I know what I feel about this, but I won't put my 'shadow' on the info provided. I did find it extremely informative as a 'window', looking in on the medical justifications behind what can happen to infants with an IS condition.

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1702.htm

__________________
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

Hi Wyn,

I have always found the "eMedicine" articles on intersex to be of interest. I know that when I was trying to sort things out, Dana sent me many links to various intersex articles, and many of them were on "eMedicine". I believe that a Dr. Bruce Jenkins wrote several of the articles. I discovered much about 5-ARD on that site, and as I was born with a vaginal opening, and viralizied at puberty, there is a strong possibility that I have some form of 5-ARD. One thing that still has me wondering is that I was also born with congenital hip dysplasia, and in the old days many people believed that intersex conditions were sometimes associated with such hip conditions. However, I have not been able to find out anything on the internet about the possible connection. Most internet articles about congenital hip displasia are about the canine variety.

I think that we have to be careful to make a distinction between medical knowledge and how that knowledge is used to justify medical practices. I am sure that is an issue that you can appreciate from reading your post. I think that the topic of medical practices is highly cultural in the area of intersex treatment. The "crude" (but often well performed) surgeries on the Hijra men\women of India are based upon voluntary consent and a cultural support network. In the United States, voluntary consent does not generally exist for intersex people, and cultural support is very limited beyond this forum.

Peter

Dear Peter,

Various types of testosterone (and some estrogen, too!) bio-synthesis "anomalies" are associated with fetal/congenital and post-neonatal bone structure development. Intrinsic factors to include disruptions of calcium and magnesium metabolism are often found in many types of hypogonadism and conditions that involve imbalances in sex hormones. Most often, one thinks of estrogen and testosterone, but progesterone plays a major role in both male and female.
The 2nd link below briefly describes such in relation to hip dysplasia. The 1st link has many abstracts etc inre same. I don't have time today to go into further research, but I wanted to offer some guidelines etc....so I guess that will keep you busy, in case you have a 'boring" week-end

I, myself, have had osteoporosis (preceded, most likely by osteopenia) and osteoarthritis, I say had because it appears both are getting better and symptoms have dramatically abated.

The thing to remember is that the balance between (and not individual level of) each hormone (sex, growth etc) in the holistic sense is what is to be considered when determining what is "normal" for each individual. In some intersexed conditions, I believe, that what doctors' charts and tables say is normal for "standard" male and female will not apply and may be useless or do harm when the individual is subjected to a "normalizing" hormonal regimen.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...m.cgi?id=142700


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...st_uids=1499231

Take care.

PS: Some interesting research material on progesterone:
Please keep in mind that this hormone is relevant to both male (except for breast and uterus) and female, and is, in my opinion, especially relevant in some intersexed conditions where musculo-skeletal and neuro-muscular development is compromised.

www.ijpc.com/_pdf/progest.pdf

Hi Dana,

Thanks for the links. I really appreciate all of the research that you did on this topic. The last link was most helpful.

It's interesting to read that new research on the developmental impact of Progesterone levels on the brain and bone indicates that there is the possibility that Progesterone levels influenced both my brain's gender development and my congenital hip dysplasia. At this point, it is not clear if Progesterone levels could have played any direct role in the formation of my atypical genitals. In the past, all that I had to go on was the Bergman movie "Fanny and Alaxander" were the hermaphrodite character sits in a sling unable to walk. I am thankful that I received treatments that allowed me to walk.

Peter