Gender Dysphoria, Sexual Orientation and Pharmaceutical Drugs

Gender dysphoria can be an extremely distressing condition for those affected. It can lead to low self-esteem, becoming withdrawn or socially isolated, to depression and anxiety, and personal neglect. It is described by the UK's National Health Service as"

            ".... is a term that describes a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. This sense of unease or dissatisfaction may be so intense it can lead to depression and anxiety and have a harmful impact on daily life."

It is certainly a relatively new condition. According to Wikipedia, it once had the diagnostic label of "gender identity disorder (GID), but was renamed in 2013 in order to remove the stigma associated with the term 'disorder'.

            "Gender identity disorder first appeared as a diagnosis in 1980, where it appeared under "psychosexual disorders" but the term was used only for the childhood diagnosis. Adolescents and adults received a diagnosis of transsexualism (homosexual, heterosexual, or asexual type)."

 

The controversial debate now happening around the condition makes the situation far worse. It is usually concerned with how trans people should be treated. Should their condition be recognised? Should children be treated for the condition, either to reverse or to confirm or support it? And should trans women be allowed to complete with women in sport? 

 

All these issues should be discussed, but if this is all we discuss the debate about gender dysphoria is both insufficient and inadequate - because it leaves out one crucially important question.

What is the cause? 

The NHS cannot answer this question, stating that "the exact cause of gender dysphoria is unclear". This is the general position of conventional medicine; and as regular readers of this blog, and my "Iatrogenic Disease" E-Book, will know that this statement always makes me suspicious that pharmaceutical drugs might be playing an important causative role.

Wikipedia confirms conventional medicine's 'non-explanation' saying that, "the specific causes of gender dysphoria remain unknown" but then suggests that "genetic factors play a role", and that gender identity "is thought to likely reflect a complex interplay of biological, environmental, and cultural factors". This suggestion succeeds only in making me even more suspicious of the role of drugs!

Gender dysphoria is a new condition and so cannot be genetic! A similar explanation is frequently used for the Autism epidemic, a condition unheard of until the 1940's. So where did these genes come from? Why have they suddenly appeared? Why does conventional medicine not explain?

There may, of course, be other factors at play that has brought trans issues to the fore, such as pollution, radiation, electro-smog, and much else. But what do we know about pharmaceutical drugs to suggest they might play a role? Actually, we know much more than we might imagine!

First, I have written on this subject before, in "Transgender. Sexual Identity. What role are pharmaceutical drugs playing in this? in January 2017 - over 5 years ago. It referenced three articles from the Rxisk website that raised the issue, and spoke specifically about SSRI antidepressants.

            "Given what we know about enduring sexual problems caused by SSRIs, it is reasonable to wonder how a prenatal or childhood exposure would affect a person’s long-term development and functioning. No studies have ever been done to investigate whether children exposed to psychotropic drugs either directly, or during pregnancy, grow up to have an unaffected sexuality."

The information in this blog, and the three references, are worth reading again. What follows is additional information that supports possible links.

For instance, one of my homeopathic colleagues has made a clinical observation that gender dysmorphia can be caused by Risperidone (an antipsychotic drug).

            "It came to my attention that Risperidone can cause gender dysmorphia in some boys. I have several of these cases under my care and I’d never thought to do a Risperidone detox on them up until now. Honestly, our children are being assaulted from so many angles right now that it’s hard to keep up with all the potential threats."

This clinical experience can be certainly be confirmed elsewhere. The drug company Johnson & Johnson was sued in 2012, and settled "out of court", after their antipsychotic drug, Risperidal caused young boys to grow breasts, "some as large as 'D' cup". Five years later, in 2017, the company was sued by over 1,000 men who claimed their antipsychotic drug caused them to grow breasts. These articles demonstrate that Risperidone/Risperidal (it's the same drug) has been promoted for many years, with young boys being specifically targeted.

The Rxisk link with painkillers has also been supported. In 2018, the Daily Mail ran an article in which a man claimed that painkilling drugs "turned him gay". He claimed that he was "a hot-blooded heterosexual and enjoyed dating women before he started taking Pregabalin (Lyrica), but that "he quickly lost his sexual attraction to women and broke up with his girlfriend of six months when prescribed the drug earlier this year." He said that it was only after he started taking Pregabalin, the painkiller highlighted, that his sexual preferences began to change.

