Vintage81
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Posts posted by Vintage81
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I understand. I was the youngest of three, all of us very different body types: totally normal, very tall and long, and well, tiny.
I think the best thing my parents ever did for me was helping me accept me for who I was. I was bullied once in school that I can remember, and that was immediately put to rest by two of my 6ft tall guy friends. :001_wub: But kids are mean, and they will pick on others and find a way to needle under the skin of others. If not teasing because a kid is short, then because they are tall, or freckled, or have big ears, or flat chested, or acne, or bad haircut or.....well, you get the picture.
My parents helped me to seek out my gifts. No, I'd never be a track runner, but I could dance. I wasn't going to be the world's greatest piano player, but I could snag some sweet parts in our community theatre. My school had my back, too. My elementary ordered special sizes of things like adjustable basketball hoops and desks. There was not one person there who made me feel different. Jr high...well, by that point I was a fierce ball of energy. :p
The biggest effect my size had was in relationships. It's really hard to get serious about someone if it looks like you're dating a 4th grader. I didn't really date until after high school when I had grown and my face matured some. I can't see a parent looking at that like it's a bad thing, though! :D
My parents did a lot that I honestly don't even remember. :) There's a nursery rhyme type poem my mom used to read to me, about a little elf man and how he handled being called short, basically. And there was the constant refrain from my dad: "good things come in small packages." This was said about packages and christmas presents and letters and ...me. There was an over-riding sense of "you can do anything" and I never, never felt limited by height, or being a girl, or well, anything. They did joke around and tell me to go out and hang on the monkey bars at times, but I never once thought they were serious. I was always the shortest, in every class - I was first in line, in the front row, etc. I don't recalled being bullied. Do you remember the song Short People? Yeh, I thought that was funny. I just ... didn't take it personally.
I didn't play a lot of team sports, but more the compete against yourself variety - gymnastics was my thing till I started riding. Then we went full on into horses. I rode, and showed, and trained my own. I wanted to be a jockey at one point, and that required being short. And training my own horses... That was empowering, you know? I never thought of myself as an athlete, but as an adult, it was something I heard about myself, growing up. I just had fun. My friends who actually went to the Olympics - now, they were athletes!
In high school, my size was just ... who I was. Boys found it fun to try to lift me - in a fun way. I didn't really care about that, but had no problem saying when not to. I could fit into small hiding spaces for games. I played many instruments, and at one point got a kick out of playing tuba for a semester because, well, it was funny. The size, you know?
None of that is probably very helpful, but whatever my parents did - it must have worked. I never felt uncomfortable. I did, however, marry a tall guy. It makes reaching things in the upper cabinets much easier.
Thank you both for your replies. It's encouraging to hear your perspectives. :001_smile:
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I see you're in TX- when I was going through a scare with dd's thyroid a few months ago, several here recommended I make sure she went to a pediatric Endocrinologist and if possible through a Children's Hospital, like Texas Children's. Are you in a location where that's a possibility?
Looks like Texas Children's is in the Houston area, which is about 3 hours from where we are. I'll look into children's hospitals in my area. Thank you for the suggestion.
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Your endo sucks, the TSH is already out of bound even by the highest parameters used now. She needs Free T3 and Free T4 tests run at a min and with a father with Hashimotos she needs antibody levels run. I'd go far, far away from that endo.
It was alarming to me that the endo was ready to submit paperwork to the insurance company for the shots prior to doing more testing on the thyroid, especially since DH has Hashimoto's. We're definitely thinking about looking for another doctor, but I have a feeling that finding a good one is going to be difficult.
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I've a friend whose son gets hgh. he was growing, and producing hgh - BUT NOT ADEQUATELY. she had to push and push to get him treated.
how is her level of hgh in the *optimum* range for hgh? (if it's good - I'd look for another cause.)
has her pituitary been checked?
I will tell you - experienced thyroid patients tend to hate endos. (typical - patients gives long list of symptoms - endo: you're fine.)
for thyroid:
free t3
free t4
reverse t3
those are *the most important* numbers. tsh is a pituitary hormone - NOT a thyroid hormone.
"normal range" . . . includes people with deficient numbers. the only range you should be looking at to compare her numbers is *optimum*.
During the growth hormone stim test, they were looking for her level to go above 10...hers went to 11, so she's definitely producing enough growth hormone.
My husband's Hashimoto's diagnosis is fairly recent, about a year ago, but he already hates his endo. Its exactly as you described. For instance, he has a lot of pain in his hands and his knees. During his last appointment, he told the endo about the pain, and the doctor laughed at him. He said he couldn't help DH with the pain and that he needed to see a hand doctor. DH also follows a Paleo diet, which has helped, but the endo said he didn't believe diet changes really factor into feeling better. It's all about the medication.
