INTRO Great to be here! I'm a guy with severe health issues having results!

cujet

cujet

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It's wonderful to be part of this group. I'm a 62 year old male who has always been athletic and strong, with a careful diet, yet some quite serious conditions were destroying me. I've burned through an enormous amount of money trying to figure out my health problems, and at last I've gotten to where I can function. My poor health pushed me into retirement at 60, and I had essentially abandoned hope. Stairs were out of the question, and even standing up from a chair meant using my arms to shove myself upward! Walking 1000 feet felt like passing a bill through congress. Once retired, I devoted my time to working with AIs plus my Endocrinologist/primary doctor to refine my treatment. Sadly, the prednisone+hydrocortisone I need brought me to 262 pounds, whereas my usual muscular weight was 182-190.

Former bicycle racer/athlete/pilot/aircraft owner

Hashimoto's, severe. (and don't convert T4, so I'm on T3 only)

Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency, total.

Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (anti RNP antibodies) (kinda like Lupus)

Possible Myasthenia Gravis (muscles don't respond) that is drug responsive, but does not show up in labs.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction diagnosis (from 25 years ago)

All triggered by a nearly fatal bout of Epstein Barr virus when I was 33.

In any case, I found the peptide world and have managed to get back down to 200 pounds, still losing roughly a pound each week. Another 10 pounds and I'll hit 190, my preferred athletic weight. The weight loss, while fantastic, is not a cure and the disease problems continue raging. Still, the prescriptions are doing their job. And peptides that support mitochondrial function (though not a cure) genuinely assist. I'm enormously better off than I was only a few years back.
 
Wow, it makes me really happy to hear things have gone well for you. I understand how tough it is when your health shifts out of nowhere and throws everything else off balance. My wish is that you keep your condition managed - there is nothing more miserable than letting it call the shots.
 
That sounds really rough, and I'm sorry you're dealing with all of it. You said Epstein Barr is what set things off. Actually, my partner is disabled because of the same thing. When he was 21, he came down with a terrible case of mono. As a kid he'd been sickly, and his mom had MS, yet he was fairly healthy in his young adult years before that point. Now he's in his early 50s, and year after year he's become more disabled. Fibromyalgia and allergies are the diagnoses he's received, though we suspect something else is going on too.

Would you be willing to say more about peptides and mitochondrial function? I'm here for my own weight loss, and my partner hasn't tried any of this yet, but it's something he's been curious about and I'd really like to understand this topic better.
 
ga7805 said:

That sounds really rough, and I'm sorry you're dealing with all of it. You said Epstein Barr is what set things off. Actually, my partner is disabled because of the same thing. When he was 21, he came down with a terrible case of mono. As a kid he'd been sickly, and his mom had MS, yet he was fairly healthy in his young adult years before that point. Now he's in his early 50s, and year after year he's become more disabled. Fibromyalgia and allergies are the diagnoses he's received, though we suspect something else is going on too.

Would you be willing to say more about peptides and mitochondrial function? I'm here for my own weight loss, and my partner hasn't tried any of this yet, but it's something he's been curious about and I'd really like to understand this topic better.
Click to expand...
When it comes to peptides and mito dys, I'm a total beginner with no expertise. Right now I'm looking into SS31 alongside MOTS-C, taken together at 2mg each daily. There does appear to be some benefit. Roughly 30-60 mins after the injection, I've noticed I begin sweating. Another thing I've noticed is that taking the pup for a walk around the block (roughly a mile) then feels easy-easy. For over 10 years that had been an issue, thanks to extreme fatigue and/or not being able to make it back home. If I had to estimate, I'd put the gain in exercise capacity at over 15%. I even did a little jogging with the dog. It looked pretty rough, since running/jogging is something I haven't managed in decades.

A celebratory update: as of today I'm below 200 pounds!! 198.8. It's hard to believe. Over recent years, even with complete commitment to carnivore/zero carb one meal per day plus regular fasting, 220Lbs with zero energy was the ceiling for me. That's what severe health issues do, and no amount of dedication can remove the need for real medical treatment.
 
Man, that's quite a journey you've had. Huge respect for not throwing in the towel and instead working through everything to find answers. It's genuinely great that you've been able to shift things somewhat and are continuing to improve — that's tough given all the stuff you mentioned.

Fingers crossed the trend stays positive for you.!!
 
Hello and welcome! Sounds like quite an ordeal you've endured! When my son was 18, he came down with a serious case of mono that turned into Epstein-Barr. That was one of the most frightening experiences of my life involving him — 1 week in intensive care receiving immuno treatments, which did help. Jumping ahead 15 years, he's struggled with numerous health problems, with UC being among the latest, and he's cycled on and off prednisone for years, which pushed him to 350+. I've repeatedly wondered aloud whether Epstein-Barr might be connected to everything he's facing, but every time the response is no, there's no link, according to his PCP. Having seen this, I'm doubting whether his PCP is truly doing everything possible, sighh.

