<p>just as a sidenote, Johnny Depp is 5’4"ish
thought some might like to know…</p>
<p>My son has been the 3rd percentile for height for two years now (he is 13 1/2 now) but previously was always in the 30%tile…dropping like that is a big red flag. We are a short family so I was reluctant to take him to the endocrinologist at first because I just wanted to believe my pediatrician (who told me that his genetics have just kicked in). My eldest daughter is 5 ft tall and 20 yrs old (and happy about it), my second, 17 yr old, daughter is almost 5’ 1 3/4" after 4 years on growth hormone (she has severe ulcerative colitis which was stunting her growth).
I am 5’1" and my husband is 5’6". We are a short family. If I didn’t start my son on growth hormone…he would never reach his growth potential (30%til at best). As I type this, I await the pharmacy delivery of his miracle drug.</p>
<p>Bay - thanks for the info. Appreciate that.</p>
<p>CountingDown - S told me last night he had read in Vanity Fair that the new “thing” for male models is “wraith-like” i.e. very thin. I thought perhaps that could pay for the enormous quantities of food he consumes that never seem to show up on his body…</p>
<p>VeryHappy: LOL.</p>
<p>Alumother: Ignorance is bliss sometimes. It’s nice when it works out.</p>
<p>seiclan et al.: We are so happy for your children who can receive the therapy they need to find their place on the “growth charts.” </p>
<p>payingthreetuitions: If they had a hormone for Richard Burton’s voice I’m not sure I wouldn’t force my son to take it! LOL.</p>
<p>Robert Reich was a hero of mine achieving all he did for the Feds at 4’11. Danny DeVito too. </p>
<p>My cousin, who is 5’2" inches, a beautiful woman who is a graduate of Harvard Medical School married a man who is also 5’2" who was bald at 29. He is more of the warmest, kindest, most intelligent (Penn Med. School) guys I have ever met. I gained new respect for her in being able to look past superficial things, and I think she is a very lucky woman. He had tears in his eyes at their wedding because he was sure she was interested in his 6’1" friend the night they met. She was. For her sister!</p>
<p>seiclan - question for you. When you say my son is on the 3rd percentile but might be on a higher percentile depending on bone age, what does this mean? If he has more growth left, does this mean he will definitely grow more or is this merely growth potential and the GH may be required to realize that potential?</p>
<p>I wonder because my niece had the hand x-ray and her bone age is 10 even though she is 12 (about to turn actually). I believe my sis said she was under the 5th percentile pre-bone scan.</p>
<p>Btw…we too are not trying to grow a giant…but it would be nice if my son could get to 5’6" or 5’7". And since puberty has begun, we are watching the window of opportunity close. </p>
<p>My brother-in-law, the powerhouse Stanford Law alum, former editor of the law review and Colorado Supreme Court Justice clerk is only 5’4". Height is nice, but I agree it doesn’t control destiny unless you let it.</p>
<p>What I mean is that you plot your child’s height/age percentile on the growth chart and then move your finger back to their bone age. For example, your niece- the 5%tile at age 12 would make her about 55 inches tall but if her bone age says 10 yrs, then that would actually put her above the 50%tile. You plot her age as the bone age not the age in years. It means she has a longer time to grow. </p>
<p>A child will grow on growth hormone as long as their bone haven’t fused (not sure the actual term but mean that there is still room in the growth plates). Your doc will take an xray every 6 to 12 months to keep checking that the bones have not fused yet. Once the xray shows that the bones are done…the child is done growing and the growth hormone is discontinued. My daughters doctor also used the criteria that if the child shows no growth for 6 months then they are done (with GH). BTW - My daughter grew another inch in the two years after they discontinued her growth hormone. She still is not at her potential height (5"3’…from bone ages when she was little) but she is close and we are happy.</p>
<p>ahhh…that makes sense…thanks seiclan.</p>
<p>Wow mythmom…I am not sure what kind of world or society you live in. Your son’s graduating class must have been, either very, very small for him to have been the shortest, or have a very skewed population. My kids go to a school of over 2500 and 5’7" is no where near the shortest boy in the graduating class. There are many graduating boys still 5-4, 5-5, etc. Some have just not hit their growth spurt, which often comes at age 18 or 19. When you have a 16 year old who is 5’2" and has been on growth hormone for 2 years, hearing someone call 5’7" (what I consider average) short, is gut -wrenching. Only when you have a boy as short as mine, can you possibly understand. Most of the men in my family are between 5-6 and 5-9 and don’t have “societal issues”, aren’t teased or put down or have had any disadvantages being 5-7-ish. They are well adjusted, successful and married. Maybe that is because a lot of other men we know are in that range. My son, however, does at 5-2 By the way, I am 5-2 and your daughter can shop in any petite department at the best stores, including Nordstroms and get very cute, stylish and trendy clothes. It was not true 15 years ago, but now almost any store carries clothes for young women 5-2.</p>
<p>The men in both of our families are across-the-boards short (5’2" - 5"7" tops) except for my own Dad who skipped 3 generations genetically (6’). I have only brothers and mostly male first-cousins. We talk about this freely. I know it hurts them a lot during high school and it only gets okay when somebody falls in love with them. Most found women of equal height or smaller, and there are plenty to be found from that gene pool. Noteworthy that ALL their marriages are still intact after >20 years. Maybe they and the women are choosing mates for the “right” reasons that endure. If girls want someone loyal, consider a short man because they’ll be thankful for the girl.
