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| Yes | 17% | 17 votes | Total: 100 votes | |
| No | 83% | 83 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWhen weighing the options of whether or not we would allow our son to receive human growth hormone, never once did we consider the uneducated public opinion that states that men must be tall to be paid an equal wage or find a wife.
As early as kindergarten, it was obvious that our son was not going to be tall like his father, or even as tall as his mother. As he approached adolescence, the questions outnumbered the answers from the physicians.
He tested negative for every genetic malady that would explain his lack of stature. In short, his body was not producing HGH as it should have, thereby he would not grow to his genetic potential. While doctors assured us that no physical harm would come to him from being short, they were wrong.
One condition that could be directly attributed to his height was depression. He bore a tremendous weight from his classmates, and their interpretation that he lacked virility proportionate to his height. Undisciplined children were cruel and abusive in more ways than verbally.
Another was his abnormal sleep patterns and moodiness. His lack of interest in almost anything was indicative of more than simple depression. When faced with his multiple illnesses, doctors told me that he was just "frail".
Researching HGH brought a new found light to the darkness of his stunted height. Human growth hormone is responsible for many other things besides just height. As a treatment option, it was the only answer.
While HGH primarily increases height, it also increases muscle mass. It helps the body retain calcium for stronger, denser bones and fend off osteoporosis. By controlling the fat in the body, it helps with blood sugar and insulin levels, while boosting immunity.
At a time when his HGH level should have been rising, it was level. There was no guarantee that it would rise at all, much less to normal. We also had to face the fact that that small level would fall as well. His short stature was indicative of much more than a bruised ego, but of future maladies guaranteed without intervention.
Since beginning HGH, he has physically matured, something that would not have occurred without HGH supplements. He will never be as tall as his father, but he is now as tall as his mother. With his new-found energy, his zest for life is enviable and carries the energy to see it through. His new activity level produces sleep at the appropriate time and of appropriate length.
His health has improved, and he is no longer the sickliest child in his class. The even muscle tone that replaced his look of malnutrition boosts his athletic ability and confidence. Depression is a thing of the past.
Should short teens be offered human growth hormone? Yes, when medically necessary. It is more often that you would think.
Learn more about this author, Ann Marie Dwyer.
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No
Unless there are reasons beyond a teen's just being shorter than most kids his age, HGH should not be considered an option.
My opinion on this comes from decades of living my adult life, feeling fortunate to have barely reached a height of 5'2". As a child, I wasn't just "one of the short kids". I was THE "tiniest girl in school". At six years old I was given special vitamins because I wasn't growing as fast as the doctor would have expected. Later, it would be become clear that I was a late bloomer. As my father walked with me into my new junior high school, kids (who thought they were being helpful) yelled, "You're at the wrong school." My father was a short man (5' 6"), and an awful lot of women thought he was very handsome. My mother was the height I am now.
Thirty years after I graduated from high school I met a woman from my graduating class. When I told her I had two sons and a daughter she asked if my daughter was "tiny", the way I had been. Other kids were known for other things in their school days. I was known for being "tiny" (freakishly tiny). It was extremely difficult for me, too, because I couldn't easily find clothes that were what all the other kids were wearing. In those days there weren't children's clothes that were miniature versions of teenagers' clothes. There were "big girls' clothes" and "little girls' clothes". There was a department store or two that did offer a "semi-teen" shop, so that's where I had to get my clothes (even when I was a teen).
I hated it. I secretly worried that I may be a "midget" (that's a term that was acceptable in those days). When, like so many other teens, I so desperately wanted to look like everyone else and look "cool", it was impossible. I looked like a little girl. Not only did I hate being so short, but I hated being me. It didn't stop me from having friends or enjoying a social life, and it didn't stop me from trying to look my best, but I did hate it.
Of course, this was a time when girls who were small were seen as "feminine" or "dainty", so even though I hated being so short there were kids who actually didn't seem to see it as all that bad.
I wanted to at least get to be 5' tall because, in my own mind, I believed that being that tall would mean I was not a "midget". By the time I got my driver's license at sixteen, I was 5' tall. After high school graduation I finally reached the 5' 2".
