Jen- confused about hypo-g and GH

[Guest guest]

You said GH increases insulin levels which causes hypoglycemia.

I thought that one of the pros of giving GH is that it lessens the

hypoglycemia because it increases muscle mass.

that was one of the reasons I wanted to give GH, to control the

hypo-g.

Cindy

[Guest guest]

Catch-22.

You are correct -- it increase muscle mass but that doesn't

necessarily lessen hypoglycemia. Remember that the spilling of

ketones occurs when there is no glycogen storage left in the body

and when a child is solid muscle with little body fat, from what I

understand since this is why they say L is having this problem, she

has no " reserves " -- if her body fat was greater she would have less

incidence of hypoglycemia. Growth hormone is used by body builders

(most of them aren't using " true " GH but never mind that) to

increase muscle mass. For our children, this increase is very good.

My own daughter simply has her father's genetic makeup. He is 6'4 "

tall, 185 pounds with 6% body fat, at 38 years of age. If we could

all be so lucky.

Now, that being said, studies have found that growth hormone

treatment is associated with higher fasting insulin levels. I am

typing what this study says " ...the increase in insulin levels

during GHT suggest that relative insulin resistance occurs, and that

this is accompanied by an increase in fasting insulin levels to

maintain normoglycaemia, thus demonstrating the physiological

balance between GH and insulin. " However, all these studies also

found that the elevated insulin levels returned to pretreatment

levels within 6 months of discontinuing GH.

What does that mean??? I really don't know. According to our

geneticist and Dr. H, some kids on GHT increase their muscle mass a

lot and therefore need to eat snacks quite often, to maintain their

glycogen storage and maintain normoglycaemia. oooh new word.

Simple sugars now SKYROCKET 's blood sugar levels, and she

plummets very quickly thereafter. This must have to do with the

insulin levels they refer to. Not all kids have this reaction, but

many do. The good news is that long-term after GHT it goes away.

For now, we just make sure has snacks every 60-90 minutes

(which we were doing before anyway) and also most importantly in

heat or during exercise it is MOST important, because the body under

stress (oh yeah, and under infection) uses more of its storage.

Oh gosh, I just reread this and even I don't understand all

this.... But know this, GHT doesn't cause hypoglycemia, if I said

that I misspoke. GHT causes elevated fasting insulin levels, which

can then correspond with an increased chance of hypoglycemia.

> You said GH increases insulin levels which causes hypoglycemia.

>

> I thought that one of the pros of giving GH is that it lessens the

> hypoglycemia because it increases muscle mass.

> that was one of the reasons I wanted to give GH, to control the

> hypo-g.

>

> Cindy