 ****Since we are leaving soon, we are going to Turn Back the Clock a little bit on some of our best posts. This post was originally run on December 19, 2007 and was extremely insightful.
Some background: When I first started to think about this blog, I originally had planned to collect information from time to time during the next few weeks. I began my collection today; I had about an hour and a half between clinic times, and a few times in between patients to research the topic in several academic journals. Surprisingly, my search was relatively easy. If you have never read an academic journal, let me give you a brief run down. Much like a website, there are keywords, and much like Google, all I have to do is enter a keyword in order to find an article from a journal that would suit my needs. Pubmed.com is world renowned for containing a huge collection of everything that is medically acceptable in academic journals. Once I located on article that I like, I usually go to the references in that article and my hunt begins to track down the original articles on the topic...usually you find it, and often along the way, you gather all the information that you need...hence, I am writing the HGH blog today. I hope that you find it informative and useful...as always, feel free to ask question, I will answer them the best way that I can...
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History: For decades, doctors had been
administering doses of growth hormone (GH) taken from cadavers'
pituitary glands for patients that lacked their own production of the
hormone. These patients were usually of short stature with very little
lean muscle and often had large amounts of fat. These GH dificient
patients were also linked with low bone densities (osteoporosis),
bleeding disorders, and many cardiovascular conditions. The idea of GH
was to help these patients in several ways; 1. Grow, as most of these
were children, and hadn't reach skeletal maturity yet, 2. Burn fat
while developing more lean muscle mass, and 3. Help improve the
deleterious risk factors of not having enough GH. For the most part,
the administration of GH worked. The height of these children
improved, although still slightly shorter than the average. The
patients had less abdominal fat (a predisposing factor for heart
disease), and their bones densities, bleeding, and CV disorders tended
to normalize. However, since GH was taken from cadavers and supplies
were limited, selection was too very limited. Eventually after the
realization that virus could be transferred from the cadavers, this
form of GH was discontinued. In 1985, the development of Somatropin,
or the reproduction of GH from real HGH made the possiblity of
limitless supplies with no threat of disease transmission. This was a
market for athletes to tap into as an alternative or use in combination
with steroids.
How it Works: Human Growth Hormone is rather
simple. A hormone called growth hormone releasing hormone, or
somatostatin is released from the hypothalamus, this causes a release
of growth hormone from the pituitary gland, which activates the livers
to release insulin like growth factor. What does this mean? Well, GH
works in two mains ways; The 1st - by lipid and carbohydrate
metabolism, ie "burning" of fat. The 2nd - which is actually
controlled from the insulin like growth factor is skeletal and tissue
growth ie bone growth, and protein synthesis or muscle building. There
is a feedback mechanism here...the body naturally shuts down the
release of growth hormone releasing hormone when insulin like growth
factor is high. So, when athletes inject GH into their bodies, the
body sends it to the liver to be broken down into a growth factor when
then causes cells to create larger muscles, larger bones, and to also
burn fat.
Side Effects: I should point out that there are
not a lot of studies for GH in adult patients. The use is just not
there. Occasionally there is some reported use in adults for GH
deficiency, but this is not widely done, and often times it is reported
use for patients with HIV. This is done due to the patients' loss of
muscle mass. Even in these cases, the information on side effects is
hard to pin point since HIV patients have several other problems
occuring at the same time. What I can tell you is this; patients with
GH secreting tumors have acromegaly (large hands and feet) and
gigantism (think Andre the Giant.) These patients usually die from
some heart condition. Reported adverse effects from GH therapy are
reduced testicular volume, gynecomastia (female type features, ie
tits), renal dysfunction, and cardiac hypertrophy (enlarged heart.)
However, there have been studies that say these often only occur during
the time of use, and once therapy is done, long term adverse effects
are not noted.
With all of this, one of the main things that need to be addressed
is the fact that insulin like growth factor is mitogenic and
antiapoptotic. What the hell is this? Well, the body has "programs"
in cells that tell them they should die when they are not produced
properly. This programming is called apoptosis, or cell death. This
is extremely important in certain cancers, and this is often the way
the body prevents cancers. A cancer cell is basically a normal cell
that has mutated, if it is allowed to grow and reproduce, this cancer
can spread. Apoptosis often prevents this. Insulin like growth factor
blocks this, and allows cells to reproduce without regulation...opening
up the individual to the possibilities of uncontrolled cancers. It has
been reported that GH therapy has been linked to prostate, breast, and
colon cancers.
