Reply to Delayed puberty and growth hormone injections

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Has anyone done testosterone injections for constitutional delay of growth in their son? My guy is 15.5 and is 5’4”. No visible signs of puberty. There are no underlying health issues and I’m 5’9” and his dad is 6’0”. My brothers are 6’3. He’s finishing up his freshman year and is one of the smallest in his class. He’s very athletic and is becoming increasingly despondent about his size in terms of how it’s limiting his success in the sports he loves. We are seeing a pediatric endocrinologist in June but I wanted to do some research first and see if anyone here has done growth hormone injections for their son, and what the outcome was. Were there any side effects? How much do they cost? How long was the course of treatment? And was there noticeable growth?
Any insight would be extremely helpful and much appreciated! Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond![/quote]

Testosterone at 15.5 to jump start puberty is within the recommended guidelines so I think your approach is reasonable but I think your child's mental distress is worrisome.

It's surprising that he thinks he's one of the smallest in his class. We have a 9th grader who is small and there are a lot of kids who are even smaller at 5'1''-5'3'' in 9th and they do play competitive sports. One of those smaller children we know is a top, county ranked swimmer and another is on an ECNL or MLSNext soccer team. I get it. Height, size and testosterone does make a significant difference in sports performance at this age but it's only temporary and your son needs some perspective. He's probably otherwise healthy and athletic and 5 foot 4 is really not that small overall.
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I'm not the OP, but just to counter this -- 5'4 seems really small when you haven't started puberty, because you aren't abnormally short necessarily but you look very childish. My son is 14 and 5'4 and definitely not the shortest in his friend group -- he's right in the middle actually -- but the kids who are shorter are further along in puberty, and it shows. There is also the issue of strength for sports, which OP mentioned. Without puberty, a kid can only get so strong....and it is hard to compete with kids halfway through puberty in ANY sport, contact or otherwise. So I completely understand OP's son's distress. He's in high school - probably wants to ask girls to homecoming, etc - and feels he looks like a child. It's not just about height.[/quote]

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