Delayed puberty and growth hormone injections

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP-Forgot to mention, his bone age as evidenced by a hand X-ray is about 15 months behind his chronological age and his dentist says his dental age appears to be 24-30 months behind.

Hmm. Never heard ifnthisn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a pediatrician, I don't know why anyone would recommend growth hormone injections for constitutional growth delay. It's just delayed puberty -- CGD itself doesn't have any effect on final height. They just reach it later.

Are you sure you don't mean "familial short stature?"

Our endo told us the same thing (in that, why start him on medication just to give him medication) in our DS' case.

I'm 5'7", ex-dh is 6'4". DS is 15.5, bones measure about 2/3 years behind (we didn't have his teeth examined). ADHD and on meds since 2nd grade. He's finally showing signs of puberty now so his was really delayed but based on his bone age scans (we've been discussing this situation for the last two years with his endo) he has a lot of room to grow so she pretty much released us from seeing her. Last year he grew 4 inches in total so I think it's all finally happening.

That said, I feel you OP on the sports thing. Even now with his 4" of growth last year he's still on the smaller side in his grade and this year, for the first time since t-ball, he didn't want to try out for the baseball team because he felt he couldnt keep up size wise or strength wise which made me sad for him because he was so committed to his sport.

What your endo says doesn’t make sense? Why give him meds just to give him meds? You have been giving him ADHD meds since 2nd grade. That is most likely the cause of delayed puberty and height.

So many boys are affected. Kids at my boys school now ask boys in 9th and 10th grade who haven’t gone through puberty if they have ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a pediatrician, I don't know why anyone would recommend growth hormone injections for constitutional growth delay. It's just delayed puberty -- CGD itself doesn't have any effect on final height. They just reach it later.

Are you sure you don't mean "familial short stature?"

Our endo told us the same thing (in that, why start him on medication just to give him medication) in our DS' case.

I'm 5'7", ex-dh is 6'4". DS is 15.5, bones measure about 2/3 years behind (we didn't have his teeth examined). ADHD and on meds since 2nd grade. He's finally showing signs of puberty now so his was really delayed but based on his bone age scans (we've been discussing this situation for the last two years with his endo) he has a lot of room to grow so she pretty much released us from seeing her. Last year he grew 4 inches in total so I think it's all finally happening.

That said, I feel you OP on the sports thing. Even now with his 4" of growth last year he's still on the smaller side in his grade and this year, for the first time since t-ball, he didn't want to try out for the baseball team because he felt he couldnt keep up size wise or strength wise which made me sad for him because he was so committed to his sport.

What your endo says doesn’t make sense? Why give him meds just to give him meds? You have been giving him ADHD meds since 2nd grade. That is most likely the cause of delayed puberty and height.

So many boys are affected. Kids at my boys school now ask boys in 9th and 10th grade who haven’t gone through puberty if they have ADHD.

My DS had this and does not have ADHD and does not take meds of any kind. There have always been boys like this. My DS finally started growing big time age 14.5/15 and grew very quickly. Around 2yrs behind in bone age. Endo followed him did not recommend any treatment/growth hormones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a pediatrician, I don't know why anyone would recommend growth hormone injections for constitutional growth delay. It's just delayed puberty -- CGD itself doesn't have any effect on final height. They just reach it later.

Are you sure you don't mean "familial short stature?"

Our endo told us the same thing (in that, why start him on medication just to give him medication) in our DS' case.

I'm 5'7", ex-dh is 6'4". DS is 15.5, bones measure about 2/3 years behind (we didn't have his teeth examined). ADHD and on meds since 2nd grade. He's finally showing signs of puberty now so his was really delayed but based on his bone age scans (we've been discussing this situation for the last two years with his endo) he has a lot of room to grow so she pretty much released us from seeing her. Last year he grew 4 inches in total so I think it's all finally happening.

