my rantings on precocious puberty

Yesterday was time again for Chloe's 3 month check with the pediatric endocrinologist. We discussed the results of her lab results last month. her estrogen levels have gone down quite a bit, as well as some of her physical symptoms. yay! however, the Doctor didn't have any input as to why she still has body odor. oh well. as long as the puberty is being held back, i'm happy.

had some interesting conversation with Dr. Lifshitz. As we were discussing how long Chloe would have to be on medication, he mentioned that the average age of puberty is getting younger and younger in this country. I already knew that it was pretty young (8 years is in the normal range, and some drs. are fighting to get that age lowered to 7!), what interested me was that he said, "in this country." Which means that the age is higher in other countries. --which says to me that this is an environmental issue, not just the way the human race is changing. So my question is: why do they keep lowering the age, and say that it's "normal." When it's not normal. something is terribly wrong with the children of this country. If it were normal, it would be happening all over the world. This is not normal. This is an epidemic! Why isn't anyone doing anything about this??

So...I asked the Dr. more about that, & he agreed that it's an environmental issue. So i asked what he thought could be causing it. Could it be the hormones they use in meat products (which has always been my theory)? He said that there's a lot of speculation, but nobody really knows for sure. There's been a lot of research into the meats, but he thinks it has to do with all of the endocrine disruptors (see this for more) like plastics, that are causing it. He siad that precocious puberty is getting more and more common. In his early days, all his cases were for delayed puberty. Now it's the opposite. It's all *early* puberty.

One thing he told me awhile ago, was that women tend to start their periods when they reach 100 pounds. So something he mentioned today was that countries that have obesity problems also have more cases of precocious puberty. Thought that was interesting.

And on another note... my dr. is a bit of an activist when it comes to insurance. He's a very well-known, and highly regarded doctor around the world (not to mention, the *only* pediatric endocrinologist within several hours of us). But Blue Cross refused to pay him a reasonable rate. So he refused to be one of their providers. That's all well and good for him, but that causes problems for us, since we use blue cross. After Chloe's last appointment, we sent the claim form to our insurance company, but they denied our claim. Today, Dr. L. asked how things were going w/the insurance, so I told him what had happened, and that we were still working on our last claim (3 mos ago). When I told him that I've never had problems with our insurance company before, he said, "that's because you've never had serious health problems before. Sure, they'll cover you for little things, but the moment you need any real help, they refuse. If we never needed any real help, we wouldn't buy insurance!" He told me to call them and tell them that we were going to get a lawyer, and ask *them* to find us another pediatric endo. in the area...

He also said that we should watch the movie, "Sicko." "Anybody who has someone with chronic illness, like Chloe does, needs to watch that movie so they can learn how to deal with their insurance company. "

All in all, a very interesting, and educational doctor visit.

Chloe's update

We took Chloe to see the pediatric endocrinologist for her three month check-up today. He's pleased with the effects of the Lupron, and says that it has stopped the puberty. However, it hasn't stopped her growth. (She grew an inch since her last check up.) So he wants to keep his eye on her, and maybe we'll need to do something about that, too.

He wants to test her blood again in 3 months, before we see him again. Blood tests have been quite an ordeal with Chloe. She can tolerate her shots, but she screams and flails when she has to get her blood drawn. Our local blood lab doesn't have the patience for her, and last time, told us to get a prescription for a topical medication for Chloe. This medication numbs the skin so that she can't feel the needle. When we asked Dr. Lifshitz (click the link & scroll down to read about him) about it, he gave us a prescription, but didn't think it would be all that effective. He said it's the idea of the shot that scares children, not the shot itself. He also told us to go to the local hospital instead of the lab. Anyway, to make a long story short, the hospital was amazing! They doted on Chloe & gave her a teddy bear to take home. And the ointment worked wonders! Chloe didn't feel a thing. I don't know why all pediatricians don't have this on-hand for shot time. I'm just glad we have a tube of it. I expect Gideon's kindergarten shots to go much more smoothly than Chloe's did. :)

Also, the last time Chloe's blood was tested, her hormone levels were too high, so Dr. L. upped her dosage. Today I told him that she gets acne shortly before she's due for her next shot. He says that's probably because the medication is wearing off, and we may have to give her shots more frequently. someone who read my blog recommended a shot that was yearly, instead of monthly. I asked the doctor about that, & he didn't think it would work as well.

Too young to start tracking cycles

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.