I’m not meaning to turn short men into something pathetic; neither are tall women.</p>
<p>But maybe we can begin to engender some progressive response to this height bias.
It goes back to evolution, and the tall one could see over the distances to watch for herds of animals in the hunt. But there are other genetic merits for tribes to survive, including strength, speed, good vision, intelligence, OR (my personal favorite because it’s my kids’ strength area)…storytelling/entertaining. Someone had to sit around the campfire at day’s end and narrate the day’s story about the hunt, so others could find the animals again the following day. I do believe it’s genetic programming and from this, we get the guy who can win the girl based on humor or wit. Also, stand-up late-night comedians. </p>
<p>One very confident bro-in-law married a woman a head taller than himself, and gave a gift to all his nephews by modeling how irrelevant it could be. The woman’s Dad (6’6") gave her SUCH GRIEF that she was marrying short man, it was unbelievable. She finally faced her Dad down and said, “He’s smart, kind, funny, handsome, strong…and short. Would you be happier if I married someone mean and stupid, but tall?” That shut him up.</p>
<p>I also feel for the tall gawky women who say they feel out-of-place during h.s. It’s the other side of the same coin.</p>
<p>Sooo, since we’re battling down racism, weight discrimination and ageism, maybe height-ism will be the next frontier for combating prejudice. Society DOES make it hard on short boys and extremely tall girls. Parents (and uncles, aunts) must play a strong role to inject confidence in growing boys and girls that their other merits will win the day.</p>
<p>My H always found that wit (and good listening) won the girls. He could trump height that way when competing with the other roosters in the henhouse. S1 and S2, same thing. </p>
<p>Yeesh, what a rant. I must really care about this topic! Good wishes to all who are thinking about height issues for their boys or girls.</p>
<p>blucroo: I am sorry if my remarks seemed insensitive to you. I am not comparing your son to mine, and I hope your son does well with GW and in life.</p>
<p>I really do not mean to lack empathy. So I will say that it is very hard for anyone to be different, especially past some statistical norm. So my sympathies for what you’re facing. I also did not mean to imply that my son has a real problem. I just meant to communicate that he experienced a lot of anti-short bias from the people (including his own aunt) who wanted him to have another year of pre-school to the kid who drew a picture of him as having a little tiny body with a great big head when he was in middle school.
His sister helped him by telling him that if someone was caricaturing him, he was an important person in the school and to display the drawing with pride on his locker. He did.</p>
<p>blucroo, my heart is with you and your son. </p>
<p>I used the examples of Janet Reno (often had to bring in picture, kids did not know who she was) and Danny DeVito to demonstrate to my community college students that statistical norms are just that, norms! They say nothing about individuals, that Janet Reno would probably be taller than any of the guys sitting in the class and Danny DeVito shorter than any of the women. And that both these individuals are more successful than any of us are likely to be. And call me crazy, but I find Danny DeVito sexy. (Before he started in with the drunken sales pitches and NOT on Taxi.)</p>
<p>First, a picture to help encourage any short boys or men who are concerned about their future status or love life: <a href=“http://www.offrampbums.com/kucinich.jpg[/url]”>http://www.offrampbums.com/kucinich.jpg</a> </p>
![http://www.offrampbums.com/kucinich.jpg[/url]](http://www.offrampbums.com/kucinich.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Another comment: I never really looked into it, but I think family history of growth patterns is also important. I was always the teensiest little girl in my class and a late puberty – I had my first period at age 15 & reached my full height of 5’5" at around the same age. I guess I must have grown a lot between 13-15. My brother was also quite short in middle school, the exact same height as me at age 16… and he grew to at least 5’11", but I think he was still growing when he headed off to college at age 18. When I found out that my kids’ father also had a similar growth pattern (late puberty, still growing in late teens) – I figured my kids would probably have the same & did not stress over their bottom-of-the-charts measurements in childhood. </p>
<p>I remember when my son was in elementary school, Sears had a policy that they would replace blue jeans free if they were worn out before the kids outgrew them – I don’t think I paid for a new pair of pants for 3 years, I just kept bringing in the old ones to exchange for new. My son’s high school classmates wanted to nominate him for “student who grew the most in 4 years”. I think he’s 5’7" or 5’8" now. (You can see my somewhat casual attitude in the fact that I don’t know exactly – all I know is that he’s taller than I am and slightly taller than his dad). I also think my son was still growing at age 18, though he didn’t grow by much.</p>
<p>My daughter is shorter than me, about 5’3" – and I think she was still growing until age 16. Again, same pattern: extremely petite all the way through elementary & middle school, then a late puberty and a growth spurt that took her to the short end of average height. I used to get ticked off when people would ask me what was “wrong” with her or if I had sought medical help for her short stature when she was around 12 or so and it was very obvious from her thin build and flat chest that she hadn’t entered puberty – yes all those big busted girls in the 7th grade towered over her, but it seemed pretty obvious to me that they were in a different stage of development. </p>