That said, I feel you OP on the sports thing. Even now with his 4" of growth last year he's still on the smaller side in his grade and this year, for the first time since t-ball, he didn't want to try out for the baseball team because he felt he couldnt keep up size wise or strength wise which made me sad for him because he was so committed to his sport.

What your endo says doesn’t make sense? Why give him meds just to give him meds? You have been giving him ADHD meds since 2nd grade. That is most likely the cause of delayed puberty and height.

So many boys are affected. Kids at my boys school now ask boys in 9th and 10th grade who haven’t gone through puberty if they have ADHD.

My DS had this and does not have ADHD and does not take meds of any kind. There have always been boys like this. My DS finally started growing big time age 14.5/15 and grew very quickly. Around 2yrs behind in bone age. Endo followed him did not recommend any treatment/growth hormones.

Of course there have always been boys like this but now there are MORE boys like this because MORE boys are taking ADHD meds. I am still upset I was never warned about this side effect!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a pediatrician, I don't know why anyone would recommend growth hormone injections for constitutional growth delay. It's just delayed puberty -- CGD itself doesn't have any effect on final height. They just reach it later.

Are you sure you don't mean "familial short stature?"

Our endo told us the same thing (in that, why start him on medication just to give him medication) in our DS' case.

I'm 5'7", ex-dh is 6'4". DS is 15.5, bones measure about 2/3 years behind (we didn't have his teeth examined). ADHD and on meds since 2nd grade. He's finally showing signs of puberty now so his was really delayed but based on his bone age scans (we've been discussing this situation for the last two years with his endo) he has a lot of room to grow so she pretty much released us from seeing her. Last year he grew 4 inches in total so I think it's all finally happening.

That said, I feel you OP on the sports thing. Even now with his 4" of growth last year he's still on the smaller side in his grade and this year, for the first time since t-ball, he didn't want to try out for the baseball team because he felt he couldnt keep up size wise or strength wise which made me sad for him because he was so committed to his sport.

What your endo says doesn’t make sense? Why give him meds just to give him meds? You have been giving him ADHD meds since 2nd grade. That is most likely the cause of delayed puberty and height.

So many boys are affected. Kids at my boys school now ask boys in 9th and 10th grade who haven’t gone through puberty if they have ADHD.

My DS had this and does not have ADHD and does not take meds of any kind. There have always been boys like this. My DS finally started growing big time age 14.5/15 and grew very quickly. Around 2yrs behind in bone age. Endo followed him did not recommend any treatment/growth hormones.

Of course there have always been boys like this but now there are MORE boys like this because MORE boys are taking ADHD meds. I am still upset I was never warned about this side effect!

Oh sure- yes, sorry. Granted I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the boys when growing up, but if anything, they seemed to go through puberty a bit later than boys do now?? Seems like nearly all (with a few stragglers like my son) of my son’s friends were largely done growing in height by 14-15 and most of them filled out by then as well (making my own DS look even more out of place). I remember so many boys being scrawny well into high school when I was growing up. But maybe we see what we want to see? I wonder if there have been any studies on this….

[Anonymous]

Have him evaluated for celiac disease. He may not be absorbing the nutrients he needs.

[Anonymous]

My son was very late to hit puberty and didn’t hit his growth spurt until 16. (His voice also didn’t change until then and he didn’t grow under arm or leg hair until then, either.)

Until about age 12 he always was on the tall side and then was significantly shorter than everyone else as most of the other boys were in the throes of puberty. I went to the ped with our concerns and she assured me he was a late bloomer.

He’s now 18 and 6’5” tall (and still growing it seems) and has committed to a D1 school to play a sport next fall.

[Anonymous]

It is absurd than boys with no health issues have to go through shots just to protect their mental health because society doesn’t like late bloomers.

And I am saying this as a mother of a 14 yo that just hit 5’3 after all middle school being A LOT shorter than his peers, so I get it. But no way I am doing testosterone, even if they are safe. He doesn’t need those shots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is absurd than boys with no health issues have to go through shots just to protect their mental health because society doesn’t like late bloomers.