I think having experienced this with my husband is what adds extra stress to my DD's situation. We've essentially just started, but it already feels like it's going to be a long journey.
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Thyroid issues run in my family. I was diagnosed as hypothyroid at age 11. I grew something like six or seven inches in a year following start on synthroid. Part of that was the normal early puberty growth spurt, but I had plateaued for a while until then.
I wouldn't get growth hormone shots until the thyroid issues are addressed. Or possibly at all if there are no health issues other than size.
Thank you for that info. My DH is pretty convinced she has a thyroid issue, since he has Hashimoto's. His mother also has hypothyroidism, his sister has lupus, and many other family members have celiac. Needless to say, this stuff runs in the family, so we're definitely waiting on the shots until we have more clarification on her thyroid.
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Not having a crystal ball definitely sucks. And, with adding thyroid issues, that's way different than our family's experiences.
I'll still share that dh was a short kid, and his parents went through the whole testing thing and shot debate when he was about... maybe 12-ish? They didn't wind up doing the shots, and he hit his growth spurt at the end of his teens, and has the stretch marks to prove it. He's about 5'10". Probably closer to 5'9", but don't tell him that.
My daughters are just 13 months apart, but looked several years apart, by size, from 4-ish to 11-ish. Had I not known dh's history, I probably would have been concerned. But now they're 13 and 14, and the gap has been closing quickly.
I would most definitely love a crystal ball!!
My DH (and his sister) both hit their growth spurts late, so that is something for us to consider.
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I would want the thyroid tests run. The height projection doesn't alarm me though.
I'd follow the endo's advice on the shots, and maybe get a second opinion. What are the pros and cons?
Maybe I'm biased? I'm 4' 10". Women in my family are small, I'm okay with that. My parents did have the option of shots when I was growing up, but opted not to go that route. They did, however, do a lot of self esteem building that I didn't notice or appreciate till much later. That was very sweet. And they put me in a lot of sports that I now realize small girls seem to do, ha! Gymnastics and horsebackriding.
I had excellent health care, and annual visits to a very large children's hospital for cardiology among other things. I think if there were anything major, it would have been caught. So, yeh, I'm just short. No harm done. :)
Was there anything specific your parents did, that you look back on as really helpful? We're always trying to be encouraging to her and explain that no matter what height she is, she can be successful.
We have her in gymnastics right now and she loves it. Since she's homeschooled, she's not around a ton of other kids, so she's kind of sheltered. I worry about bullying and that sort of thing. I know that's not a good reason to do invasive shots, and it's definitely not a deciding factor, but it's still something I worry about.
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What is the harm in not doing the shots?
I was a very short child. Correction, I was a very small child. My grade often corresponded with my clothing size after 3rd. I am now a decent sized adult. I am small, but within the range of normal and healthy. When I was a child they explored the possibility of growth hormones, breaking my bones to insert rods, pediasure type drinks...but honestly I was just right for who I was. My parents opted not to do any growth treatments and I was just fine.
Assuming she's healthy, I don't think there's any harm in not doing the shots. She'll just be a short adult (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
We've tried to keep an open conversation with her about her height. We've always known she'd be small, but we didn't know to what extent. Her sister is now the same height as her and I get asked all the time if they are twins. She doesn't seem bothered by it, but I have no clue how it'll affect her as she gets older.
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This is a ped endo she is seeing, correct?
Correct
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I'm 5'1" and my husband is 6'. Her and her sister are just about the same height now.A good friend who is very short found out about a pituitary tumor in her 20s, after years of infertility. I'd want to rule out something along those lines as well. How tall are you and your husband? Any siblings to compare her to?
They're projecting her to be about 4'10", based off of the bone age x-rays. She obviously gets the short genes from me, but my husband is the one with thyroid issues. It's almost as if she's got a combination of both. ðŸ™
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Oh no that TSH is WAY too high :( she needs actual scans of the thyroid and pituitary. My friend's daughter went through this and it turned out she was missing part of her pituitary. They did elect to do HgH shots so her daughter would one day be tall enough to drive and all went pretty well with that.
That's good to hear that the HGH shots went well. I've never met anyone who's done them, so they kind of make me nervous.
Beyond blood tests, I'm not sure what else they're going to do. They told us if she'd failed the growth hormone stim test, she'd be retested and also have an MRI to check the pituitary gland. But since she passed the test, it doesn't look like that's going to happen. But it's definitely a question for us to ask.
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My daughter is very short for her age - she’s always been under the 5th percentile on the growth chart.
In November 2015 she saw an endocrinologist for the first time. They did blood work and took an X-ray of her hand (bone age). Blood work was all normal and bone age was a little behind (bone age=6years 10months, actual age=7years 6months). Endo said nothing needed to be done at this time and to come back in a year for follow-up.
