Ever Wonder What Cross Gender Hormones Does To Your Body?

There was an article that was posted on the WPATH Facebook page about the effects of cross gender hormones and puberty blockers. The research was limited to children and adolescents,

Research Blog – Use of Puberty Blocking Medications in the Treatment of Gender Dysphoria: A Clinical Research Review
IMPACT Program: Northwestern University
Posted on December 18th
By Laura in Featured

Puberty blocking medication is a gender affirming medical treatment available to support the healthy development of transgender adolescents. By halting puberty, puberty blocking medications have been shown to reduce gender dysphoria (e.g., discomfort with sex characteristics) and promote mental health
[…]
… As a result, gender clinics specializing in providing medical care to transgender individuals are offering cross-sex hormone therapy at younger ages (16-18 years old) [3, 4]. In addition, a number of doctors are now prescribing puberty blockers to adolescents with strong physical dysphoria that persists or emerges with the onset of puberty…

The conclusions that the study found were,

In addition to blocking the effects of puberty on primary and secondary sex characteristics, GnRH analogs also prevent other changes associated with puberty including growth spurts and increases in bone density. Adolescents continue to grow in height while on GnRH analogs, but this growth is not as fast as during puberty. With appropria te dosing and monitoring, youth who start cross-sex hormones following puberty blockers reach a final height in the range associated with their affirmed gender rather than their sex assigned at birth. Research also has shown that delays in bone density generally reverse after puberty is resumed or cross-sex hormones are administered. In addition, studies have consistently found that GnRH analogs do not impact body proportions or body mass index (e.g., weight in relation to height). Nonetheless, endocrinology treatment guidelines recommend regular testing of height (every 3 months), bone density, and bone age (every 6 months). While receiving GnRH analogs, hormone, glucose, and insulin levels are also monitored along with liver and renal function. This is to confirm that the GnRH analogs are being appropriately processed by the body and are not having any negative effects on other body systems..

While psychologically they reported that,

In an additional follow up study, 55 of these 70 adolescents were re-assessed in early adulthood, an average of 6 years after this initial start of puberty blockers, 4 years after starting cross-sex hormones, and 1.5 years since gender affirmation surgery (vaginoplasty or mastectomy and hysterectomy) [25]. Based on results from standardized measures, the authors concluded that this process of medical gender transition is successful at both eliminating gender dysphoria and reducing emotional distress. The authors also noted that no participants experienced regrets about transitioning, few reported experiences of victimization (11%), many regarded their social transition as “easy” (71%), and all reported being fairly to very satisfied with outcomes.

I think that this is an important report because it show that medically the results of puberty blockers are fully reversible and has no long term medical side effects, and also psychologically help the patients.