hand study revealed bone age two years younger than actual age - concern?

[Anonymous]

Highly recommend this pediatric endocrinologist:
Ali Mohamadi, MD
5530 Wisconsin Ave #630, Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Phone[phone]

Our DC has been seeing him for a similar issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be worth a consult with a pediatric endocrinologist. It's the teeth that make me suggest it... My son has a growth hormone deficiency. He didn't have a delay with teeth, but many kids with GHD do. He had a lot of GI & feeding issues that they used to explain the slow growth - & they said the delayed bone age was good, but we finally saw an endocrinologist to rule out a deficiency & - lo & behold - he had a clear deficiency after testing - not even a maybe - it was definite. He's on treatment & his growth has taken off & his appetite has increased. He has ADHD too, so his weight is still low - he burns calories like mad, but I at least know that he is eating well.

thanks! yes, all of this can certainly co-exist in a kiddo. The teeth not coming in is what really baffles me, since they fell out on their own. Did you like your ped endocrinologist/would you recommend? Who was it?

I love him, but he is in Annapolis - where we lived when DS was diagnosed. I'm sure there are great endos around here - I just don't know them - sorry!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be worth a consult with a pediatric endocrinologist. It's the teeth that make me suggest it... My son has a growth hormone deficiency. He didn't have a delay with teeth, but many kids with GHD do. He had a lot of GI & feeding issues that they used to explain the slow growth - & they said the delayed bone age was good, but we finally saw an endocrinologist to rule out a deficiency & - lo & behold - he had a clear deficiency after testing - not even a maybe - it was definite. He's on treatment & his growth has taken off & his appetite has increased. He has ADHD too, so his weight is still low - he burns calories like mad, but I at least know that he is eating well.

What does his treatment look like?

A shot of growth hormone every night. Scary at first, but very easy & results have been amazing. He was not at all on the growth chart for height at age 4 & now (at age 8) is following nicely on the 30th %ile curve - which is right in line with his predicted height given our heights. He grew a ton the first 2 years of treatment (6 inches of catch up growth in one year), but is now growing at the average 2 inches/year & following the curve on the growth chart nicely.

[Anonymous]

OP, by any chance is your child adopted? I have a relevant comment to make if adopted (but no time right now to post)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, by any chance is your child adopted? I have a relevant comment to make if adopted (but no time right now to post)

Not OP, but I have an adopted son whose bone age was determined to be two years younger than actual age a couple of years ago. He was expected to have a growth spurt around age 16. But, when I took him to the doctor at age 13, the doctor said he was in the growth spurt. We are now waiting for an endocrinology follow up. I'd love to hear what you have to say. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

We have tried periactin for a similar picky eating issue - our son gained 19 pounds in one year on it (severely underweight). This was per his GI dr. For endocrinology Fairfax has a practice that they share with children's national in dc -- they are pretty good. They have offices in FaIrfax and dc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, by any chance is your child adopted? I have a relevant comment to make if adopted (but no time right now to post)

Not OP, but I have an adopted son whose bone age was determined to be two years younger than actual age a couple of years ago. He was expected to have a growth spurt around age 16. But, when I took him to the doctor at age 13, the doctor said he was in the growth spurt. We are now waiting for an endocrinology follow up. I'd love to hear what you have to say. Thanks.

13:37 back. All I wanted to toss into the mix of suggestions is that some of the more disreputable orphanages in China, Russian and Latin America lie about the age of the child to prospective parents. The reason they do this is because they know inifants and toddlers are much easier to place than older children. Often the prospective American parents see the photes and bond via email and snail mail via photographs of this darling baby which is really a 2 year old child. The prospective parents arrive to the foreign country and find this emaciated tiny child, do the paperwork and go home. In the case of someone I know, the family had older children and thought 5, 3 and an infant would be a good mix. When the infant showed failure to thrive and a number of other issues upon advice of the pediatrician the parents took the child to an ped. endocrinologist who examined the child, the growth plates and a number of other features and said "You didn't adopt an infant; this is a two year old". So now the parents had a 5 year old and two two year olds, which hadn't been their original goal. You see this a lot also in foreign adopted children who develop precocious puberity (puberty that starts before age 8) . It isn't precocious puberty, it's a 10-12-year-old girl whom the parents thought was eight.

[Anonymous]

How do you test for growth hormone deficiency?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, by any chance is your child adopted? I have a relevant comment to make if adopted (but no time right now to post)

Not OP, but I have an adopted son whose bone age was determined to be two years younger than actual age a couple of years ago. He was expected to have a growth spurt around age 16. But, when I took him to the doctor at age 13, the doctor said he was in the growth spurt. We are now waiting for an endocrinology follow up. I'd love to hear what you have to say. Thanks.

13:37 back. All I wanted to toss into the mix of suggestions is that some of the more disreputable orphanages in China, Russian and Latin America lie about the age of the child to prospective parents. The reason they do this is because they know inifants and toddlers are much easier to place than older children. Often the prospective American parents see the photes and bond via email and snail mail via photographs of this darling baby which is really a 2 year old child. The prospective parents arrive to the foreign country and find this emaciated tiny child, do the paperwork and go home. In the case of someone I know, the family had older children and thought 5, 3 and an infant would be a good mix. When the infant showed failure to thrive and a number of other issues upon advice of the pediatrician the parents took the child to an ped. endocrinologist who examined the child, the growth plates and a number of other features and said "You didn't adopt an infant; this is a two year old". So now the parents had a 5 year old and two two year olds, which hadn't been their original goal. You see this a lot also in foreign adopted children who develop precocious puberity (puberty that starts before age 8) . It isn't precocious puberty, it's a 10-12-year-old girl whom the parents thought was eight.