The adverse reactions caused by Pregabalin or Lyrica is outlined in the Drugs.com website, and include both the loss of libido, and breast enlargement. In their advice, doctors are warned that the drug causes 'genitouinary issues', such as urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, impotence, sexual dysfunction, dysmenorrhoea, breast pain, anorgasmia, albuminuria, dysuria, leukorrhoea, menorrhagia, metrorrhagia, amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, metrorrhagia, and much else. 

We do not need to know all the intimate details of these complicated-sounding conditions to reach the conclusion that this painkilling drug can do something to upset our sexual functioning.

There is also some medical studies that link pharmaceutical drugs with sexual orientation. This USA longitudinal study has demonstrated the association, finding that adolescents with a 'minority sexual orientation' (eg., lesbian, gay and bisexual) are more likely to use more substances (including both 'recreational' and prescription drug use) than their heterosexual peers. The study suggested further research they described as 'essential' - for developing interventions that were critically needed to reduce drug use in this population.

This research is dated May 2010, and there has, to my knowledge, been no such research undertaken in the intervening years.

This is typical of the strategy so often adopted by the conventional medical establishment. Whenever there appears to be a problem with pharmaceutical drugs, it is ignored, there is no further investigation, presumably on the basis of not rocking a profitable boat! Even if there are honest medical scientists out there who might want to look further into this they are unlikely to get the funding to do so. 

Denial is an important element of pharmaceutical medicine!

Another study was published two years earlier, April 2008, "Sexual Orientation and Adolescent Substance Use: a meta-analysis and methodological review". The study found that the odds of Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual youth using substances were, on average, 190% higher than for heterosexual youth.

Another study, published in December 2016, "The Connection between Sexual Orientation and Substance Abuse" made similar findings. The substances that were abused included:

• the misuse of prescription opioids,
• the misuse of prescription tranquillisers,
• the misuse of prescription stimulants,
• the misuse of prescription sedatives.

There are many people, aware of changes to their sexual orientation, who have made the link with pharmaceutical drugs. There is even a website, "The Asexual and Visibility and Education Network", a discussion forum, devoted to the sharing of these experiences. It is interesting to read some of the discussion, and the experience so many have had with pharmaceutical drugs, without being entirely confident about making the association.

So to what extent is conventional medical literature aware that pharmaceutical drugs may play a role in our sexuality, including sexual orientation, and perhaps even gender dysphoria? 

It is limited. The UK's NHS website concurs that "certain medicines can sometimes reduce libido", these including:

• medicine for high blood pressure,
• many types of antidepressants,
• medicine for seizures (fits),
• medicines called antipsychotics,
• medicine for prostate cancer,
• hormonal contraception.

Conventional medical literature shows that the evidence is available. It is well know that many pharmaceutical drugs cause erectile problems, with this Medline Plus website providing a very long list of drugs that do so. And there are a plethora of websites that provide similar warnings, for example, "Drugs that affect sexual pleasure and desire", and  "Seven drugs that can wreck your sex life", and a web search will bring up many, many more.

So conventional medicine is aware of the association between pharmaceutical drugs and our sexuality, but uninterested is making any broader, more fundamental connections. It is not willing to admit the possibility that the drugs they use may be the cause of changes in sexual orientation, and gender dysphoria? We may well ask, though, armed with this knowledge, they are still able to claim that their cause is 'unknown'.

Any link could easily be researched. But I suspect that it won't be. The pharmaceutical industry, and their captive organisations (WHO, national drug regulators, conventional medical science, and national health providers around the world) should be telling us, but they don't as it would be against their vested business interests to do so!

So the cause of sexual orientation and gender dysphoria will remain 'unknown' for many years to come. And if we are not prepared to recognise the cause, we will have to watch as society continues to tear itself apart with the consequences.

So allow me to remind you of the conclusion to my blog, published over 5 years ago. It remains germane!

            ".... as the evidence of a link between pharmaceutical drugs and sexual identity issues is becoming compelling, the pharmaceutical industry is engaged in a massive cover-up, alongside its friends and allies. (We) are, however, pushing up against very powerful and influential forces, whose power and influence depends upon their continuing and ongoing ability to sell drugs, regardless of the harm they cause to patients, or, as it would seem, even the future of the human race!