The sounds of machines beeping and buzzing become background noise as “Get Well Soon” balloons and flower bouquets line the window sills of Barnes-Jewish Children’s Hospital. The first month of 2018 was unlike any other new year for Demi Rosenthal, as her health took an abnormal turn. 

Ladue High School sophomore, Demi Rosenthal, has always been below average when it comes to height. Standing at 4 foot 9 inches, she started taking daily shots of somatotropin, a hormone to stimulate and increase the pace of growth. 

Prior to starting the shots, Rosenthal had gotten an x-ray done on her hand to determine her bone age. The younger the bone age, the more long lasting affect the shots would have. She also needed to go through a procedure where the growth hormone was injected through an IV into her body and was closely monitored every half an hour. 

This was all standard pro to call for anyone with a short stature. These tedious steps were made to double check that Rosenthal was tolerant to the intense medication. The Rosenthal family had actually been through this process before, so they expected the entire experience to be quite similar. 

“I had some nerves going into taking the shots, however, my brother had taken them before, so that eased some of my worries,” Rosenthal said. 

Unlike her brother, Rosenthal experienced many side effects during her first four months of taking the shots. She had already grown one inch, but the shots were starting to affect her everyday life more than her height. 

“I went to the doctor because I had a constant migraine and sharp pains behind my eyes. My doctor looked closely into my eyes and saw that the outer line to my pupils were blurred instead of crisp, which meant that something was pushing on the optic nerve,” Rosenthal said. 

Rosenthal was then sent to the emergency room, and had to stay there for a week to figure out what was exactly wrong. While at the hospital, Rosenthal went through many vision tests by the ophthalmologist, and was also given a lumbar tap to remove the extra fluid that surrounded her brain. 

“The neurology team diagnosed me with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension. This basically meant that I had extra spinal fluid that went up to my skull and caused pressure on my optic nerve in my brain,” Rosenthal said.

This diagnosis was extremely rare for someone taking the growth hormone shots, given that Rosenthal’s brother experienced none of the same side effects. 

Being away from school for a week in seventh grade was hard for Rosenthal’s close friends. Sophomore Emma Dickherber felt concerned for her friend since their friendship began only a year before.  

“It was hard not seeing Demi at school. I would think about her and worry about how she was doing. I really didn’t like not seeing her as much,” Dickherber said. 

Rosenthal’s teachers were very understanding while she was in the hospital, wanting her to focus on her health rather than homework and making up in class lessons. This made the transition back to the routine of school much easier. 

Rosenthal was told during her hospital stay to stop taking the shots, hoping the pain and side effects would stop. Yet today Rosenthal’s symptoms still occur occasionally, but not as intensely. 

“It took a lot of time for all of my pain to go away and for my vision to become completely normal,” Rosenthal said.