Q&A Session at HealthTap.com

Why does the growth factor plus website offer full guarantee of increase if the height growth is not possible at a certain age?

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Is it true that 30-somethings with acromegaly WON'T grow any taller @ this age? Is that true even for those with just mild symptoms of the disease?

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If I have acromegaly would I have other symptoms than just gaining height?Shoe size now smaller, rings are loose, no bigger features,EKGs/echos normal

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Q&A Session at HealthTap.com

Opinions on what's better human growth hormone or testosterone as far as being safe and effective?

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Q&A Session at HealthTap.com

Is it safe to drink on testosterone and hgh?

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Growth Hormone vs Heart Failure

There's been a lot of ruckus lately about illicit use of performance enhancing drugs in professional baseball again.  Chief among the popular drugs are various forms of testosterone, an anabolic steroid, meaning it helps build up, as opposed to catabolic, which means to break down.  In the background lurks growth hormone, a significantly more expensive non-steroid hormone, originally used to help vertically-challenged kids get closer to predicted adult height, but now purportedly used by the anti-aging set, especially in Hollywood, to maintain the veil of youth.  Concern has been expressed about its use in professional football, as well.

But as with most things in life, there's more grey than there is black & white.  In a randomized controlled single-blind study published in this month's JACC Heart Failure, the authors concluded that growth hormone (GH) was of benefit to those chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with GH deficiency (GHD).  Granted, this was a small study in which only 31 CHG+GHD patients completed the 4yr trial which was a follow up to a 6mo trial published September 2009 in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.  

I found the methodology interesting in that 0.012mg/kg was injected every other day, rather than the daily protocols typically used at about half that dose.  Regardless, this wasn't an inexpensive endeavor.  More importantly, all participants had laboratory proven GHD, having failed a stimulation test, as opposed to declaration based upon single IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) measurement.  But if this medication is proven safe & effective in large multicenter trials of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind fashion (review of 12 small studies demonstrated similar benefit in January 2007 JCEM), we just might see another drug added to our arsenal for optimal medical management of chronic heart failure.

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Q&A Session at HealthTap.com

What is my ideal weight my height is 168 cm?

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I am 21 years old and my height isnt satisfactory..I know itz difficult now to increase my height..but what can I do anyway just to try and increase?

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I havnt grown in 4 years, im 18 5'4 is it possible to start growing again. My dad is 5'10 and mum is 5'4 i get most of my characteristics from my Dad.

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PEDs: Is It OK Outside of Sports? Part 2

There once was a time when I believed in Santa Claus.  And the Easter Bunny.  And even the Tooth Fairy.  Hell, I even believed in Lance Armstrong, that he'd won 7 Tour de France titles against all odds despite metastatic testicular cancer, all by shear dint of hard work w/o any chemical assistance.  But now that more athletes are getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar, Lance included, I guess it's time for me to return to reality.

Well, a friend pointed out an article posted in Grantland prior to the Super Bowl in which the author looked at the epidemic of performance enhancing drug use in professional sports.  While no one has direct proof per se, he points out some fairly damning circumstantial evidence supporting the idea that many players who are enjoying some of their best years late in their career after returning from a devastating injury much more quickly than would otherwise be expected might be doing so owing to better living through chemistry.

My thought process is why hide this brightly shining light under a bushel?  After all, if it's going to enhance physical performance, why not make it accessible to you & me?  In fact, as I noted in a post last month, there's no prohibition against use of testosterone & other PEDs in white & blue collar jobs, assuming you need it.

But rather than sneak around and order PEDs sight unseen from some shifty online off-shore pharmacy (sorry, I don't mean to lump everyone together but you know that saying about a rotten apple spoiling the barrel), go see your family doc & talk about your concerns (take the Androgen Deficiency Assessment screening test here).  Get your drugs filled at your local pharmacy (or a legitimate online one) and your labs drawn by your local lab.  There's no reason why your doc should be selling you a prescription drug or profiting off your labs.  Make your care transparent: pay for your doc's skills, not for your medications & tests.  Most important, get medical oversight: using PEDs is not a DIY project.

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PEDs: Is It OK Outside of Sports?

Back in the day, you competed w/your God-given talent(s).  If you were blessed w/more muscle mass, greater cardiac output, or better lung capacity, you had an edge up on your fellow competitor.  Of course, back then, you weren't under pressure to make tons of money either.  Sure you got paid, but many also played for the sake of the game with honor, chief among them, the late Stan Musial.  

These days, with advancement in medical science, we're able to diagnose injuries earlier & more precision, perform surgical repairs unheard of in decades past, and with improved nutrition & conditioning, extend an athlete's competitive years.  Or are we?  As it turns out, some of our heroes have also been engaging in better living through chemistry, otherwise known as performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).  And no, we're not referring to Viagra & Cialis.

Lance Armstrong recently came (kinda) clean after all these years of denial.  Mark McGwire finally admitted to use of steroids while breaking records.  Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice regarding his testimony in the BALCO trial.  And as of yesterday, Alex Rodriguez joined that notorious list, as described in an expose published in the Miami New Times, having his name mentioned several times in a log kept by an anti-aging clinic.  

