Salah Kaprah Meaning Healthy Children, Steroid Often Becomes A Shortcut To Increase Weight

JAKARTA Stereoids have a number of benefits if given according to indications, including to children. However, the use of steroids without a doctor's recommendation can be dangerous because it is a group of hard drugs.

The case of drug steroid abuse as a child's appetite has become a hot topic of conversation lately, following the viral story in Surabaya.

A steroid type (EL) with the initials NR in Surabaya, East Java, was caught giving a steroid type of hard drug to a two-year-old toddler (EL) who was cared for. After one year of running, the caregiver's action was discovered by the mother (LK) and then reported it to the police.

It's a drug desametason and pronicy. Hard medicine for adults. What happens if you drink it to the baby," said the mother.

This viral case made the chairman of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), doctor Piprim Basara Yanuarso, SpA(K) also speak up. Reflecting on the incident in Surabaya, he hopes that a similar incident will not be repeated because the administration of steroid drugs that are not based on a doctor's prescription can be fatal.

"Even though it can cause long-term complications. It is suspected that children are healthy even though they are not," said Piprim in an online media discussion on Thursday, October 17, 2024.

Steroid is a drug that is widely used as anti-inflammatory or inflammation, as well as a substitute for hormones in a child's condition that cannot produce cortisol hormones.

Steroid resembles the hormone cortisol produced by the adrenal glands (the flexibility of the kidneys). This cortisol is needed by the body to maintain blood sugar, regulate blood pressure, and help overcome infections.

Basically, steroids have benefits if used according to medical conditions that do require steroid treatment, as stated by the Head of the Endocrine Coordination Work Unit (UKK) IDAI DR Dr. Agustini Utari, SpA (K). Certain medical conditions in question require this drug, including children who do not have the hormone cortisol since birth, severe allergies, asthma, autoimmune disease, and post-organ transplantation treatment.

"But long-term use and high doses can result in serious side effects, such as weight gain, mood swing, and sleep disorders," said Agustini.

"This includes hard drugs, so it is labeled 'K'. This drug must be prescribed by a doctor. This use must be in accordance with medical consultations," added the woman who is familiarly called Titut.

Doctor Titut admitted that in his daily practice, he had found several cases of steroid abuse. Giving steroids to children is not only done by caregivers, but also by their own parents.

The reason is that steroids are used as weight gains so that children look fat. Doctor Titut does not deny that steroid use can increase children's weight rapidly, but does not show health at all because it is very risky.

The coffee became visible (moon face). Actually there is a pile of liquid and salt. So, it's not really fat that is healthy if (consumption) is steroid. Only the appearance of the outside is visible, but in it it is problematic, "said Agustini.

Not only that, the long-term steroid effect on children will interfere with or inhibit growth plates. As a result, the bone cannot grow longer so that there are obstacles to child growth.

"Children will look fat but short, because they cannot grow if they are given steroids for a long time," said Agustini.

Provision of high doses of steroids over a long period of time can also suppress the immune system, as a result, children will experience more frequent infections.

In the case in Surabaya, steroids are intended to increase the child's weight and appetite. The victim's mother admitted that her child's weight jumped drastically to 19.5 kg even though she was only 2 years and 3 months old.

As a result of one year of steroid administration, the child has health problems to disorders in the growth hormone.

The large number of adults who are determined to give steroids cannot be separated from the assumption in society that healthy children must be fat.

Agustini reminded that fatness is not an indicator of healthy condition in children. During the child's growth and development, a more important indicator is that the nutritional intake is well fulfilled. So parents or caregivers should not only focus on monitoring the development of weight but also the child's height.

He agrees that feeding children is not always easy for parents. If children have difficulty eating behavior, parents don't have to worry too much and have to look for the best way to create a more enjoyable atmosphere, not by abusing steroid drugs to increase appetite.

According to Agustini, using steroids to increase the child's weight is much more dangerous than seeing thin children.

Karena kalau kita menggunakan steroid ini, kita bisa melihat efek jangka panjang itu banyak. Anak lempak biasanya menjadi ketakutan bagi orang tua. Tetapi kalau menggunakan steroid, anak akan semakin pendek dan fatnya itu hanya fat yang tampak fat, kata Agustini.

On the same occasion, the Chairperson of IDAI Dr. Piprim Basarah Yanuarso, SpA(K) emphasized the importance of parents understanding the growth and development of children, especially in the context of feeding.

He does not deny that many parents are looking for instant solutions to children's weight problems, without understanding the natural growth process.

"Parents often feel anxious when comparing their children's weight with other children, assuming that a fat child is a healthy child. In fact, children's health should be measured based on a growth plot that includes weight and height," he said.

In fact, according to him, the health of children can be seen from the growth and development that matches the graph should be, not just based on body size or fatness.