When Lupron was used to 'treat' autism

[PermanentTemporary]

Failed to avoid the US news this evening, and ended up down a rabbit-hole reading about Tr*mp's nomination of the anti-vaccine weirdo RFK as Health Secretary. Not very many links away I found myself reading about Mark Geier and his son, who in the early/mid 00s promoted the use of Lupron to 'treat' autistic children by reducing their testosterone levels, along wuth the bollocks that was 'chelation'. This was rightly regarded as a load of dangerous and damaging nonsense, driven by disablist thinking, and was thoroughly discredited.

Now trying to work out how Lupron got reinstated to 'treat' the 'unwanted puberty' of gender non-conforming and in many cases autistic children a few years later and suddenly it's a great thing. I haven't forgotten Mermaids mentioning that transition could remove symptoms of autism.

Thank you for this thread OP.

I haven't forgotten Mermaids mentioning that transition could remove symptoms of autism.

Blimey 🤯

Just when I thought I'd already reached the depths of this awful medical scandal.

😔

Thousands of autistic children and young people have been let down by those who were ostensibly there to support them. I'm hoping that there will be a mutiny from within autism groups 🤞

I remember a post on X a while ago from Hazel Appelyard where she said that once enough autistic people realise what's going on, they'll be a force to be reckoned with (paraphrased). I agree 💪

This provides one of the most stark examples of people losing their mind - the editors of "Science-Based Medicine", who had a multi-year crusade against Lupron being touted as an autism cure - given how incredibly severe a treatment it is - but are now incredibly gung-ho on using it as a gender cure.

Then:

"Once again, if you’re going to propose doing something as radical as shutting down steroid hormone synthesis in children, you’d better have damned good evidence to justify it, and the Geiers don’t.”"

But now any suggestion that you shouldn't give it to children makes the same people rant about transphobia. There was some kerfuffle with them being very rude about Abigail Shrier's book.

Got to dash out, but here are two pieces I managed to find with some background.

https://www.quackometer.net/blog/2021/07/the-decline-and-fall-of-science-based-medicine.html

https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/science-based-medicines-coverage

I only realised quite recently that Lupron was the "treatment"/punishment when being gay was illegal. Turing was coerced into taking it.

So it's come back in favour for both of its original uses.

I've always found it strange that autism and disability "cures" are absent from the outrage at conversion therapy. I presume actual gay conversion therapy is delivered by fundamentalist leaning religious institutions? Whilst I've not come across that I have known of several children whose parents have had them undertake quack "cures" for autism and various disabilities at their churches. Sometimes it feels as if transgender ideology is just the approved middle class way of expressing the same fears about difference.

I know you mean well, but please don't keep propogating this myth - GnRH analogues ( of which Lupron is one) had not been invented at the time of Turing's death, or for a few yesrs afterwards!

How many purposes has that drug had? And how many lives ruined because of its use and others just like it?

I assume it works as a cancer drug? (Just an assumption )

But so far we also have chemical castration for men, IVF treatments iirc, precocious puberty (much more carefully used now), Autism, and now a pillar in the treatment for body modification for gender identities in children.

Crikey.

Oh apologies! I got it from another thread here, hadn't realised it was incorrect. Lazy on my part.

Hasn’t it been used though to chemically castrate male sex offenders in the past? Or is that another group of drugs ?

This is important. To the best of my scientific knowledge, Alan Turing was given huge doses of diethylstilbestrol. He died in 1954, aged 41 years. The alternative to taking it, for him, was imprisonment.

'Puberty blockers' are GnRH drugs like leuprolide (brand name Lupron). GnRH was discovered in the 1970s and GnRH analogues were introduced for medical uses from 1985 onward.

This is just off the top of my head and I can'tgive a reference atm - a clinical trial was begun for treatment of sex offenders, but discontinued as too many participants dropped out citing the side effects as reason. Participation was voluntary - we don't have court-mandated chemical castration in this country.

There are many reasons why these drugs are a bad idea, but I don't think this useage is a particular reason to discredit them - they are of potential value in any and all circumstances in which blocking hormone production is potentially a good idea, including treatment of some hormonally-driven cancers, treatment of endometriosis (although the stats on that aren't too great either, tbh) treatment of sex offenders etc.

I thought it was used in the USA for a time for male sex offenders. I could well be wrong. In the past I had read articles saying it but it was a long time ago and don’t remember where I read it. No matter.

Re: Turing being treated with DES but subject to posthumous transing (as discussed by Ferguson) and a truly mindblowing re-imagining of the purpose of the synthetic oestrogen.

williamaferguson.substack.com/p/trans-out-your-dead

I was given Lupron to treat endometriosis and it was absolutely the worst time of my entire life. They talked about the 'possible side effects' without explaining that with Lupron you get every single one.

