growth hormone for kids

[globetrotter]

anybody know anything about this?

I'm short, and my son is short for his grade now, and I am guessing that he will be shorter than average, but probably taller than me. all of my grandparents were 5'5-5'6 or less - my grandmothers were both under 5 feet. my wife is 5 feet, and her grandparents were all short. I'm 5'5, my brother and sister and each about 5'7-5'8.

my mother smoked like a chimney when she was pregnant with me, and we had very poor, poverty driven nutritian when I was a kid. my wife had excellent nutritian with my son, who was born at more than 10 pounds.

anyway, it would never have dawned on me to think about growth hormone, but somebody asked me about this the other day.

honestly - on the one hand, I am pretty old school, I think that you play the hand you are dealt and you do what you can to make the best of it. and when you overcome difficulties, you prepare yourself for life better.

on the other hand, it would have made my life a lot easier and more enjoyable for most of my life if I were a few inches taller. I don't dwell on it, or think about it, bot 2-3 inches would have changed my life totally - maybe not in good ways: I probably would have married a different woman before my wife came along (not nessasarily the right woman) I might have stayed a career soldier (again, not nessasarily the best thing for me) I could go on.

the other part of this is that my son is nowhere near as tough as I am, but he has a great social life and is very well liked and gets along great with friends. I don't think that he will ever be as ambitious as I am/was,, but its hard to know (he's 10)

I am leaning towards having a serious discussion with my pediatritian about this, and possibly going forward, but really I have only been thinking about it for a day or two.


anyway, what are your thougts?

1. anybody know about growth hormone for kids, and if it is mainstream, healthy, side effects, etc?

2. anybody have a strong feeling about the philosophy one way or another?

3. any of you younger guys the "result" of growth homrmon/

 

[CBrown85]

I'm not sure ''being short'' is an essential medical reason for you to be making decisions like these for your son. TBH, I think GH isn't really something to play around with. I know a few athletes who have taken it and, I don't know, there are some pretty interesting ethical questions surrounding its use.

 

[TACO_FLAVORED_KISSES]

thailand

 

[Pliny]

anybody know anything about this?
I'm short, and my son is short for his grade now, and I am guessing that he will be shorter than average, but probably taller than me. all of my grandparents were 5'5-5'6 or less - my grandmothers were both under 5 feet. my wife is 5 feet, and her grandparents were all short. I'm 5'5, my brother and sister and each about 5'7-5'8.
my mother smoked like a chimney when she was pregnant with me, and we had very poor, poverty driven nutritian when I was a kid. my wife had excellent nutritian with my son, who was born at more than 10 pounds.
anyway, it would never have dawned on me to think about growth hormone, but somebody asked me about this the other day.
honestly - on the one hand, I am pretty old school, I think that you play the hand you are dealt and you do what you can to make the best of it. and when you overcome difficulties, you prepare yourself for life better.
on the other hand, it would have made my life a lot easier and more enjoyable for most of my life if I were a few inches taller. I don't dwell on it, or think about it, bot 2-3 inches would have changed my life totally - maybe not in good ways: I probably would have married a different woman before my wife came along (not nessasarily the right woman) I might have stayed a career soldier (again, not nessasarily the best thing for me) I could go on.
the other part of this is that my son is nowhere near as tough as I am, but he has a great social life and is very well liked and gets along great with friends. I don't think that he will ever be as ambitious as I am/was,, but its hard to know (he's 10)
I am leaning towards having a serious discussion with my pediatritian about this, and possibly going forward, but really I have only been thinking about it for a day or two.
anyway, what are your thougts?
1. anybody know about growth hormone for kids, and if it is mainstream, healthy, side effects, etc?
2. anybody have a strong feeling about the philosophy one way or another?
3. any of you younger guys the "result" of growth homrmon/

While there's plenty of evidence that there's a general correlation between stature and success in life it's only a statistical correlation and not at all inevitable. So there're plenty of anomalies; plenty of people of shorter stature who are wildly successful, and plenty of taller peeps who are .. not.

I guess the things that sometimes bother me about my own children's life chances- level of intelligence, lack of confidence, for example - tend to be my issues, my concerns, not necessarily theirs.

Thinking ahead, what does putting your son on a course of growth hormone say to him? How do you think he would process knowing that his parents think that his small stature is a problem for him? You're in the best position to judge that one.

Like any parent I want my children to be happy; your son sounds like he is happy. What a blessing.

 

[globetrotter]



While there's plenty of evidence that there's a general correlation between stature and success in life it's only a statistical correlation and not at all inevitable.  So there're plenty of anomalies; plenty of people of shorter stature who are wildly successful, and plenty of taller peeps who are .. not.

 I guess the things that sometimes bother me about my own children's life chances-  level of intelligence, lack of confidence, for example  -  tend to be my issues, my concerns, not  necessarily theirs.  

Thinking ahead, what does putting your son on a course of growth hormone say to him?  How do you think he would process knowing that his parents think that his small stature is a problem for him?  You're in the best position to judge that one.