But what about you & me?  We're not chasing down 7 Tour de France trophies or attempting to get into the Hall of Fame.  So in our case, there's no proscription against taking medications to improve our health (or to treat hypogonadism, andropause, menopause and even growth hormone deficiency).  Let's not overlook the obvious which is that these professional (and some amateur) athletes wouldn't risk taking these regimens if they didn't believe in and notice some improvement.  But be smart about it if you decide that anti-aging or age management medicine is right for you.

Don't buy your medications & laboratory tests from your doctor.  They don't need to profit as middlemen.  Instead, get your legally prescribed testosterone and growth hormone (assuming your physician deems it warranted) from your local pharmacy.  CVS, Walgreens, WalMart, etc all carry these medications.  If you need to do so, go to a compounding pharmacy but there's no reason you need to buy it from your doctor!  

And be careful if your doctor tells you that s/he doesn't need to examine you, that a phone call or online survey will suffice.  In fact, federal regulations require that we meet with and physically examine you at least once a year if we're to provide ongoing care.  Think about this before you veer away from traditional medicine.

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Q&A Session at HealthTap.com

i want to incress height?

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Q&A Session at HealthTap.com

i want to incress height?

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Q&A Session at HealthTap.com

how to increase height???.i am 18 yrs old now..

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I have been taking a gh releaser, Sermorelin, for a week. I have had moderate side effects including headaches, flushing, dizziness. What causes this?

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Q&A Session at HealthTap.com

Can HGH affect your facial bone structure? And is the size of your head related to your overall height?

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Q&A Session at Avvo.com

Why am I at an unhealthy weight?

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Is Your Brain Worth $46/d?

We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast of Hope Springs: Thespian Interpretation of Aging Relationships Part 2 for an attempted in-depth analysis of a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study released early online just 2 days ago by the Archives of Neurology where the authors concluded that 5 months of tesamorelin, a growth hormone releasing hormone, could improve cognitive function in both normal adults & in those with mild cognitive impairment.  

Tesamorelin, sold as Egrifta, has been approved by the FDA since 2010 for use in HIV-associated abdominal lipodystrophy.  The implications of FDA approval cannot be underestimated as it also allows for its off-label use.  As always, make sure you know the potential side effects, risks & downsides before jumping in.  

First, let me give you some background as to my excitement about this new study.  Just 2 weeks ago, Pfizer announced that IV bapineuzumab had failed a phase III trial aimed at preventing Alzheimer's dementia in APOE4 allele carriers.  Then 2 days ago, Pfizer announced that they were, in fact, stopping any further attempts at developing bapineuzumab for use in mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease.

So you can imagine my surprise when these authors randomized 152 adults, avg 68yo, 66 of whom had MCI, to nightly subcutaneous tesamorelin 1mg/d vs placebo, of whom 137 (61 w/MCI) completed the study.  Various standardized measures of cognitive function were assessed at baseline and at 10 week intervals up to 30 weeks total (10 weeks after last administration).  They concluded that tesamorelin improved cognitive function compared to placebo for both those w/baseline normal cognitive function and in those w/MCI.  More importantly, not only did those who completed the study as designed (per protocol) demonstrate improvement, but so did an intention-to-treat analysis including those who didn't finish the trial.  This last point is very difficult to prove but demonstrates real world applicability in that it takes into account drop outs & loss of adherence for any reason.

For those who want to try this on their own, it should be noted that while tesamorelin more than doubled IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1), it was still within the "young adult normal" range.  Moreover, the greater the increase in IGF-1, the greater the executive function composite change scores.  Remember my grade school analogy?  This is akin to tutoring a student from D- to B+ or A-.  

As an added benefit, tesamorelin caused a 7.4% loss in body fat in just 5 weeks!  If you'll recall, I don't use this word "caused" lightly as it implies cause & effect.  But when you analyze an RCT, you're attempting to prove causation, not just association (the only conclusion possible w/observational or epidemiologic studies).  Better yet, fasting glucose, HgbA1c & oral glucose tolerance tests were not affected by tesamorelin, one of the concerns regarding growth hormone.  Finally, tesamorelin leads to a more physiologic pulsatile IGF-1 response as opposed to the constant response from GH.

Now if you've read along, you know that I also look for flukes & trends.  Not that this is the final arbiter, but a February 2006 randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study published in Neurobiology of Aging also demonstrated GHRH (in this case sermorelin) also improved cognitive function in healthy normal older patients.

Bottom line: is your brain health & cognitive function worth $45.99/d?  That's the average wholesale price of a single 1mg vial of tesamorelin, the entire contents (all 1mg) of which was injected subcutaneously daily for 5 months.  Or could you put that daily $46 to better use by eating higher quality foods, exercising regularly, and getting enough rest?

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Q&A Session at Avvo.com

Generic hgh vs brand name. kigtropin vs somatropin

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I am a thai fighter and am preparing for a tournament I have been training 5 times a week 3- hours a day.

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