Puberty blockers — also called hormone blockers — delay or stop puberty-related changes in your body. With parents' consent, some doctors prescribe puberty blockers to trans patients at the first sign of puberty. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is also called gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT).
These puberty-blocking drugs postpone the process by suppressing gonadotropin hormone release. They include: Lupron (leuprolide), a monthly or once-every-three-months intramuscular injection. Fensolvi, a different leuprolide injection administered subcutaneously every six months.
Risks of withholding puberty blockers
Health care providers refusing to provide puberty blockers to youth can cause additional distress, and may lead to anxiety and depression. Withholding puberty blockers and hormone therapy is not a neutral option and can result in an increased risk of mental health issues.
Under 18s. In Australia, trans young people may commence puberty blockers with permission from both carers or guardians, and their doctor. This is usually coordinated through a multi-disciplinary team, when available.
Medical practitioners seeing patients under the age of 18 are unable to initiate puberty blockers or gender affirming hormonal treatment without first ascertaining whether or not a child's parents or legal guardians consent to the proposed treatment.
Pubertal blockers are available as an injection or as an implant which is placed under the skin. These medications are effective for anyone regardless of gender. They can be started just after the early physical changes of puberty, but are sometimes used in older adolescents who have gone through puberty.
to be linked to a suppression of the activity of neurons involved in releasing a hormone that triggers the ovulation process (menstruation). The researchers concluded that these results suggest that vitamin D may inhibit early pubertal onset and/or the rapid progression of puberty.
But it's perfectly normal for puberty to begin at any point between the ages of 8 and 13 in girls and 9 and 14 in boys. 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.
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.
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.
A puberty blocker safely and reversibly pauses puberty, allowing time for gender identity to be further explored and solidified in a trans or gender-diverse youth. "Puberty blockers generally will stop a period," she says.
These drugs suppress your child's sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) during puberty. The most common puberty blockers include: Goserelin (Zoladex) Histrelin (Supprelin LA)
Melatonin is known to inhibit pubertal onset in normal children. At pubertal time, its level shows sharp decline (75% of its level). It is believed that this decline allows the surge of the hypothalamic GnRH and the start of cascade of pubertal changes.
Cross-Sex Hormones
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.
Puberty blockers are only given to children who have started puberty. For a child who is assigned female at birth, Dr. Cartaya says puberty typically starts between the ages of 8 and 13. For a child who was assigned male at birth, the range is between 9 and 14.
Puberty is usually a question of when, not if. 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.
Most often, delayed puberty is a pattern of growth and development in a family. A child's parents, uncle, aunt, brothers, sisters, or cousins might have developed later than usual too. This is called constitutional delay and usually doesn't need any treatment.
Most often, it's simply a pattern of growth and development in a family. A guy or girl may find that his or her parent, uncle, aunt, brothers, sisters, or cousins developed later than usual, too. This is called constitutional delay (or being a late bloomer), and it usually doesn't need treatment.
In some cases, medication may be prescribed to stop or slow puberty. Medication to regulate hormone production may be administered through injections or through an implant under your child's skin that releases medicine over time.
Most often, children simply develop later than their peers but ultimately develop normally. Sometimes, delayed puberty is caused by chronic medical problems, hormonal disorders, radiation therapy or chemotherapy, disordered eating or excessive exercise, genetic disorders, tumors, and certain infections.
Conclusions: Final height is influenced by both height and the age of onset of the PGS in normal maturing children. A normal but early puberty exerts a negative effect on final height. A delayed PGS exerts a positive effect on final height.
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.
Jennings is one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender. Jennings received national attention in 2007 when an interview with Barbara Walters aired on 20/20, which led to other high-profile interviews and appearances.
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.