And I am saying this as a mother of a 14 yo that just hit 5’3 after all middle school being A LOT shorter than his peers, so I get it. But no way I am doing testosterone, even if they are safe. He doesn’t need those shots.

So true. My late bloomer DS (no health issue- just late) had a really rough time.

[Anonymous]

Do boys need to go off ADHD meds in their teen years to grow or do they just start growing a few years later?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is absurd than boys with no health issues have to go through shots just to protect their mental health because society doesn’t like late bloomers.

And I am saying this as a mother of a 14 yo that just hit 5’3 after all middle school being A LOT shorter than his peers, so I get it. But no way I am doing testosterone, even if they are safe. He doesn’t need those shots.

So true. My late bloomer DS (no health issue- just late) had a really rough time.

Yep these boys are invisible. Everyone marvels over how tall the boys have gotten, growing like a weed, what are you feeding him? etc like it’s a major personal accomplishment and they straight up ignore the boys who haven’t gotten there yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was very late to hit puberty and didn’t hit his growth spurt until 16. (His voice also didn’t change until then and he didn’t grow under arm or leg hair until then, either.)

Until about age 12 he always was on the tall side and then was significantly shorter than everyone else as most of the other boys were in the throes of puberty. I went to the ped with our concerns and she assured me he was a late bloomer.

He’s now 18 and 6’5” tall (and still growing it seems) and has committed to a D1 school to play a sport next fall.

Can I ask what sport, and how he managed to hang in there during the tiny years? My oldest was a very late bloomer and had to switch to track and cross country in HS- no way was he making any cut sports teams at his size (after playing club basketball and travel baseball for years). Ended up 6’2”. My younger DS is now 14 and is blooming “on time” but his smaller friends all started getting benched and/or cut last year (soccer and baseball). I really feel for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a pediatrician, I don't know why anyone would recommend growth hormone injections for constitutional growth delay. It's just delayed puberty -- CGD itself doesn't have any effect on final height. They just reach it later.

Are you sure you don't mean "familial short stature?"

If it’s delayed puberty won’t he get a growth spurt later? My brother left high school at 5’10” and soon after got to his full height of 6’2”.

He will. It just means that his "constitution" is programmed to hit the growth spurt later, and usually one or both of his parents did the same. But it's not a deficiency of growth hormone or even of adult height.

More information is coming out about the risks of additional growth hormone over and above normal levels (not really relevant to true growth hormone or pituitary deficiency, which are separate diagnoses from constitutional growth delay). This issue isn't settled yet, but GH isn't without risks. And if the child is going to reach normal height, just later, I'm not sure why someone would pursue this.

https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20140813/children-prescribed-growth-hormone-may-face-stroke-risk-later-study
Children, Growth Hormone, & Possible Risk Later

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/well/live/growth-hormones-short-children-height.html
Weighing the Use of Growth Hormones for Children: New research has linked growth hormone treatment to serious adverse health effects years later

I also think puberty blockers for early puberty have their own risks and have decided not to give to my kids, they are normal height, though short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is absurd than boys with no health issues have to go through shots just to protect their mental health because society doesn’t like late bloomers.

And I am saying this as a mother of a 14 yo that just hit 5’3 after all middle school being A LOT shorter than his peers, so I get it. But no way I am doing testosterone, even if they are safe. He doesn’t need those shots.

So true. My late bloomer DS (no health issue- just late) had a really rough time.

Yep these boys are invisible. Everyone marvels over how tall the boys have gotten, growing like a weed, what are you feeding him? etc like it’s a major personal accomplishment and they straight up ignore the boys who haven’t gotten there yet.

Peers often treat them as “little kids” too.

[Anonymous]

seems to me that there has been a shift not only in timing of puberty but an increase in variance. once folks adjust, folks will avoid assuming who will be tall, making such comments.