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Thumper tries HGH for Fibromyalgia symptoms... film at 11
Fibromyalgia is Latin for "Holy Frijole, everything on me freaking hurts." Or something like that...

Still...there are no whiners here.

Imagine...

...having a Charlie horse--all over your body.

...having the flu--all the time.

...feeling like you've been backed over by a tractor...every single day.

...waking up and being afraid to step out of bed because you know--without a doubt--that when your foot hits the floor, a knife will cut through your body, and the feeling won't stop.

...not being able to sleep.

...fatigue seeping from every pore of your body, running in thick rivers that pool at your feet like concrete shoes.

...feeling like every muscle in your body is on fire, and nothing will put it out.

...feeling like you're about to come apart at the seams--and your doctor tells you it's "All In Your Head."

Just Imagine.

©1997,2005 K.A. Thompson

One of the theories about Fibromyalgia Syndrome is that there may be an endocrinological base--that the pain associated with FMS may exist because of a lack of, or the body's inability to use existing supplies of, Growth Hormone.

On June 26, 2002, I had a tumor removed from my pituitary gland; this tumor left me with diabetes insipidus, premature menopuase, and as discovered recently, a lack of Growth Hormone.

The problem is, no one knows how long the tumor was there, and no one knows whether or not I was deficient in Growth Hormone prior to developing the tumor.

Because of some of the studies regarding Fibromyalgia--something I have lived with since January 1997--and Human Growth Hormone, I have opted to give HGH replacement a try. It may be a way to work past the pain of FMS, a way to build lean muscle mass, lose body fat, and hopefully, offer measureable hope to recovery.

This blog will chronicle my progress, or lack of it. I will include details of how it makes me feel, the exercise routines I will use to help speed up loss of body fat, dietary changes, and any changes in body shape and pain reduction.
FMS Links

Dr. Devin Starlanyl
American Fibromyalgia Association
FMS Network
Chronic Syndrome Support Association
Living With FMS

Archives
Contact Information
7/27/2004

Well crap.
The 2 pounds I magically dropped reappeared and brought 2 more with it.

I don't know what else I can do; I'm working out at a really good clip several days a week, my diet is pretty decent--I try to keep it under 1500 calories a day--but this is getting beyond frustrating.

If I'm going to gain weight, I'd rather enjoy it with a box of Ding Dongs...

link | posted by Thumper at 3:03 PM
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7/22/2004

Ok. I've had 3 doses of synthroid and have magically dropped 2 pounds.
Coincidence?
Perhaps...

I started the growth hormone injections about a year and 3 months ago. Longer than the doc thought I would stick with it, I think. He made a point of telling me that most of his adult patients who try it get tired of the daily injections after 6 months and stop. I think maybe they didn't have the physical motivation.

This has been tumbling through my mind lately. When I started this, I think I was walking in the pool for about 25-30 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Once in a great while I'd work up to a good run, but not as often as I'd like. It doesn't seem like it took very long for me to run in the water--at a good clip--for longer than 30 minutes, and the swimming just followed naturally. I went to 45 minutes in the pool, combining running and swimming, to just swimming (nonstop) for a full hour, several days a week.

These days I'm working out 5 days a week, doing Boot Camp aerobics (that's YMCA-speak for "We're Going To Torture You) and a Hi-Lo Impact Class that combines weight training with cardio work; it's a 90 minute class and I follow it with half an hour in the pool. I may be adding a 6th day to my routine next week, when the Y re-adds a cardio kickboxing class to the schedule (taught by the same woman who does the Boot Camp class; she's good, but her class is a workout; I'd been going to her kickboxing class for a couple of weeks before it got canceled...) It's tiring and I have post-exertional aches and pains, but it's evident that's what they are--just the after effects of a good, hard workout.

This might not be important in the grand scheme of things, at least not to anyone but myself. But I do still have FMS--I get reminders of that every now and then--but my pain levels remain consistenly low, and my physical abilities have inched forward every week. While I'm certainly not in the shape I was in 10-12 years ago, I'm doing a hell of a lot better (and face it, I was in my 30s then and am in my 40s now.)

