I need reassurance

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Specializes in Infectious Disease.

I guess I should have posted this in the student section because I am not yet a nurse.

I am getting there, though! I am sorry if this message is too long.

My 8 year old daughter has had under arm odor since about 5 years old. She started developing pubic and underarm hair at around 7 years old. I called her pediatrician and he

said not to worry. He told me to monitor the hair under her arms because that was more of

an indication of the onset of her menstruation than the pubic hair. Since the hair under her

arms was very faint, I didn't worry too much but her pubic hair became very thick. About a

month ago, I took my daughter in for a sick visit. I asked the female pediatrician to take a

look at her because it just didn't seem normal to me. Well, she was immediately concerned,

she chastised me for letting my daughter go a year w/o having this checked out. I informed her that I had spoken to another doctor who told me not to worry. It was even brought up during her check-up but the other doctor didn't think she exhibited any signs of abnormality.

We had a bone age done and saw an endocrinologist. The endocrinolgist did an examination and told us everything was normal. He said he wouldn't even bother to schedule a follow-up appointment because she would be fine. She probably wouldn't start her menstruation before the age of 12. While he was extremely nice, and talked to us in everyday language, he didn't look at her x-ray before he pronounced her as normal. Imagine my surprise when I got home yesterday and found the letter that says her bones are 2 years ahead of average. Now she has to have blood work done to determine her hormone levels. If her hormone levels are off, then she will be given the monthly shots to slow her development.

I am trying to not overreact to this. I just wish the endocrinologist wouldn't have diagnosed her w/o looking at her xray. After reassuring my daughter that everything is OK, I now have to tell her that I was mistaken and that there may be more drs. appointments. I don't want to over research this thing but I am trying to find out the side effects are for this hormone therapy she may be put on. I know the shots are monthly, but how long will she have to get them. I read somewhere that it MAY make her pubic/underarm hair fall out, but will it make the hair on her hair, eyebrows, eyelashes come out as well? I read on the net also that there are certain cancers that are more common in women who had precocious puberty. (that is really scary)

Ok, I know I am rambling. (i have a tendancy to do that when i am nervous) I am not asking anyone to answer my questions but if you have any suggestions about the kind of questions I should be asking when we see the endocrinologist again, I would really appreciate it.

Also, please pray for my daughter. I don't want to sound melodramatic. I know other children have problems much larger then hers but I couldn't imagine being her age and having to deal with all of the emotional baggage that goes along with the onset of puberty.

Now, we know why my normally loving and affectionate daughter is so witchy to her brothers sometimes. I always joked that she was PMSing to my husband, now it isn't so funny.....

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Wow. That is scary. I am so sorry you are going through this. I honestly don't know much about the hormone questions. But, I wanted to let you know that you can not over research this. Last October my 4 yo son needed to go to the doctor for a sick visit. Nothing out of the ordinary, but his regular ped. was on maternity leave so we had to see another doc. This other doc. was listening to my son's heart because he had never seen him before and was doing a quick head to toe assessment. I thought this was a little strange because the reason we were there was because my son was having bladder pain. Anyway, the doc.got a weird look on his face, and listened to my son's heart for about 3-4 minutes. I knew something was wrong, and of course being a nurse I was thinking the worst. He told me that my son had a murmur, and we needed to go to a cardiologist "immediately." I was horrified. Well, we couldn't get in to the cardiologist immediately, we had to wait a week. In the meantime we had to go back to the ped. because all three of my boys came down with what I thought was strep throat. Our regular ped. was back from maternity leave. I told her what had happened regarding my son's heart. She listened and said that it sounded totally "normal" and she would not even go to the cardiologist. I told her I wanted to because the other doc. was so concerned, and we already had the app. scheduled. She said that was fine, but she guaranteed me everything was okay. Well, it turns out he had a life threatening heart condition that required us to go to Stanford for surgery because Seattle Children's hospital had only seen his condition in autopsies, and had never repaired it before. We were told he had a 100% chance of dying by the age of 10 if we had not had surgery. His condition had no symptoms, the murmur actually had nothing to do with the life threatening condition, it was secondary. So, I have learned that I will do whatever it takes to keep my kids healthy. This was so scary for my husband and I. You need to talk to doctor's, do research, do whatever you have to to make sure your daughter is going to be okay. Unfortunately doctors are human, and sometimes don't know everything. I'm sorry this is so long. I will pray for you and your daughter, and sincerly hope everything is okay. God bless.

