I have read here on the archive that Klinefelter's Syndrome causes boys to not start puberty without medical intervention. I just looked up Klinefelter's Syndrome on Wikipedia and there was no mention of the need for medical care to start puberty. Is the Wikipedia article wrong?

Don't trust everything you see on Wikipedia.

In everything I've read about KS, medical intervention to initiate puberty, as well as HRT to maintain T levels, IS required.

Paolo wrote: Sat May 31, 2008 4:54 am Don't trust everything you see on Wikipedia.

In everything I've read about KS, medical intervention to initiate puberty, as well as HRT to maintain T levels, IS required.

Do you know what percentage of KS boys decide not to start puberty? What is the average age at which KS boys start puberty?

curious_guy (imported) wrote: Sat May 31, 2008 4:26 am I have read here on the archive that Klinefelter's Syndrome causes boys to not start puberty without medical intervention. I just looked up Klinefelter's Syndrome on Wikipedia and there was no mention of the need for medical care to start puberty. Is the Wikipedia article wrong?

From reading medical literature, Wikipedia is wrong.

The cause is the presence of an extra X chromosome (resulting in 47 chromosomes, rather the normal 46). Keep in mind that the authors to Wikipedia are not necessarily experts on what they write about.

Klinefelter's Syndrome requires HRT to begin the process of physical maturation. Since the testes do not produce testosterone, HRT has to be on-going. Typically, those with Klinefelter's Syndrome are also infertile.

See more information at NIH's page on Klinefelter's Syndrome (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/ ... ndrome.cfm) and The University of Utah's page on Klinefelter's Syndrome (http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/units/di ... linefelter).

-YC

curious_guy (imported) wrote: Sat May 31, 2008 6:52 am Do you know what percentage of KS boys decide not to start puberty? What is the average age at which KS boys

YankeeClipper (imported) wrote: Sat May 31, 2008 12:33 pm start puberty?

If and

when HRT is started. Since Klinefelter's Syndrome requires on-going HRT, I think there are at least a few that elect not to go onto HRT.

Do we have any members that have Klinefelter's Syndrome? If you have it, any information you can provide would be useful.

-YC

Klinefelter's syndrom are the manifestions of the result of having an extra "X" chromosome in males, i.e. "XXY". (There are also "XXY" females.)

These can include gynomastia, delayed puberty, no facial or body hair, rounded body type, soprano singing voice, and a few other conditions but it does not always include all of them and sometimes it isn't even readily noticeable at all. In fact puberty may begin earlier than others but almost always does not last like the "others" with the result of having a slighter frame, less muscles and so forth.

Almost the one and only tell tale sign is that of having smaller than normal testicles. Also not having mobile sperm, but even that isn't even always the case.

However with a microscope the extra "X" chromosome can always be discerned. You have to scrape the inner lining of your cheeks, put it on a slide along with a little food color and search for something called "Barr bodies" which are appendages of unused DNA. With the right color those things can actually glow beautifully. About 400x is the best magnification.

However delayed puberty is not one of the symptoms of Klinefelter's syndrom and in fact with many of such individuals puberty may begin earlier and then last later with very little testosterone involved with the result of growing longer leg and arm limbs than normal. But most "XXY" males do not have that either.

"

YankeeClipper (imported) wrote: Sat May 31, 2008 12:39 pm

YankeeClipper (imported) [/quote] wrote:Sat May 31, 2008 12:33 pm Klinefelter's Syndrome requires HRT to begin the process of physical maturation. Since the testes do not produce testosterone, HRT has to be on-going.

"

This is not true. XXY males with Klinefelter's vary greatly in the severity of symptoms they display. Some XXY males may not have low T at all; some may have only moderately low levels of T; and some may be flat-out hypogonadic. Each case is unique, generally.

You can read up at XXYtalk.com website. There is LOTS of information in the forums there.

"

YankeeClipper (imported) wrote: Sat May 31, 2008 12:33 pm Typically, those with Klinefelter's Syndrome are also infertile.

"

True, though some XXY males do father children, even some that were told they would be infertile.

I have Klinefelter's syndrom. I am an XXY male. I began puberty early (possibly due to the extra estrogen that Klinefelter's can also give). I was eleven when I first began noticing black hairs on my upper lip at the corners of my mouth. At twelve it was starting to get noticeable plus my the hair on my head started changing from straight shoe shine black to wavy-curly less of a black with Asian like reddish highlights that glistened in the sun. Throughout high school hell, I had a moustache at the corners of my mouth which I rarely would shavesince it grew back too slow but instead I would put mascara on it to make it look more prominent. None of this ever grew much over a centimeter long. I also had hair on my chin but no sideburns or anything under my chin. In school and in college it was known that I had barr bodies by some as in, "We always knew you were really a GIRL!" Later in my twenties, I went to the doctor about a pain in between my shoulder blades. He diagnosed my condition (which I did know about but really didn't care). He also told me to take notice of the size of my wrists and to compare them with other people. He told me that I was overdeveloped for my frame size and that I should neither be working or eating as much as folks with bigger size wrists that I have and that I should probably work in an office or something. Another time later on, I had gotten tendonitis in my wrist and couldn't figure out why it kept swelling. I had to go to a different doctor. He also figured out my condition but this doctor decided that I needed to take steroids for my wrist to heal and that I should have taken them earlier on. I have since thought about this and I have to totally disagree with the notion we should take steroids in order to "be like the rest". This notion of all of us having to get in line and march simply has to go. If we're different then we're different and we all don't have to be the same and then have to be completely be harassed if we can't. Today as far as my stature is concerned, I am and have always been the shortest of my brothers and my dad. Despite being husky earlier on, I was only 110 lbs at high school graduation.