November 2016 only a bone age X-ray was done, with similar results as last year. But, she deviated from her growth curve and is now at 0% on the growth chart. Endo ordered further testing - growth hormone stimulation test and further blood work.
We just had the growth hormone stim test done and she is not growth hormone deficient. Based on that, the endo diagnosed her as idiopathic short stature (which just means she’s really short and they don’t know why). She may qualify for HGH shots with the insurance company, but we’re not certain on that yet.
Blood work showed abnormality with thyroid - TSH was high, 5.6, total T4 normal, T3 uptake(?) normal. Free T3 and free T4 were not tested. Everything else was normal. Endo wants to do blood work in a month to retest the thyroid. (My husband has Hashimoto’s, so it wouldn’t surprise me if my daughter had thyroid issues too.)
For now, we're putting the brakes on the HGH shots until the next blood test is done. In the meantime, I’m trying to gather as much information as possible.
Does anyone have any experience with thyroid issues in children? If so, did the thyroid issue affect their growth? Once the thyroid was under control, did they grow at a more normal rate?
I’m also curious about HGH shots. If anyone has any experience with them, I’d love any information you have. Do they hurt? Are you seeing results? Is it difficult to keep up with? Do you feel like it's worth it?
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The dentist recommended my 8 year old start braces. He was going to do it himself (he did not send me to an orthodontist). I didn't know this at the time, but there are two phases of braces that can be done. Phase 1, which is done at this younger age, helps space things out and make room for adult teeth to come in. Since this was unfamiliar to me, I opted to get a second opinion, and took her to an orthodontist. The ortho said she didn't need braces yet, but he'd check again in a year. I'm glad I went to the orthodontist and didn't let the dentist move forward with the braces.
Phase 1 braces can be really helpful to some children, but not all. Most still end up needing Phase 2, so it can be costly. My main question to the ortho would be if it's really necessary at this time. The ortho I saw let me know that he's very conservative and doesn't do Phase 1 unless absolutely necessary.
Good luck!
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We've found Arrowroot flour at HEB. I believe it's the Bob's Red Mill brand and its in the baking aisle, at the end with all of the other specialty flours. Does your store have a health aisle, where they have things like Larabars, kombucha drinks, all-natural soaps/shampoos, and lots of vitamins? (This is separate from the medicine/vitamin aisle.) My store has bulk bins in this "health" aisle, and they may have it there. If you can't find it in any of those places, I'd try Central Market first.
Also, have you tried tapioca flour? I think it can be used as a substitute for arrowroot, but I haven't cooked enough with either to know the difference.
ETA: You can go on HEB's website and search for products. After you've located what you're looking for, you can select your store and then it should tell you what aisle the product is on, if they have it.
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As many others have said, thank you for sharing Nathaniel with us. I truly cherished checking in on him everyday and appreciate you letting us follow your journey. I'm so sorry you didn't get more time with him. 😢 Praying for strength, comfort, and peace for your family.
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Another vote for the one on the left.
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Dog 2- Doberman- show breeder and paid through the nose because of all of the genetic tests etc to ensure heart issues etc. weren't carried. Also breeder took care of ear cropping and dew claws, etc which I didn't want to deal with finding right vet for.
We got our Doberman from a breeder for these reasons. I'm trying to convince DH to get a "sister" for him. I have a family member who works with a service dog organization, which uses labs. Not all of the dogs make it to be a service dog, so they adopt them out. The adoption fee is higher, and the waitlists can be long, but they've already been through training which a plus. Just another idea. Good luck on your search! 😊
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😢 I'm so sorry. I'm continuing to pray for precious little Nathaniel, you and your family. ðŸ™
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And we have a lovely mudroom with a bench and hooks on the wall, with a cubby for each child's shoes. So of course they pile their coats on the bench or the floor and leave their shoes scattered in the middle of the room. Why, oh why is this?
I have the same problem with our mudroom. I even have their names on the cubbies, and the shoes are still all over the floor. The washer/dryer are in the same room, so it's always a joy to trip over shoes on my way to do laundry.
I also hate loose paper. It's everywhere...art projects, school stuff, random drawings, and DH's lists (he loves to make lists). I've tried buying bound/spiral notebooks for everyone to keep their stuff in, but they just tear the paper out, so it doesn't help.
Smacking is really irritating. Actually, pretty much any sound that has to do with eating bothers me. Chewing, swallowing, forks scraping on teeth, slurping, it's all bad.
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Praying for sweet Nathaniel. ðŸ™
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Mine does not have a cutout, but it's clear so you can see the logo. DH's does not show the logo.
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Congratulations! You and your family are in my prayers.
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Congrats on the new pup...he's adorable!
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I'm so very sorry. Prayers for you and your family.
VERY short child - possible thyroid issues & HGH shots
in The Chat Board
Posted
Thank you for all of the info. My DH has not had a cortisol test, but we'll definitely look into doing that.