growing and growth hormone

saywhatyouwill · #1 06-09-2009, 04:15 PM

i cornered my least favourite dr yesterday and think i finally understand this.

emily's growth hormone stimulation test came back with normal results (in march 08). it's the tests she's had since that measure the protein hormone that have come back on the low side (and i think below the "normal" range).

her dr thinks that she is growing well enough to leave her for another 18 months to see if she can catch up a bit more herself. he also said - which i have never heard before - that kids who have had things holding their growth back are given until age 4 to catch up. anyone else heard that?

she still isn't on the centile chart (having fallen off the chart once we stopped NG feeding) but is now 10kg! a milestone.

he also said that if she ends up needing growth hormone then delaying her having it now won't disadvantage her. i'm not entirely sure i believe him about that. what have others been told?

Peyton's Parents · #2 06-09-2009, 04:51 PM

Peyton is 21 months and was just seen by an endocrinologist because she is so tiny. He said with all her surgeries, her g tube, her trach etc she has ever reason in the world to be small. Her growth hormone levels also came back normal. He said he wants to see her in 6 months for a follow up but he would also recommend waiting a few years to do anything until the bulk of her surgeries are completed because all that is conspiring against her growth.

Alethia · #3 06-09-2009, 05:02 PM

Hi Clare,

I think that as long as a child's growth plates are still patent, then they will grow if given growth hormone. I wouldn't wait until they're in their teens, but I think anything up to 10 years of age is fine unless they have a condition where their growth plates fuse early, e.g. dwarfism. There's no rush for Emily.

Love,

Kate
XXX

llwilliams8 · #4 06-09-2009, 07:49 PM

My "healthy" 5 year old has been to an endocrinologist for his growth issues. Both my husband and I are short...5'1" and 5'4" but all his drs. are concerned so we went to apease them all. He has NEVER been on the growth charts and now he is only 36 inches and 27 pounds still wearing 12m-2T clothes. Anyways, we were told by our dr. that he does produce the growth hormone or he would not be growing (this was when he was 2) and that if we wanted him to caught up to his peers but kinder then we would need to start the hormones at 3-4 years. Well, when he was 4 we got blood work done to see if he had the hormone and he does it is just produced in low doses so really there is no medical reason he needs the hormone just more for cosmetics reasons to to "fit in". So, we still declined to have them which our pedi is not happy with since she has parents who beg for these hormones for their kids and they do not need them. We feel God made him this way for a reason and we are not going to instill in his head something is wrong when he is completely confident and fine with the way he is. However, if he ever tells us he wants to take the growth hormone we will let him but it will be his decision and not ours. My dad was only 4'11" when he graduated high school and is now 5'6" so we feel we just have to let things happen when they are suppose to. We were told if we did do the growth hormones we would be given him 1 shot a day/6 days a week until he is 14 years old and the cost is about $10,000 per year and insurance would cover about 80%. Anyways, they pretty much told us we could start the hormones at ANY time but would probably need to start before puberty but ideally around 7-8 years. I have done much research and there are lots of kids who do not even start their hormones until 13-15 years and still have grown with the injections. So, answering your question in a LONG way if you already know you want them then they say the earlier the better results but no hurry because it will work as long as they have not started puberty yet. I have a friend whose son is 6 and she just started him and he has already grown 3 inches in 4 months.

Niff · #5 06-09-2009, 09:05 PM

I was told that medically "involved" children have a greater tendency of being small. The body is focusing on issues other than growing, is how it was explained to me. Whether or not that's accurate, I'm not sure.

Momof2NC · #6 06-09-2009, 09:10 PM

I begged someone to listen to me from the early part on about colton's length. My hubby is tall and my family is tall but he was only getting wider. Finally the endo tested again and his levels were low as they had always been. His pituitary gland is abnormally shaped so think effects growth.. Anyways, he's growing slowly taller but gaining weight as well. I have no complaints about a nightly shot...as he is finally growing up. He was going downwards on the height chart from 50 to 10th. So no complaints. He doesn't feel it at all either.

saywhatyouwill · #7 06-10-2009, 03:47 AM

lacy - that is a very interesting post. i am ashamed to say that i never considered it from that point of view.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Niff

I was told that medically "involved" children have a greater tendency of being small. The body is focusing on issues other than growing, is how it was explained to me. Whether or not that's accurate, I'm not sure.

definitely. i secretly think, too, that simply having the trach is making her grow a bit more slowly. it's such a tiny tube, surely not the natural size her airway should be.

saywhatyouwill · #8 06-10-2009, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alethia

Hi Clare,

I think that as long as a child's growth plates are still patent, then they will grow if given growth hormone. I wouldn't wait until they're in their teens, but I think anything up to 10 years of age is fine unless they have a condition where their growth plates fuse early, e.g. dwarfism. There's no rush for Emily.

Love,

Kate
XXX

do you then grow to what you "should" have been, no matter when you start the GH?

llwilliams8 · #9 06-10-2009, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saywhatyouwill

do you then grow to what you "should" have been, no matter when you start the GH?

My dr. told us that if my son keeps this growing rate he would grow to be 5'0 and if we gave him the growth hormone he would grow to be about 5'6" since that should be the height considering how tall me and my husband is. Not sure about that though.

I think they just get to the size they would of been and not taller than they are suppose to be. Also, I think if they grow to be a height they are fine with and don't want to get taller they can stop the hormone so they won't grow much anymore.