Growth hormone treatment for small child

[rothbard]

Hi - my son will be 4 years old in October, and an endocrinologist has recommended growth hormone treatment on the NHS for him. Our son doesn't have a growth hormone deficiency, however he was born small and hasn't caught up yet (he is in the second percentile, with -2.07 SDS).

We saw the endocrinologist privately, although he works in an NHS hospital, and tomorrow we have an appointment with our GP to get a referral.

I would be interested in finding out from parents of children who are undergoing such treatment, on what it's like, what the typical side effects are, and how such young children react to be given daily injections. Thanks.

@rothbard hi, sorry I know this is an old post. how have you got on? we're seeing an endocrinologist soon about growth issues with our 2 year old. he was 98% for height at birth and now 2%. what treatment did they offer your son and did they mention minimum ages?

Thanks

Hi, my son (16) is of short stature due to a congenital disability and we recently investigated growth hormone treatment. Like your boy, my son dues not have a lack of growth hormone. As the growth hormone is one of the four factors that really push up blood sugar levels, Our consultant gave him a 50/50 chance of developing insulin resistance by taking extra growth hormone when his natural levels are fine. My son turned it down. He was unequivocal; no way was he risking insulin resistance from such a young age ( with all the awful complications that can bring).
Think long and hard about this one. There are worse things in life than being short.

Hi - we decided to wait it out until next year. Our son was kind of borderline and one private specialist (one of the best in the UK, who played an important role in developing GH treatment) said they didn't think it was a good idea in our case. Our son was also in the 2nd percentile, but is now getting closer to 4-5% - his growth picked up significantly when he turned 4 and he started eating more. Happy to give you more details privately.