I've attempted to get him interested in reading about peptides, yet he remains very reluctant, something I both understand and respect. At the pace things are going, I worry his lifespan will be drastically cut short.

Wishing you all the best on your journey!
 
CheesyPotato said:

Hello and welcome! Sounds like quite an ordeal you've endured! When my son was 18, he came down with a serious case of mono that turned into Epstein-Barr. That was one of the most frightening experiences of my life involving him — 1 week in intensive care receiving immuno treatments, which did help. Jumping ahead 15 years, he's struggled with numerous health problems, with UC being among the latest, and he's cycled on and off prednisone for years, which pushed him to 350+. I've repeatedly wondered aloud whether Epstein-Barr might be connected to everything he's facing, but every time the response is no, there's no link, according to his PCP. Having seen this, I'm doubting whether his PCP is truly doing everything possible, sighh.

I've attempted to get him interested in reading about peptides, yet he remains very reluctant, something I both understand and respect. At the pace things are going, I worry his lifespan will be drastically cut short.

Wishing you all the best on your journey!
Click to expand...
EBV sits behind a long list of illnesses. Among people who have never carried the virus, MS is basically absent. The same pattern shows up with Lupus and with Hashimoto's, which is what I deal with. Each of those conditions gets sorted differently, of course. What that means: among Hashimoto's patients, 80% return a positive result on EB 'markers'. Yet nobody who avoided EB virus ever develops Hashimoto's — 0%.

So here's what I'm getting at: for a large number of people, EB virus is an outright catastrophe. Across a high share of autoimmune conditions, including UC, EBV functions as an almost required proximate cause. My own hunch is that the correlation is 100%, though the reality falls short of that.

As for 350 pounds, that is a problem I had to tackle. I could tell my health was going downhill — not only because of the weight, but because of the various diseases I have. A number of those problems have been dealt with by Retatrutide. Looking at my latest labs, just about every measure has improved dramatically. Cholesterol and triglycerides were the outliers, sitting outside the normal range. All the rest landed within range.
 
That's a pretty extensive list you have there! Reta is going to take care of a good portion of it. From what I've come across, KPV and Thymosin Alpha 1 are used for Hashimotos. For leaky gut, BPC-157 is mentioned (a lot of people with Hashimotos often deal with that too).

Let the reta keep working — with time, it will bring improvements to many markers!
 
cujet said:

CheesyPotato said:

Hello and welcome! Sounds like quite an ordeal you've endured! When my son was 18, he came down with a serious case of mono that turned into Epstein-Barr. That was one of the most frightening experiences of my life involving him — 1 week in intensive care receiving immuno treatments, which did help. Jumping ahead 15 years, he's struggled with numerous health problems, with UC being among the latest, and he's cycled on and off prednisone for years, which pushed him to 350+. I've repeatedly wondered aloud whether Epstein-Barr might be connected to everything he's facing, but every time the response is no, there's no link, according to his PCP. Having seen this, I'm doubting whether his PCP is truly doing everything possible, sighh.

I've attempted to get him interested in reading about peptides, yet he remains very reluctant, something I both understand and respect. At the pace things are going, I worry his lifespan will be drastically cut short.

Wishing you all the best on your journey!
Click to expand...
EBV sits behind a long list of illnesses. Among people who have never carried the virus, MS is basically absent. The same pattern shows up with Lupus and with Hashimoto's, which is what I deal with. Each of those conditions gets sorted differently, of course. What that means: among Hashimoto's patients, 80% return a positive result on EB 'markers'. Yet nobody who avoided EB virus ever develops Hashimoto's — 0%.

So here's what I'm getting at: for a large number of people, EB virus is an outright catastrophe. Across a high share of autoimmune conditions, including UC, EBV functions as an almost required proximate cause. My own hunch is that the correlation is 100%, though the reality falls short of that.

As for 350 pounds, that is a problem I had to tackle. I could tell my health was going downhill — not only because of the weight, but because of the various diseases I have. A number of those problems have been dealt with by Retatrutide. Looking at my latest labs, just about every measure has improved dramatically. Cholesterol and triglycerides were the outliers, sitting outside the normal range. All the rest landed within range.
Click to expand...
Thanks — I'll pass this along to him. He could really use a nudge, one way or another 🙂
 
CheesyPotato said:

cujet said:

CheesyPotato said:

Hello and welcome! Sounds like quite an ordeal you've endured! When my son was 18, he came down with a serious case of mono that turned into Epstein-Barr. That was one of the most frightening experiences of my life involving him — 1 week in intensive care receiving immuno treatments, which did help. Jumping ahead 15 years, he's struggled with numerous health problems, with UC being among the latest, and he's cycled on and off prednisone for years, which pushed him to 350+. I've repeatedly wondered aloud whether Epstein-Barr might be connected to everything he's facing, but every time the response is no, there's no link, according to his PCP. Having seen this, I'm doubting whether his PCP is truly doing everything possible, sighh.

