Ethical Considerations in Relation to Allowing Children with Gender Dysphoria to Begin HRT Before the Age of 18?

What happens if you take HRT before puberty?

Because feminizing hormone therapy might reduce your fertility, you’ll need to make decisions about future childbearing before starting treatment. The risk of permanent infertility increases with long-term use of hormones, especially when hormone therapy is initiated before puberty.

How do you deal with pre transition gender dysphoria?

Coping and support

  1. Mental health care. You might see a mental health professional to explore your gender, talk about relationship issues, or talk about any anxiety or depression you’re experiencing.
  2. Support groups. …
  3. Prioritizing self-care. …
  4. Meditation or prayer. …
  5. Getting involved.

Does HRT help gender dysphoria?

Feminizing hormone therapy helps male-to-female transgender individuals (transwomen) achieve a more feminine appearance. It uses anti-androgens to block male hormones. Taking estrogen and progestin helps you develop breasts, softer skin, rounder hips and more.

How do you deal with gender dysphoria FTM?

Exercise – a healthy amount of exercise can improve your mood. Do what you like – dance your heart out in your bedroom, do some yoga, ride a bike, go to circus classes, use the local park gym equipment, or look up exercises that will shape your body in ways that could reduce your dysphoria.

Can you start HRT before puberty?

If used in an adolescent, hormone therapy typically begins at age 16. Ideally, treatment starts before the development of secondary sex characteristics so that teens can go through puberty as their identified gender. Gender affirming hormone therapy is not typically used in children.

Can puberty cause gender dysphoria?

Additionally, while some transgender adolescents have shown gender non-conformity since early childhood, other adolescents might experience gender dysphoria during or after the onset of pubertal physical changes. Some adolescents may have kept their gender incongruence to themselves for a long time.

Can hormones cause gender dysphoria?

The exact causes of gender dysphoria are not entirely understood, but several factors may play a role. Genetics, hormonal influences during prenatal development, and environmental factors may be involved. The onset of gender dysphoria is often during early childhood.

What are the side effects of HRT?

What Are the Side Effects of Hormone Replacement Therapy?

  • Bloating.
  • Breast swelling or tenderness.
  • Headaches.
  • Mood changes.
  • Nausea.
  • Vaginal bleeding.

How do you start a transition MTF without hormones?

It is possible for a person to transition without the use of hormones. A person can transition socially by changing their appearance and name to better express their gender identity. There are several plants, herbs, and food that are high in estrogen, or that have anti-androgen properties.

Can you start estrogen at 13?

Doctors can prescribe estrogen or testosterone at gradually higher amounts to mimic the puberty of the female or male gender. The Endocrine Society recommends that kids start taking these hormones around age 16, but doctors will start them as early as 13 or 14.

What happens if a male takes estrogen before puberty?

Similarly, if someone born with male genitalia were to start estrogen therapy before puberty, it could stifle the growth spurt that boys undergo during this time, thus resulting in stunted height for the transgender youth who identify as female.

How old do you have to be to take testosterone FTM UK?

Testosterone therapy is not usually provided to under-18s on the NHS, with the effects of hormones during puberty being stopped by GnRH agonists until the age of 18 when testosterone therapy can be commenced.

How do you get puberty blockers?

How do kids receive puberty blockers? Puberty blockers are administered by a healthcare provider through injections or an implant that goes under the skin. In order for puberty blockers to keep working, injections must be received monthly or every few months, and implants have to be replaced yearly.

Can gender dysphoria go away?

It found that 84 percent of kids with gender dysphoria eventually desisted, or came to feel comfortable with their birth-assigned gender.

Can you take hormone blockers at 18?

The GIDS recommend that young people take puberty blockers until reaching 16 years of age or having taken puberty blockers for 12 months before considering other medical procedures. After taking puberty blockers, a person may start taking estrogen or testosterone hormones.

Do puberty blockers affect the brain?

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.

Do puberty blockers stop periods?

Puberty blockers (also called suppressors) are medications that delay the changes that come with sexual maturity. These medications can stop menstrual periods and the growth of breasts, or stop the deepening of the voice and the growth of facial hair.

How does gender dysphoria affect the brain?

It is known that the structure of male and female brains differs; it is found that people with gender dysphoria have a brain structure more comparable to the gender to which they identify.

Do puberty blockers help mental health?

After one year, we found that young people who began puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones were 60% less likely to be depressed and 73% less likely to have thoughts about self-harm or suicide compared to youth who hadn’t started these medications.

What age can you start puberty blockers?

For most children, puberty begins around ages 10 to 11, though puberty sometimes starts earlier. The effect of pubertal blockers depends on when a child begins to take the medication. GnRH analogue treatment can begin at the start of puberty to delay secondary sex characteristics.

Can you take puberty blockers at 14?

The longer blockers are used past the typical start of puberty — generally age 14, at the latest — the greater the possible risk. When blockers are initiated in the early stages of puberty, Dr. Rosenthal typically suggests that his patients stop using them by age 14.

What are the long term effects of puberty blockers?

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.

What are the consequences of early puberty?

Apart from just cutting a girl’s physical childhood short, early puberty is linked to consequences that can reverberate throughout her life. It’s linked to greater risk for breast cancer, teen pregnancy, HPV, heart disease, diabetes, and all-cause mortality, which is the risk of dying from any cause.

What is early puberty called?

Overview. Precocious puberty is when a child’s body begins changing into that of an adult (puberty) too soon. When puberty begins before age 8 in girls and before age 9 in boys, it is considered precocious puberty.