Precocious puberty in 8 year old DS - hand holding needed

[legoqueen]

Following a trip to the GP yesterday, DS has been referred for blood tests plus to a paed to investigate possible precocious puberty. I noticed a few weeks ago that he had some hair growth by his testicles & idly googled puberty, soon realised that this needed a GP visit. She seemed unsure whether to refer him initially but has done so & if anyone else has been through this I'd like to know what to expect in terms of investigations. She has referred me to the paed via the NHS but should I consider going private (via works health insurance) to speed things up? Any advice would be appreciated - I'm not coping with this very well...poor DS was terrified of even the blood tests & fainted afterwards which didn't help. He now thinks it's all over whereas I know it's just beginning...

[Flexibilityisquay]

Sorry, I don't know anything about this, but happy to hand hold, and bump so hopefully someone more knowledgeable will see it.

[legoqueen]

Thanks Flexibility, much appreciated. I don't know how much traffic this board gets but do hope someone can share their experiences...

[StrawberryMojito]

I don't know about this either but surely if you have private health cover and this would be covered then yes of course go private, that's what its for. Good luck.

[legoqueen]

I asked the GP about this & she recommended waiting to see how soon the NHS appointment is - I couldn't gauge the urgency - will give them a call on Monday I think as I couldn't speak freely in front of DS.

[LatinForTelly]

I would talk to someone from the Child Growth Foundation. Website is //www.childgrowthfoundation.org. There is a helpline number on there - in the Contact Us section - and they are very helpful. Precocious puberty is one of the conditions they cover. (No, I don't work for them!)

Good luck with everything

[Partridge]

Hi lego - I don't know if you have searched this topic and come across my previous posts, but I will recap if not. My ds was referred to an endocrinologist at 6 1/2 because of adult body odour. He has also had hairy testicles since he was a baby. It is coarse blonde hair - but as he has always had it the gp wasn't too concerned.

After a week or so of googling myself into a state of terrified stasis, I took him to another gp. She took one look at him and said there was nothing to worry about - and indeed 2 years later nothing has changed in terms of his development (apart from filthy mood swings, but I gather that is normal for 8!)

What helped me was googling images of boys with precocious puberty and realising that he was nothing like those images. I know it can happen, but I was told it is rare and that the usual first sign is a reddening, enlarging and thickening of the testicles.

I don't know if this helps at all, but I am holding your hand and have been there. Btw, the gp said that we could cancel the endocrinologist.

[legoqueen]

Thanks for your replies. Latin I will have a look at that, thanks. Partridge I did a search on MN but only seemed to find girl queries (& it seems to be less of a physical concern for girls in terms of cause) so thanks for jumping on the thread. I telephoned the GP surgery today to get the bloods results - was told they were normal - realised that actually tells me nothing so will go in & see a GP so that I can properly understand what that means (I don't even know what they tested for :-(). Dr Google is probably not my friend at the moment, but I'd rather know something about the potential next steps (unlike DH who is just sticking his head in the sand - an issue in itself). Anyway, I appreciate the handholding & will see what the GP says.

[legoqueen]

Well the blood tests confirmed hormone levels as normal but we've been advised to still go for the paed appointment for completeness - however GP says definitely not urgent (otherwise the NHS referral itself would have been marked urgent for a 2 week turnaround) so no need to go private. We have used the private route once before with severe reflux but the outpatients cover is so limited that we literally had one private session then were put into the NHS system, it simply served as a queue jumper. Appointment is for mid-October so we'll stick with that & see what happens next.

[Squaddielife]

Hi
Just wondered if you progressed onto treatment for your son Lego ?
I'm trying to decide whether to treat DS