As most of you know, Chloe has precocious puberty which means that she's started going through puberty at too young of an age. The doctor prescribed a shot of 3.5 mg of Lupron to be given every four weeks. --Those shots have been a huge ordeal. But Chloe has gone from needing four people to hold her down, to being excited about it (thanks to some very good bribery on Chris' part).
When we last met with Chloe's doctor, we told him that Chloe was getting a little acne and body odor. So he sent her in for some more blood tests, and told me to mark my calendar when these things happen. His thinking was that they occur right before he next shot, because the medication wears off too early. After the blood test, he said that her hormone levels were still too high, so he's upped her dosage to 7.5 mg per shot.
Here's the interesting thing: The box that holds the shot has a sticker saying that the medication may cause drowsiness. I've never noticed anything, but I've not paid much attention, either. But Thursday morning, the day after she got her shot, I noticed that Chloe did exceptionally well with her reading. She's a good reader, and can read well when she wants to, but it's often a struggle. she whines about how hard it is, and gets distracted after reading just one sentence. But that morning she read right through a whole story with hardly any problem. I've never been able to tell why sometimes her reading is so easy, and other times, it's like pulling teeth. Anyway...after a very easy day of school, her friends came over. And she played with them for awhile, but spent a large part of the time sitting around in the living room w/me and my mommy-friend. My friend commented on how this wasn't like her & asked if she was tired that morning. And then it occurred to me that it might be from her medication. All day long, Chloe was really cuddly & touchy with me. When Chris got home, she preferred me (which *never* happens).
Anyway... I had never related those thing to the timing of her shot, but I think I'm going to start noting her moods in relation to her medication.
3 days ago
2 comments:
Hi there. Nice blog! I just ran across it due to a daily "Google Alerts" search that my computer does for the term "precocious puberty" -- since my own daughter has had it since the age of 2, and I want to keep up to date on the latest medical news. I just wanted to suggest that you (or maybe I!?) should get a second opinion about the Lupron dosage used. My daughter is 5-1/2 and weighs 51 pounds, and for quite some time now has been given the 11.25 mg dose -- for long enough, actually, that at her most recent checkup, the doctor was talking about soon increasing her dosage to the next level up, based on dose-by-weight recommendations, even though for now her condition is completely supressed. I trust our doctor, a pediatric endocrinologist at a specialized children's hospital, and don't think she would rashly prescribe a too-high dose . . . Here's hoping, anyway!
By the way, did you know that there's now an every-3-months version of the shot? We switched to it half a year ago -- 4 shots a year instead of 12! -- and blood test, bone age scans, and growth curve all show it's working just as well as the monthly one.
Good luck -- and hey, why don't you use that OLD cookie recipe?! Sounds more romantic, anyway.
Hi Gretchen. Thanks for your comment. I've never heard of google alerts before. sounds pretty handy. :)
11.25 mg sounds like a lot!! We were wondering why our doctor doubled to 7.5 Chloe's dosage, instead of just raising it a little bit. --haven't had a chance to ask him yet, though. do you think your dosage is so high because you're doing the 3 month version? --or maybe because your dd was so young when she was diagnosed (2 years!? poor baby) & they just keep upping it little by little because the lower doses don't work anymore?
i can't get a second opinion as our dr. is the only ped. endo. in our area. the next closest is a few hours away. --but if you get one, i'd be interested in hearing the response.
The last time we talked w/our endo. we discussed the fact that chloe was still showing symptoms of puberty after receiving her shots for a year. The two options he suggested were more frequent shots of the same dose, or higher dose, same frequency. --he never mentioned the 3 month version... might be something to look into.
And I think you might be right about the old recipe. i don't think i should have to be so careful w/my baking soda etc. just to make cookies! :)
Thanks again, for your comment. it's very nice to "meet" you. :)
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