growth delay

[TheInvisibleManDidIt]

Has anyone any experience of this with their dc?

Ds1 has a bone age 2 years younger than his actual age. He's had hospital appts monitoring his height and weight (he's 9 and the size of a small 7 year old). We have another appointment this afternoon and dh and I have discussed asking about growth hormone therapy for him.

I've read alot about it online, but don't know anyone with real experience of it.

Also the Dr seemed a bit dismissive last time, and says DS will always be small (I'm 5'3", dh is 5'9"), and that his puberty will probably be delayed by a couple of years, but he's very healthy so we just need to keep monitoring him.

2 years is a short time when you're an adult, but a very long time to a child, and I'm very worried how that will affect him. Ok he's not near puberty yet, but already gets picked on and bullied for his size. He comes in crying some nights because of the things the other children in the street have called him. He shies (sp?) away from group sports because he always ends up getting picked on, and sometimes hurt as his peers as so much bigger than him. He's such a sociable boy, always wants to join in, but then just ends up standing at the sidelines. Luckily he has 3 or 4 really good friends that never tease him, and him and ds2 are really close.

He's in p6 just now. High school is less than 2 years away, so we feel if we're going to look at growth hormones now is the time to do it. But another part of me feels quite sick at the thought of pumping my child full of artificial hormones.

I'd really welcome anyone elses experiences.

hi, have you researched diet? Is he eating too much carbs? Before you embark on the growth hormone, I would be inclined to look at nutrition, as for example zinc is almost like a growth hormone and many people are zinc deficient in their diet.
Eg. you could have his hair sample tested for minerals to check, or you could GENTLY add Zn supplement + B vits (also help with growth).
My ds was severely deficient in Zn, Bs and lots of other things because he is gluten sensitive, then I researched what each of these nutrients were about and was and am stunned at the improvement on the diet and his condition and test results have improved.
Don't look at height in isolation, try using tests to see what underlying deficiencies he might have.
A lot of children suddenly shoot up when going off gluten (eg celiacs), but even if he has no gluten issues, he might still be deficient in some vital vitamins/minerals.

My DD2 is on Growth Hormone for a genetic disorder - she is closely monitored by the Paediatric Endocrinology Consultant and has no side effects but requires yearly blood tests and X rays.

Do you see an endocrinologist, or a general paediatrician? Have you told them the impact his height has on his life? If they know all this and feel that GH therapy isn't warranted it might be worth asking for a second opinion. GH isn't suitable for all children and he would probably need to be tested for growth hormone deficiency - it won't make him taller than his genetic height but if he is deficient it might help.

Thanks for your response.

He's had blood tests to check for underlying causes, and we've seen a dietician. Other than the bone scan everything has come back negative. Dietician couldn't suggest any changes we oculd make either.

Haven't had his hair tested though. That's something I could mention today, thanks. Both my boys take a 'wellkid' suppliment each day, but it's worth looking into if this is enough for him.

He's been tested for celiacs (first thing they looked at).

Do you have copies of his tests - check his Zn, Mg & Bs - I found they are rarely tested unless specifically asked for.

Also, celiac is the end of the spectrum for malabsorption (you have to be VERY ill for it to show positive). My ds celiac test was also negative, and we were even told that in children they are not reliable enough as they can be false-negative.

Sidge it's just a general paediatrician we see.

We had a long talk to her last time about how we think it's affecting him, and he got quite upset in the room with her when he told her how he feels just now. I think he's withdrawing more and more and we worry about him so much.

I'm quite sure they tested for growth hormone deficiency. At the initial appt she told us all the things they were going to test for- and that was one thing she spent a bit of time talking to us about. But at our last appt she just focused on his bone age and says this is causing growth delay.

I don't have copies, but I can ask to see them this afternoon.

I've got my note pad of points to make and questions task so will add that on.

Feel so out of my depth here- just want to help him .

Can you tell me more about celiac? I don't know really anything about it and didn't look into it after the negative test.

Thanks for your help

Basically it's about different levels of malabsorption, worst is called celiac, where you get stomach problems. There is a wide variety of symptoms involved. Also, if absorption is affected, then any vits you take, may not be absorbed properly or at all. Giving general multivit sometimes doesn't work well either, because some minerals compete with each other and zinc is often last in the queue. Then intake woudn't equal absorption.
My ds was always very pale (until we stopped gluten), had nose bleeds (+ other more serious symptoms that led us to a neurologist, expert in all things gluten).
Not sure if you can get hair test on NHS, but you can get one privately by post.

PS. Ask for copies of his tests so you can digest them at your leisure.

Thanks.

I've just looked and private hair tests are only around £50- defiantely do-able.

Ds is very pale- the paediatrician made a comment about it at our first appt. People are always remarking on it, but I just think they're comparing him to me, as I have olive skin, and ds2 who always looks like he's just back from 2 weeks in the sun. DH is fair though so it's not something I'ver really thought about.

Got to go get him from school now, then up to hospital after lunch.

Thanks again.

good luck
U can get the hair even cheaper for children, eg place called Foresight (did it there for my ds).

We're back. He's grown 4 cm over the course of the past year.

She's going to forward a copy of all his notes and tests to us, but she checked and they haven't check his growth hormone level.

So she's sending him for that, and is also going to refer us onto someone else- the endocrinologist?- who's more specific to this than she is.

I asked about zinc etc- she was quite dismissive and said there'd be other signs. I spoke to DH about the hair test though and he agrees it's worth looking into.

Glad she's sending us elsewhere. Although she's nice enough I was getting quite annnoyed at her "Look he has grown a bit. He'll get there eventually" attitude.

Thats no consolation to an almost 10 year that gets his brothers 7yr old friends laughing down at him calling him midget

When we left today he said 'Thanks for trying to help me Mum' . Atleast he knows he's got our support.

Severe zinc deficiency will have more severe symptoms, but suboptimal prolonged deficiency is less obvious but it would get more obvious in time. Malabsorption and deficiencies can lead to suppressed growth hormones too.
My ds was always in the clothes for a younger age by 2-3 years, but when he started growing he developed stretchmarks, another sign of deficiencies (collagen).
Hair test is good, for a start it doesn't hurt :-) and as it covers a period of hair growth, it's like an average over a period of time. It also tells you more about absorption as it looks what makes up hair cells. My ds has too much copper and not enough zinc and we are still working on it. I even found out (nutrition websites)that some blood groups take better to Zn than others and his is in the low range of absorption for Zn, so he might have to have Zn supplements long-term.
Just search for zinc deficiency to learn more. Some sources link this to increased wheat/cereal consumption, we had to go gluten-free, but for you maybe just swapping some wheat products for non-wheat might do the trick.
When we went gluten-free, within a couple of weeks my ds skin turned healthy pink, to me it was quite obvious that this helped to improve circulation not just in skin but in the rest of his body.

I'm willing to try anything to help him so thanks so much for all the information.

Won't do any harm atall to try non-wheat products.

Glad your Ds is doing better now