Re: Growth Plates Prematurely Closing

[Guest guest]

Hi , I read your email and am sorry that is happening to your son. Our

son started growth hormone this year (age 7) and he is still tiny and we heard

recently from our endo dr that it was determined by xrays, and did not happen

until mid to early teens. What age is your son? I wonder if JRA is related?

This is a big concern for us. Good luck! Jan

Growth Plates Prematurely Closing

Does anyone know how this is determined? My son's xray results state

the growth plates are prematurely closing. I wondered if this is just

done by age or has any relation to the JRA?

Thanks

[Guest guest]

- Glad your soon is already tall. Thanks for responding with more

info. Jan

Growth Plates Prematurely Closing

Does anyone know how this is determined? My son's xray results state

the growth plates are prematurely closing. I wondered if this is just

done by age or has any relation to the JRA?

Thanks

[Guest guest]

,

went through ALOT of Bone age xray's. The way I understood it

was the growth plate is suppose to stay open til the child reaches his or her

full growth. started out in life tiny so the Xrays showed her at 3 yr

her wrist was size of a 9 month old and her ankle was 1 yr old so she never

measure her right bone age. I was told then she wouldn't stop growing til she

was at least 21 yrs old. Her height expected was 5ft 5in tall. Well then the

JRA comes in and she never made it to the 5ft 5 in height. She stopped

growing at the age of 17 at that age she was 4ft 10in and today at 19 she is 4ft

10in. Unless she wears heels she is 4ft 10.

My son broke his ankle into. The Dr said that he cracked his growth plate

to. This doctor told me that my son make walk with a limp later due to this.

When this breaks it heals but closes to. Well My son is right at 6ft tall

and at the time he was 5ft 5in. He doesn't walk with a limp and he grew more

after this.

So I am not sure what to think but I would ask the Dr about it.

Robbin

[Guest guest]

To all with concern on the growth.

I always wanted my kid's to be taller than me. lolol. After came

into the world at 17 inches and 4 pounds. I wanted her so badly to be a taller

woman than me.

I looked over all the women in my family and seen only my Mom and me were

the shortest. The rest were a lot taller. began having growth

problems. A Elder I know got to talking to me. She said it's not about how tall

you

are in this life. But how you get around and do not let the height get in

your way. She said honey, Remember this---- As long as she is healthy, Doing

what she should and eating do not let her height bother you. I thought about

this and later figuired out. No matter what I tried wouldn't make grow

any taller. Even

giving her the hormones to help the growth. If she was going to be tall she

would or short. God makes us all different it's the way life is. We are tall

taller or short and shorter. We are many colors. But one thing our children

are and that is their self.

With this I never thought would see how I did thing's and seen

how I overcame my height. She took that and started doing it. I would hear my

hubby holler. MELISSA wait you can't lolol She proved him wrong. And told him

well Ma does it. I climb up on the kitchen counter lolol I climb up in a

chair, I climb to reach and get what I need. lolol BUT there's a advantage to.

My

hubby asks me to get the lower stuff. Weird how thing's just work out.

We overcome what we need to. We make life normal for us. My sister tell's

me all the time

You need a step stool. My answer is always Why? when that takes time and it

would hender me in getting what I need and I could fall off that step stool. I

told her and me will grow older together lolol climbing up to get

things we need. lolol

Love them no matter what. Adjust life to help. I use to ask Mom's what do

you feed your kids to make them grow so tall. lolol. I fed about the

same thing. So it's true all kids are different.

Robbin

[Guest guest]

Beth,

lolol. That could be right with back problems. My Mom shrank and I think I

have gotten shorter somewhere along the line lololol.

Robbin

[Guest guest]

Robbin:

Very well said. As I've also sad in past posts Hannah is very short for her

age. She going into fourth grade and last year there were kindergartners taller

than her. The ped thinks she will top out at about 5'1', assuming she hits

puberty at a normal age. I have learned nothing about Hannah's

health/development/immune system etc. are normal. I myself am only 5'3 "

although a couple of years ago I could swear I was taller. Maybe my major back

problems has made me shrink...LOL.

