Dallas family injects healthy kid with synthetic growth

[ikojo]

hormone.

On 60 Minutes tonight they did a story about a Dallas, TX family who allow their kid to inject himself with artificial growth hormone because he is shorter than his younger brother. This kid tried out for the basketball team in the 7th grade and did not make it. At the time he was 4'10" and in the 25th percentile for kids his age. His dad, a former high school sports star, is 6'4" and his mom is only 5' tall.

I am short but I don't know if I'd inject myself with a synthetic hormone just to be taller. What about the rest of DU, would you inject an otherwise healthy kid with synthetic growth hormone?

[candy]

1. The segment frightened me to death.

Two of my grandsons(brothers)are going to be in the same boat,
one very tall and one very short.

I doubt if my son and his wife would EVER do something like this,at least I hope not.

[Mr. Blonde]

2. I would, if my kid was at the very bottom of normal

25th percentile I would probably leave alone and say sorry he took all the good genes :) But if he was the very shortest that is normal I would certainly consider it. I know a kid who took them. It didn't make him abnormally tall or anything, just average.

[MercutioATC]

3. I faced this very situation last year.

My son (adopted) is relatively small for his age and is uncomfortable about his stature. His mother is 5'4". His biological father was about 5'6". I took him to see a pediatric endocrinologist.

The doctor examined him, tested the levels of growth hormone in his blood, and took x-rays to determine his level of bone growth. The doctors determination was that he would most likely reach full height at about 5'6", but there were no physical problems. His height is a result of genetics.

My son isn't getting hormone shots.

[NNadir]

4. This borders on the completely sick.

[cally]

5. The Doctor's suggested these shots for my daughter

She was very small and they were predicting that she would be about 4'11. I decided that it was tall enough. She is now 5'2 1/2 and still growing. I'm so glad I ignored the doctor's advice.

I think it's pretty sick to give hormones to otherwise healthy kids. I might consider it if a child is very, very small. Even then, I would have to understand the side effects much more. A man who is 5'6" is short but not so short that he should take hormones.