ot? Puberty Before Age 10 - A New ‘Normal’? - NYT

[Guest guest]

better diagnosis? {sarcasm}

Puberty Before Age 10: A New ?Normal??By ELIZABETH WEIL

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/magazine/puberty-before-age-10-a-new-normal.ht\

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One day last year when her daughter, Ainsley, was 9, Sioux pulled

her out of her elementary school in Fort , Colo., and drove her

an hour south, to Longmont, in hopes of finding a satisfying reason that

Ainsley began growing pubic hair at age 6. Ainsley was the tallest child

in her third-grade class. She had a thick, enviable blond-streaked

ponytail and big feet, like a puppy?s. The curves of her Levi?s matched

her mother?s.

?How was your day?? asked Ainsley as she climbed in the car.

?Pretty good.?

?What did you do at a recess??

?I played on the slide with my friends.?

In the back seat, Ainsley wiggled out of her pink parka and looked in

her backpack for her Harry Potter book. Over the past three years,

? pretty and well-put-together, wearing a burnt orange blouse

that matched her necklace and her bag ? had taken Ainsley to see several

doctors. They ordered blood tests and bone-age X-rays and turned up

nothing unusual. ?The doctors always come back with these blank looks on

their faces, and then they start redefining what normal is,? said

as we drove down Interstate 25, a ribbon of asphalt that runs close to

where the Great Plains bump up against the Rockies. ?And I always just

sit there thinking, What are you talking about, normal? Who gets pubic

hair in first grade??

Fed up with mainstream physicians, began pursuing less

conventional options. She tried giving Ainsley diindolylmethane, or DIM,

a supplement that may or may not help a body balance its hormones. She

also started a blog, the Girl Revolution, with a mission to

?revolutionize the way we think about, treat and raise girls,? and the

accompanying T.G.R. Body line of sunscreens and lotions marketed to

tweens and described by as ?natural, organic, craptastic-free

products? containing ?no estrogens, phytoestrogens, endocrine disrupters.?

None of this stopped Ainsley?s body from maturing ahead of its time.

That afternoon, and Ainsley visited the office of Allomong,

an applied kinesiologist. Applied kinesiology is a ?healing art? sort of

like chiropractic. Practitioners test muscle strength in order to

diagnose health problems; it?s a refuge for those skeptical and weary of

mainstream medicine.

?So, what brings you here today?? Allomong asked mother and daughter.

stroked Ainsley?s arm and said, wistfully, ?Precocious puberty.?

Allomong nodded. ?What are the symptoms??

?Pubic hair, armpit hair, a few pimples around the nose. Some budding.?

gestured with her hands, implying breasts. ?The emotional stuff

is getting worse, too. Ainsley?s been getting super upset about little

things, crying, and she doesn?t know why. I think she?s cycling with me.?

Ainsley closed her eyes, as if to shut out the embarrassment. The

ongoing quest to understand why her young body was turning into a

woman?s was not one of Ainsley?s favorite pastimes. She preferred

torturing her 6-year-old brother and playing school with the

neighborhood kids. (Ainsley was always the teacher, and she was very

strict.)

?Have you seen Western doctors for this?? Allomong asked.

laughed. ?Yes, many,? she said. ?None suggested any course of

action. They left us hanging.? She repeated for Allomong what she told

me in the car: ?They seem to have changed the definition of ?normal.? ?

For many parents of early-developing girls, ?normal? is a crazy-making

word, especially when uttered by a doctor; it implies that the patient,

or patient?s mother, should quit being neurotic and accept that not much

can be done. Allomong listened intently. He nodded and took notes,

asking detailed questions about her birth-control history and

validating her worst fears by mentioning the ?extremely high levels? of

estrogen-mimicking chemicals in the food and water supply. After about

20 minutes he asked Ainsley to lie on a table. There he performed a

lengthy physical exam that involved testing the strength in Ainsley?s

arms and legs while she held small glass vials filled with compounds

like cortisol, estrogen and sugar. (Kinesiologists believe that weak

muscles indicate illness, and that a patient?s muscles will test as

weaker when he or she is holding a substance that contributes to health

problems.)....