05/26/23 - Paediatricians often think growth hormones are great, because you can get taller.
“Parents who are eager to get their kids growth hormones, I’ve gotta say, think on it a little. I’m a victim of growth hormones. From third grade to sixth grade, I got growth hormones for three years. Now I’m 16, and I’m 162cm. My parents are both only 160cm. Before third grade, I was diagnosed with early puberty. I can’t deny that it’s only thanks to growth hormones that I was able to grow this tall.
But as you can see, according to my ankle x-rays, my bones are terrible. They’d fall apart if I did any high-impact exercise. I’ve been in and out of the orthopaedic department countless times. The doctors say that growth hormones is like pulling plants up to help them grow. My bones are strong, but super brittle.
Year before last, 1st of November 2021, I fell down the stairs and got broken bones and a 60% torn ligament. When I finally recovered, I had to prepare for eighth grade PE exams and did too much running, and I got stress-related fractures. I had to go to the hospital almost every week during that time period, and each x-ray was 600-1000 RMB. I couldn’t keep up with training and only got 9 points in my PE test.
I’m in 9th grade now, and because I’d just recovered from covid, I don’t need to run, so that’s nice. I just have to jump rope. But apparently, even jumping rope I can still sprain my ankles. It was still swollen after a while, so I went in for a checkup, and found that talus bone is ground down and worn, and I’ve got ligament problems again. Basically, I’ve got even more stress fractures.
Doctors say that there’s nothing that can completely fix my condition. People who’ve had growth hormones just can’t do high impact exercise, at least not without knee guards and ankle braces. The only real solution is to not run and not go mountain climbing. They tell me that when they do surgery on normal people, normal bones are white and is really hard when they cut into it. Kids who’ve had growth hormones have yellow bones which are super brittle. He says I’m only 16 now, so I’ve still got gaps in my bones. When I’m 21, those gaps still won’t close, but I won’t get any taller either.
His point of view is that paediatricians often think growth hormones are great, because you can get taller, but as an orthopaedic doctor, he really can’t recommend it, because it has so much impact on your future lifestyle.
I remember when I was getting the shots, I was going to Shanghai every month. Later, it became every 3 months. It was super time-consuming and exhausting and expensive. It basically cost my family the price of a brand new car. And I don’t think proper hospitals actually give you those shots, you have to go to a special institution for like Childhood Growth. Six days every week, I have to get shots in my tummy, and every month, there’s one 3000-4000 RMB shot for blocking early puberty. There’s also a medicine they give to old people for osteoporosis that you have to take, that’s also super expensive.
So people, don’t be in too much of a hurry. Although I really do care about my height, and I’m not actually that into exercise, I’d still rather be healthy than to sit on the sidelines and watch my friends jump rope, knowing it’ll end up breaking my ankles. We don’t know what kind of side effects growth hormones could turn out to have.”
Comments say, “Yeah, I feel like my son is super smart about this. Took my kid in to get tested when he was 10 years old, and while we were standing in line, he just suddenly turned around and walked away. He said that if he’s behind on height, the doctor would just tell him to eat more calcium, jump more, go to bed early, and balance his nutrition. If that’s the case, let’s just start doing that. What’s the point of doing a test? After that, he started growing a lot more.”
“My daughter grew super slow. When other people are growing up, they gain 1cm every month. She gained 1cm every 6 months to a year. But I just let her grow slowly and steadily. She was always the shortest in her class, but I was too scared to get her shots. I just made her play outside a lot. She’s in eighth grade now, 161cm, probably not gonna get any taller. That’s fine though, she’s at least over 160cm. I’m happy with that.”
“My daughter is shorter than her peers. I took her into the hospital when she was in second grade, and the doctors said she’ll probably only be 149cm when she grows up, plus or minus 3 cm. I literally felt like my world collapsed. The doctor recommended growth hormones, but I ended up giving up on it because he asked about any family history of cancer, but wouldn’t tell me whether there’s a link between growth hormones and cancer. I got too scared and felt like health is still more important. She’s in seventh grade now, 156cm, and hasn’t had her period yet. She’s a late bloomer. Both her dad and myself were too.”
A relationship blogger writes, “My FIL kept telling me how I had to have a son even before I got pregnant. As for how I had to have a son, people in the cities might think this is ridiculous, but in his village, once you’re 5-6 months pregnant, you’d go get ultrasounds to find out the gender. If it’s a girl, you get an abortion. This is super common in his village. It’s the sort of thing everybody does, but nobody talks about.
So, basically, all kinds of brainwashing about how I had to have a son.
One time, I couldn’t keep it down anymore and asked him, “What’s the difference between a son and a daughter?”
My FIL said, “See, our family raised a uni student, and your family also raised a uni student. But now you’ve married into our family, so now we’ve got two uni students in our family, and your family has zero.”
