Re: diagnosis delay
8/9/00 9:59 PM
Me too. My son showed signs at age 4, but two separate pediatricians ignored the symptoms, even when I pointed out the pubic hair. By the time my son was 7, bed wetting, quite a bit of pubic hair, underarm odor, and a 3-inch growth spurt in less than a year, I decided to go insist on hormonal analyses. Keep in mind that I'd never heard of CAH at the time; I'd had "hormone problems" most of my life and just thought my son might have problems as well. When the regular pediatrician (who'd ignored symptoms for 2 years) was called away, we saw a substitute, who jumped right on it -- he even told us before any tests were done that my son likely had CAH. I asked our endo later why two separat pediatricians hadn't done anything. I mean, even if they'd never heard of CAH, at least they should have known something was out of whack. Shouldn't they have started some kind of investigation? I didn't get a very satisfying response from the endo, and I got the idea she was hedging, kind of not wanting to say anything bad about another physician. She just said that in certain ethnic groups, or in certain parts of the world, the incidence of CAH is higher than in others, so doctors are more likely to be aware of it, its symptoms, and be better able to make a diagnosis. At that bone scan, done last December, my 7-year-old son had a bone age of 13. I was more fortunate than Michelle, in that my son never had any illnesses prior to diagnosis, or since, which have caused problems. I count my blessings over and over for that. But I believe his potential for growth has been thwarted. So I'd like to know what Michelle has asked -- has the delay caused harm? Thanks!! Lynn
LynnG
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