Summary, and my thoughts: I understand this has
been a bit long winded and filled with more medical jargon that I
usually put down, but I felt that it was necessary for total
understanding of the subject. I feel that the most recent reports of
athletes using GH to recover from injuries is a bullshit excuse.
Nowhere in my research did I find the use of GH for healing of
injuries, and I think that the athletes stating that they used it for
this reason holds no validity. However, I have also found that there
is no research stating that GH actually improves athletic performance.
I even found that it can lead to a decrease in visual acuity, which is
contrary to many reports by the media. I believe this, whether the
athletes knew GH worked or not, the main reason they took GH was
because they believed that it would do something to gain an advantage
over other players, it was to give them an edge. This is cheating
plain and simple,.. |
2008 Cubs Preview
Possibly not very effective cheating, correct?
Thanks for this post, there is a lot of misleading info out there about HGH, it's great to read some info from medical journals.
Below is an excerpt from a Rob Neyer article saying pretty much the same thing you found out Cpt.
"HGH has some definite and proven medical benefits. It is currently approved medically in the United States for two primary indications, short stature in children and growth hormone deficiency in adults.[2] All of these HGH benefits, however, are in individuals with growth hormone deficiency. In people with normal GH levels, HGH does not improve athletic performance in terms of muscle strength, flexibility, and endurance. In fact, several placebo-controlled studies have been negative.
A 4-week, double-blind Swedish study using 2 doses of HGH and placebo found no differences in subjects exercising on a bicycle in terms of power output and oxygen uptake.[3] In another study, a single injection of HGH increased plasma lactate and reduced exercise performance.[4]
[snip]
In addition to the lack of effectiveness for enhancing athletic performance, HGH has a downside. It can cause dose-related side effects including diabetes, carpal tunnel syndrome, fluid retention, joint stiffness, muscle pain, and high blood pressure.
It turns out that, like Paul Bunyan, the athletic benefits of HGH is a myth.
That's my opinion. I'm Dr. George Griffing, Professor of Medicine at St. Louis University and Editor in Chief of Internal Medicine for eMedicine."
Question...HGH in itself does not 'help athletic performance' but by aiding in recovery doesn't it help to do that?
For athletes, the many benefits of HGH elevation include decreased body fat, increased energy, increased protein synthesis, and faster recovery from hard training sessions.
Great stuff. What an asset the cpt. is for such a hot topic in baseball. I had no clue about HGH until the cpt. was able to provide the info above. You would have to think that these players would do some sort of questioning about the product of HGH before using. If those items listed above were covered, there is no way in the world I would even think about using. Of course, I don't have millions riding on it either. If indeed there is no evidence of enhanced ability from use, I would love to see a physician come forward (say during a Congress session) and explain that these excuses are bullshit.
I'm with Jack - if HGH decreases body fat, increases energy, promotes faster recovery after training sessions etc., then wouldn't some athletes see it as a perfectly viable performance enhancer? I mean, I would imagine those benefits are what would convince athletes to do it. But I'll admit to not knowing a lot about HGH before reading this. Is that even how it was marketed to athletes?
My younger brother had to take GH from when he was 7 to 9..in cycles. He then had to take it at 13 to help him reach his growth spurt that most kids hit at that age. A year later, his eyesight became less than spectacular and he now has to wear glasses/contacts.
Now, most of my family on my father's side wears glasses or contacts, except for me. The doctor stated that the GH probably sped up the process of my brother's vision getting worse.
He finally did hit his growth spurt, but he never really put any meat on his bones. I am the tallest and heaviest in my family (5'8, 175). He is 20 now and is 5'6, 130....and his head is normal size! But, then again, he wasn't trying to be a world class athlete either.
I was listening to the radio, and they said that it does aid in recovery...again, from my own knowledge on the subject, and from the information that I have gathered, I have found no true evidence that it "aids" in recovery. I have not come across any research where they used it on individuals that were injured and ponied them up against individuals that didn't receive the stuff...I kind of lump it into the category of Ginkobiloba a few years back...huge talk about how it improved memory and concentration, in which is ultimately turned out to be a bunch of garbage when all was said and done...I think that HGH will help you grow, it may cause parts of you to get bigger during the time period that you use it if you are an adult, but I think that over the long run, it doesn't really do much...I think that during the time that you are using it, you are exposing yourself to diabetes, high blood pressure, and possible cancers as well.
hi am man 42 years dream to have normal tittswont come ladyboy
There are some good uses for HGH but some people just don't know how to respect that. For people using it to gain an upper advantage in sports is just horrible. First steroids now this one.
definitely not a medical jargon but a treasure of information you shared about HGH thanks a lot.