It's completely inappropriate for endometriosis - and I think anyone who prescribes it should have to take it for a few months themselves. Unless you've been on it, it's difficult to describe just how horrible it is.

Here's the article about Lupron and autism from 2009:

www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2009/05/critics_say_lupron_is_no_mirac.html

From this excellent, relevant thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5057269-5057269-puberty-blockers-how-exactly-did-we-get-here?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Thank you for sharing.

An interesting, albeit short, article.

However, I take issue with this first sentence:

No one can fault the parents of autistic children for seeking a cure for their kids.

I don't seek a "cure" for my daughter's autism. I seek ways to help her make sense of the world owing to her autism.

It's a horrible way to describe any disability, that it needs to be "cured" 😔

Oh yes. I can totally agree with you there BonfireLady.
So sorry for that part of it😞
Was adding to the thread from the other thread as it evidences the discussion point. But yes, that does bear pointing out.

All good 😊

I try not to get jumpy on the subject of autism because I'm already aware of how strongly the language is policed.... and how I'm apparently on the "wrong" side of this. I've been called ableist for advocating for resilience in addition to reasonable adjustments, for example. Some people get very angry about the word resilience....

But seeing that opening line on what was otherwise a good little explainer regarding the issue of Lupron and autism. FFS 🤦‍♀️ (that comment is aimed at the article writer, not you!)

It feels as though pharma companies create a drug, or notice potentially useful side effects from a drug, and then set about finding markets for these drugs by promoting them to doctors. Lupron/GnRH is the type of drug that we have learned about most here on FWR but it happens with other medications too.

And in the US it can involve an even more direct form of drug marketing as pharma companies are allowed to advertise prescription drugs on television - every time I see these American ads I'm always amazed that this is considered normal for their society.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30047834/
The present study investigates whether leuprolide acetate (Lupron) adds to the efficacy of traditional sex offender treatment. A group of sex offenders receiving both Lupron and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT; n = 25) were compared with a group of sex offenders receiving only CBT (n = 22). Treated subjects were compared with norms available with reference to the Static-99R, as well as compared with a sample of untreated, nonsexual violent offenders (n = 81), to provide baseline data regarding risk of violent recidivism. Results indicated that subjects receiving Lupron were at significantly higher risk of recidivism and significantly more likely to be diagnosed with a paraphilia than subjects receiving only CBT, a priori. Both treated groups of sexual offenders recidivated at substantially lower rates than predicted by the Static-99R. Currently, this study represents the only, long-term outcome study on Lupron administration using officially recorded recidivism as the primary dependent measure."

https://saarna.org/static-99/
"Static-99R is a ten item actuarial assessment instrument created by R. Karl Hanson, Ph.D. and David Thornton, Ph.D. for use with adult males with a history of sexual offending ... . Static-99R is the most widely used sexual recidivism risk assessment instrument in the world ... ."

In terms of sex offenders only those who are struggling with current sexualised thinking and behaviour that is interfering with their normal functioning (ability to get on with day to day life) are offered medication to help but it’s their choice whether to take it. I don’t know what the medication is though.

No medication should ever be offered to “cure” autism!

While in no way denying that transing the dead is a thing (Joan of Arc anyone?),
it seems a bit unlikely that anyone, even a TRA, who knew about Turing would genuinely think he was taking drugs to transition.

I searched x.com but the account seems to have been deleted and all I can find is reactions to that one post, so I am wondering if it was a bad taste joke that was taken seriously or someone in bad faith stirring.

That's lovely for your daughter, but I believe your daughter is quite high functioning IIRC.

Other people, like my niece, will never be able to live alone, in fact can never be alone - her parents have to keep the door keys on them physically at all times so she does not escape and endanger herself. Her communication is severely limited, she struggles with basic hygiene, needs to be sedated for dental care, and smears menstrual blood on walls.

Her parents don't believe in medicating for the sake of it but would be pretty taken aback that anyone would think an effective treatment would not be welcome.

FWIW, my partner is currently taking Lupron, for cancer. He doesn't love it but it's not been horrible. It's companionable to have hot flashes together now, I suppose.

I'm sorry to hear about your niece. That sounds incredibly tough.

You're right that I had specifically been thinking about someone with autism (or indeed any disability) who is "high functioning" when I wrote my comment.

Personally though, I still wouldn't use the word "cure" when speaking about a disability.

That's fine, and I understand why you would say that, but lots of people with disabilities would love a cure. And would be dismayed if there was, say, no more research on treatments towards that, which seems to be the logical consequence of saying we shouldn't think about curing disability.