginal dryness; weight change

Uncommon
With parenteral use

Alopecia; diarrhoea; fever; myalgia; palpitations; visual impairment; vomiting

Rare or very rare
With parenteral use

Haemorrhage

Frequency not known
With parenteral use

Anaemia; dyslipidaemia; glucose tolerance impaired; hypertension; hypotension; idiopathic intracranial hypertension; insulin resistance; interstitial lung disease; leucopenia; metabolic syndrome; osteoporosis; paralysis; pulmonary embolism; QT interval prolongation; seizure; severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs); skin reactions; spinal fracture; thrombocytopenia; urinary tract obstruction; vulvovaginal infection

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/nafarelin/

Common or very common

Artificial menopause; breast abnormalities; chest pain; depression; dyspnoea; emotional lability; headaches; hirsutism; hot flush; hypersensitivity; hypertension; hypotension; insomnia; myalgia; oedema; oestrogen deficiency; paraesthesia; rhinitis; seborrhoea; sexual dysfunction; skin reactions; uterine haemorrhage; vulvovaginal dryness; weight changes

Uncommon

Alopecia; arthralgia; ovarian cyst (may require discontinuation)

Frequency not known

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome; palpitations; vision blurred

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/triptorelin/

Common or very common

Anxiety; asthenia; depression; diabetes mellitus; dizziness; dry mouth; embolism; gastrointestinal discomfort; gynaecomastia; haemorrhage; headache; hot flush; hyperhidrosis; hypersensitivity; hypertension; joint disorders; menstrual cycle irregularities; mood altered; muscle complaints; nausea; oedema; ovarian and fallopian tube disorders; pain; painful sexual intercourse; pelvic pain; sexual dysfunction; skin reactions; sleep disorders; weight changes

Uncommon

Alopecia; appetite abnormal; asthma exacerbated; chills; confusion; constipation; diarrhoea; drowsiness; dyspnoea; flatulence; gout; muscle weakness; taste altered; testicular disorders; tinnitus; vertigo; vision disorders; vomiting

Rare or very rare

Abnormal sensation in eye; chest pain; difficulty standing; fever; hypotension; influenza like illness; musculoskeletal stiffness; nasopharyngitis; orthopnoea; osteoarthritis; QT interval prolongation

Frequency not known

Angioedema; malaise

Someon up thread asked for a link. As far as i can see this tweet has been deleted.

But as scrolling through this X account was mind numbing (who has the time to tweet so often) I may have missed it.

(Hadn't realised the nurses asking for women only changing rooms had become such a popular target for TRAs.)

https://x.com/natachakennedy

I'm impressed that you gave it a go!

It's no surprise that it got deleted. Definitely an own goal. D'oh.

(Interesting stuff about the nurses. Also not a huge surprise but useful to hear what's getting traction out there in TRA land)

Apologies if this has already been said (scanned the thread and can't see it). To those thinking along FOI lines, I think the vast majority (90%+) of medical trials in the UK are now publicly registered (heard a R4 show involving the academic who had campaigned for this). Where and how you access them I don't know but wiser Mumsnetters involved in medical research will probably be along shortly.