I felt blood rush to my head. “What do you mean my family has zero? I’m not dead!”
My FIL was adamant in his reasoning, “Sure, you’re not dead, but you have to come to our family for the holidays and never your own family.”
I forget what I said after that, or whether I said anything at all, but since then, I’ve never went over to his place for the holidays. Doesn’t matter who tries to persuade me.
Maybe some people think I’m vindictive and petty, but what if he tried to persuade me to get a divorce once he found out I had a daughter? Yup, while I was sitting the month, I got a call from him, trying to talk me into divorce.
When my daughter was 1 month old (a celebrated occasion in China involving the whole family), he told the whole family not to come to our month-old party? Yeah, we called all my husband’s siblings, and they said that he’d declared, “Who dares to go?” And in the end, only my husband’s sister showed up.
He also asked when my daughter was 3 years old whether she was going to primary school yet.
If you answer wrongs with kindness, what do you answer kindness with?”
A tiktok video of a mother’s conversation with her 3 and a half year old daughter.
The daughter says, “I don’t have a house.”
The mother asks, “You don’t have a house? Then whose house is this?”
She says, “It’s my brother’s house.”
The mother says, “It’s your brother’s house, and it’s your house too.”
She insists again, “I don’t have a house.”
Comments say, “God, that video made me so mad. Why would such a small kid even have these concepts? Someone in her family is definitely teaching her that. Children are blank slates.”
The influencer who talks about autism and sleep training writes, “Political correctness has caused us to turn a blind eye to what will actually cure autism. I’ve taken a lot of classes on autism, and talked to professors who specialise in the research of autism recovery, who explained the genetic component of autism to me. This is what a classmate of mine added:
In terms of a genetic component, it just means that this baby has a higher sensitivity than others naturally. Any harm or neglect or other factors in their household, things that a normal baby might not be able to sense, a high sensitivity baby can feel it deeply, but can’t handle that level of pressure. So they choose to shut themselves off, to insulate themselves from the damage that their environment is bringing them, so they can survive.
But doctors will never talk about these deeper reasons to parents, because problems with genetics just come down to problems with parenting. If they tried to explain that, they’ll get complaints filed against them by the parents of autistic children.
So doctors can only gently say that autism is a genetic problem, because American political correctness means that nobody is allowed to speak the truth anymore. Not that parents are looking for the truth. They're just looking to protect themselves from accusations.
I mean, we understand and sympathise with that instinct, but it’s very detrimental to the research on autism and its potential cures, because we have to constantly think about parents feelings. The research on autism has ground to a stop for ten years without any advances, because we’re only allowed to look at the genetic component. We’re not allowed to do any research on parenting influences, or else we’re harming the parents of autistic children.
So, in a way, autistic children have been deliberately abandoned.”
Comments say, “I feel like autism mostly happens in wealthier, middle-class families. Do rural areas and people in poverty see a lot of autistic kids?”
“People are very scared of being accused, especially if the parents are not in a good mental space themselves and completely lack self-awareness. Accusations will cause people to lash out and attack back, because of their cognitive dissonance. Adults can’t imagine how impactful the harm done early on is, like in the first couple of months of life, because most people think that kids don’t know anything at that stage.”
“Our kiddo is more sensitive than other kids and needier too. I really can feel that if we were cold to him at some point, didn’t respond to him, he’d have huge problems. We’ve got a friend with a deaf kid, and when I listen to her talk to her kid, it’s like she doesn’t really care about him at all. I don’t know what to say.”
“I’ve seen an example of a person who hangs out in pregnancy and baby-related group chats and tell people not to get pregnancy checkups, saying that it’s just a scam by hospitals to make money, there’s not any point in it. At some point, another group chat member showed this person’s messages to a relative of theirs who worked in the hospital, and that relative actually identified this person. She’d apparently given birth to a child with severe deformities because she never showed up for her checkups. She’s spent her whole savings on it and can’t fix the problem. It’s just one example, but there really are people in this world who’ll tear away your umbrella just because they're getting rained on.”
Comments agree, “My MIL told me not to go to my ob/gyn appointments because they’re “inappropriate” She herself has severe gynaecological problems because she never got her checkups. There really are people who’ll tear away your umbrella just because they’re getting rained on. She can’t stand other people living better than her, can’t wait for everyone to suffer like she’s had. I can’t understand that mentality to this day.”
Someone asks, “Are checkups expensive?” And someone replies, “Top hospital in Jinan, went to all my appointments, added up to about 10K RMB. Insurance won’t cover it, but it did cover childbirth, which was only 2K after all was said and done.”
