Psychogenic dwarfism causes
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Causes
Children with psychogenic dwarfism have extremely low levels of growth hormone. These children possibly have a problem with growth hormone inhibiting hormone (GHIH) or growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH). The children could either be unresponsive to these hormones or too sensitive.
Children that have psychogenic dwarfism exhibit signs of failure to thrive. Even though they appear to be receiving adequate nutrition, they do not grow and develop normally compared to other children of their age.
An environment of constant and extreme stress causes psychogenic dwarfism. Stress releases hormones in the body such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, engaging what is known as the 'fight or flight' response. The heart speeds up and the body diverts resources away from processes that are not immediately important; in psychogenic dwarfism, the production of growth hormone (GH) is thus affected. As well as lacking growth hormone, children with psychogenic dwarfism exhibit gastrointestinal problems due to the large amounts of epinephrine and norepinephrine, resulting in their bodies lacking proper digestion of nutrients and further affecting development.