any one use Growth Hormones ?

Classicookie

Fri, Jul 27 2012, 7:49 am

I have been seeing a endocrinologist with my dd for her growth I also see a GI who sent me. She is just 3 and is ftt we have been testing my dd for over 2 year to find out why. The dr now wants us to thinks about using growth hormones he said that if she keeps growing at the rate she is her height wll be about 4'8 that's really small he said I dont need to start now but I should by the time shes 5 we would have to do that 5 hour blood test to see if she is deficent but based on now small she was at 2 she would qualify for the hormones. Dr was just saying how safe they are just want to know anyone with experience with them and with a child so young?

amother

Fri, Jul 27 2012, 8:17 am

amother wrote:

My friend who has a daughter the same age and height as my daughter. She is giving her hormones. I asked my sister who is on a tumor reveiw board about this. She said no way.

She is worried about the growth hormones causing cancer. She is going by instinct based on professional knowledge. I would urge you to get a second opinion. I have very short neices. My daughter is in the bottom one percent in height. Some of my older neices are around 5'.

Something is wrong with this site and I kept losing the longer message.

amother

Fri, Jul 27 2012, 9:38 am

You are posting things that are unnecessarily going to scare people whose kids need growth hormone. There is no link to cancer with kids who have a real deficiency, like my dd does. It's like saying that people with diabetes shouldn't use synthetic insulin because it may cause cancer.

Please follow your own doctors and do your own research and do not rely on amother's mysterious sister's anecdotal feelings which are clearly either not being expressed properly here or are extremely simplistic.

amother

Fri, Jul 27 2012, 9:42 am

Just to add, your nieces might be short, but most people are not given growth hormone because they are short (it would only help them grow max 1-2 inches anyway). Insurance doesn't cover this either.

Most kids who get the injections have a need for it. I feel bad for you advising your friend in such a way without even seeking her own medical advice. People hear cancer and run, when in reality nothing is simple like that. I hope your friend was smarter than to listen to scare tactics.

Classicookie

Fri, Jul 27 2012, 3:58 pm

Thanks for all the supportive answers I am not looking here to make any dissions just looking for mothers who had to also make this dision and how it work out for your child.
For those who say they have kids on the hormones are any not hormone deficient but they feel the GH can help? I b'h am dealing with this at a very early stage and shes way off from hitting puberty and the dr said waiting until shes 5 to start will be fine but if it comes down to it maybe its best to start earlier? also we have still some outer testing to rule out diff reasons for her ftt but at this point they are finding her wight ok for her size (23.8 pounds) and its more the height they are concerned about.
I am also just nervous about giving shots bec I hate needles and am scared for her reaction the first few times I would have to stick her how did you kids do with that part at first

b from nj

Fri, Jul 27 2012, 4:26 pm

mom2zahava wrote:

FYI, not all kids on GHs necessarily have a GH deficiency & sometimes insurance WILL cover even there is no GH deficiency. Each case is different.

BTW, if you are nervous about giving the shots, hopefully your DH will be able to do it. Let me just say that the shots are NO picnic but you will deal with it just like diabetics have to give themselves shots. You do what you gotta do or you face the consequences which are not pretty (remaining very short forever).

Again, I would trust your doc. Start the testing when he feels it's the appropriate time. I think he would know better than us Wink

!!

Hatzlacha! It's no fun but in the scheme of life problems there are many worse ones out there.

Classicookie

Fri, Jul 27 2012, 5:08 pm

b from nj wrote:

mom2zahava wrote:

!!

Hatzlacha! It's no fun but in the scheme of life problems there are many worse ones out there.

My dr says based on her growth curve from 0-2 she should qualify even if its not a gh deficient and that if I give the go he would figure it all out
I totally would make my dh do the shots but if hes no home it will be me but if need be I will have to get over myself she hated when we had to start with nose spray I cant imagain the screams that would come with a shot and I cant even explain why to her so young
and this would be the best of all possible thing we tested her for b'h the scarier stuff came out negitve and we are at the botem of the list of things they want to test her for

amother

Sat, Jul 28 2012, 9:50 pm

amother wrote:

My sister's "anecdotal feelings" are based on her professional experience. Of course, it is extremely simplistic when I suggest OP get another opinion from a different Dr. I could find out the exact scientific reasons why my sister is against growth hormones; but that is not necessary.

Telling someone to get a second opinion is responsible. Comparing growth hormones to synthetic insulin is ridiculous at best.