I've attempted to get him interested in reading about peptides, yet he remains very reluctant, something I both understand and respect. At the pace things are going, I worry his lifespan will be drastically cut short.

Wishing you all the best on your journey!
Click to expand...
EBV sits behind a long list of illnesses. Among people who have never carried the virus, MS is basically absent. The same pattern shows up with Lupus and with Hashimoto's, which is what I deal with. Each of those conditions gets sorted differently, of course. What that means: among Hashimoto's patients, 80% return a positive result on EB 'markers'. Yet nobody who avoided EB virus ever develops Hashimoto's — 0%.

So here's what I'm getting at: for a large number of people, EB virus is an outright catastrophe. Across a high share of autoimmune conditions, including UC, EBV functions as an almost required proximate cause. My own hunch is that the correlation is 100%, though the reality falls short of that.

As for 350 pounds, that is a problem I had to tackle. I could tell my health was going downhill — not only because of the weight, but because of the various diseases I have. A number of those problems have been dealt with by Retatrutide. Looking at my latest labs, just about every measure has improved dramatically. Cholesterol and triglycerides were the outliers, sitting outside the normal range. All the rest landed within range.
Click to expand...
Thanks — I'll pass this along to him. He could really use a nudge, one way or another 🙂
Click to expand...
Since depression and brain fog can both show up among the symptoms of post-EBV, it may be that the push your son needs is tied to everything else he is dealing with. I hope he gets some relief!
 
Keep pushing through, buddy! The road has been rough, yet you've made huge progress from those darkest days.

On the peptide side, which ones are in your stack right now? Any that target gut healing, such as KPV, BPC-157, or similar? In my view, the gut is where a lot of these autoimmune issues begin.
 
cujet said:

It's wonderful to be part of this group. I'm a 62 year old male who has always been athletic and strong, with a careful diet, yet some quite serious conditions were destroying me. I've burned through an enormous amount of money trying to figure out my health problems, and at last I've gotten to where I can function. My poor health pushed me into retirement at 60, and I had essentially abandoned hope. Stairs were out of the question, and even standing up from a chair meant using my arms to shove myself upward! Walking 1000 feet felt like passing a bill through congress. Once retired, I devoted my time to working with AIs plus my Endocrinologist/primary doctor to refine my treatment. Sadly, the prednisone+hydrocortisone I need brought me to 262 pounds, whereas my usual muscular weight was 182-190.

Former bicycle racer/athlete/pilot/aircraft owner

Hashimoto's, severe. (and don't convert T4, so I'm on T3 only)

Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency, total.

Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (anti RNP antibodies) (kinda like Lupus)

Possible Myasthenia Gravis (muscles don't respond) that is drug responsive, but does not show up in labs.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction diagnosis (from 25 years ago)

All triggered by a nearly fatal bout of Epstein Barr virus when I was 33.

In any case, I found the peptide world and have managed to get back down to 200 pounds, still losing roughly a pound each week. Another 10 pounds and I'll hit 190, my preferred athletic weight. The weight loss, while fantastic, is not a cure and the disease problems continue raging. Still, the prescriptions are doing their job. And peptides that support mitochondrial function (though not a cure) genuinely assist. I'm enormously better off than I was only a few years back.
Click to expand...
What a road this has been. It's incredible what peptides can do for so many folks who've been fighting to get back even a sliver of what they could once do in life. I understand that struggle myself, though not as severely. Keep going!
 
cujet said:

It's wonderful to be part of this group. I'm a 62 year old male who has always been athletic and strong, with a careful diet, yet some quite serious conditions were destroying me. I've burned through an enormous amount of money trying to figure out my health problems, and at last I've gotten to where I can function. My poor health pushed me into retirement at 60, and I had essentially abandoned hope. Stairs were out of the question, and even standing up from a chair meant using my arms to shove myself upward! Walking 1000 feet felt like passing a bill through congress. Once retired, I devoted my time to working with AIs plus my Endocrinologist/primary doctor to refine my treatment. Sadly, the prednisone+hydrocortisone I need brought me to 262 pounds, whereas my usual muscular weight was 182-190.

Former bicycle racer/athlete/pilot/aircraft owner

Hashimoto's, severe. (and don't convert T4, so I'm on T3 only)

Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency, total.

Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (anti RNP antibodies) (kinda like Lupus)

Possible Myasthenia Gravis (muscles don't respond) that is drug responsive, but does not show up in labs.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction diagnosis (from 25 years ago)

All triggered by a nearly fatal bout of Epstein Barr virus when I was 33.

In any case, I found the peptide world and have managed to get back down to 200 pounds, still losing roughly a pound each week. Another 10 pounds and I'll hit 190, my preferred athletic weight. The weight loss, while fantastic, is not a cure and the disease problems continue raging. Still, the prescriptions are doing their job. And peptides that support mitochondrial function (though not a cure) genuinely assist. I'm enormously better off than I was only a few years back.
Click to expand...
Hearing that your situation has improved and that solutions exist is encouraging! LFG!!!
 
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