March 2011 Update
Time for another update and this time I am somewhat confused because I am improving. Last week was my 80th birthday and after four years of a progressive downhill course, I am getting stronger. Once again my muscles feel like muscles instead of soft dough.
With the aid of my walker, I am back to walking slightly over one mile each day with no problems. I no longer feel that walking is counterproductive. I do not ache after walking as I did before and now when I return from walking I look forward to going out again.
My new family doctor is a gem, expertly balancing her needs with mine. She has put me on aggressive pain management so my aches and pains that seemed to be wearing me down no longer rule my life. Her water exercises kept me going six months ago when my physical capacity seemed at a minimum and walking definitely was counterproductive but then four months ago I felt better and went back to walking. She put me on depo-testosterone shots monthly to help muscle development.
My supplements this past six months have been CoQ10 400mg with liberal doses of tocotrienol (vitamin E), vitamin D and vitamin C and PQQ, a new anti-oxidant mitochondrial enhancer type of thing. I don't know what to say about PQQ except the promo made a great deal of sense. Promos are supposed to do that! Bottom line, I needed a straw to hang onto. So basically I am doing anti-oxidants, pain management and testosterone shots.
I have one more factor that possibly has made a contribution - that is the process of Earthing. Cardiologist Steven Sinatra introduced me to Earthing and it made sense immediately. I started grounding myself with use of a special grounding sheet in my bed just about six months ago. The mechanism of action of grounding appears to be that of neutralizing the positive ions of any inflammatory process with mother nature's free negative electrons. I had to assume my statin associated condition was associated with the usual inflammatory buildup of positive ions. Neutralizing this positive buildup with negative ions by grounding my bed and walking barefoot to maximize the entry of negative ions through the body seemed a reasonable course of action since nothing else was working.
By walking barefoot I have acquired no small number of comments from other seniors in this ultra conservative housing area. One in particular I will share with you. On this particular day I was wearing flowered casual pants while walking barefooted and an alert neighbor called my wife to warn her that I was out there walking about and "Was I all right?" We still are laughing over that one. I suppose the caller had read my book about my two episodes of statin associated transient amnesia and thought I might be having my third. I do not go out of my way to entertain my neighbors. This just happened and come to think of it you do not see many seniors in my area walking barefoot. Even at the beach they are quite apt to wear both shoes and socks.
I have to stress that my muscle aches and pains have been with me for a long time, primarily involving upper legs and lower back. Never did I think the muscle pain was caused by exercise. My original symptoms were pain and growing weakness whether I exercised or not. This is why my need for pain management. It has helped to keep me functional when my only alternative was to be an achy couch-potato. I seemed to have crossed a threshold of regaining mitochondrial function starting first with muscles. The pain possibly is neuropathic in origin and generally expected to be resistant to treatment.
I interpret this to mean my myopathy seems to be improving while any neuropathy is lagging behind, or may never improve. I have an impression the testosterone has helped but who knows? I have to add that my testosterone level was barely detectable. I did not recall my sexual history as all that bad but who knows what it might have been?
I still focus on mitochondrial damage as the cause and have to assume that mitochondrial genesis has occurred to account for my improvement. It all fits well with my understanding of the physiology involved. If this information is of help or gives hope to others out there I will feel amply rewarded.
Duane Graveline MD MPH
Former USAF Flight Surgeon
Former NASA Astronaut
Retired Family Doctor
