Would you give your child growth hormone?

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> School age children

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mumoo

Wed, Mar 28 2007, 9:22 pm

my friend gives her son (from 5 years, he's now nine) an injection nightly. The parents are both under 5 foot and it was determined by spaces between bones, or whatever, that he was a good candidate. The mother reports significant growth. I don't know of anything negative, tho. Interestingly, she is the most natural mother I know - absolutely no artificial anything to eat no antibiotics, no innoculations, etc

otoh, when my 2 months preemie was again the smallest in his second grade class I asked the pediatrician about a growth procedure. She told me she was reluctant to recommend it because it would give ds the idea that his height was a problem and something was wrong with him, that Gd made a mistake-btw, she's not Jewish. He's seventeen now and about 5'4 and till growing, k'h

↑ ny21 ↓

Wed, Mar 28 2007, 9:26 pm

is their a connection with premature babys and how tall they will become?

↑ RN

Wed, Mar 28 2007, 9:29 pm

theres a man he lives in flatbush his names mr entebby, he does some kind of I think it's homeopathic stuff. my aunt is going to him with her 8 year old daughter so that she should grow taller. she said he's boosting her growth hormones.

↑ greenfire

Wed, Mar 28 2007, 10:19 pm

one never really knows ... I have tallish and shortish people in the family ... father is 5'5" brother is 6' ... I think they say it skips a generation and boys take after mothers girls fathers ... but of course ... they really all differ ...

mirisimma

Wed, Mar 28 2007, 10:39 pm

I like being short Smile

its part of my personality. I would have been really annoyed if all of a sudden I was tall. not a professional opinion Smile

Tefila

Wed, Mar 28 2007, 11:28 pm

NOONE should contemplate without researching it throughly something that has tha ability to make one grow can also make the bad stuff grow Exclamation

. I know of a family who had a very short kid and was given the injection and he developed and died from yena machla. Crying

↑ ny21 ↓

Thu, Mar 29 2007, 2:55 pm

I am so sorry .

↑ ny21 ↓

Thu, Mar 29 2007, 3:35 pm

yena machla - Cancer

chocolate moose

Thu, Mar 29 2007, 3:39 pm

Tefilah, that's very sad.

amother ↓

Fri, Mar 30 2007, 3:23 am

I have a baby who was just diagnosed with human growth hormone deficiency, and we now have to start talking about treatments. giving my child hormones is imperative for his development.......he is extremely weak and is not standing or pulling up yet (should have done this a looooooooong time ago). without these hormones, my child does not have much of a chance of developing properly. the hormones with strengthen his bones and muscles, which he desperately needs.

happyone

Fri, Mar 30 2007, 7:57 am

Most doctors these days reserve the Growth Hormone shots to children with true growth hormone deficiency. They don't just give it if you want your child to be 'taller'.
I'm sure you're doing the best thing for your child. The only drawback with the diagnosis growth hormone deficiency is that the bloodwork is inaccurate if the child is malnourished or failure to thrive. If a child is malnourished the blood tests and bone density scans show GHD. As soon as the child gets proper nutrition the tests have been proven to improve with no hormones or treatment.
A child will also have delays and muscle weakness with failure to thrive.
I'm sure you've researched this before trying the hormones. Wishing you success!

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Mar 30 2007, 10:04 am

I have a TON to say on this subject.

My husband has brothers who were low on growth hormones, and received them. They're not tall now, but they're not incredibly short either. My husband was not low on them, but they started giving him experimentally in a test study to see if it would help, but then stopped. He's the shortest of all the boys at a shade under 5'5".

I am very short as well. I was never tested for growth hormones, and never received them either.

My children, genetically, will be short. That's fine and dandy; there is nothing wrong per se with being short. However, there is a chance that they will be low on growth hormones -- especially since it runs in the family -- and in that case they will benefit tremendously from them. They won't be tall, and most likely will be short, but not as short as they would have been due to a deficiency.

For medical reasons, my older son has had a lot of blood work done, and one of the things they noticed was that one of the enzymes that works with growth hormones -- a precursor of what will be -- he was low in. We spoke to my b-I-l who is a pediatric endocronologist, and he said before 2, it means nothing. When he's a bit older, we'll have him tested again, since he is extremely short to begin with, and there is no reason he should be even shorter than what he should be genetically because he is deficient in a hormone. I have a few nieces and nephews starting treatments, and I would barely hesitate to do the same if tests did reveal a growth hormone deficiency.

↑ ny21 ↓

Sat, Mar 31 2007, 9:04 pm

My kids do not need this, but I know a young women who took growth hormone growing up and she did grow .She is healthy .

↑ ny21

Sat, Apr 07 2007, 8:41 pm

I wrote that is called a bone density test
but it is called a
bone age test.

ShiraMiri

Sat, Apr 07 2007, 10:26 pm

If my kids had a growth hormone deficiency, I would 100% give them growth hormones. I know a few kids who have had them and B"H they have grown well and are healthy.

Piper

Sat, Apr 07 2007, 10:55 pm

According to my pediatrician, GH can increase the likelihood of cancer. IMO, that is not worth it. I'd rather my son be short than dead.

Btw, this post is not directed to those who have a growth hormone deficiency.

↑ mimsy7420

Sat, Apr 07 2007, 11:25 pm

I just found out that I have cousins who had this treatment so today they are just plain short, if they hadn't had the treatment they would have been extremely and debilitatingly short.

↑ amother ↓

Sun, May 31 2009, 8:34 pm

My daughter has been diagnosed with GH deficiency and our insurance company has denied our claims and our appeals. Has anyone found a place where they can find an alternative way to get the medication?
Anyone now about any discount type situation for obtaining the GH?

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jun 01 2009, 2:45 am

I am just under 4' 10 and am doing just fine in life...now. but I think that in grade school and high school it was very very very hard being THAT short. I remember people making jokes and not realizing just how painful it was to hear them.

as for navigating my kitchen, lets just say that nothing is on the top shelves in the cabinets and even the second shlef, I need a stool for, but I manage.

ruthla

Sun, Jun 14 2009, 3:39 pm

No, I would not give my child growth hormones just so 'she won't be short." I'm 5'2" tall and her father is 5'5" tall. DD2 is NOT going to be tall, no matter what!

She's already 4'7" tall- another inch and she'll be past the "Little People" criteria. Even, chas v'shalom, she didn't grow any taller than she currently is, I wouldn't consider that to be a disability.

But, if a child of mine was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency, I'd weigh the risks and benefits for that particular child.

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