Robbin40@... wrote:

To all with concern on the growth.

I always wanted my kid's to be taller than me. lolol. After came

into the world at 17 inches and 4 pounds. I wanted her so badly to be a taller

woman than me.

I looked over all the women in my family and seen only my Mom and me were

the shortest. The rest were a lot taller. began having growth

problems. A Elder I know got to talking to me. She said it's not about how tall

you

are in this life. But how you get around and do not let the height get in

your way. She said honey, Remember this---- As long as she is healthy, Doing

what she should and eating do not let her height bother you. I thought about

this and later figuired out. No matter what I tried wouldn't make grow

any taller. Even

giving her the hormones to help the growth. If she was going to be tall she

would or short. God makes us all different it's the way life is. We are tall

taller or short and shorter. We are many colors. But one thing our children

are and that is their self.

With this I never thought would see how I did thing's and seen

how I overcame my height. She took that and started doing it. I would hear my

hubby holler. MELISSA wait you can't lolol She proved him wrong. And told him

well Ma does it. I climb up on the kitchen counter lolol I climb up in a

chair, I climb to reach and get what I need. lolol BUT there's a advantage to.

My

hubby asks me to get the lower stuff. Weird how thing's just work out.

We overcome what we need to. We make life normal for us. My sister tell's

me all the time

You need a step stool. My answer is always Why? when that takes time and it

would hender me in getting what I need and I could fall off that step stool. I

told her and me will grow older together lolol climbing up to get

things we need. lolol

Love them no matter what. Adjust life to help. I use to ask Mom's what do

you feed your kids to make them grow so tall. lolol. I fed about the

same thing. So it's true all kids are different.

Robbin

[Guest guest]

This is interesting to me... Perhaps my case would be interesting too. I

got JRA at 14, but I had always been tiny, smallest in class etc.

However when the disease was most active I suspect I wasn¹t growing much at

all.

After I was put on steroids at age 21 and began to go into remission I grew

again.

I didn¹t reach my full height (5¹3) until I was 25.

Or, fwiw, my full bra size.

My feet finished growing about a foot earlier though so for a long time I

thought they were HUGE.

Anyway... I think I may be a little shorter now due to osteoporosis from the

steroids (I¹m 41) but it may be that if your kids go into remission later

they¹ll get a little bigger?

I¹d like to be a bit taller because it would be nice to be able to reach

things and change lightbulbs. But lots of times it¹s nice to be compact,

too. At 5¹3 I¹m about two inches taller than I ever thought I would be so

I¹m pretty content!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/28/2006 10:08:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

Robbin40@... writes:

As long as she is healthy, Doing

what she should and eating do not let her height bother you. I thought about

this and later figuired out. No matter what I tried wouldn't make

grow

any taller.

Almost sounds like and my youngest, . Poor was my

" tiniest " baby, and she's still little( hence her nickname " Little " ) She just

turned 5 and still fits into 3T clothes. Poor , well, I gave up hope for

the

moment of her inhereting the " tall genes " . She just turned 2, and still

wears 12 mths clothes, and only weighs 26 lbs. And with the exceptions of

s aches and pains, all my kids are perfectly healthy.

Keep your chin up. Remember, they always say the best things come in small

packages!

)))))

( , 5 ,JRA, AkSp)

[Guest guest]

,

I always heard Dynamite comes in small packages. lololol. is a

Dynamite lolol

was like that hardly ever had to buy clothes a lot due to she

outgrew them. She just wore them out lolol. will wear heels to make her

alittle taller. At least taller than me.

Robbin

[Guest guest]

Gwen,

It could be possible like you said. This Morning said Ma there's

no body here and this hanging light over the table needs to be up somemore. I

said I will get to it in a minute.

