It’s All Connected

Christians and those who follow traditional Hebrew theology understand very basic principles. God made us. God made us in His image. We cannot change the form or spirit in which He made us. To think otherwise would be to put ourselves above God and put us at odds with His Will.

I spent the last few days asking several endocrinologists and one Christian Psychiatrist (surely an endangered species she) about the connection between depression and transgenderism. What comes first. Does the depression cause one to not like themselves and then want to change their form? Or does the change cause the depression. The answer as it always is in psychiatry is both apparently. When one no longer likes who they are they seek ways of changing their form. Most transgender patients were clinically depressed—for more than one reason, before they even entertained thoughts of using hormones or surgery to change their form. Almost always their depression never improves or gets worse. The underlying disease or cause is the loss of self-esteem that leads to depression. To treat the symptoms without addressing the underlying causes has the potential of causing great harm.

But here are some nuts and bolts about transgender therapy that need to be explored. Unfortunately like many aspects of medicine today the good of the patient is taking a back seat to revenue streams and profit margins. One endocrinologist told me recently that once you have a transgender patient you “have them for life” and that most of them become dependent on their medications. An initial consultation fee can be up to $18,000 and that is without surgery. Maintenance therapy has been estimated to be a similar amount on a per year basis. That is big money for providers and clinicians. But it is also big money for pharmaceutical companies and medical supply companies.

Testosterone levels are measured usually by measuring Free Testosterone (Free T) that in normal males runs between 50-150 picogram %. The cheapest and most used form of testosterone supplementation is with an IM dose that is given as a bolus—in some cases to last several weeks. The peak testosterone levels after a bolus injection are many times higher than the normal range. Aggression is so common after this type of dosing that it is considered a “side effect” and not an adverse reaction. Oral testosterone comes with the serious side effect of hepatic toxicity and is seldom given. Testosterone gels are used but also have the potential of abuse and over treatment. Testosterone is also used I am told to treat decreased libido in females and in males and when used inappropriately also is known to cause rage reactions.

Surges and peaks in testosterone levels when given to males or females for any reason are seldom talked about. Combine these well-known side effects with chronic and acute swings in symptoms of depression and the result can be a predictable psychotic episode where reality and hope have been hidden from the soul of an individual who only from the very beginning was seeking validation of their own uniqueness. Knowing that you were made by God in His image, and loved by God is a validation that no medication, surgery, or medical intervention can provide to a patient lost in despair.

We are called on to love the sinner, not the sin. We are warned not to cast stones at others and to attend to the logs in our own eyes, and we are warned that how we judge others will be how we will ultimately be judged ourselves. The moral predicate for all the Christian Social justice movements of the last 250 years has been a recognition of self-based on man’s being created in the image of God. Abolition and slavery, suffrage and women’s rights, workers’ rights and children’s rights all stand on the same moral principle. The people who in my life have chosen to live an “alternative” lifestyle are appalled at the transgender movement precisely because modern day transgenderism fails to acknowledge the uniqueness of the individual in both physical and spiritual forms. By changing one’s unique physical and spiritual nature, we pretend that we are not unique. Only God can create our unique natures, and by thinking we can alter our nature we are pretending to be our own god.

My argument today is with medical professionals and organizations who perpetuate the great evil of transgenderism—which has been around since the beginning of time. They do it out of a perceived benevolence. Like so many actions grounded in empathy and sympathy—instead of true compassion, great harm is being done. The soul of the medical professions—at least those so called “experts” who made many decisions during the Covid pandemic was exposed for embracing an empty bubble of humanism. We see it in the changes that the profession has undergone specifically on issues pertaining to end of life and the unborn baby boys and girls in our world. Professional organizations and large hospital systems that are standing in solidarity with the “trans-movement” have lost their moral centers. Dehumanization of the individual was part of many of the “isms” of the 20^th century, including the Holocaust and the great famines in Europe and China. The medical bureaucracies in governments stood by then as they are standing by today. Faith in God. A strong family. And an understanding of our own uniqueness and our responsibility to exercise the great gift of free will and liberty judiciously leads not to temporary happiness, but to eternal JOY.