Growth hormone treatments may be good news for children who have short parents. However, growth hormone therapy is generally only effective for children who are deficient in growth hormone and does not help much for normal children. If the problem is genetic, growth hormone therapy is hardly effective. So which children is the therapy for?
Growth hormone therapy is a treatment for children who do not produce growth hormone properly due to certain diseases or abnormalities in the pituitary gland.
These children generally grow 8-10 cm in the first year of treatment and 7-8 cm in the second year, and should choose this treatment if their predicted future height is under 165 cm for males and 150 cm for females.
When is the best time to have growth hormone therapy? Growth hormone therapy is a method of stimulating the epiphyseal plate to accelerate bone growth as the bones grow. Therefore, it can only be effective if the epiphyseal plate is open, but not if it is closed. The younger you are, the better, and you should receive treatment at least 3 years before you reach puberty, i.e. 10-11 years old for boys and 9-10 years old for girls. you can receive growth hormone therapy from the age of 5. If your family is short, you can decide whether to do the treatment after a physical examination.
The effect of growth hormone therapy depends on the child’s current height, weight, bone age, the start of treatment, and the course of treatment. Generally, growth hormone therapy can make a child about 10 cm taller than he or she would otherwise be. If the bone age is checked by X-ray, growth hormone therapy will basically not be effective if the female is over 14 years old and the male is over 17 years old.
Duration and treatment: Usually lasts from 6 months to 1 year. Subcutaneous injections are given daily at home after purchasing growth hormone preparations according to the doctor’s prescription. Do the treatment for 6 months first to observe if there is any effect. If the growth is more than 5cm in 6 months, it means there is an effect, if it is below 3cm, it is considered that there is no significant effect and the treatment can be stopped. Go to the hospital every 3-6 months to receive a checkup to confirm the treatment process. Injection dosage is related to body weight.
Natural growth is the best option Many people think that growth hormone therapy is a cure-all for height problems, but this is not entirely true. If the lack of growth hormone secretion is not caused by disease or if the child is under a lot of psychological stress due to height, it is best to let the child grow naturally and healthily through the mother’s care. As mentioned earlier, doing more than 30 minutes of exercise every day and taking balanced nutrition can make growth hormone secretion flourish. So let your child exercise more in ordinary life, eat well, let your child have a happy life, or develop your child’s ability to draw, sing or dance can make your child grow well.