What Are Puberty Blockers Used By Elon Musk’s Trans Child? Who Are They Prescribed To? – News18

Tesla CEO Elon Musk had said in an interview that he was “tricked” into giving consent for his trans-child, Vivian Wilson, to go on “puberty blockers”. He said he also thinks “the woke mind virus” figuratively killed his son.

Vivian came out as transgender in June 2022 when he was 18 years old and he filed a request to change his name from Xavier to Vivian and take her mother’s last name. “I no longer want to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form,” Vivian had reportedly said.

It is believed that Musk’s pledge to take on the “woke” was the main reason for his decision to move SpaceX headquarters from California to Texas after Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law barring school districts from notifying parents if their child uses different pronouns or identifies as a gender that’s different from what’s on school records.

What are Puberty Blockers?

They delay transformation that comes with puberty in transgender and gender-diverse youth.

During adolescence, hormone production increases, leading to secondary sexual characteristics such as facial hair and breasts. The irreversible, slow-motion physiological changes can be emotionally and mentally disturbing, leading to depression, social withdrawal, self-harm and a risk of suicide.

Hormonal medications called gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHas), often referred to as puberty blockers, temporarily halt the production of sex hormones testosterone, estrogen and progesterone with minimal side effects.

“Puberty blockers are sort of like a man-made hormone analogue, and basically what they do is fool the brain into not sending messages to the ovaries and testes to secrete hormones,” said Dr Michelle Forcier, a professor of pediatrics at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Rhode Island, to CNN.

Puberty-blocking medications are part of a class of hormonal therapies that include birth control pills, treatments for menopause symptoms, treatments for certain kinds of cancer, and more.

Who are Prescribed Puberty Blockers?

Blockers are usually prescribed once puberty has already begun, and the process involves evaluations by multiple doctors, including mental health practitioners.

They are usually prescribed to individuals going through gender dysphoria: a discrepancy between the sex they were assigned at birth and the gender that matches who they are.

Experts say the biological changes in adolescents questioning their gender assigned at birth could cause distress and worsen their mental health.

The puberty blockers stop the body from producing sex hormones. In people assigned male at birth, the medications can temporarily halt voice deepening, growth of facial hair, and arrest the growth of the testes or penis.

What Impact Does It Have On Adolescents?

Medication that pauses puberty, specifically, has the power to prevent a mental health crisis, making the treatment a “profoundly meaningful intervention” for a young person and their family, says Meredithe McNamara, an adolescent medicine physician at the Yale School of Medicine, as quoted in an article by ScientificAmerica. “Puberty-blocking treatment is probably one of the most compassionate things that a parent can consent to for a transgender child.” It allows transgender children and their families the opportunity to weigh their options carefully, without the constant pressure of physical changes, she says.

If a teen decides not to transition and stops taking puberty blockers, the hormones their body produces on its own will cause puberty to resume. If they decide to move forward with a medical gender transition, they may take some combination of hormones—estrogen for feminising effects or testosterone for masculinising effects—to experience puberty that aligns with their gender.

These drugs can ease anxiety and depression, improve social interactions, and keep away thoughts or actions of self-harm. It can also prevent the need for future gender-affirming surgeries, as per Mayo Clinic.

Side effects could also include weight gain, hot flashes, headaches and shifts in mood, as per Mayo Clinic.

Experts also say there is a risk of infertility if children directly go from puberty blockers to hormone therapy, reported CNN.