Advantages and Disadvantages of Hormone Treatment for Kids (it is on the rise to use growth hormones in US for kids)
Who wouldn’t give anything to get that additional inches? The height and weight charts of your children can make a difference in their personal and professional life later on especially if they decide to become athletes. But those who have not been blessed with that extra inch should worry no more because there is an option: growth hormones for kids.
The pituitary glands naturally secrete growth hormones and are thus a great option for children who are hormone deficient. However, doctors are still trying to determine if children, who are not deficient in growth hormones but are abnormally short, can also benefit from the height-increasing effects of the treatments. The popularity of hormone treatments in the United States has only fanned the 50-year old controversy surrounding GH treatment.
Advantages of hormone treatments
Gone are the days when humans can just be content with whatever attributes nature has given them. With the advent of science, improvement of the race followed. And with the discovery of what growth hormones can do came the opportunity to make children taller. The slow growth of children has been attributed to the slow production by the pituitary gland of the hormones. However, the decision to allow a child to undergo hormone therapy should come only after a pediatric endocrinologist has thoroughly evaluated the problem.
A child suffering from growth deficiency will have the chance to become taller when given growth hormones. Providing hormone treatments to a child will not only allow faster growth in a matter of months but will also lead to decreased body fat, noticeable motor development and increased strength. The importance of human growth hormone or HGH in facilitating a child’s normal growth is widely accepted. However, studies show that the treatment also slows down the process of aging.
Disadvantages of hormone therapy
While hormone therapy can hasten your child’s growth, the treatments can be expensive and can be a lifetime challenge because it usually requires growth hormone injections while the child is growing. The cost of hormone therapy varies depending on individual cases but costs a minimum of $10,000 to $30,000 per year. But more than the cost of human growth hormones, it can lead to harmful side effects including heart enlargement, liver damage, thyroid damage and diabetic coma, when given without proper supervision of a doctor.
One of the possible risks of giving growth hormones to a child with a family history of diabetes 2 is the onset of diabetes. The process of increasing hormones can be uncomfortable to a child who is in that stage when all he wants is to play and be active because it can lead to vomiting, nausea and headaches. Regular visits to the doctor are also part and parcel of the hormone treatments. It could mean experiencing all these side effects for a lifetime if the recipient child has a hormone deficiency.
While the idea of seeing your children growing faster than what is normally experienced by other children his age can be attractive, the prospect of your child experiencing the different negative effects of taking these hormones including the development of diabetes 2 is something to be concerned about. Clearly, there is more to the hormone treatments than what meets the eye and you should consider its pros and cons first before you decide if it is the right thing for your child.