Nooooooooooooo way could I wait said ummm this table will hold me. I

said no I will get it. Dang if had already climbed up on the Kitchen

table. lolol She said well now it don't have a way to do the links. I said

watch this. lolol. I got 4 bread ties and twisted them together and said ok you

hold and I will fix this. lolol. Boy it's cool being alittle short and even

better when you have someone helping lololol. Well it' is fixed. Ummm this

light hangs from the ceiling over the table. Ummmm and I never had a

problem of bumping our head on it. BUT the tallll people in this house would

hit their head on it lolol. We fixed it because they are to tall. lolol

Robbin

[Guest guest]

I agree that in most cases, if the child is healthy, eating well, etc that

growth is not always an issue - a child can be in the lower percentile and if

the growth chart is showing growth continuing, though at a slower rate

everything could be fine. We are all different sizes, height, weights, etc.

However, if growth is at a virtual standstill, and continues so, then an

underlying reason should be looked into. Growth isn't just about the exterior -

but the child's body needs to develop at a reasonable rate to allow balance and

proper growth for the internal parts as well. When growth issues are due to an

illness, medication or other cause, then it needs to be evaluated and monitored

to allow not only for optimum growth for our children, but for optimum health as

well. Again, a child can be naturally small and that not be a concern - the

real issue here is the health of the child - however, a child having arthritis

can and does interfere with the growth, as does at least two of the medications

that my son takes.

Val

Rob's Mom (8,systemic)

Re: Growth Plates Prematurely Closing

In a message dated 6/28/2006 10:08:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

Robbin40@... writes:

As long as she is healthy, Doing

what she should and eating do not let her height bother you. I thought about

this and later figuired out. No matter what I tried wouldn't make

grow

any taller.

Almost sounds like and my youngest, . Poor was my

" tiniest " baby, and she's still little( hence her nickname " Little " ) She just

turned 5 and still fits into 3T clothes. Poor , well, I gave up hope for

the

moment of her inhereting the " tall genes " . She just turned 2, and still

wears 12 mths clothes, and only weighs 26 lbs. And with the exceptions of

s aches and pains, all my kids are perfectly healthy.

Keep your chin up. Remember, they always say the best things come in small

packages!

)))))

( , 5 ,JRA, AkSp)

[Guest guest]

Hi Gwen,

Thanks for sharing your story. My son had growth complications as a result of

arthritis and/or the meds used to treat them. Between ages 6 thru age 13, he

barely added any height at all. Major growth delay. He took human growth hormone

injections for two years and did have a small growth spurt ... but not much. At

17, he's a tiny little guy who looks more like a small 12 or 13 year old. He

takes some solace in the theory that he may continue growing long after his

peers have already stopped, which can and sometimes does happen. He's also okay,

emotionally, with being smaller than he had expected. He's come to terms with

it. He's also said that if given the choice between having arthritis and being

tall or not having arthritis and being small, he'd definitely pick being short

and small !

Take Care,

Georgina

Re: Growth Plates Prematurely Closing

This is interesting to me... Perhaps my case would be interesting too. I

got JRA at 14, but I had always been tiny, smallest in class etc.

However when the disease was most active I suspect I wasn¹t growing much at

all.

After I was put on steroids at age 21 and began to go into remission I grew

again.

I didn¹t reach my full height (5¹3) until I was 25.

Or, fwiw, my full bra size.

My feet finished growing about a foot earlier though so for a long time I

thought they were HUGE.

Anyway... I think I may be a little shorter now due to osteoporosis from the

steroids (I¹m 41) but it may be that if your kids go into remission later

they¹ll get a little bigger?

I¹d like to be a bit taller because it would be nice to be able to reach

things and change lightbulbs. But lots of times it¹s nice to be compact,

too. At 5¹3 I¹m about two inches taller than I ever thought I would be so

I¹m pretty content!