Diabetes is life-threatening.

amother

Sat, Jul 28 2012, 10:02 pm

amother wrote:

Just to add, your nieces might be short, but most people are not given growth hormone because they are short (it would only help them grow max 1-2 inches anyway). Insurance doesn't cover this either.

Most kids who get the injections have a need for it. I feel bad for you advising your frienId in such a way without even seeking her own medical advice. People hear cancer and run, when in reality nothing is simple like that. I hope your friend was smarter than to listen to scare tactics.

Where did you get the idea I advised my friend regarding her decision to give her daughter growth hormones? She did not ask unlike OP. FTR, I did not forward to her any information my sister told me. I did not even advise her to get a second opinion.

I also did discuss this with my pediatrician. He himself is diminutive. He also is against them. How many approved drugs have been withdrawn once they were used in a large enough population?

theta1870

Sun, Jul 29 2012, 1:46 am

Daughter was on growth hormone for about 13 years. She is now about 64 inches as an adult. She was below the 5th percentiles by the time she was 12 mo old and was tested at age 2. All our kids were small (so are we) but I knew there was something abnormally small and wanted her evaluated. Her height was predicted to be less than 60 inches w/o treatment

Shots were not a big deal. When she was very young, we allowed her to give a stuffed animal a shot with the used syringe after she had had hers just before we put in the sharps container. By the time she was 9 or 10 she could give herself the shot (parents measured the dosage)

amother

Sun, Jul 29 2012, 8:32 am

I am 4 foot 9 and so is my sister in law.
Neither of us had growth hormones.
We both love being petite and are happy our parents decided not to give us growth hormones.

Hashem obviously wanted us to be short and that's fine!

We both found shidduchim right away (the first guys we dated)

My husband is over 6 feet tall and we get along great! We have some short kids and
some not so short kids.

Everyone is jealous that I get to fit into dresses that cover my knee because of my height!
I can drive a car,
I had a baby that was 9 lbs 8 oz totally naturally with no epidural.

I don't have low self esteem due to my height
no one made fun of me in school,
so what I was the shortest in the class
there will always be someone who is the shortest and the tallest and the youngest and the oldest in the class.

If you don't make a big deal about the height then the child won't make a bid deal about the height.

Especially for a girl being under 5 feet, it's not like it's a boy under 5 feet!

So she could wear heels.
No biggy.

And in response to
b from nj
who wrote:
"Let me just say that the shots are NO picnic but you will deal with it just like diabetics have to give themselves shots. You do what you gotta do or you face the consequences which are not pretty (remaining very short forever). "

Maybe you think that being short is not pretty, but my husband would beg to differ.
I have a great body, and I have a great figure.
I am a lot prettier than women that are taller than me.
I judge people by their inside not their outside.
We're not talking about a dwarf here, we're just talking about shorter than average.

chani8

Sun, Jul 29 2012, 11:01 am

My DD started GH at age 11, as I was not willing to consider it before then. The DR thought it was so late, but it was such a difficult decision.

There really is no proof that the GH actually work. Does it give more height or just help get there faster.

My DD had normal GH levels, it was covered by Ins because she was under the 1%.

My DD is still short, maybe 4'9, and it's totally fine.

When she was little, we had this terrible fear that she'd be much smaller. 4'9 is totally normal, imo, and if I had known that she would get there without GH, I would never have put her through it.

Classicookie

Sun, Jul 29 2012, 11:29 am

amother wrote:

I am under 5 feet and I love myself for who I am and my dh is on the short side too so my kids being on the small side is to be expected I am not looking into doing anything for my older dd who is on the small side but is growing nicely and just wont be super tall
my 3 year old is not growing nicely even on her own curve so I am not rushing on anything at this point but if she has more growing potential then why not help it she has so much personalty and spunk and she hates when people pick her up and treat her as a baby

amother

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 12:20 am

amother wrote:

I am also 4'9", and I have a several sisters in law and cousins who are my height or an inch or two taller. I can echo the sentiments of the amother above. b'H I have so far been successful in life and have not experienced issues because of my height. I had great friends throughout school, I have a wonderful husband (I had no lack of dates despite my height), had no problem having kids b'H (even though the OBs all initially looked at me and immediately said c-section; I had all my kids naturally), and landed an excellent job. Do I think that I would have been more successful had I been taller? Probably not... Hashem gave everyone their own situation; we wouldn't want everyone to be clones of each other. The only thing that I will stress is to make sure to build your daughter's self confidence that she is no different from anyone else and she can accomplish as much as she wants and height has no bearing on it.

Hatzlacha!