Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Estrogen "therapy" in tall young girls?

Hi everyone. I've been digging into some articles on estrogen therapy in tall young girls. It's very interesting stuff, both the side effects that can come later in life and the social implications of medicating healthy children to keep them from growing "too tall."
I went to specialists as a child, from before I can remember. Mostly they just measured my growth plates and drew blood to test for diseases that could have caused my irregular height. But when I was 10 or 11 I was prescribed an estrogen supplement. The goal was to bring on puberty faster, which would slow down my growth. I don't remember a whole lot about how I felt about it. My parents didn't make it a big deal. The pills were small and yellow and tasted sweet when I took them twice a day. After six months with no period they doubled the dose. Six months later, still nothing, and my parents decided then that they would "let nature take its course."
Fourteen years later, I'm healthy. I haven't experienced any side effects from my year taking a pill intended for menopausal women. But the idea that this is, or has been, a relatively common practice is unsettling.
If anyone reading has dealt with this issue, please e-mail me at tallgirlwrites@gmail.com. I'll keep looking into this and post again with more info.

5 comments:

SandiB said...

Hi,just found your blog for the first time. We're dealing with just this question. My husband is 6'5, I'm 6' and my 10 year old is 5'4 and showing no signs of slowing down. I ponder this question regularly. Have you come to any conclusions? Please share any findings you have. Keep going with the blog! sandibl@bigpond.net.au

The Godfather said...

are you on facebook?

Aliyah Maire said...

Check Out this link, for those tall girls that need some inspiration. I created this poem after hearing a lot of TALL Girls dislike their height and become discouraged. And its real upsetting because I am a PROUD TALL Girl and I want others to feel the same... Titled: Rise Tall Girls Rise
http://beyondthewordsspoken.blogspot.com/2012/03/rise-my-tall-sistas.html

KSinMT said...

I just found your blog and hope you will be writing again soon. I am 63 and used to be 6'4", I am shrinking a little with age. I know I was 5'11 at age 11 by 13 my parents were starting to worry and our doctors did knee surgery to stop the growth centers. I only grew an 1 3/4" after that. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't. I met my 6'6" husband through Tip Toppers Club and my daughter is sad she is only 5'9". Her husband is6'5" and her children are tall.

Me said...

I'm tall and struggled too!