The symptoms of HGH deficiency disorder

There are many people living with adult growth hormone deficiency that are not aware of their condition. The symptoms of aGHD can be varied, but tend to include a lack of energy, psychological impairment, or poor psychological well being, and also many different metabolic changes.

Some of the metabolic influenced changes may result in symptoms such as:

High levels of body fat, particularly body fat distributed around the waste.
Reduced bone density. If you have an unusual propensity to develop broken or fractured bones, this is likely a sign of poor bone density, and could be as a result a GH defrficiency. Child onset GH deficiency is especially likely to result in problematic bone density.
Decreased levels of muscle, especially in proportion to increased levels of body fat.
An increase in the level of “bad” LDL cholesterol in relation to “good” HDL cholesterol.
A reduction in insulin sensitivity.
Atherosclerosis (hardening arteries).

A GH deficiency can cause loss of muscle, and these metabolic changes can also cause a lessened ability for muscle and stamina exercises.

You may be tested for a GH deficiency if you have ever experienced any of the following medical occurrences:

If you have shown any evidence of a hypothalamic or pituitary disorder.
If you have received a cranial irradiation. This is a radiation therapy for the treatment of head or neck tumors.
If you know that you experienced a GH deficiency as a child.
If injury or medical treatment has caused a hormone deficiency.

There are diagnostic tests that your doctor will recommend if you present with one or more of the symptoms or signs of a GH deficiency
For Hypertropin to be prescribed, you must meet two distinct criteria. Firstly, you must have taken a GH stimulation test, and displayed a smaller than would be normal reaction to the GH in this test. This test is a reliable indicator of a GH deficiency. The second criteria for a prescription of Hypertropin is related to the age of onset of the condition

If you have only adult onset GH deficiency, that deficiency must by either GH alone, or a GH deficiency in conjunction with other hormonal deficiencies. The cause of these hormonal deficiencies is disease, a certain surgery, an injury that has caused the deficiency, or a radiation caused GH deficiency (through radiation therapy to the cranial region).

If your GH deficiency is child onset GH deficiency, then you must meet GH testing criteria to determine that your childhood GH deficiency is still at unacceptable levels for an adult.

References

Lifshitz F, ed. Pediatric Endocrinology. 4th ed. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker Inc; 2003.