Some advice regarding a serious problem
My son is 13 years old and my wife and I have grown concerned about his lack of physical development. We had him go to an endocrinologist and they ran a series of blood tests. Ther results were not good, all his hormone levels were below what they would consider normal for a teenager his age. They recommend he start a regiment of growth hormone that he would administer himself at home. They will send a medtech to our home to show him how to administer the hormones. Has anyone here had to do this for their child? If so is it worth the potential risk? Am I being a paranoid dad? My son is incredibly self conscious about his lack of size that when he was presented with this option he didn’t hesitate too say yes to the treatment. Is this a normal thing for a 13 year old to be put on growth hormone? Thanks to anyone who can give any insight on this.
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Some of the best info out there on hgh comes from medical studies and trials of children who needed it.
If your endo has not explained all of this... his think/reasoning and the evidence he is basing decisions on, ask him. Make him make you understand... it is important to you, obviously, so dont walk away without fully understanding.
My wife went to the appointment with my son and she was comfortable with what was said/done. The doc measured his testicals and said they were small for his age. Then they did a bunch of tests where he was hooked up to an IV for 4 hours. They administer meds and monitored his reaction as well as testing his levels. My son wants this so does my wife but I’m always skeptical giving kids drugs, I believe us putting him on ridilin is what go us here to begin with.
Sounds like they did an insulin tolerance test to confirm the diagnosis of low GH which was indicated by your concerns and I imagine a low serum GH Serum and IGF-1 numbers. If all these tests are low then I would say there is 100% a problem that should be treated. As I mentioned in my earlier reply the next and critical question is to try and figure out what’s causing the issue and most importantly rule out a pituitary tumour (a simple MRI with contrast will confirm or rule out). If there is a tumour they/you may want to consider removal if it grows as these can results in other (sometimes life threatening) hormonal disturbances. These tumours are almost always benign/non cancerous by the way. There can be other (mainly genetic) causes of the condition but the treatment is almost always the same other than in one instance where direct administration of IGF-1 is indicated.
Very good luck to you and your son.
Thank bro definitely going to ask the endo about that. I appreciate you taking time out and giving your insight.
Glad it is going well.... I am a sceptic like you. Healthy scepticism is good.
As for Ritalin.... ive 2 kids myself... if anyone advised me to give them stimulants... well, I'd do them a serious damage!
I hear ya brother I regret it every day but at the time I thought I was doing the right thing. Even though my gut told me differently. That’s why I’m skeptical about it and brought it up on the forum, a lot of smart people here.
Mick-JI would take the advice of the endocrinologist and go with it.
I claim to be 5'6" (and I'm exaggerating) Nowadays I'm sure I would have been treated at your son's age, but it was different in the 70's.
Being short is not the end of the world, but if it can be treated by physicians who know what they are doing, you could be doing a wonderful thing for your son.
Our concern wasn’t about him being short, my wife is 5’3” and I’m 5’8”, so him being short was bound to happen. Our concern started when we went 2+ years without having to buy him clothes. He’s barely over 5” and only weighs 80lbs for a boy hitting puberty I thought that was not normal.
I believe Lionel Messi was put on it at the age of 13 for the same reasons
It might be worth gathering some of the knowledge on this forum about how exogenous HGH interacts with the bodies other hormones (insulin, thyroid ect) so you can educate your son on how to effectively use the HGH and so you know what to look for should he suffer any side effects.
I think the Endo's advise it is taken at night before bed, likely you will get a pen and catridges depending on what country you are in, ensure you have a few cartridges left before you collect your next prescrition as they tend to have to order it.
If he has been both tested and diagnosed by an endo and with bloods then I wouldn’t really be doubting it to be honest. I have a lad at my work that is still on gh even now and I think he is in his mid 20s. Not sure what his condition is though.
I know a guy who was put on growth in his teens, he came out just fine. Healthy and I believe they got the height they wanted out of it. He’s not crazy tall or anything, maybe 5’11”
I wouldn’t jump the gun personally. I was a late bloomer. Smallest of all my friends in my teens. Sadly I didn’t even start growing armpit hair until I was 16 or 17. Now I’m bigger than all my friends lol. I wouldn’t mess with a teens hormones.
Thank you everyone for your input, I truly appreciate it. Hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year.
Ofcourse you should listen to the Dr. He could just be a late bloomer. Some of these kids seem to be hitting puberty to early imo. A second opinion couldn’t hurt. SuperSailysn I beleive has this problem. He may be a good one to talk to. Goodluck
Yeah I would go with what these guys are saying. Follow the advice of your doc. It reminds me of a story about a boy that wouldn't grow for what ever reason and they had to break his growth plates in his legs once a year so that he would grow. Taking hormone meds sounds a lot better
My son has a metabolic disorder which I knew nothing about until he was born. We took our metabolic drs and dieticians advice and aside from being a bit short himself he is a happy kid. I would follow your endos advice but if you guys are questioning it, why not go for a 2nd opinion? For any major medical issue thats not a bad idea.
A second opinion is in the works, I have to discuss it with his PCM to do the referral but over the holidays it’s been difficult getting in touch. Thank you for your input.
Great advice.
If your son has been diagnosed with low GH by an endocrinologist I wouldn’t hesitate to put him on the meds to try and get his hormones to where they should be for his age. I assume they will do a pituitary MRI to establish the cause of the low GH secretion? If there is a pituitary tumour then this may need to be removed ASAP as they can cause other serious hormonal deficiencies.
They have not done an mri but I ask the question, thank you for your input.