“Scandinavia is the most anti-involution place in the world. I just got an email from HR today, reminding all workers that holidays are coming up. It emphasised multiple times to enjoy the holidays, don’t work during holiday period, and is even arranging a meeting to teach people how to correctly enjoy their holiday. Advice includes giving out a template for email auto-response, “I am currently on vacation and will be out of the office until 10th of August. I will not be responding to work-related emails according to company regulation.” And yeah, all my icelandic coworkers are super serious about keeping to holiday rules. Whether it’s a long holiday or a short one, I can’t find a single one of them during it. Icelandic people are super serious about combating involution.”
IP address from Sweden writes, “7 weeks of holiday a year. I have no way of using it up. It just keeps accumulating.”
IP address from Finland writes, “When it’s public holiday, I can’t even enter the building with my card.”
IP address from Shanghai writes, “My job is talking to clients from Sweden. They’ve got tons of holidays and never make up for it with extra work days, and they never respond to emails during a holiday. But I have to respond to their emails during my holiday.”
A tiktok video of a chubby little baby, with the father narrating, “When we took Bubbles to her five month checkup, the results were ideal. The doctor said she was on the fat side, and on the short side, and doesn’t like to do tummy time and won’t grab things. It’s not a big problem. She’s just kind of a short, fat, lazy bum. The doctor said that it probably doesn’t affect anything, but people care a lot about kids meeting developmental goals at each appropriate stage. And we technically count as being developmentally behind. He suggested we take Bubbles to get recovery therapy. But I feel like, she’s just slow in development, not like she’s not developing at all. I don’t think there’s a need for therapy.
After we left the hospital, although we told ourselves it would all be alright, we were still prepared for the worst in our hearts. But little did we know, just half a month later, Bubbles suddenly changed. Whether it’s grabbing things, or lifting her head, or rolling over, it’s all hugely improved from before. She can even sit up on her own for a little bit. When I saw Bubbles’ change, I definitely felt like every baby is growing at their own rate. There’s no need to force them to fit unchanging statistics. It just engineers pointless anxiety. After all, you’re gonna be parents for the rest of your life. There’s plenty of actual problems to be anxious over.”
Comments say, “I joined a parenting group chat at the hospital, and it’s making me anxious as shit. Other people’s babies are growing teeth at 6 months old. Mine’s only growing them at 10 months old. Other people’s kids are speaking full sentences at a year old. Mine’s two and only speaking isolated words. I’m really worried about my kid.”
“Dude, when it comes to your kids development, listen to your actual doctor, don’t wank off about bullshit on the internet.”
“Wearing too much can delay gross motor development in babies. I see mommy in the video wearing short sleeves. There’s no need to put two layers on the baby, she can wear short sleeves too.”
A book and movie reviewer writes, “Let’s talk about brats. I’ve always been against a popular opinion on the internet, that you shouldn’t beat kids. Before we discuss this, let’s define are terms. What’s “beating” a kid?
If you get physical at all and cause them physical pain, is that beating? Is it not allowed? Surely, we have to look at the method?
I always believe that when kids are too small, when they can’t understand reason yet, some physical punishment is not only okay, but necessary. In reference to an earlier incident, the parents said, “I’ve put my hand over his mouth!” It’s useless. He might just think you’re playing with him by putting your hand over his mouth.
When kids are too small, they don’t understand the cause and effect between two events. “I’ve told him, and he won’t listen.”
Try beating him.
If it doesn’t work, beat him harder.
You’re a grown ass adult. Surely, you can control your strength. Be confident, find a place with thick muscle and fat, and solve your problems once and for all.
When kids are too small to be talked to, beat the shit out of them where it’s not gonna be any harm, and it works like a charm. Pavlov has proven this years ago. It’s hard science.
But if you’re a Ukraine supporter and think everything related to Russia is evil, then just ignore me.
Edit to add: We should only be against domestic violence that happens for no reason, with no technique. There’s no reason to be against the entirely civilised behaviour of using science and skill to deliberate construct a reflex to do the right thing.”
Comments say, “I bought a ruler for my son, specifically for spanking his butt with. I always tell him beforehand what he did wrong and how many times I’m going to hit him, and I always confirm with him that he accepts the rule. So even though I hit him harder than daddy, he always likes me more.”
“My personal opinions is that parents are the whole world to children. Parents are the only path through which children can connect with the world. So if you beat children before a certain age, no matter how light or how hard, they’ll lose trust in the world. And losing that sense of security early on can affect their personality for the rest of their life, to one degree or another.”
“Another, more direct way of putting this is, if parents don’t beat the shit out of their kids in a way that doesn’t harm them, when they grow up and go out into society, someone is going to beat the shit out of them in a way that definitely harms them.”
A military blogger writes, “Only Germany and Japan is capable of manufacturing artificial blood vessels, and there are 45 thousand people in China every year who needs them for heart surgery.”
Comment section links him to a news article from November 2022, about the first batch of Chinese-made artificial blood vessels reaching the market.