What I learned during my teen years was that heels gave me a couple of inches in height. Since my girlfriends were also short (5' 3"), wearing heels (or the popular platform shoes of the day) elevated me to their height and beyond. Since it was clear to me that I'd never be a "big, glamorous, bombshell, type" and I'd never be a "super-tall, fashion-model, type", I had to figure out what "type" of image was right for me. Since I had to fight the "little girl" look, the only thing left was aiming to be kind of feminine, graceful, and elegant. That aim was what led me to find clothes and accessories that helped me make the most of my small frame, and learning how to make the most of that has been something that has served me well throughout my adult life.
Having come from a time when girls' being small was seen as being "dainty" and "feminine" (and not "inadequate", the way being short is often seen these days); and having had parents who were both short (my mother had been awfully pretty when she was young, and all my friends' mothers talked about my "handsome" father); maybe I had an advantage when it came to accepting my height. By the time I was eighteen or nineteen, I was just used to wearing shoes that gave me height; and I had discovered that wearing a longer skirt actually created the illusion that I had my vertical inches than I really did. Somehow, once I grew up I just kind of took my place among the "average-height" people, and my own low-end-of-average-f or-women height was no longer an issue.
In my adult life I've met men who aren't much taller than I am but who are seen as very attractive, so I've never really seen height as the measure of a man or of attractiveness in either gender. I will admit that if I could be born tomorrow I would choose to be 3" taller than I am now, but I have to say that I would never want to be a very tall person. I like living among the "average-range" people. More importantly, I've actually come to see my own stature as "more than good enough".
Many kids have something about themselves they don't like or that is a challenge for them. One of the most valuable lessons a teen can learn is how to learn to like who/what he is. There are advantages and disadvantages to being short or tall. (Tall people don't need to use a frozen garlic bread to knock something off a high shelf in the grocery store; short people can more easily vacuum out the small back seats of their cars.)
Was it incredibly painful to be so "tiny" as a teen? Sure. Have there even been times since I've been an adult when I've had to battle others' not realizing that someone as short as I am just may be an adult, may know more than they do, or may be far stronger or tougher than they think I am? Sure. Still, being short isn't the worst thing in the world. In fact, while taller people may or may not believe it, there are times when being short is kind of nice. Maybe it would have been much nicer to go through school not being the "famously tiny" person in the class, but it didn't stop me from doing anything, and it didn't stop me from having friends. That's what I learned as a teen - that being short doesn't stop you from doing anything (even if there are times when something is a little more challenging), and it doesn't stop people from liking you or boys from asking you out. It turns out the view from down here isn't so bad.
When I had children of my own, all three were in the 5th percentile when it came to height and in either the 5th or 3rd percentile when it came to weight when they were in the lower grades and middle school. By their teen years my two sons were both smack-dab average height, and my daughter - like her mother - remained super-small. Like her mother, my daughter learned how play up her petite stature; and (pardon my lack of humility) I think because of her mother, my daughter has never particularly minded being as small as she is. She's a beautiful young woman who is elegant and feminine - and when she puts on those high heels or platform shoes she actually kind of has that lanky look of a fashion model.
If my teen son or daughter had a medical condition that, for some reason, indicated HGH as a treatment I may consider it, depending on the situation. Being short, however, is not a medical condition and it is not always even such a bad thing to be. We all talk about teaching our children how people come in all colors and all shapes and sizes. What message do we send to short kids if we are willing to allow them to risk any known or unknown side effects of HGH treatment when their "condition" is nothing more than being a short individual? Do a lot of teens wish they could be treated with HGH because they hate being short? Many do. In fact, if I had been offered HGH as a kid I would have jumped at the chance to have it. As an adult, however, I am so very glad that I have never had to live with any possible side effects and that, instead, I learned to like the low-end-of-average height that I reached.
We so often believe that if there's something about ourselves we don't like, and can change, we should change it. I'm not necessarily in disagreement with that. It's just that I don't think potential height is always something that should be altered through hormone treatments. I don't think kids are capable of making an objective decision about it, and I wouldn't want to be the one to advise my child to take risks with his body that I, myself, have not taken with mine.
Learn more about this author, Lisa Hunt Warren.
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