History of HGH

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Scientists discovered human growth hormone (hgh) as early as the 1920s. Human growth hormone was first used in 1958 for children with pituitary dwarfism (short stature due to underfunction of the anterior pituitary) to help them grow.

When there is excessive secretion of too much growth hormone before the end of adolescence in children, it can lead to gigantism. When there is excessive secretion of too much growth hormone after adolescence in adults, there cannot be an increase in height but acromegaly* follows as a consequence or result. Excessive growth hormone secretion may be caused by an adenoma of the pituitary (a tumor of the pituitary) or by other causes. Treatment is usually possible via medication or surgery.

*Acromegaly: A chronic disease of adults marked by enlargement of the bones of hands, feet and face; often accompanied by headache and muscle pain and emotional disturbances; caused by overproduction of growth hormone by the anterior pituitary gland (due to a tumor)

Back in the 1930's: Giants in the Making:
Even less common than growth hormone deficiency is growth hormone excess, which can cause gigantism. One such person with this condition in the 1930s was nicknamed the "Alton Giant," after his Illinois hometown. He reached a height of nearly 9 feet and a 37 shoe size, according to the Life book Growth. Fewer than 50 such "giants" have been reported in the medical literature. Most owed their amazing growth to pituitary tumors that prompted excessive production of growth hormone. Other symptoms that often accompany pituitary tumors are headaches, dizziness, vomiting, and vision disturbances such as double vision.
References: www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00181.html

Before 1985, human growth hormone (hGH) came from the pituitary glands of human cadavers (dead people) in Africa, to treat children with pituitary dwarfism. It took thousands of dead brain cells to produce just a few drops of HGH to treat these children.

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