Like any parent I want my children to be happy;  your son sounds like he is happy.  What a blessing.

these are good points, and actually some of the same points that I raised the other day. I am very happy in my life, and successful in the ways I would measure it. statistically speaking, I should be earning about 1/5th or less of what I am earning. my son is very happy, he has a lot of friends, he is very good at some of the things he does, he has worked out the system well. I am waiting to see how that will work out for him, when dating starts and he is in the shorter side of things.

this comes to a bigger "meta" issue - we are all formed by our experiences - most of my expereinces growing up were difficult and, in may ways, unpleasant. so I have dealt with life as challenges that have to be overcome. my son lives a charmed life, and doesn't really have to deal with overcoming too many difficulties.


anyway, I never really thought about this before a few days ago, and I have to give it some thought, so I value any input..


by the way, my wife posts on Urban Mom, which is a similar type of site to this, for upper middle class urban moms, and the women seem overwhelmingly in favor of growth hormons for boys. I guess women really do like taller boys

 

[Pliny]

these are good points, and actually some of the same points that I raised the other day. I am very happy in my life, and successful in the ways I would measure it. statistically speaking, I should be earning about 1/5th or less of what I am earning. my son is very happy, he has a lot of friends, he is very good at some of the things he does, he has worked out the system well. I am waiting to see how that will work out for him, when dating starts and he is in the shorter side of things.
this comes to a bigger "meta" issue - we are all formed by our experiences - most of my expereinces growing up were difficult and, in may ways, unpleasant. so I have dealt with life as challenges that have to be overcome. my son lives a charmed life, and doesn't really have to deal with overcoming too many difficulties.
anyway, I never really thought about this before a few days ago, and I have to give it some thought, so I value any input..
by the way, my wife posts on Urban Mom, which is a similar type of site to this, for upper middle class urban moms, and the women seem overwhelmingly in favor of growth hormons for boys. I guess women really do like taller boys

and/or want the best for their children-

it's not exactly the same but about 90% of women choose to abort foetuses that thru amniocentesis in the 2nd trimester have been identified with chromosomal abnormalities eg the one associated with Down's Syndrome - and that proportion has climbed steadily over the last few decades. Not saying it's not a tough decision, and I'm not judging them, but does make me uneasy. we're rolling down that slippery slope.

If it was me, re: HGH, I think I'd try to talk to my son about it i a general way, with lots of time. and see how he feels about it. Better if to some degree he's involved in any decision. Just had the thought that later in life he might regret that I didn't give him the option.

 

[tesseract]

I was prescribed growth hormone from around 10-15ish before absolutely refusing to take it anymore. Looking back i am glad my parents pushed me to do it but it was a hard concept injecting yourself every night when you weren't even a teenager yet. I wish i would have kept going but after years of subcutaneous shots in the same areas the bruising made every injection a bad experience. All in all i grew from sub 10% height average for my age to 5'8, which is great. I literally stopped growing for years. BTW the blood test to check for growth hormone deficiency is a couple of hours long and sucks really badly.

 

[globetrotter]



I was prescribed growth hormone from around 10-15ish before absolutely refusing to take it anymore. Looking back i am glad my parents pushed me to do it but it was a hard concept injecting yourself every night when you weren't even a teenager yet. I wish i would have kept going but after years of subcutaneous shots in the same areas the bruising made every injection a bad experience. All in all i grew from sub 10% height average for my age to 5'8, which is great. I literally stopped growing for years. BTW the blood test to check for growth hormone deficiency is a couple of hours long and sucks really badly.

thanks, this is helpful

 

[Harbin]

what if you're taller than average, and still take this? I'm assuming it will still have an effect just not to the same degree compared to someone short who takes it?

 

[tesseract]



what if you're taller than average, and still take this? I'm assuming it will still have an effect just not to the same degree compared to someone short who takes it?

once your growth plates fuse its pretty much the end of height growth.

 

[Reggs]

Would it make a boys penis grow larger too? Had to ask.

 

[kalye]

**** works. I grew half an inch but I was already 17 or so by then. I took it more for the muscle. There was a short kid like really short I knew but also younger that took it as well but I never saw how tall he progressed..

 

[Hombre Secreto]

You want to give your child HGH? I heard some doctor giving a lecture about this... and he said it was a terrible idea. The body needs to stop growing first, and HGH can stop growth in a still developing body.

 

[tesseract]



You want to give your child HGH? I heard some doctor giving a lecture about this... and he said it was a terrible idea. The body needs to stop growing first, and HGH can stop growth in a still developing body.

You won't get insurance to cover it unless it is painfully obvious your child stopped growing.

 

[why]

The general rule of steroids applies to HGH: if you have to ask, do not use.

You clearly don't understand HGH and should never consider giving it to someone who isn't carefully diagnosed with a hormone deficiency.

As something simple to think about: bone doesn't just expand vertically.