Cd's mom: Dont panic. This is a common problem although not well studied and published by endos. My own daughter is soon to be 10 month old and is on Prednisone. The infant /toddler period is very tricky and sometimes patientce is needed. too much steroid causes the 17OHP to come down but it decreases the growth and thereby the height and weight go down and the infant is considered "failure to thrive". However failure to thrive is when no definite cause is found in this case I am convinved it is the prednisone. the exact reasons are not known. It does not happen in all the infant and toddlers but only in some.
Recommendations:
1. Make sure that the endo is also testing androstenedione levels. If the 17OHP is high but androstenedione is normal then keep the total steroid dose in the range of 20-22 mg/m2 of body surface area and perhaps even lower.
2. Give high calorie food to your son such as cream and butter with his food.
3.A little bit of patience.
4.Once a moth check ups and follow up of growth.
Switching to another steroid now will not solve the problem.
