HGH for children
A single chain protein composed of 191 amino acids and with a molecular weight of around 22,000 Daltons, the growth hormones important role is widely accepted. Produced in the body and excreted into the blood by the somatropis cells of the anterior pituitary gland Somatotropin or GH is a natural hormone that stimulates growth and cell production.
The ability of HGH levels in the pituitary gland to influence the growth of bones and have an impetus on the metabolism of carbohydrates, protein and fat has been noticed to be highest during childhood and pre-pubescent individuals. Though this is a fact, research on HGH has also proved that this hormone has the disadvantage of a limited time frame between childhood and puberty to secrete and build the bones and muscles in the human body.
In rare cases, HGH deficiencies have occurred even earlier than expected as in the case of new-born infants. Though the effects were not immediately evident, the lack of HGH tended to show up in the early months of infancy. Besides slowness of growth pattern and motor abilities; a marked disproportion in facial features and limbs were the symptoms which alerted one to the scarcity of HGH secretion. Teenagers with delayed puberty and shorter stature than their peers were also observed to be among the ones with weakened HGH.
This awareness of HGH related deficiencies has not been a finding of our times. An indication that there could have been a connection between inadequate pituitary –derived HGH extract, and the unusual short stature of children may have been noticed even in the 19th century. The term midget, which was later barred as derogatory would have been coined at a time when the severity of HGH deficiency was slowly being noticed. During this period the parading and exploitation of General Tom Thumb as a Barnaby exhibit could have been the earliest and most publicized instance of a severe untreated case of HGH.
Despite the passage of time, parental anguish and the necessity of finding an answer to impeded childhood growth and the risk of early infantile death echo the same urgency. The earliest medical trials in HGH were spurred by the knowledge of endocrinologists like Maurice Raben. These endocrinologists’ experiments were with HGH secretions drawn from autopsied bodies. The treatment was offered only to selected severe cases in the restricted age group of 17, who had not attained the minimal height of that age. This limited the reach of the cadaver GH treatment for aiding deficient growth hormones. The medical challenge to deliver results, ultimately led to the current day availability of HGH in its synthetic form as Somatropin.
The usage of Somatropin as a corrective of HGH imbalance has helped a host of problems relating to growth inability in children. Sources for disproportionate growth among children fall into known and unknown causes. The majority of pediatric patients have shown that short stature is an outcome of insufficient HGH.
Turners syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, renal disease and slow Bowel syndrome, Rheumatoid arthritis, SGA (small for gestational age) X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets (XLH) and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) are the other familiar causes of lessened HGH. .Doctors refer to children showing unclear reasons for short stature as having idiopathic symptoms. Children who could show idiopathic short stature fall into the lowest three percent in height of children of the same age. HGH is even used for children who are taller than the shortest three percent in their age bracket but still considered short.
There is a tendency in anxious parents under the misconception that getting a prescription is difficult; to turn to the black market for supply of HGH. This runs the risk of spurious supplies doing more harm than good. Most doctors do not have a reservation in recommending synthetic HGH for children as long as genetic tests are taken and the average height of both parents studied.