DS short- Questions for Dr.

amother

Orange

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 10:09 am

My DS is 10 and is quite short. He looks like an 8 yr old. Have a Dr. appt and want to discuss this. Please help me with questions to ask so that I can make proper choices. Also, if anyone with experience, please share. TIA

Classicookie

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 10:18 am

Look into going to an endocrinologist ask for a bone age and blood work they can tell a,lot from those things

Yitta

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 5:09 pm

I agree with mom2zahava. We went to our pediatrician and he had us do a bone age test and blood work. Then he sent us to an endocrinologist. We had monitored his height for a few years and recently we did some more tests in the hospital (my son is now 12) and we just started hormone treatment.

heidi

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 5:15 pm

I had this with three of my kids. At about age 10 we did a bone age test. What you're hoping is that the bone age is actually much younger than the child, bcz. that will give them more time to grow. An endocrinologist will order blood tests and also try to determine, based on parent history, and examining the child himself, how much time the child has till he hits puberty. (The more time the better)
In our case, my children had much younger than average bone ages and hit puberty extremely late (think 17). None of them lacked growth hormone. The boys ended up being almost 6 feet and the girl is definitely on the shorter side of average, but still a respectable 5'1". Growth hormone is only helpful if the children are lacking it. If not, it's wait and hopefully see their normal growth.

ra_mom

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 8:51 pm

Yitta wrote:

How did you get approved for hormone treatment? We went to a doctor two years ago and she said unless our child has a disorder the health insurance companies don't pay and the cost is $50k a year for a few consecutive years.

amother

Orange

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 9:19 pm

op here; was at Dr. today. accordingly he grew 1 inch since last year. So she said we should keep checking and as long as he doesn't hit a plateau she wouldn't worry. she did say though to go for bone age so I have some peace of mind. DH however is adamant that I do research and take him to an endo. please chime in. thanks!

Yitta

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 9:27 pm

ra_mom...we are in Israel so the health system is different. But it is still expensive (for us) but nowhere near 50k. It did have to get approved by our health care though. His hormone levels came back on the lower side of normal..but as he is now hitting puberty and everything time we see our doctor he is going further and further off the chart my endocrinologist (who we trust) was getting very concerned. She had early said to keep waiting but puberty is now hitting....I really did not want to start hormones but looked into it and trusted the doctor and asked lots of questions.

Notsobusy

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 10:04 pm

Op, I'm not trying to give you another thing to worry about, but it can also be a sign of celiac disease. A simple blood test can tell you if you need to worry about celiac. Hatzlacha.

amother

Orange

Wed, Aug 26 2015, 10:22 pm

glutenless wrote:

Op, I'm not trying to give you another thing to worry about, but it can also be a sign of celiac disease. A simple blood test can tell you if you need to worry about celiac. Hatzlacha.

If celiac Ch'v he would have other symptoms. he has normal appetite an his weight is proportionate to his weight, doesnt suffer from fatigue etc.

Notsobusy

Thu, Aug 27 2015, 12:12 am

amother wrote:

If celiac Ch'v he would have other symptoms. he has normal appetite an his weight is proportionate to his weight, doesnt suffer from fatigue etc.

I've met a few women who said that the only symptom their child had was short stature. There are a few different symptoms for celiac and it's very normal to have just one symptom.

amother

cornflower

Thu, Aug 27 2015, 4:08 am

Question: what is the concern in being short? Is it just a physical height thing or are there other health issues involved?

heidi

Thu, Aug 27 2015, 12:24 pm

amother wrote:

If celiac Ch'v he would have other symptoms. he has normal appetite an his weight is proportionate to his weight, doesnt suffer from fatigue etc.

OOPS, forgot to add that my pediatrician insisted we test for celiac!