any one use Growth Hormones ?

amother

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 10:07 am

One of my children needed GH treatments as a baby for other reasons.
This went on for many years, and BH today all is well.
Height is not that tall, but taller than would have been without the treatments, for sure.
But to the woman who is 4'9' and happy, I know so many adults who are 4'11-5'1' and are totally miserable even with their 4 inch heels.
They wish they could be taller, and are sorry that no one did anything to help them grow taller.
Everyone wants to be at least average, most short people hate being petite.
No one wants to be too tall or too short, this is why women daven the techina every Friday night by candle lighting, asking Hashem to bless us with children, that are not too this or too that, including height, looks, and brains. Average is still the most desirable. Too much of anything is not good.

amother

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 10:25 am

To the amother above me:
I'm one of the 4'9" women who responded. I responded because another amother requested other petite women to respond because her daughter is very short. I'm not denying that there are plenty of short women who would have liked to be taller, I'm just bringing the other side of the story, because I know plenty who really don't mind at all (and certainly at the 5' range).

However, please enlighten me as to which Friday night techina you were referring to where we request average children from Hashem?

amother

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 12:10 pm

There is a sefer of techinas in Yiddish, where it is written that we ask for children to be not too smart or too dumb, not too pretty or too ugly, not too tall or too short, and not too rich or too poor. And a few more things. An English translation is available, translated/written by Ruth Zakutinsky, called Techinas, a voice from the heart.

By the way, growth hormones are in use for almost a hundred years, if not more. It is a perfectly safe way to help a short child grow taller. There is no reason that an average or shorter child, especially a boy but a girl as well, to reach their full potential. People are judged according to their looks, and height is something that is respected in our society. If there is a way to help, then parents should do so, by all means.

We all carry cells of cancer, every single one of us. Autopsies done on all elderly people regularly show that.
But scaring people with the C word is simple ignorance.
Everything and anything "Causes Cancer". Including the food you eat, the air you breathe, and the things that surround you on a daily basis. Yet BH most of us manage to die of other reasons most of the time.

fiddle

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 12:29 pm

im 4"11, I never even thought twice about my height. my boobs, yeah. never even grew up knowing such a thing as hormones. my siblings are all taller than me, I am the shortest. I was always small and petite, now more just small and wide Smile

I only wear heels to weddings but wear sandals or crocs otherwise. my husband is 6 feet tall, and growing up all my guy friends were all over 6 feet, I loved it, they were my body guards. I have a daughter who is regular height who will probably be tall, and a son who is 3.5 and teeeeeny tiny. 3 feet tall. but hes growing, and slowly but steadily, and I dont think I would try hormones, unless I knew there was a problem. which he was tested and is fine. my brothers, all under 5 feet at their bar mitzvahs, grew to be 5"9. im not nervous.

if a kid needs it, fine. if not, I wouldnt play god.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 12:36 pm

fiddle wrote:

Exactly. If the child NEEDS it for some reason, then by all means, go ahead. But if the child does not, then let Hashem do his work and let nature take its course.
I am 4"9. I am the oldest sibling and by far the shortest. It never even occurred to me to do anything about it. It was the way that Hashem made me.
I know of two nto so great stories with growth hormones. I would never use them unless it was NEEDED.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 12:39 pm

amother wrote:

Of course average is good, but why would you think that most short people HATE being small? Thats a pretty darn strong word. I dont hate being short, not at all. Please dont generalize about that. It may be true for some, but not all or most.

amother

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 1:14 pm

Why is it playing G-d if a child's potential is to grow to be a certain height, but due to lack of production of growth hormone at the rate needed to maintain growth on their curve they will never reach that potential without medication?

I can't speak for anyone else, but my daughter went from being under the first percentile to 15th. She will never be tall, but she won't be super short. She also was very chubby before the injections, now her weight is normal for her height. She has much more stamina since starting the growth hormone, before she started injections she used to tire very easily. Her body doesn't give her what she needs to grow to be what her bones want to grow to be- why shouldn't I help her if I can? I have seen relatives of mine grow into adulthood after having been on growth hormone, getting married and having babies of their own. They are happy and healthy and they don't regret the hormones at all. Just like you can say you have a wonderful life at 4'9, they think they have wonderful lives at 5'3, and maybe they wouldn't have the same life at 4'9. Who knows? All I am saying is that you have a documented pathology (which a growth hormone deficiency is) and there is a safe and relatively straightforward treatment, why wouldn't you use it???