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Can Ulcerative Colitis stall puberty?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 12/31/2012 10:43 PM (GMT 0)
My puberty was going okay up until about 14 years old when my Ulcerative Colitis appeared. Then it seemed to stall and I was making far less progress. Bearing in mind, I ate less and had a very very low iron count for Haemoglobin while I was ill, roughly half of the normal region. The disease is only just under control about 2 months ago, and I only just came off Prednisolone about 2 weeks ago, is it possible that Colitis could have stalled my growth and effected my health in that respect? and could puberty and growth resume again?
Posted 12/31/2012 10:54 PM (GMT 0)
probably -

maybe -

how old are you ?
Posted 12/31/2012 10:59 PM (GMT 0)
I'm 16, 17 in May. I'm just a little worried as it seems my development just randomly seemed to stop, and hasn't picked up since
Posted 12/31/2012 11:20 PM (GMT 0)
The prednisone, not the colitis is responsible.
Posted 12/31/2012 11:43 PM (GMT 0)
Both colitis and prednisone can do this but once your disease is under control you should catch up. How much do you weigh now? How is your height? Which meds are you currently on? Having children with IBD develop normally though puberty is one of the main focuses of pediatric GIs. Is your doc monitoring this?Is he/she an IBD specialist? Are you seeing an endocrinologist as well?

Post Edited (killcolitis) : 12/31/2012 4:51:00 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/31/2012 11:44 PM (GMT 0)
hmmm.. makes sense since I was growing a bit during 2011, and in 2012 I grew very little and the best part of 2012 I spent on prednisolone
Posted 1/1/2013 12:12 AM (GMT 0)
I just asked my son's doctor about this. Being on prednisone can delay or slow down puberty. Another cause of delayed puberty is if you are having a continual flare it can cause you to not absorb nutrients which hinders growth. However, it is typically more common with kids who have Crohn's.
Posted 1/1/2013 1:39 AM (GMT 0)
I currently weight 82kg, I started the pred at about 70kg, I had horrible side effects with MASSIVE raging hunger. Thanks for the reassuring comments that my body should be able to catch up :)
I did have a continual flare from about Feb 2011, until October 2012, it took a very long time for me to man up and see the doctor about it as I was afraid and scared, but now I have came to terms with it and I am open speaking about it.
Posted 1/1/2013 3:19 AM (GMT 0)
You really need to be seeing a paediatric endocrinologist for this. I took prednisone when I was twelve (hadn't hit puberty yet but was developing). I only made it to five foot one. Not the worst thing and all the other stuff developed ok . I'm the only shorty in our family and there's a bit of a disadvantage to being short.

Not sure if its relevant but I didn't have IBD for that course of prednisone, I happened to have had a stroke and back in the early seventies that was how they decided to treat me. (I had an inflamed blood vessel in my brain which cut off circulation)
It's important

Good luck
Posted 1/1/2013 6:02 PM (GMT 0)
cmj96: you are the exact age of my son, who does not have uc but had delayed puberty/growth. he has been seeing a pediatric endicrinologist for a few years now.  there are some tests your dr can order to see where your puberty and growth are.  my son had blood tests for growth hormone and for testosterone.  his body was not producing enough of either so he was doing growth hormone shots and he got 6 months of testosterone shots.  for growth and puberty to happen you need to have a certain level of growth hormone and testosterone, they work in conjunction with each other .  the other test he had was called a bone age xray, they take an xray of his left hand and the dr can look at your growth plates and tell you what your bone age is meaning how much more room you have left to grow, so for example when my son was 16.2 yrsd old his bone age xray showed he was 14 yrs old, which means his growth plates were still open and he had plenty of room left to grow. 

i think i remember you posting before, you're not in the US, right? Im in the US so the healthcare is different and we were able to see an endicrinologist and get all these tests done.   how about your parents? are they involved with you and your medical care?  can your parents go with you to your appointment and talk to the dr with you? i would hate to see youhave to handle this all alone.

also, as my sons endircinologist says, there is a small window of opportunity when it comes to growth, you dont want to wait, you need to talk to a specialist and see what they say.  good luck and let us know how you make out

Posted 1/1/2013 6:16 PM (GMT 0)
I agree. You need both a GI who is a pediatric IBD specialist (if you dont have one) and an endocinologist. Now that you're in remission your body should catch up but this disease and pred ect can affect be effected by your growth hormone levels. You need to have this checked and monitored. The endocrin might actually give you some HGH if they determine you need it but since you're 16 there isn't a ton of time left for your linear growth ( have you grown in height? do you need to grow? Do you know what your bone age is)?
I'd suggest you get an endo referral asap if you don't have one.
Posted 1/6/2013 12:38 AM (GMT 0)
I'm normal height, I'm in between 5 foot 9 and 10, I'm just worried about the rest of puberty like sex organ growth etc. Which hasn't really happened for me that much. I have plenty of hair etc, just the growth, but then again I suppose puberty happens in stages and needs a bit of time
Posted 1/6/2013 1:27 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, IBD can stunt puberty (either CD or UC) and that can happen before even going on any of the meds used to treat it....one of my friends niece's developed CD at around age 9 and they finally DX her with CD and understood why she wasn't reaching puberty as it was a result of getting CD so young.
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