Thanks. Given the age at which I adopted him and his functioning through the years and the documentation I received, I feel pretty confident about the age. But your point is well taken. I think in my son's case, malnutrition and FAS possibly coupled with genetics may be the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, by any chance is your child adopted? I have a relevant comment to make if adopted (but no time right now to post)

OP here - not adopted.

After reading recent posts, I am also worried about malnutrition - he refuses to eat or drink anything at lunch, since the cafeteria is too noisy. On ADHD med - I know that affects his appetite, but without it, he's too distracted to eat it seems. We try to make up the eating at night. He's very picky and can't say his diet is very balanced or varied.

We're seeing an OT for eval for sensory, eating, and slow handwriting issues - the latter of which is probably related to his dyslexia.

I'm worried that if he doesn't break 50 pounds soon they may take him off ADD meds. We'll manage, but that would definitely be an adjustment.

[Anonymous]

Our DS took Periactin for 3 months - he ate voraciously notwithstanding his ADHD meds. It was such a relief! He grew 4 inches during that summer. The doctor pulled him off the meds and he continued to eat a lot and grow at a more normal rate. We'd spent years struggling to get his weight on the chart (when he wasn't on stimulants) and I just wish someone had thought to prescribe Periactin years earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS took Periactin for 3 months - he ate voraciously notwithstanding his ADHD meds. It was such a relief! He grew 4 inches during that summer. The doctor pulled him off the meds and he continued to eat a lot and grow at a more normal rate. We'd spent years struggling to get his weight on the chart (when he wasn't on stimulants) and I just wish someone had thought to prescribe Periactin years earlier.

PP. To clarify, the dr pulled him off Periactin after a few months. We continued with the ADHD meds.

[Anonymous]

OP here again. Thank you! I will ask about that asap.

I'm almost 100% sure that's the same med his gastro put him on after a visit to Johns Hopkins many years ago. He had a duodenal ulcer, reflux, and hadn't slept through the night yet - at 18 mos - and was a terrible eater. That med was a Godsend.

We switched peds not long after - not 100% certain his current ped even knows what med he took back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, by any chance is your child adopted? I have a relevant comment to make if adopted (but no time right now to post)

Not OP, but I have an adopted son whose bone age was determined to be two years younger than actual age a couple of years ago. He was expected to have a growth spurt around age 16. But, when I took him to the doctor at age 13, the doctor said he was in the growth spurt. We are now waiting for an endocrinology follow up. I'd love to hear what you have to say. Thanks.

13:37 back. All I wanted to toss into the mix of suggestions is that some of the more disreputable orphanages in China, Russian and Latin America lie about the age of the child to prospective parents. The reason they do this is because they know inifants and toddlers are much easier to place than older children. Often the prospective American parents see the photes and bond via email and snail mail via photographs of this darling baby which is really a 2 year old child. The prospective parents arrive to the foreign country and find this emaciated tiny child, do the paperwork and go home. In the case of someone I know, the family had older children and thought 5, 3 and an infant would be a good mix. When the infant showed failure to thrive and a number of other issues upon advice of the pediatrician the parents took the child to an ped. endocrinologist who examined the child, the growth plates and a number of other features and said "You didn't adopt an infant; this is a two year old". So now the parents had a 5 year old and two two year olds, which hadn't been their original goal. You see this a lot also in foreign adopted children who develop precocious puberity (puberty that starts before age 8) . It isn't precocious puberty, it's a 10-12-year-old girl whom the parents thought was eight.

13:37 back. Glad to be of help. I was fascinated by these case histories when I learned about them (the lying by orphanages in order to place children). Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, by any chance is your child adopted? I have a relevant comment to make if adopted (but no time right now to post)

Not OP, but I have an adopted son whose bone age was determined to be two years younger than actual age a couple of years ago. He was expected to have a growth spurt around age 16. But, when I took him to the doctor at age 13, the doctor said he was in the growth spurt. We are now waiting for an endocrinology follow up. I'd love to hear what you have to say. Thanks.

13:37 back. All I wanted to toss into the mix of suggestions is that some of the more disreputable orphanages in China, Russian and Latin America lie about the age of the child to prospective parents. The reason they do this is because they know inifants and toddlers are much easier to place than older children. Often the prospective American parents see the photes and bond via email and snail mail via photographs of this darling baby which is really a 2 year old child. The prospective parents arrive to the foreign country and find this emaciated tiny child, do the paperwork and go home. In the case of someone I know, the family had older children and thought 5, 3 and an infant would be a good mix. When the infant showed failure to thrive and a number of other issues upon advice of the pediatrician the parents took the child to an ped. endocrinologist who examined the child, the growth plates and a number of other features and said "You didn't adopt an infant; this is a two year old". So now the parents had a 5 year old and two two year olds, which hadn't been their original goal. You see this a lot also in foreign adopted children who develop precocious puberity (puberty that starts before age 8) . It isn't precocious puberty, it's a 10-12-year-old girl whom the parents thought was eight.

Thanks. Given the age at which I adopted him and his functioning through the years and the documentation I received, I feel pretty confident about the age. But your point is well taken. I think in my son's case, malnutrition and FAS possibly coupled with genetics may be the problem.

Glad to be of help. Post back someday and let us know what you learned. Just curious.