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Specializes in Infectious Disease.

Brenda, thank you, thank you, thank you! I am just sick worrying about this. The research I have done so far is either very reassuring or extremely scary. One site says precocious puberty could be cause by a tumor (I didn't finish reading where the tumor could be because I am extremely paranoid when it comes to my children's health) I don't want to act too weird around my daughter, (she is so tuned in to my moods) and I am afraid that the more I read the harder it will be for me to conceal my concern.

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Hi Alexillytom,

I know nothing about the subject, but I just wanted to tell you I will be praying for your daugther.

What I do know is that teenage years are difficult without anything added to it so I think most of us understand this is a big thing for you and your daughter.

Hang in there, the answers will come your way.

God Bless,

JacelRN :p

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Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

Have no wisdom to offer you here... but can feel you concern and your trepidation. Extending warmest (((HUGS))) your way.

As Brenda stated, please do your research nonetheless, so you will be well prepared to "COMMUNICATE" with the doc when the time comes, and be an active participant in her care.

Wish you and your sweet daughter the very best. Please keep us posted.

Brenda.. thank you for sharing your touching story as well... so very glad all turned out well in the end.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I have no wisdom either. Perhaps the reason some of the docs are saying not to worry is that this early maturation is something we are seeing more and more of. Girls going through puberty before double digit age is more and more common. (My niece looked like Brittany Spears by the time she was 10). The problem being they are unsure of why, and unsure of any long-term consequences. One theory is the hormones injected into the meat we eat.

Anyway, best wishes for your daughter and family.

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I just wanted to say I will be sending my thoughts your way also.....

Brenda, that was a scary story!!!!! Always error on the side of making a big deal of things seems like the moral of the story.

As far as the early puberty issues, I also no nothing about it, but I did want to say that my neighbor's daughter started with the underarm and pubic hair, as well as body odor at 8 years old also. I believe she did have some testing done and that everything turned out okay. I know that she never had to have medical treatment for it.

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Specializes in Infectious Disease.

Thanks everyone for your concern. Oh my goodness Tweety, Britney Spears?!?!

I think I can understand her Dr. not wanting to alarm us, I just wish he had waited until he

looked at her scan before saying everything was fine. The thought that there could be a problem totally slipped our minds for the past couple of weeks. After seeing him our initial fears were put to rest because he said there wasn't a problem. He gave us a false sense of

security. I like him though and believe his heart was in the right place. I also think that he believed there wasn't a problem after his examination.

I guess I just feel kind of let down. If he had said that everything looked ok but he wanted to reserve judgement until he inspected her xray, then I would be fine.

Oh well, we are having the blood work done tomorrow morning. When I get home tonight, her dad and I will have a talk with her. Wish me luck.

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Specializes in HIV/AIDS, Dementia, Psych.

Good luck, I will be praying for you and your daughter. Just try and be strong and try not to worry until you know exactly what is going on. I know that's easier said than done, but just try your best :)

I too think the endocrinologist was wrong saying everything was fine. He should have waited until all of the tests were in. If I were you, I would give him a call and let him know what the scan said. Again, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

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I know how hard it is when we think there is something wrong with our kids. Whether or not anything is really wrong, you WILL get through this.

For what it's worth, I had alot of body hair by age 7! It runs in our family (Sicilian). My daughter has had hair under her arms since age 8.....heavy, black wiry hair, and she has light brown hair on her head. We also found out that her bone development is ahead of schedule when her orthodontist xrayed her hand to check for bone development. Apparently, something in the hand xray tells them if they are ready for braces, which she was at age 9. This is also typically about 2 years ahead of schedule.

I guess I'm just trying to show you that what's going on with your daughter may just be normal.

Gina

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Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.

My daughter is 4, and we have noticed body odor on her for about the past year. She also saw the endocronologist and we are waiting for the results. I try not to worry as she is very tall for her age (49 inches), but her mother and I are also tall. So hang in there and my prayers are with you!

Gerry

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I'll be thinking of you and your daughter, but as one of the other poster stated puberty is starting earlier these days for some unknown reason. My oldest two daughters are 9 &10 and they have the little "buds" and some very fine pubic hair and I have noticed this for the last few months. The girls in my oldest girls class already have "BREASTS" some bigger than mine, and I'm not on the small side. My youngest is 5 and very small and petite that they did blood work and wanted to do a bone scan to check for bone maturity for her age and being a nurse i said what will this solve and what if this and that, they said they would put her on growth hormones etc and I said NO WAY.

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