Oh My Arm Hurts ....

Why you might ask does my arm hurt?

Well, let me tell you!  I strained it from patting my own back!

Why am I patting my own back you ask?

Well, let me tell you why ....

Donovan, my son, stopped growing both vertically and horizontally almost 2 years ago.  Thought it was because he was more active at first and was burning off calories and because he was a bit of a picky eater.  He has a genetic disorder that is going to keep him on the shorter side, so we didn't get too concerned at first.

Then around November 2010 he really slowed down with eating.  Baulked at everything I gave him to eat pretty much.  He was really still too young to communicate why he didn't want to eat.  He just didn't.  It was around this time that his pulmonologist prescribed Advair for his asthma.  All the other preventive meds were just not working well for him.  By January my son stopped eating all together.  If you follow my blog you know that the outcome was an endoscopy that caused a hematoma, he was in the hospital for 19 days but we got some answers.  He might very well have a gluten issue and probably celiacs disease.  Something I come to find out is somewhat common with people with Noonans.  We also found several months later the hematoma from the endoscopy was because he has a bleeding disorder - a non-descript platelet function disorder to be more specific.

Donovan's appetite, although he was eating a lot more, never truly picked up.  He leveled off at 25 lbs while an outpatient at the feeding clinic.  I did a little research to see if any of the medications my son was taking could be hindering his appetite and his growth.  I found a small little snippet of an article that did mention that Advair could suppress a person's appetite.  I only found this one snippet (basically a sentence or two) on the topic and believe it or not when I tried to google it again later down the road I couldn't find the darn article.  I did ask a few doctors if they knew if any of the meds might be hindering Donovan's appetite and consequently his weight and growth but they looked at me like I might be nuts.

I had this gnawing feeling that the Advair was the culprit.  So late last Fall I mentioned this to the pulmonologist and he took me seriously.  I was like "thank God someone is listening to me".  He looked at his growth chart and looked at what happened shortly after he was on the Advair.  He stopped gaining weight and growing.  He immediately decided to take Donovan off Advair and put him on a different daily inhaler.  One that activates the steroids when the enzymes in the lungs go into high gear during an asthmatic situation.  This way the steroids aren't constantly running through his system, only when he needs them.  Meanwhile, we had an appointment with an endocrinologist and he was so ready to push growth hormones. I asked him if we could be patient and hold off on the growth hormones for at least 6 months so we can see if switching asthma inhalers changed his growth and weight outcome.  Sure as you know it within 6 weeks after going off the Advair, Donovan started growing and gaining weight significantly.  His appetite started to increase and he asked me for food.

Yesterday, we had our follow-up appointment with the endocrinologist.  He took a look at Donovan's growth chart and was pleased at his progress.  He actually smiled and said, I don't need to see him for 6-12 months, whatever we choose.  I explained what we did with the change inhalers and he looked at the chart and he said to me "the chart doesn't lie" - I'll be, the Advair was the culprit.  Not necessarily in those words but you get the idea!  He said, no growth hormones are required at this time.   Sweet music to my ears!

So the pat on the back was because I am being a bit conceited - I am pleased that I successfully found the problem and solution!  Now how do I get doctors to put in their files that Mrs. Hyman is no dummy?  That when she suggests something might be the issue and has a solution - she actually knows what she is talking about!

I must say, I have to give kudos to my husband, Jon, because he figured it out too!  It was a good team effort.