Short kid, if you're worried about growth therapy...
Jul 17, 2024
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In general, growth therapy refers to precocious puberty treatment, which delays early closing of the growth plate due to early puberty, but on the contrary, there is a treatment that grows height with hormones. The treatment, called growth hormone therapy, is performed when peers are unusually short or slow to grow less than 4 cm per year. When treatment begins, it is important to make a decision after thorough consideration because you need to receive growth hormone injections every day and treat them for more than two years. Accordingly, the points that parents should consider in the treatment of growth hormones were summarized with the help of Professor Noh Yoo-sun of the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescents at Gangdong Sacred Heart Hospital.
▶Growth hormone therapy only needs to be done before puberty?
Growth hormone treatment can be expected to be effective only if it lasts for more than two years. Due to the long treatment period, it is important to receive specialist counseling early because each child has different growth conditions. If you visit the hospital just before or after puberty, the treatment period may be insufficient and the treatment itself may not be possible. At the latest, it is recommended to visit the hospital before the age of 11 for girls and 13 for boys.
▶ Injection treatment is done at the hospital?
Growth hormone therapy is done by self-medication. Hormone injections should be administered by a guardian at home every day, but it is effective to get them 30 minutes before going to sleep during the night when growth hormones are actively secreted. The injection is administered by setting the prescription dose as a pen-type injection rather than a normal syringe, and is applied to the stomach or buttocks with a lot of subcutaneous fat. You don't have to feel too much pressure because you can inject it if you push it like you press a pen.
Professor Noh Yoo-sun said, "Sometimes parents forget and miss the injection or misset the drug dose and administer it. "The injection drug is the same ingredient as the growth hormone of our body, so you can keep the administration interval at the set dose from the next day with confidence."
▶ Does the injection hurt a lot?
The injection needle is thin, so most of them can be administered without any discomfort, but some children complain of pain due to phobia of injection.
Professor Noh must consider that because he is a child, even a small pain can be felt greatly"When injecting a drug, rather than a cold injection drug straight out of the refrigerator, injecting a drug that is briefly at room temperature or a drug that is heated by rolling the syringe with the palm of your hand can help reduce the pain." It is also a way to change the area where the injection is given. For example, if you have a hip injection, it is also important to find areas where the child is less sick, such as injecting into the thigh or stomach.
▶If you start treatment, you'll grow up no matter what?
It is known that if growth therapy is received for two years, 70 to 80% can be an additional 4 to 5 cm taller on average than the child's expected height. Of course, there are cases where it is not effective due to differences in personal constitution and treatment timing. To see the growth effect properly, you should check your child's height every three months to see if it is better than the original growth curve, and consult a specialist regularly because it is important to increase hormones in detail according to your weight. If the growth rate improved significantly during the 2-year treatment period, extended treatment is also possible. It is usually possible until the end of growth, but girls are 14-15 years old in bone age and boys are 16-17 years old.
▶ Are there side effects such as diabetes and thyroid gland?
Rarely during treatment, fasting blood sugar increases or thyroid hormone levels decrease. Most are temporary and return to normal when treatment is stopped.
Professor Noh Yoo-sun advised that `Although it is extremely rare for diabetes to occur with growth hormone treatment, regular blood sugar tests are required if a diabetic family member or obese adolescents start treatment.' In this case, lifestyle correction such as exercise and eating habits should also be carried out.
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