The gains have certainly motivated me to not stop taking it. After all, it's a tiny needle and the little pinch one feels from it is a lot better than the pains of not using it at all...

link | posted by Thumper at 10:39 AM
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7/19/2004

Ok...my doc has finally written me a scrip for synthroid, so hopefully I can make some progress on the weight front.

It seems like I have everything in order now: replacement of all the hormones the tumor wiped out, I'm working out at a really good pace several days a week, and my diet is (for the most part) good.

We shall see...

link | posted by Thumper at 8:05 AM
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7/11/2004

Something that probably rates a 6 or 7 on the dork-o-meter:

I can still kick--sidekick, round kick, front kick, crescent--with at least a modicum on control. My body dynamics are crap, but those can be worked on. And even though I'm all about sloppiness during cardio kickboxing, when I'm not being tortured by some Young Skinny Thing and can concentrate on what I'm doing, I can put some power behind those kicks.

That's significant, if only because it means I've come a long way in the last year, and if I keep up with the aerobics, cardio kickboxing, and swimming, when we move back to CA (in about 3 and a half months) I may be in good enough shape to give the martial arts a try again.

Y'all have no idea how much I want that.
Ok, maybe you do...
I want it a lot.

link | posted by Thumper at 2:22 PM
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7/07/2004

Ooof.
I am seriously feeling all those squats today.

link | posted by Thumper at 9:01 AM
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7/06/2004

Note To Self: if you hit a vein when poking yourself with a needle, it’s going to leave a bruise. And it won’t be pretty.

My legs are feeling today’s Boot Camp aerobics class. Or I could be feeling the combined effects of it plus last night’s kickboxing class. It’s not pain, per se, it’s more like “you used us, and we’re going to let you know it.” Between the two classes I did a lot of squats.

While I know my endurance is going up, there are still some things I can’t do and it bugs me. It shouldn’t, because they’re things I’ve never really done well, even at my most fit, but still… I don’t run well and have always been on the slow side. I don’t jump well at all—I remember years ago not really being able to do jump kicks in TKD, no matter how much I tried or how well I trained. So, during the classes, when we sprint or run laps, I just walk fast (well, as fast as I can), and when we do anything that gets both feet off the ground, my toes are still touching the floor.

My ego wants me to be able to do everything everyone else can do. Reality wants me to just do what I can, and keep moving through the things I can’t.

I take these classes with friends from the neighborhood, and today a couple of the husbands joined us—after that, I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about them dismissing it as a froo-froo womens’ chat fest. And damn, they put some serious effort into it! I was impressed. Plus, they didn’t line up behind us and laugh at any jiggly body fat :)

link | posted by Thumper at 4:39 PM
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7/04/2004

Definite signs that, after a year, the HGH may be doing it's thing...

I've sputtered and restarted exercise programs over the last year, but in the last few weeks have caught fire, so to speak. It started with adding walking 3 days a week with some friends (and surprisingly, at a lose-your-breath pace, when I figured it would be a nice stroll with their kids.) A couple of weeks later I added a Boot Camp Aerobics class to the mix, and a week or so after that Cardio Kickboxing.

So, basically, right now I'm doing the Boot Camp Aerobics 2 days a week, Kickboxing 2 days a week, walking on the 5th day, with some swimming thrown in there when I have the time and energy (and more often I actually do have the energy.) My goal now is to build up enough endurance that I can ride my bike to the Y (the spiffy recumbent I got last year) for the Boot Camp classes, and then survive the ride home.

The Boot Camp class is interval training: a combination of cardio and strength training, and the cardio kickboxing class is pretty self explanatory, I think. Kind of like Tae Bo.

Now, I have not lost weight--that could be the Magical Sputtering Thyroid at work, but I'm definitely getting stronger and my endurance is increasing. When doing some wall-sitting the other day I grabbed my thigh and realized that under the body fat there is muscle there. I figure if I put the muscle on, the body fat will take care of itself (but, yeah, I need to get with my doc to address the thyrpoid issues.)

In terms of pain...I had 3 days with back pain that resulted from, of all things, a sneeze. But instead of being out of commission for 3 weeks, it was only 3 days. Otherwise, my pain levels are very low and tolerable; low enough that if I have something else to distract me, I don't even think about it.

link | posted by Thumper at 7:30 AM
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