<p>Anyway… I do think there is a difference between mere short stature or extended growth pattern, and hormone-deficient. Even though my kids were short, they pretty much kept pace with growth of kids 2 years younger than them – which was my own pattern growing up. I do think it is appropriate for any parent who is concerned to seek medical advice, and given the complications and expense of hormone treatment, I doubt that any parent or kids would opt for that unless it was truly medically necessary.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would call that an understatement!</p>
<p>First of all, no insurance company will pay the $30,000 annual cost unless it is “truly medically necessary.” So simply “opting” for this treatment without a medical need can cross the minds of only the truly wealthy.</p>
<p>Secondly, many people do not realize what type of evaluation is required before the treatment is started. It is not simply a matter of having an endocrinologist write up a prescription. Generally, there is a 3 - 6 month observation phase (including inquiry as to parental growth patterns and pubertal development), bone-age xray, one or more blood draws and tests, followed by a 5-hour, intraveneous blood analysis conducted in a hospital, and finally an MRI brain scan (which also requires an intravenous injection of contrast material.) </p>
<p>The treatment itself consists of daily injections, plus blood tests and doctor visits every 3 months and bone-age xrays every 6 to 12 months… It is a daunting, onerous and stressful experience for an adolescent and his/her parents. Certainly not something one would undertake on a whim, hunch or in vain.</p>
<p>I ran across this article this morning about the genetic link to height and thought some might be interested in reading it: <a href=“http://www.broad.mit.edu/cgi-bin/news/display_news.cgi?id=3741[/url]”>http://www.broad.mit.edu/cgi-bin/news/display_news.cgi?id=3741</a></p>
<p>My D took GH for several years and is now off it. She is 17 and 5 ft.The whole treatment was not an easy thing to say yes to, nor was it easy to participate in. Daily shots are not something most kids (or parents) look forward to. But, I am glad we pursued it and even more glad that we are done it 
Another thing I would tell you to keep an eye out for is evidence of scoliosis once you start seeing growth. Growth can happen quickly and it has its effects on the body. My D developed scoliosis between scheduled visits to the endocrinologist. Luckily it did not progress to any level requiring treatment - but it is something we continually monitor.</p>
<p>Wellspring, I’m glad to hear of the happy ending, and good luck to your son. I think you mentioned his growth lag was first flagged by an allergist. I wondered whether the allegist mentioned that if your son’s on some asthma medications they may stunt growth.</p>
<p>Yikes, between Blucroos warning about noses growing and momfirsts scoliosis warning I am getting a bit skittish. It is bad enough that the fine print on the drug packet mentions leukemia! Yes, GH is not something to be taken without much consideration (benefits vs. risks). My son has his first checkup (after starting the GH last May) with the endocrinologist on Monday afternoon. Wish us luck!!! We did the bloodwork thing this past Monday and I can tell this is going to be a “fun” few years …my son started to get dizzy and faint just as the tech was withdrawing the needle (after only 4 tubes of blood). It took a glass of orange juice and about 6-7 minutes until he was ok to leave the lab. He had the same reaction 6 months ago. I will let you guys know how it went next week.</p>
<p>Seiclan - I had no intention of scaring you or anyone else. Just wanted you to bring up something that we were not aware of during our treatments. My D had Leukemia as a young child. Believe me when I tell you that we grilled our Endocrinologist on the likelihood of relapse. I know that my D has absolutely no regrets. She is perfectly healthy today.</p>
<p>My D was diagnosed with minor scoliosis before she started the GH treatments. It was of some concern to the doctors about whether the scoliosis might progress with GH treatments, so on top of everything else, we had to add in trips to the orthopod every 6 months. The good news is that while the angle of her curvature fluctuated throughout the 2 1/2 year treatment, it never worsened and has stabilized.</p>
<p>seiclan - More good news: I remember reading in some literature I recieved, that synthetic GH is the most thoroughly monitored drug on the market. Supposedly, every case of its pediatric use has been documented since it was first prescribed (in the 80’s, I think), so the risk factors are extremely accurate, and minimal to rare! (Effects over the long term are less known, obviously). According to my D’s endocrinologist, at the first sign of any side-effect, the treatment is simply stopped and the child is no longer at risk.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your son. The bloodwork and I.V.s were the toughest part for my D, too.</p>
<p>Ok, the update. We went to the endocrinologist today for the 3 month check. Son is 146.8cm/57.7 inches at 13 1/2. He grew .7 inches on the growth hormone in 3 months. He is now 80 pounds (up from 76) so that is much better. He is also in early puberty which endocrinologist says is fine/normal for his age. She said he was doing great but I was disappointed that it wasn’t an entire inch of height. He is still in the 5%tile. She upped his GH dose by one click a night. We go back at the end of December before which we need to have another bone age done.
BTW-his bloodwork was all normal. YEAH!</p>