I guess we learned our lesson the hard way regarding bone-age x-rays. When my salt wasters were first diagnosed, their endo said a bone-age should be done every year. We moved away from our original doctors to Baltimore, MD, and were very excited to have the opportunity to take our children to the world renowned Johns Hopkins. Everyone referred us to a doctor there, Dr. Claude Migeon, who was supposed to be one of the country's foremost experts on CAH. We found that he did not believe the x-rays were very important, blood work only needed to be done every 6 months, he would calculate medication by surface area, and stress doses of Cortef were tripled, not doubled as we were always told. This should have sent a red flag up for us, and in fact it did at first, and I pushed him to write the x-ray orders. He would not, and said it was unneccesary to expose kids to too much radiation. We stayed with him and his team out at Hopkins for a year and a half. No one has ordered any x-rays. Being concerned, I called my pediatrician, and told him I needed him to write the orders, and he did. I am pleased to say that my 2 1/2 year old daughter was right on target with her chronological age. My 3 1/2 year old son was not as lucky-he is about 2 years off, or ahead of his chronological age. Needless to say I am very upset and just wanted to share this with you. I am leaving Hopkins, and will search as long as I have to to find a doctor that will take an interest in my children. I hope we can get my son back on target but we learned another lesson the hard way. No one will watch over our kids health like we will, and if I want to do an x-ray every year, I think since we have no insurance and I have to pay up front for everything, it is my right to demand the kind of care I expect for my children. Different doctors treat CAH in different ways, but the growth is such an important issue, I feel that my son was robbed of the kind of personal care he should have received. We will continue to look for a reliable, concerned doctor, and not be impressed by big names or hospitals ever again. Thanks for listening.